csnation.totalgamingnetwork.com
an afternoon with nipper
full article (polls, links, images, and text) @ http://csnation.totalgamingnetwork.com/articles.php/interview_232/
an afternoon with nipper
full article (polls, links, images, and text) @ http://csnation.totalgamingnetwork.com/articles.php/interview_232/
No problem.CS-Nation: Can you give us some information about yourself such as your age, where you live, schooling, etc.?
I'm 22 and live in New York State.CS-Nation: So I must ask, where do you get your map ideas from?
Everything from real life locations, movies, TV, to dreams.CS-Nation: How long have you been mapping in the CS community?
Since April of 2001.CS-Nation: Out of all games that you map for, which game do you like to map for the most?
Counter-Strike: Source, of course.CS-Nation: Which are the hardest maps to detail?
Again, CS:S. The standards of detail are set quite high with official maps like inferno and militia.CS-Nation: Would you ever consider mapping for a game that has complex layouts, a game along the lines of Natural Selection?
I actually made a map for NS a long time ago called ns_dank. I only made it as a favor to someone who sent me a map layout he wanted to see in action. It went over horribly and I gave up on it pretty quickly. And the fact that I don't like NS didn't help any.CS-Nation: Are there any current maps your working on that you can give CS-Nation loyalists some info on?
I'm currently working on a remake of de_lost. A lot has happened in the TV show since I made de_lost so I want to add some of the other Dharma stations. I also want to redo the whole jungle part because I'm not very happy with the way I did that.[Editor's note - Since this interview was conducted, de_lost2 has been released (http://cherryclan.mybigspoon.com/de_lost2.zip) for CS:S.]
de_ maps are my favorite, I guess. I would like cs_ the most if hostages could navigate my maps better.
[ad]CS-Nation: Is there any map that you regret making?
Falling for sure. When I had it in the rotation on my server people would always vote for it over and over again. Yet, whenever we played the map all anyone would do is complain about it. But sure enough they would continue to vote for it whenever we weren't playing it.CS-Nation: Is there any map that you would like to remake?
The existence of that map seemed to amplify the stupidity of everyone who played on my server.
I'd like to remake all my early source ports of 1.6 maps. The ones where I kept the HL1 resolution textures.CS-Nation: As a custom mapper, what "official" CS:Source map do you like the most? That is, what maps do you feel are the most skillfully crafted and the most balanced for gameplay?
cs_milita looks amazing and I've always liked maps where one team is defending a house.CS-Nation: Is there a big future for mapping with NIPPER? Or are you starting to slow down?
I'm starting to slow down but I'll probably be mapping as long as Half-Life games are around.CS-Nation: Are you currently taking any of your 1.6 and converting them to the Source engine?
Not at the moment but the Lord of the Rings maps are probably the next ones on my long "to convert to Source" list.CS-Nation: In your opinion are there any maps out there that ruined Counter-Strike's custom map making or did they just open a new door for custom map making?
Map clones are horrible. Like de_dust20023433 and fy_iceworld9784_super_fullbright_novis.CS-Nation: Is there anything that you hate to see in a custom map that makes it look less of a quality map?
Well, [a map] not being fully compiled for one. Also there's a lot of CS:S maps that use the orange developer textures, I'm not sure what that's about but it makes me not want to play the map.CS-Nation would like to extend a special thanks to NIPPER for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. We're all huge fans of his work and wish NIPPER continued luck in all of his future map making endeavors.