Epochalypse, the developers of the
recently released Malice, are a team of very creative and
talented men from all around the world. Tan Sian "Bubbah" Yue,
from Holland; James "Lando" Anderson, from Australia; Lucas
"Pope" Pope, from Virginia; Dan "Whodini" Janis, and Ed
"Scope" Cope, both from Texas; and Aaron "Gambit" Webster,
from Canada. I recently interviewed them through e-mail, and
asked them to share some of their thoughts about the huge
success of Malice... among other things.. :)
[Peachies] Let's start
with a little background.... How did you all get together and
form Epochalypse?
[Bubbah] We
actually got together to do a racing game, sorta...heh...hope
we will eventually get down to that...The only thing that's
still left from THAT idea is the main Character's name:
"Damage", and the city scape cutscene where the Chinook flies
over.
[Pope] here's my
quick version: i emailed bubbah to offer help on the
multimodels project he was doing with lando way back in
jan-feb 97 (i think). at the same time, gambit approached
bubbah about doing a quake TC. After finishing multimodels and
the anaconda quake promotional thingy, bubbah asked me if i'd
want to be a part of a new TC team; he wanted an original,
futuristic TC with lots of cars and guns. We all agreed it was
a good idea, and gambit got whodini on the team. the idea
changed quite a bit (no cars), and we realized we needed more
level help. bubbah had worked with scope before, and we all
liked his work so we asked him to lend a hand.
[Whodini] Oh
god... what a question. Well... Gambit approached me through
email... after seeing one of my quake levels. That's how I got
involved.
[Gambit] Ok, it
started with me trying to put together a team for an Aliens TC.
I mailed all the modelers, and 2 level guys. Fortunatley
Bubbah (the best modeler) was interested in working with me.
Whodini had the best level I'd seen to date and thats why I
mailed him. The only problem was Bubbah wouldn'y do an Aliens
TC (because he already knew some guys that were doing one, and
for copyright reasons). So then we started to make a car game
when Lando and Pope hoppen on board. The car game didn't
ammount to anything and we made Malice.
[Scope] Well, I
was the last member to join the team. The project was already
well underway and they needed to add another level designer.
Having worked with Bubbah previously on the Blarg project, I
guess he thought I would be a good addition.
[Peachies] And where did the name "Epochalypse" come
from?
[Bubbah] Gambit,
he thinks up most of the "Important" names, like "Damage" and
"Epochalypse".
[Pope] gambit's
idea I think.
[Gambit] Well,
thats me again :). I took the word EPOCH which means
fundamentally the beginning of a new era, and APOCALYPSE which
is the absolute end. It's kind of an oxymoron and it ended up
being "The beginning of the end".
[Scope] Good
question. One day we decide we needed a name. A week or so
went by with no real good ideas. I think it was Gambit who
originally came up with the concept. We batted around about 15
different spellings of the name and finally decided on "Epochalypse".
The only drawback to the name is that some people may confuse
us with the Apocalypse project, but I think the spelling is
different enough to eliminate most of the confusion. The real
genious behind the name is not the name itself but the awesome
logo that Gambit came up with.
[Peachies] You guys are from all
over the world! Does the distance between you make it really
hard to work on projects?
[Bubbah] Funny
you should mention this...heh...Before Gambit flew over, Pope
(who was already here) and me would joke about how we were
gonna beat the crap outta Gambit for being such a complete
DORK most of the time (over e-mail). Then when we finally met
him in person he was quite the opposite. And we decided to let
the man live...heh. I guess the point is that it's hard to
tell what a person's character is really like over e-mail. And
yes, the distance between us sucks.
[Pope] yeah,
definitely. recently, IRC has helped things a little bit, but
_nothing_ beats being in the same room. converging in one
place did wonders for speeding up the process.
[Gambit] Yes.
The different time zones are an ass-pain, and having to
communicate via e-mail and IRC is difficult. We need to be
sitting in the same room I think.
[Lando] Yeah. It
was quite a challenge juggling files around like that. Many
items got lost or mixed up in the process. Not to mention the
10 or so hour delay after asking a fellow team member a
question.
