[LadyGamers]:  First off, can you tell us your background on how you started developing mods? What was your first mod you worked on?

[ElQueffo]:  Believe it or not but RA3 was the first real mod I worked on! Before starting on RA3 I made a couple of small and useless "mods" to get familiar with the engine but most of my experience with modmaking comes from RA3 development. Getting comfortable with the basics of the Q3 SDK and RA3 code didn't take long though, probably just a few days.  

[LadyGamers]:  How did you start getting into RA3, was it a mod you played frequently? When did you start working on the RA3 mod?

[ElQueffo]:  I don't know exactly when I started to play Rocket Arena but I played RA2 for a couple of years and then I moved to RA3 as soon as it was released. Rocket Arena (Q2/3) is the only mod I play frequently (except for 3Wave CTF on Q1) and that's the reason I contacted crt about the lack of RA3 updates. After a short period negotiation (sending emails back and forth) I got my hands on the RA3 source. The whole process took 5 days from first contact to the public announcement made by crt.

[LadyGamers]: What is the worst thing about being a mod developer?

[ElQueffo]:  The worst thing is trying to organize meaningful beta testing sessions - trying to find all the bugs with a very small beta team. The public beta of 1.7 was an attempt to make things better but not enough people took interest and many bugs still slipped through to the final release.

[LadyGamers]:  You play Star Wars Galaxies. Can you explain what class you use and why you feel this game is so awesome?

[ElQueffo]:  I play as a marksman/squad leader/commando. To see why it's so awesome you'll have to try it yourself, I can't really explain what makes it good.

[LadyGamers]:  It seems like RA3 and OSP are keeping Quake III Arena alive to this day. Do you feel the new versions of RA3 has helped the community to thrive?

[ElQueffo]:   I hope so! There is no doubt that the community would have died faster without new versions; the new versions probably brought back some old players and introduced a few new ones. I'm hoping RA3 will be more suitable for competitions and be more interesting to watch with the new features we are introducing, if we are successful I'm sure the RA3 community will grow.

Related Sites:

•  Rocket Arena

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