Participants: Pio, ZiGNoTZaG Description: ZiGNoTZaG Interview Created On: August, 2002 Q: When, How, Why did you get involved in Subspace? ZiGNoTZaG: Cant remeber exact dates really, cuss it all blends together after awhile, but it was around the time vie first added the shark. A friend of mine showed me the game, at first i was not really interested in it, but soon became addicted to it like all the other's. I think the social aspects of the game attracted me, not to mention that its quite fun to play. Q: What zones do you play in? ZiGNoTZaG: I started out in chaos zone, using some alias I can't even remeber, from there I spent quite some time in DZA(Dueling Arizona) under the alias "drdread" as a dedicated levi pilot. I think i might have racked up like 3000 hours of play time in there before i was burst out. From there i migrated to Witch Doom, and became quite a dedicated player there. That is also the zone that i got started in making graphics/tiles/shipsets for the game. Lately i have returned to DZA. Q: What inspired you to do work in the Subspace Community? ZiGNoTZaG: Im not quite certain, altho GiZzO, the sysop/owner of T3 Witch Doom had alot to do with it, im fairly certain i was in WD one day and ended up in a Race sub-arena, the race-map there needed some work, and i offered to try and fix it up some, and ended up totaly remaking it, which is still do this day in "?go race" in Witch Doom, and is my pride and joy of maps, and in my opinion the best race map there is :)) Pio: Map making is kinda fun ZiGNoTZaG: it can be, until you reach the tedious parts :) Pio: like LVZ? ZiGNoTZaG: take a look at the race map and you will see tiling the corners to be specific. lvz is totaly differant story. Pio: brb. Pio: Thats a fairly nice map, better then the one at TW :) ZiGNoTZaG: thanks Pio: OK on with the interview. Q: What Staff positions do you currently hold? ZiGNoTZaG: Smod in Witch Doom, and soon to be Sysop. Staff has never been one of main desires. Q: What is your main contribution to the Subspace Community? ZiGNoTZaG: i would have to say that my ship sets (http://members.cox.net/zignotzag), which were also inspired by GiZzO are my main contribution to the SS community as a whole. With my tilesets for T3 Witch Doom, And T3 Gauntlet coming up second. Q: What do you use to make your tilesets? ZiGNoTZaG: My first tile set, which was made for WD, i made entirely with MS paint, and it sucked in a major way. The second tile set which came quickly after the second and was also for WD was also made entirely in MS paint, but was vastly improved over the first. The third tileset , and the Current WD tile set, was made using JASC Paint Shop Pro, and is quite possibly my best tile set ever up to this point. The Fourth tile set, T3 Guantlets, also made using PSP, is comprable to WD's. There were some tilesets in between, but the were just lets say "beta version" of the current sets. Pio: Why not use Adobe Photoshop? ZiGNoTZaG: havent ever even looked at it, altho i would guess its most likely overkill for a tile set. and not to mention i was able to aquire PSP at a very resonable price. Pio: ah i see. Q: Do you use PSP for you Shipsets also? ZiGNoTZaG: only to convert the bmp's to RLE 256 color bmps The ship sets are made entirely in bryce3d Q: About how long does it take to make a Ship/Shipset? ZiGNoTZaG: the first ship set i made (WitchFX) took along time, mainly because i didn't really know how to use bryce's animation controls effeciently, and didnt have the proper software to assemble all the frames. i couldnt really say how long, i didnt keep track. but i as continued to make ships, i got much more effecient at it, and can now have a ship (as long as its design is complete) rendered and in the game, compete with rolls, in about 25 mins. the design of a ship can take as little as a few hours, to maybe 20 or 30. Pio: Sounds very nice. ZiGNoTZaG: sure beats the heck out of doing it all manually :) Pio: Yeah Q: What do you do outside of Subspace? ` ZiGNoTZaG: outside of subspace? theres a world beyond subspace? computers, computers, computers. nuff said. hehe Pio: lol. ZiGNoTZaG: i am currently surrounded by PC's as we speak :)) Pio: scary Q: What is the toughest job for you in Subspace and what is the toughest problem you've had to solve? ZiGNoTZaG: well, thats a good question, i think that just the challenge of trying to make the graphics the best i can, the only problems i have solved have been maybe minor ones that newbies were having, and my own graphical shortcomings. i continue to strive to provide fresh new graphics for SS/Cont. Lately i have been working on Some lvz graphics which presented a few problems, but none that i would say were tough. Pio: i can see how graphics would be a problem being how everything is small. ZiGNoTZaG: yeah, its quite an effort to try and take an idea and realize it how you envisioned it at first. Q: What is the most important thing you would like to say about Subspace and the community at large? ZiGNoTZaG: Hmm, well, im just glad to be a part of such a fanatical cult like community, there are some really nice ppl out there, which i think more than make up for the doofuses you are most certainly going to run into. I have met alot of really cool people, that i would honestly consider to be friends. I just hope that SS/Cont keeps going strong. and i would like to thank Priitk and Mr.Ekted and everyone else involved in keepin this game going on for so many years. its become a huge part of alot of our lives, sad but true. Pio: Thanks for doing the interview with me :)