Name: Jim Castile
Alias: King Mango
Birthday: June 2
Location: Citrus Heights, California
Food: Meat, potatoes and more meat.
Fish
tacos from Pescado
Most Despised Gamer: Zinia
Clan: Extreme Hostility [EH]
Former Clan: Knights of the Round {KotR}
Favorite Genre: FPS
Favorite Games: Unreal Series, Far Cry,
Half-Life 2, Darkstone,
Need
for Speed 5: Porsche Unleashed |
 |
_____________________________________________________________INTERVIEW
[CaliGirl]: Lets talk about your game history
first. Please give us your first multiplayer game experience.
What game was it, and who introduced you to the online gaming
world?
[King Mango]: My first multiplayer game
experience was with UT. Back in 2002 when I got my first
computer (AMD K6II-3Dnow@500 mhz) I bought a few games for it.
I never had a game console before and found that I liked
gaming. Then I discovered C|Net's downloads.com. I was looking
for demos and found the Uber Demo for UT. I played it for a
couple months and right from the very start loved it. I
remember the thing that had the most impact on me was the
visuals. The level design right from the start. I didn't
really think of it in that way, it was mostly thinking to
myself, wow this game is totally unique. I eventually bought
the GOTY edition sometime around November 2002 and played
through the Tournament, then soon after discovered
multi-player. It was the first time I had ever heard of
anything like this. I was hooked.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: How did you get involved into map
development, and what was the first game you created maps for?
Was there something that caused you to create maps, like maybe
some customized maps you played sucked?
[King Mango]:
The whole concept of custom
maps for retail games had never once entered my mind before UT. The custom
maps thing came about after I started playing online. I had no idea that
UT shipped with an editor and noticed I was having to download a lot of
maps. Chatting with the other players I learned that you could make your
own maps in UED for the game and I thought, 'Ah, what the heck. I'll try
it.' I opened the ed and realized I had better try and find some
info on the web cause I had no clue what I was looking at. I was a total
computer noob at the time (still am really). I found some good tutorials
and stumbled across Unreal Playground which has literally been one of the
best things to happen to me in life :D Guys like Cobra, Blitz, SabbathCat, and
Lord Simeon had a huge impact on my early development as a mapper with
encouraging advice and were always there to help answer my questions.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Lets dig a little deeper into the
guys who had a huge impact on you as a mapper. I know
two of the guys you had mentioned are UP guys. Do any of them
develop maps as well or did they beta most of your maps? With
that said, I have noticed you don't have many Onslaught maps.
What's with that anyway?!
[King Mango]:
Actually
all four of them are UP. Cobra isn't around so much anymore as
it is very stressful for him. He is acknowledged throughout
the community as one of the premier authorities on bot pathing
and he commits himself to helping so many people. The problem
with this is, many people take advantage of him and as you
might imagine that would get old. The only time he gets emails
is when they need something from him etc. He and I have been
friends right from the start. Cobra was actually the first
person to sort of take me by the hand and mentor me. He always
would tell me, "Jim you will be the next Gui." lol... Even if
the map was a pile of crap you would have never guessed it. He
was so nice to me and I love him dearly.
SabbathCat is one of my closest web friends. Also, I think his
work is very inspirational because he has one of the most
identifiable styles in mapping. You just KNOW when you're in a
SabbathCat map. He did two of my favorite maps in the 6h
competition that I organized last year at UP. Actually glad I
mentioned that, if anyone out there plays CTF for the original
UT, check out all the
6H maps there. That was one of the most productive
contests in a long time. More than a dozen top notch maps came
out of it. He's a real character and does some great work with
things other than mapping.
Blitz has been a big help to me technically as he is very
generous with his knowledge, particularly coding. It's funny
because it's one of those relationships that developed over
time and at some point became a friendship. You'll find this
happens a LOT at UP. He is also a very talented mapper and has
the best bot pathing tutorial available anywhere on the web.
Lord Simeon... I guess I kind of stalked him. lol. Don't know
why but I think I liked him before he even knew who I was.
lmao. But in spite of that, he and I are blue collar men and
think alike on about 99% of things in life. He's got a
keen eye for details and is a great guy to have look over your
map for suggestions. He has a map coming out in the next
official Epic Bonus Pack due to being a top placer in the MSUC.
And since I did the skybox for that map, I can say now, I HAVE
ASSETS IN AN OFFICIAL EPIC RELEASE! lol. Plus, he kicked me
down some cash and an Australian gift package. WEWT!
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: I have heard you comment on how some
customized maps can be pretty tasteless. In a 1-5 list, name
the top customized Unreal Tournament 2004 maps of all time,
and mention why they stand out among the rest.
[King Mango]: LOL. Yeah sometimes I can get pretty vocal about a bad map online. I know
it's terrible to some people but I can't help it. I am what I am. There
are so many AMAZINGLY good maps I resent playing bad ones. lol. It's very
hard to narrow it down. But here are five out of about fifty that popped
into my head first.
- Any of Luv_Studd's DM maps. Dante, Sudokan, Darius being the top
three that stand out in my mind.
- Of course Hourences maps are always amazing. His latest map Redkin
is no exception.
