Hello and welcome to my interview booth on this Quake Expo. Since this is the last day of the expo, I thought it would be interesting to see how the three people who have headed up three of the four expos (Quake Expo 2003, 2005 and 2006) differ and how they are alike. CocoT, who ran the very first Expo was not available for comment.

I invited the three to my lair and much to my dismay, they each took up a position on one of the buttons that controls the electrodes, but I will stay the lavaballs for now. So FrikaC, Programmer of many Quake mods and tools on my left. MauveBib, lead coder of the ELF team and programmer of many Quake mods on my right and scar3crow standing on the trigger. Let the questions begin.

Chthon: What do you think the Quake Expo really accomplishes? Is it good for the communities or bad?

FrikaC: Well, I think it does a good job at doing what was originally intended, as a wake up call for the rest of the world that Quake still exists, though I think the more recent additions of Quake 2 and 3 have dimished that end somewhat. It also works to unite the communities, but I don't think it's very successful at it.

The expo begins and ends with 'mapper booths' and 'modder booths'. I started a thread on Inside3D's forums this year asking what people were most interest, and being a modder forum, most everyone came back with mods, I don't think anyone really said they were interested in a map. As for being good or bad? I'd say any exposure is good exposure, and really the fundamental achievement of Quake Expo is exposure.

MauveBib: That's a tricky question. Qexpo has always been about trying to bring the communities together, and it certainly achieves that for the duration of it's run. However, time and time again we've seen that after the Qexpo things go back to how they were. There is a deep divide in the community, one that I'm really not sure is healable anymore. It's been there for so long that I don't think it's ever going to go away. Having said that, I think relations are better now than they were a few years ago. So, to answer the question, I don't think Qexpo is neccesarily going to heal the rift, but I think it has certainly helped stop it growing.

scar3crow: It is most definitely good for the communities, simply through the sake of how it occurs on irc alone. Normally I can find a handful of coders and a few engine people, and random other Quake or gaming fans, but I have to search for more than that. But right now I see mappers, coders, and texture artists talking (literally right now), in the same room, same server. It evangelizes the Quake community with the talents of the sub-communities to say the least.

This is evident through the proliferation of Gyro physics, which arent all that new to the people at Inside3d, but have really caught the eye of others, such as avirox. QExpo simultaneously takes us back to the glory days when PlanetQuake was the site we all circled around, but it does so in celebration of new great content, the fact that the community still creates new wonderful things. We arent just making more heat seeking rockets and giant pyramid temple rooms.

Chthon: What's the hardest part of running the Quake Expo?

FrikaC: During my tenure, I found dealing with the Quake engine coders, particularly those that had 'moved on' to Quake 2 particularly vexing. Quake Expo 2003 didn't allow Quake 2 and many in the engine communities boycotted the expo as a result, even though Quake Expo had been envisioned as a Quake-only event. Actually, during the expo was fairly smooth sailing, I had preplanned my releases and pre-made my booth. The year's theme was comics, so I drew a bunch of comics before hand. During the expo, I just updated the news. So I'd have to say the long organizational phase was the hardest part.

MauveBib: For me it was the organisational side of things. I'm an incredibly disorganised person, and taking on a project of that magnitude was a real challenge. I also made the mistake of trying to complete a huge mod project while running the event, which seriously limited the time I was able to spend on it.

The adding of Quake 2 to the mix also provided a few problems. I'm not an expert on Quake 2, in fact I know very little about it. I advertised to try to get someone from the Quake 2 community involved in running the expo, but without success. This made it very hard for me to make Quake 2 feel really part of the qexpo, since I just didn't know enough about it to provide events etc.

scar3crow: For me the difficulty came in the preparation, and battling with my over-ambition. Time has a way of being disproportionate. April seems so far from July, but early July tells you that there is no time left for anything. That is hardly an interesting answer though, and one beguiled with my own insecurities about quality.

I would say one thing that was pleasantly difficult was keeping track of the news, the fact that I was at times a little overwhelmed by how much had been released and trying to divy it up into clear news posts to make sure it got some attention. Its counting your blessings and not having enough breath to speak a number so long in a way.

Chthon: The mapping and modding communities don't get along to well, yet they, and much of the rest of the broader community unite under the banner of Quake Expo. Do conflicts arise?

FrikaC: Between the mappers and modders during the Expo? Not that I've seen. Like I said above, they basically remain seperated. As much has been said about them mingling together, it's really only in the fact they're all under the roof of Quake Expo. I really wish this could end, that some cooperation could happen, but the two communities hold different ideals and may never get along.