[Scope] Ahhh ...
the wonders of the internet. Sure, it's harder than if you're
all sitting in the same room but since most of us have other
pursuits, we wouldn't have really been able to work together
all that much anyway, even if we all lived in the same city.
However, the entire team (myself excluded) did gather in
Holland for a month-long stretch during the summer so that
helped speed up the completion of the project considerably.
[Peachies] Do you all have
unbelievable phone bills?
[Bubbah] Define
"unbelievable"...
[Pope] I have a
$130 phone bill from one call to lando (US -> australia). and
that was made after malice was finished, on a sunday night.
lando talks forever.
[Whodini]
Probably just Bubbah. .... and I think Lando and Pope are
headed to "The People's Court" to settle a dispute about a
phone bill.
[Gambit] Nope. I
have free local calls! $30 a month for internet.
[Lando] Heheh...
POPE? (Luke and i had a small phone "thing" going for a while,
but after he spent $150 US on ONE call from Virginia to
Australia, i think the phone thing received a quick bloody
death.)
[Scope] Errrrm
.... I have yet to talk to a single team member on the phone.
Hell, Whodini is a local call and we haven't even talked
"live" yet. You just get used to communicating via the
internet.
[Peachies] How did Epochalypse
hook up with Quantum Axcess?
[Bubbah]
Embrionic Pete e-mailed me and was looking for a modeller to
work on a Quake2 Total Conversion for QA. We had a secret
website over at Viewpoint Datalabs (heheh...something even the
guys at Viewpoint didn't know about...heheh), with Screenshots
and stuff to help the team communicate ideas and log our
progress. We'd already worked some 5 months on the project, so
we had quite a bit to show. I gave Pete the adress and the
rest is history.
[Pope] through
Embrionic Pete. i think bubbah had done some stuff with NAWC
when pete was there.
[Peachies] The response to
Malice has been awesome, to say the least! In one word, how
does that make you feel?
[Bubbah]
Marlboro...
[Pope] rosy
[Whodini] Sick.
:> hehe ... YOU figure it out.
[Gambit]
Well...unfulfilled cause most people still don't know who we
are, and they think QA did all of it.
[Lando] One word
doesn't give much... but... i'll say: "Satisfied"
[Scope] You
know, it's kinda funny. When I was releasing levels to the
public domain, I would get e-mail from all kinds of people
congratulating me on a job well done. That kind of personal
touch is a lot more rewarding than a bunch of impersonal
reviews, no matter how positive they are. So, for those of you
reading this, there's a message here; next time you wander
across a great quake page, level, mod, or anything else make
sure to drop the creator an e-mail thanking them for their
efforts.
[Peachies] Malice... what
a great title! Whose idea was it to use "Malice"?
[Pope] it was
actually QA's suggestion to use that name. we planned to call
the game "Damage" but there's already a PC title called "Heavy
Damage", which was too close for QA's comfort.
[Scope] Hehe ...
well, Malice was not the first choice. The game was called
"Damage" for most of it's development. Due to copyright
problems, Damage had to be scrapped and, after going through
about 100 possible names with a similar theme, the boys at
Quantum Axcess came up with Malice.
[Peachies] I hear you all made a
trip to Holland to work on Malice... how was it? and was that
the first time you'd all met each other?
[Pope] holland
is absolutely incredible. too many cool experiences to list.
amsterdam is twice as cool as everyone says it is. it was the
first time we'd all met in person. very weird waiting at the
airport for some guy you've never seen. and using people's
nicks in person was a little strange at first.
[Whodini] Yeah.
It was...... hmmm.... an Eye Opening experience. We all kinda
thought we knew each other right up to that point. Man were we
WRONG. heheh
[Gambit] It was
really aweseome in Holland...except for eveyone spoke Dutch
which I have to say is the most horrible language I've heard.
When I got to the airport, I spent about 15 minutes walking
around with a heavy suitcase. I repeatedly kept looking at
three guys sitting in chairs about 50 ft. away (Bubbah, Pope,
and Rene Post)...They eventually came and got me...heheh
[Lando] Yeah,
the work we did in Holland was amazing. When we all got
together in the one room, after being on different continents,
the ideas and progress attained a whole new level. I only wish
we could've stayed longer, to put in MORE cool stuff. Oh yeah,
and the chicken kebabs were AWESOME!