- ONS-Draor by Bot_40. The best ONS map EV-AR!.
- Anything by Gui
- ONS-Aliens by Pahsko
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Nice list of custom maps with
their creators. Now here's the challenging question. Do any of
the map creators you have listed play UT2k4 with you? If so,
are they actually good at playing it?
[King Mango]: Well
I haven't played with any that I listed in my top five, but I play often
with Blitz and he's a damn good player. Sabby and Spargo less often but
are also very good players. I have never played a game of UT with Cobra.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Any type of development for a map or mod
can be time consuming. How do you work, and map and game all
at the same time? How much time does mapping take out of your
regular daily lifestyle?
[King Mango]:
UT* takes up an amazingly unhealthy chunk of my life. lol. Not so much UT
classic anymore since mapping for 2k4 gives you so many more tools. Last
few months I have been working ten hours a day six or seven days a week at
my real life job, and mapping probably 4-6 hours a day and playing about
2. lmao. I have no life. Just before this last job I was a union pipe
layer and was laid-off for several months which is how I was able to spend
so much time on my latest ONS map, Stonehaven.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: It sounds like Zinia has to be one of your
favorite game buds since he happens to be the most despised.
What makes him stand out among most gamers you know?
[King Mango]:
He's really easy to frag.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Speaking of guys from
UnrealPlayground, I was warned when I returned to the forums a
few month ago that you'd try to pick up on me. How many girls
have you flirted with in the UP forums? Were any of them
actually UT Gamers or just visiting?
[King Mango]:
LOL! I flirt with every female I come in contact with at the forums. :D I'm single so I don't feel any responsibility to behave in any certain
way. It's the way I am in real life too. I think it's fun. Some people
don't like it, or do not respond well to it, so I don't with them. But
most others think it's fun too. So why change?!? Plus to me it's
totally harmless online. In RL (real-life) you have to be more careful
about it cause you could wind up with someone actually attached to you, or
boxing with some psycho jealous boyfriend.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Your
latest map has a type of Mystic Castle style going on. Did
you name it yet or will you figure out a name after its
complete? When do you plan on it being semi-finished?
[King Mango]:
This map is now done. It's one of two maps I have coming out in the Beyond
Unreal Forums Bonus Pack 2. It does indeed have a name, "Stonehaven." I
usually name a map at the time I'm thinking of the visual theme. It helps
cement the vision for me. I think of a visual style or sometimes even
start with just a back story, and then I try to think of a name to
emphasize it.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Have you seen the Unreal 3 Engine trailer?
Would you say things look pretty impressive or they could do better?
[King Mango]:
I
have seen several trailers for the next generation engine. The most
exciting thing to me is the normal mapping and virtual displacement (bump
mapping) technology. I am very excited but at the same time, I am
disappointed they have not addressed how they are going to handle fluid
surfaces. That's the biggest limitation to mapping the Unreal Engine right
now. It would change everything about how I currently map. I am a water
baby and my levels reflect that for the most part.
_______________________________________
[CaliGirl]: Wait a second, I just realized you're
a California Boy. Lets talk about my home state a bit. What is Citrus
Heights like? Is that considered Silicon Valley? Also, do you get to LAN
much out in Northern California? Do most of your California buddies play
other games than UT series? Are any of your clanmates from
Extreme Hostility from there?
[King Mango]: It could be considered a mini
silicon valley. There are quite a few big tech firms here. HP,
NEC, and Oracle just to name a few. I really love where I
live. It's a suburb of Sacramento and we have everything. You
can drive 45 minutes into the hills and feel a world away, or
even the American River Parkway, just a stone's throw from my
front door, is amazing for walking or biking. I love the
outdoors and I've never lived any place with as much to do as
here.
Unfortunately I have never LANed. I know there are several
peeps from UP here on the west coast. Several of which I am
going to go meet in person for the first time in just a couple
of months. In fact, one of them is the guy who gave me my
first review. He thinks I've forgotten that '46.' mwuhahahaha
Oddly, believe it or not, he reviewed my very first map and
actually found some nice things to say about it in spite of
its tremendous suck. I'm going to see about LANing that trip
though. Looking forward to it. None of my RL friends game. :/
________________________________________________________________WHAT IF
[CaliGirl]: Lastly, lets say Epic
contacts you with a job offer. You take on this full time job with them,
and once you're settled in you enter a conference room meeting. They ask
you what your idea is for a new game. Epic wants to know what you'd prefer
for a new title... where would you start? You know you'd want to make an
epic story with castles in it just because CaliGirl likes 'em... ;)
[King Mango]: lol. Well, I don't think I would want
to turn mapping into a full time job. But I am interested in coding full
time and am going back to school to learn how to do it. I would prefer to
contract level design on a per level basis. But funny you should mention
game ideas. I am working on a game concept which is about 25 per cent
fleshed out. But it's invaders from another galaxy type thing. Story
driven concept of course relying on cut scenes and dialogue to give
immersion to the story. There will be different worlds at least one of
which of course will be an ancient setting. :D
_______________________________________________________MAPS
GALLERY
King Mango's Favorite Sites:
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FotM]