MauveBib: Of course. The different arms of the Quake community have different opinions of Quake. This is something of a generalisation, but it roughly goes like this: The modders see Quake as a great platform for making their ideas come to life; a sort of 3d game toolkit. They love Quake for what it can become. The mappers see Quake a perfect, great game, one which should only be tweaked slightly, and given new places to play in. They love Quake for what it was. The gamers just love playing it, and generally couldn't give a hoot one way or another about the petty feud.

It's a shame really, because most modders would love to be able to have more maps for their mods. Qexpo is a way of constraining this feud. It's a chance for everyone to celebrate every aspect of Quake. I think that because it's a time-limited event, it allows us to drop our preconceptions for a while and really interact properly. It's just a shame that we can't seem to manage it the rest of the time.

scar3crow: I myself has not seen any real conflicts, maybe a few passing jabs. However the issue of mappers and modders coming together on projects is not one Ive seen solidly brought up during this expo, beyond the example of Travail. The thing is, the coding most mappers need done, generally speaking, isnt of that high level of magnitude. And the maps mods need often dont interest a mapper in construction technique, or they dont challenge them enough.

I think the conflicts dont arise because during QExpo it is a time of higher exposure, we get to see aspects of the other communities that we didnt notice. Much like everyone else discovering Gyro, I discovered the work of HeadThump and such. I missed out on a lot of map releases because I dont hang out in the same places, and the only reason I knew of than's imminent release of The Occupied Base is because I consulted with him for this QExpo.

Chthon: Do you think Quake is running out of gas?

FrikaC: I'm not sure Quake itself is running out of gas, I think it's evolving. The countless total conversion standalone games it is spawning are basically what's left of the Quake community. There's maybe a half dozen hard core modders left that still work only in QuakeC. I can't say much about the mapping community and I'm surprised there's still a strong player community. Maybe the original game is dying, but something else is rising as a phoenix from the ashes, in my opinion.

MauveBib: As a platform, Quake gives us infinite possibilities. The problem is that the number of people exploring these is dropping. I think that development for the original Quake is beginning to die off, yes, but it's being replaced by projects using the modified quake engines. I myself have made a standalone game using the DarkPlaces engine, and I think it's in this direction that the future of Quake modding probably lies. The open source nature of the quake engines gives us more possibilies that most other engines out there. We should perhaps embrace these possibilities rather than clinging to the past.

scar3crow: The concept of Quake running out of gas presupposes that it consumes its fuel rather than dwelling in it. To stick with the analogy, no it is not running out of gas. At times I have despaired such, but come each QExpo I see that it isnt a lack of creativity, content, and sheer talent - it is a lack of communication. It isnt that Quake is running out of gas, it is that were not carpooling and thus forgetting who are neighbors are.

Once again I can cite how Gyro spread like gibs amongst the other communities once QExpo started, whereas before hand it was mostly noted as a series of tutorials on inside3d and its forums. At this point, Quake is alive as long as we want it to be. The Quake and Doom communities have shown that it is the fans that keep things going. "Quake Killers" of past have come and gone (one of them finally released just this summer), yet Quake still comes out with unique content to it, in all forms. Quake is a bizarro roulette table, we took a gamble and found perpetual community and creativity (as opposed to Pascal's attempt to create perpetual motion and ended up creating a gambler's device).

Chthon: What do you think Quake Expo has contributed to the world of Quake?

FrikaC: I think it keeps it in the public eye. I think that if Quake Expo didn't exist I bet most people out there would think the various communities of the Quake engine don't even exist. It's hard toiling away in obscurity, and I think without the expo, the Quake community itself might've collapsed long ago.

MauveBib: I honestly believe that if it wasn't for Quake Expo, I probably wouldn't be modding for Quake any more. When the first Qexpo happened in 2001, mod development had dried right up. Qexpo gave us something to aim for, a release date for the projects we'd been putting off. Previously we used to see mods being released haphazardly, and this lack of direction was leading to a falling off in modding.

Now, it's quite common for people to work on projects and time them to be completed in time to be released at qexpo. I know I've done it on several occasions. I'd probably still be working on them now if it weren't for Qexpo as a self enforced release date. On top of this, Quake Expo has allowed us to reach out beyond Quake, to let the internet and the gaming world in general know that people still care about this silly old game. It warms my heart to see so many booths at this Qexpo, and so many at those in the past.

scar3crow: Quake Expo is kind of like Band Aid. Only with much much better music. It has created a universal sense of anticipation amongst the content creators, and a common table to regularly dine at and share. Quake Expo is a tangible bond we share, an illustration of how we all love Quake and really have the chance to see firsthand how others do.

Chthon: Standalone games based on the Quake engine have increasingly been invading the expo. What's your take on this trend?