[Scope] An noted
above, I was the only team member who did not make it to
Holland. I'm the old man on the crew and could not get away
from my real job long enough to make a trip overseas.
[Peachies] There's an old saying
that goes something like.. "you are your worst critic." Based
on that, are you satisfied with Malice... the finished
product?
[Bubbah] oooh,
trick question...watch your step guys....
[Pope] yup
[Whodini] satisfied.
That's a weird concept. I don't think so, personally. I get a
little satisfaction knowing that we started _and completed_ a
game. But as for the game itself... that's different. When I
look at it, I only seem to see the things we had to leave
out... or the errors and inconsistencies that are in there.
[Gambit] No...I
shouldn't say anything else. :)
[Lando] Yes,
because we all know malice is pretty cool, and the gamers
(yeah, you guys) seem to like it alot as well. That alone
creates the satisfaction which makes it all worthwhile.
However, there is alot of things in malice that i know could
be better. I also know that epochalypse is VERY creative, and
our limits were in no way reached with malice.
[Scope] Well,
you can always do more but I think Malice can qualify as a
product that was not rushed to market unfinished. The major
pressure was to release a quality product before Quake 2 and I
think we did that.
[Peachies] What is the one most
spectacular thing you each could say that makes Malice stand
out among other TC's?
[Bubbah] The
rats...heh...anyone notice how they sneak up on you when you
aren't looking? Curious Critters...
[Pope] I
personally think it's the team that made it. creating
something like malice is not a one shot deal; it takes
talented people who have something to prove and no
reservation. we wanted to create something that was worth
buying; something that wouldn't need hype or publicity to be
successful. with so many add-ons available for free on the
internet, it's difficult to justify a commercial add-on.
instead of just doing a few new levels, and hacking in a new
monster or two, we all decided early on that malice would be
something special, a new experience worth spending $20 on.
[Whodini] Attitude.
You could say it has cool monsters... or you could say it has
neat "toyz"... or cutscenes, or whatever. All of this is
really good stuff. But I think above all else Malice just has
a lot of 'tude.
[Gambit] Just
the overall quality of everything in the game. It's unmatched
by any TC group.
[Lando] I just
LOVE the illumination on the dancer skin from those disco
floors. (credits to Whodini n Pope heheh...)
[Scope] Levels
d3 "A Rat's Life" and d12 "Takahiro Laboratories" really make
the game stand out ... oh, sorry, shameless self-promotion
there. Actually, I was blown away with the quality of some of
the stuff that Lando, Pope, and Bubbah came up with. The
character animations, cut-scenes, sounds, and music stand out
in my mind as features that are as good as you will find in
any game.
[Peachies] Malice servers have
popped up all over the place! Have you guys played on the
servers?
[Gambit] You
know I have!
[Lando] Not
much. Being in Australia there AREN't any/many? Malice servers
around. :( Heh, AND i'm too afraid of meeting Pope on one...
and him pitching rockets at my face with endless comments
like... "Nice catch!"
[Scope] Yah ...
I frequent the servers every once in a while. I've found that
I usually get whipped without my rocket launcher and quad but
it's still a blast. I think Malice really shines as a 1 on 1
deathmatch experience, where as Quake DM makes for better team
play given the need for strategy presented by certain weapons
and power-ups.
[Peachies] I've also seen Malice
Clans or Corporations in the making. Does Epochalypse plan to
have a clan of their own?
[Gambit] I
really hope not. I got used to playing with a ping of 50 in
Holland, now I'm reduced to around 400-500. I suck now!
[Scope] I don't
think so. We're all over the world and most of the team uses a
standard modem connection so it's hard to find a server that
we would be competitive on.
[Peachies] How does it make you
feel fragging everyone at this awesome game you all created?
