Participants: Fallen Angel, Kill9mm
Description: Kill9mm Interview
Created On: February 2002


Fallen Angel: How, why, and when did you get involved with Subspace?

Kill9mm: Back in high school, a friend of mine coerced me into the computer room, where he
had subspace loaded.  Was a pretty fun game, and I played on and off for a couple of months,
until I canceled my aol account (gag), and proceeded to become addicted to Powerball.

I guess I was really excited about the possibilities and capabilities of the game.
I always envisioned Subspace as much more than it is now.


Fallen Angel: What zones do you fly now?

Kill9mm: I play Powerball and its long-running league, PowerLeague. On and off, I play
Extreme Games and Trench Wars. In the past, I've mostly played Powerball. :)


Fallen Angel: What initially inspired you to start doing work for the Subspace community?

Kill9mm: Well, it all started when my Powerball squad needed a website. I think this was
like 5 years ago roughly. I really enjoyed designing and programming it, and wanted to
improve my skills in both areas. From then, my services were used by Live Wire for
TrenchWars and ZippyDan for Powerball mostly. I suppose my inspiration has always been to
the game itself, much less "popularity" and much more for me to repay the countless hours of
fun I've had.


Fallen Angel: Well that sounds like an awful lot of work. Did you still have time to play?

Kill9mm: Not nearly as much work as running a zone, or being a mod. Those guys are the true
power-workers in the game, regardless of their motives. :)


Fallen Angel: It's all subjective I guess. =)

Are website designs your main contribution to Subspace/Continuum?

Kill9mm: The work I do is mostly in between me playing games and working on other stuff, so
it's not as bad as it may seem. I've got it down to a fast process when I design or program
websites, so it usually doesn't take me long to crank one out. SubspaceHQ took me a total of
a day to design (spread out over a couple weeks), and the same amount of time to integrate
into the existing functionality.

Well, I also have made a graphics compliment to .36, which I think was the first package to
take advantage of the larger capabilities of the new Continuum engine.


Fallen Angel: Well that's impressive. It normally takes someone much longer than that.

Kill9mm: I don't know, I don't really feel the sites I do are that great. I'm always trying
to improve. In fact, I've never really been overly impressed with the work I've done.
Hopefully not many people will read this to discover that information. ;)


Fallen Angel: What are your thoughts regarding the new 0.37 & 0.38?

Kill9mm: I don't have any thoughts on .38, I only just read that it was in the
queue/development off mine's server site.  .37 on the other hand, has really turned Subspace
into the direction it was inevitably destined to pursue. I think that .37 may have been
influenced by Cosmic Rift and possibly other sources, but the implementation so far has been
really exciting. Its given me the inspiration to create my own zone to be used specifically
by .37.


Fallen Angel: Tell us about your new zone. It sounds like you've been able to use the range
of graphics capabilities and other upgrades that .37 allows now.

Kill9mm: Right, and that was always our intention. We wanted to make really large ships,
really small ones, completely replace all graphics and sounds, and use any additional
features .37 came with. Based on our initial idea, we've so far been able to craft unique
settings that are dynamic enough to be real damn fun to play with.


Fallen Angel: I know a lot of people still don't know what upgrades were offered with the
new client. What are the most beneficial that you can tell us about?

Kill9mm: The most obvious I'd say would be the different ship sizes. The most beneficial I
think depends on who you're asking. A common player will shout out that he likes the skins
and customized graphics/sounds. A map-maker will go giggly over being able to add many
different static and animated elements over the basic .lvl files. Personally, I'd say
everything new about .37 is exciting enough to be beneficial for any zone or player. I think
that the best new feature (over what's new with .37) would be adding weapons/sound
events/configuration settings to add more depth and capabilities to the game. An obvious
setting some friends of mine and I thought of were adding strafing movements to your ship,
so you can move directly left or right, like in FPS games. I can see many uses for that with
just one additional setting.


Fallen Angel: Yes. I would like the strafing capability $.

Kill9mm: Especially to evade those damn bombs. :(


Fallen Angel: Giggle. Oh yeah. :=)

What is the name of your new zone Kill?

Kill9mm: We're currently up semi-nightly at USMCc Star Trek (test), but I'd say our name is
"Star Trek".  I guess we haven't firmly decided, but it'll definitely have "Star Trek" in
it, because that's what the zone is.


Fallen Angel: Very cool. Sounds like worth a look see. =)

Kill9mm: Yep, we're very close to finishing and looking for a permanent host. You can find
more info about the status of the zone at startrek.subspacehq.com


Fallen Angel: What is the toughest job for you regarding your role in Subspace and what is
your most rewarding accomplishment?

Kill9mm: Definitely putting the amount of time in that's needed. I don't know how many times
I've seen myself promising the world to upgrade Trench Wars' website, but something has
always come up to push that back. I wish I were able to spend 24 hours a day on this stuff,
but ultimately you just spend as much free time as you can, and hope your work goes into a
needed area. Luckily, an obvious area is website development in subspace. :)


Fallen Angel: What staff positions do you hold within the community?

Kill9mm: My most rewarding accomplishment before this new zone had been my Powerball squad.
Going from underdogs to champions really made me proud.

I think I share webmaster duties with Mackieman for SubspaceHQ, as he always messages me
with stupid stuff to fix. :) We're planning on upgrading the website soon, we're waiting for
Minbari to finish doing server upgrades before we mess with that stuff. I'm also going to be
working on the Powerball website soon, and upgrading it. I used to be interested in helping
out within the game itself, such as being a referee in PowerLeague, or a Mod in TrenchWars,
but I found myself very disconnected with subspace. So, now I just do this outside stuff and
have lots of fun when I log into zones.


Fallen Angel: Very cool work. 

Kill9mm: As working on SubspaceHQ? I dunno, sometimes it's a burden, but not nearly as much
as being the creator of a kick-ass design. :) I guess you're right.


Fallen Angel: What is the most important thing you've learned by working within the
Subspace/Continuum community?

Kill9mm: Tough question, you learn so many things...


Fallen Angel: Give us your words of wisdom for the benefit of our younger members in the
community that are interested in becoming staff and doing more for SS or their zones. (How
do they get in on a ground level and climb the ladder? Qualifications, attributes you would
look for in staff you work with, etc.)

Kill9mm: Haha, I don't think I've climbed the ladder as much as younger kids would like. :)
I'd say, just show an enthusiasm for the game and do as much as you can. Surely, I'm not the
one who's done the most for the game, I just do as much and the best as I can. Just get
involved in any way you can, doing what you want. When you start to become disinterested in
the game, give yourself a little breathing room. Regardless, even the smallest amount of
contribution will end up effecting the growth of subspace!


Fallen Angel: Where do you see the Subspace/Continuum community in the future?

Kill9mm: As the game gets bigger, the community will continue to keep it's long-time
veterans, make new ones, and see a lot of newbies. Ultimately, this game is posed to become
much larger as time goes on, and the community's size will reflect that. I haven't really
thought much about it, but if this game becomes as large as other big online games a certain
amount of disconnection could occur. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.


Fallen Angel: Thank you for your work & contributions. It takes people like you who
contribute to Subspace/Continuum to make our community well-rounded, effective, and growing.