FrikaC: I love it. I think this is the direction forward for Quake. Although I love the atmosphere, themes and general quakiness of Quake, I'm also a modder and I love to see what can be done with the engine and the QuakeC. My only fear on the matter is distance. The more distant these games get from Quake and their roots the less cohesion I think Quake Expo may retain.

MauveBib: I think it's great. Quake isn't just the game with the brown walls anymore, it's a whole spectrum of games. From projects like Nexuiz, which I happen to know got quite a few people into qc coding, to the upcoming Darsana, it's now quite possible for a standalone game based on the Quake engine to be taken seriously. Much thanks for this has to go to the engine coders who made the advanced platforms for building these games, and LordHavoc's Darkplaces is the classic example. Having the chance to create standalone games nothing like the original is what personifies the modder's view of Quake as a platform.

scar3crow: Quake was developed in a bit of an indie atmosphere, and with the attitude of allowing creativity to blossom, even more so than was allowed with Doom and what happened via level hacks for Wolf3d. This is a continuation of such blossoming, but with the unique attribute of it no longer being Quake. The Quake engines have had their stamp on the commercial gaming industry with Hexen2, Half Life, SiN, Soldier of Fortune, Jedi Knights, and many more.

Now we are seeing a second wave of that through the much less financially constrained paths of independent developers, creating sheerly out of devotion to their design specs. It is Quake in attitude and devotion, but not in the evident aesthetic portrayed nor the raw gameplay. It is loving Quake in the way Quake loves games as a whole with its free open source modifiable nature.

Chthon: What defines the Quake Expo for you?

FrikaC: The anticipation of the opening day, getting to see all these booths that people have spent months preparing in some cases, in others, things people have whipped up on short notice. They're all interesting and they all have something to contribute. There's always more than a few surprises opening day. This year nor any of the previous years have been any different.

MauveBib: There is one moment that for me, defines my experience of Quake Expo. It was writing my final newspost when I ran it in 2005. I was incredibly busy trying desperately to complete my game for the Qexpo, and took a few minutes out to write a farewell. As I was writing it, I really started to understand just how much Quake has meant to me, and how much it has meant to other people. That probably sounds very silly, but it's how I feel now.

scar3crow: I knew I was experiencing Quake Expo properly when early on into it, I remarked to Sajt in a private channel "It feels like early 97. But it's new content". It is that sensation that Quake is just as alive now as it was 10 years ago, though with a smaller obvious population, there is an equal amount of zeal. Quake Expo is literally, sharing Quake and all of its attributes with everyone else who enjoys it. Nevermind community divisions or disagreements, it is a time to share and a time to frag complete strangers on a map youve never played in a mod youve never heard of once again.

Chthon: What's your favorite game besides Quake? Why?

FrikaC: Neverwinter Nights. I like RPGs and freedom, and although the base game isn't very free the modules that are available can sometimes make it very free and very choice driven. I love that.

MauveBib: Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck's Revenge. It's just the perfect adventure game. It's funny, hard, has zombie pirates and a fantastically surreal ending. I'm not all that much of a gamer really, and my tastes are definately retro.

scar3crow: Wow. Now that one is a doozy... The first two that come to mind are Doom and Blood, the first everyone should know why... it's Doom! Blood has simply awesome atmosphere, attitude, weapons, and enemies. It is something that is deserving of much more attention than it has ever received. I am also a strong fan of both Diablo games and have lost a lot of time to both. Unreal is a game I really enjoy on ocassion, more of as an adventure game with random deathmatch-esque 1on1s.

There are a lot of games I do enjoy a lot, Quake being #1, with Doom/2 and Blood quickly behind it in a tight race. Two games I really enjoy that I never hear anyone speaking of are Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3 and Ghost Master. I love HoMM2/3 cause of its simultaneous depth and also simplicity, and the fact that there is just so much gameplay, one mission can take so long, but not in a tiring sense - and you still have 40+ you can do at your leisure.

Ghost Master is a great little game that was bogged down by silly box art - but I bought it anyways on impulse, and was delighted to find a unique strategy game with a strange turn based nature, where creativity was definitely rewarded with humorous scenarios, but also helped you to complete the mission faster. I love a game where I dont feel obviously herded, where when I play it a second time I get a different experience. I like games where I play the game, rather than have it dictated to me while holding down an action button.

Chthon: Who's your favorite Quake boss?

FrikaC: Chthon, definitely.

MauveBib: Chthon. Shub is just lazy.

scar3crow: Chthon, it was more puzzling to fight him and his attack was so bombastic and he just looked outright mean, though Shub on the runequake coop server is quite mean herself... However the Dragon at the end of Dissolution of Eternity was awesome to fight and Armagon in Scourge of Armagon was no slouch either. But all in all, Chthon and his house built to kill him comes out on top.

Chthon: ROAR!