[Gambit] Read
above :)
[Lando] Heh, no
one knows the Atom Smasher like i do :) I know how it works,
and i know how to get the best out of it. Lookout! (Firing
into a room with 4 or so clients, seeing them trying to run,
to escape... so futile. OH YEAH. That's what the BAG is all
about)
[Peachies] What is your Malice
weapon of choice... and why?
[Bubbah] The
hellfire, definately...Love the implosion sounds and sprites.
[Pope] the
double barrel shotgun. gibs in one shot.
[Whodini] There
can be no doubt... it's the mortar gun. (YES!) It's a
love/hate thing tho. You know what I mean I'm sure... if
you've used it
[Gambit] Vert-barrel,
POWERFUL at close range..and easy gib. If you have a low ping
and good aim, you can't go wrong.
[Lando] I change
from time to time. But here: either the HELLFIRE or the VERT-BARREL.
Having a vert-barrel and a hoverboard is a most LETHAL combo.
Cool for up-close attacks.
[Scope] Chaingun
due to the need not to reload all the time. My second choice
is the missile launcher. Although not as deadly as the Quake
missile launcher, it still has that quick-kill ability.
[Peachies] The Malice soundtrack
is awesome! Did you all work together on that?
[Pope] the
soundtrack is completely lando's baby. actually, i didn't hear
it until i got my boxed CD in the mail. the music totally
floored me. all through development, malice was music free; i
had trouble imagining what would fit right. lando's tracks are
perfect.
[Whodini] The
soundtrack just fell out of the sky, didn't it ?? Oh no...
that's right... now I remember. Lando made it. little
australian freak that he is. heh good music tho !!
[Gambit] Nope,
The awesome tracks are totaly Lando's.
[Scope] Lando is
the man! He did the whole thing all by himself.
[Peachies] What about other
sounds? Do they all come from the mouths of Epochalypse? :)
[Bubbah] You
betcha...heh..If you look hard enough in one of the pak files
you get to hear Whodini cussing and swearing trying to say his
Bossman lines.
[Pope] I voiced
the torcher, lando mouthed damage (along with a whole slew of
other sfx), bubbah's the swat man, gambit's the rioteer, and
whodini tore up the voice acting scene with bossman.
[Lando] Heh.
yeah, I did the RAT.
[Whodini] NO
COMMENT. ahem (/me practices his lines... "Steal me the plans
for the secret technology from tAAAAkahiro - F*CK !!!!!")
[Gambit] Yeah
some...but I'm not going to be the one who cheapens the game.
:)
[Scope] Sounds
were mostly made in Holland and, since I wasn't there, this
question is best answered by others.
[Peachies]
Oh! And Damage.. heh.. I hear
the women love his voice! Who *IS* Damage?
[Bubbah] Musta
been that pinch of Australian accent in Lando's voice then...heh.
[Pope] lando...
with a one octave drop. his voice is normally really high and
squeaky.
[Lando] He's
this muscle bound, large, tanned guy we got in. Pretty cool
honcho. Sorry, he wanted his identitiy to remain anonymous.
[Whodini]
Hmmm.... Damage's voice just fell out of the sky, didn't it ??
Oh no... now I remember... hehehhe LANDO !!!!!!!
[Gambit] Heheh,
Thats Lando again...when he's on a box of Contact-C.
[Scope] Will the
voice of Damage please come forward ...
[Peachies] Ok... the question
everyone wants to know... where does Epochalypse go from here?
[Bubbah] Very
tricky, hard unfair question Peachie...Ask us in about a year
;)
[Pope] we're
starting up another project. something a bit off of the 1st
person shooter path. try to remember us in 8 months.
[Whodini] Back
to the proverbial drawing board.
[Gambit] We make
another game (TC I guess) for Q2, that will kick Malice's ASS!
[Lando] Well,
it's hard to predict, but we are still working hard. Our next
title... Hmmm... it's classified. But eventually i think we
would all like to have top of the line titles coming out quite
regularly. (If that's possible)
[Scope] Well,
we're working on a DM pack and a few other small projects to
support Malice. The plan is to develop another 3d game in the
near future but, since nothing is in concrete yet, no details
are available.
Thanks again, guys!!! I'm sure we'll be seeing more of
Team Epochalypse in the near future!
-Peachies
