NEWS
AMERICA'S ARMY 3: RECENT NEWS STORIES
FULLY MISSION CAPABLE: OIL RIG
Posted: 9 JUN 08, by Phoenix
Oil Rig, the latest map to be elevated to Fully Mission Capable status on Mission Depot is the creation of America's Army community member =EE=Doug. A full-time university student, Doug is involved in a wide variety of activities including tennis and ice hockey. He also keeps himself fit by working as a part-time tree surgeon and landscaper. Keeping his grades up is Doug's first priority, but during breaks from his studies he returns to the only game he plays; America's Army. We had a chance to sit down with Doug and ask him a few questions about his experience with America's Army and the creation of Oil Rig. AA: So Doug, let me ask you a few questions. When was the first time you heard of America’s Army, and how long have you been playing the game? Doug: I first heard about America’s Army on the BBC news. I tried to download it but the file was far too large for a 56k connection. When I got broadband a year later I suddenly remembered about it and downloaded it straight away. The first version I got was 1.6. AA: Have you ever belonged to an America’s Army clan? Are you now, and if so, which one? Doug: I was a member of =Kidz= which was an under 18 clan that my brother made. Then I was a co founder of European Elite Squad =EE= which is a fun relaxed clan that I am still part of now. AA: Which MOS do you prefer when playing? Doug: I don’t really have a favourite but the IF74 is my least favourite. AA: Do you have a favourite map or maps? What is about these maps that you like? Doug: My favourite map is Headquarters Raid. I like balanced maps with fast game play and HQRaid meets this. There are also many ways to go and its quite tactical. Hospital is another favourite and recently I’ve really enjoyed SF Oldtown as its balanced, fast and there are many routes to go. AA: Do you think the game succeeds in trying to portray realism? Which aspect of the game do you feel is most realistic? Doug: I believe it portrays realism well while still being fun to play. I think the training is very realistic as it’s very thorough. AA: Have you ever played in an organized competition and if so which, and how did you do? Doug: I played in a TWL ladder with my clan. We did quite well getting in the top 10 but the commitment became too great so we stopped. AA: How did you come up with the idea for this map? What was it that motivated you, a book, movie, what? Doug: I like fast small maps so an Oilrig seemed a great setting. I thought it would be a different environment to current maps with slightly different gameplay. Motivation to keep working on Oilrig was from wanting to play it. AA: What aspect of your map do you think the community will like the best? Doug: Hopefully the game play. It is quiet fast and you definitely need teamwork to cover each other. There’s a few nice features such as an elevator and it should run on lower end systems which will please some people. AA: How long did you work on this map before feeling it was “finishedâ€� Doug: I can only guess -I think it took about 250 hours to learn the editor and build Oilrig. Then I maybe spent 50 hours tweaking it and fixing bugs, my clan spent over 200 combined hours testing it. That gives a total of around 500 hours. AA: What was one of the harder aspects to accomplish in your map? Doug: Trying to make the map balanced and bug free. It took along time and was quite tedious. AA: Do you have any tips for other map makers? How they can best go about building a map, organizing their work, what pitfalls to avoid? Doug: Don’t expect it to be a quick process and you will need lots of patience. While making your map try think of game play and get the basic layout before adding detail. Do not rush the release - ensure you have it beta tested properly and as bug free as possible. Finally if your stuck ask for help, there are lots of great mappers out there who spend lots of time helping others. AA: Did you have any prior experience building maps before you made Oil Rig? Doug: No I had never built a map for any game, this made the AA editor difficult to use at first but I soon learnt by trial and error. I just made alot it up as I went along since I am not very good at following tutorials. AA: Do you have any special skills which you feel helped you while building Oil Rig? Doug: Definitely not! My clan laughed at me when I announced I was attempting to make a map. AA: What have you learned about the Army in your time playing America’s Army? Has your viewpoint of Soldiers and the Army changed since playing AA? Doug: I’ve realized the Army put a lot of effort into training and emphasis on working as a team. I have a lot of respect for people in the Army. AA: How was the process of making Oilrig FMC? Doug: It was very exciting. After a few legal issues the whole process was very quick and smooth and I received lots of help during it. AA: Do you plan to create another map? Doug: I already have created Bunker Crisis jointly with ={KTS}=DELTATHUND3R and started a few other maps. There are also lots more community efforts in development. AA: Any closing remarks you’d like to make? Doug: I would like to thank all the people that have helped me on many occasions. Ones that come to mind are ={KTS}=DELTATHUND3R, SF{SOC}G=Mean, =EE=silvershadow, -=ME=-SpetS.Arg, [-YaNSaG-], (29th)Loose, ZarO!O, blueblaster and Master_Ghost_Knight. Also there are all the people that spend hours beta testing maps but unfortunately there are too many to name. I look forward to your feedback and I hope you all enjoy the map. I will see you in my sights! Note: Oil Rig may be automatically downloaded via our Dynamic Content Delivery System (DCDS) by simply attempting to join any server running Oil Rig. You may also download Oil Rig, or any other community created map by visiting Mission Depot, and download any map you'd like. Once downloaded, just copy the map to your America's Army/Maps folder.
Oil Rig, the latest map to be elevated to Fully Mission Capable status on Mission Depot is the creation of America's Army community member =EE=Doug. A full-time university student, Doug is involved in a wide variety of activities including tennis and ice hockey. He also keeps himself fit by working as a part-time tree surgeon and landscaper. Keeping his grades up is Doug's first priority, but during breaks from his studies he returns to the only game he plays; America's Army. We had a chance to sit down with Doug and ask him a few questions about his experience with America's Army and the creation of Oil Rig. AA: So Doug, let me ask you a few questions. When was the first time you heard of America’s Army, and how long have you been playing the game? Doug: I first heard about America’s Army on the BBC news. I tried to download it but the file was far too large for a 56k connection. When I got broadband a year later I suddenly remembered about it and downloaded it straight away. The first version I got was 1.6. AA: Have you ever belonged to an America’s Army clan? Are you now, and if so, which one? Doug: I was a member of =Kidz= which was an under 18 clan that my brother made. Then I was a co founder of European Elite Squad =EE= which is a fun relaxed clan that I am still part of now. AA: Which MOS do you prefer when playing? Doug: I don’t really have a favourite but the IF74 is my least favourite. AA: Do you have a favourite map or maps? What is about these maps that you like? Doug: My favourite map is Headquarters Raid. I like balanced maps with fast game play and HQRaid meets this. There are also many ways to go and its quite tactical. Hospital is another favourite and recently I’ve really enjoyed SF Oldtown as its balanced, fast and there are many routes to go. AA: Do you think the game succeeds in trying to portray realism? Which aspect of the game do you feel is most realistic? Doug: I believe it portrays realism well while still being fun to play. I think the training is very realistic as it’s very thorough. AA: Have you ever played in an organized competition and if so which, and how did you do? Doug: I played in a TWL ladder with my clan. We did quite well getting in the top 10 but the commitment became too great so we stopped. AA: How did you come up with the idea for this map? What was it that motivated you, a book, movie, what? Doug: I like fast small maps so an Oilrig seemed a great setting. I thought it would be a different environment to current maps with slightly different gameplay. Motivation to keep working on Oilrig was from wanting to play it. AA: What aspect of your map do you think the community will like the best? Doug: Hopefully the game play. It is quiet fast and you definitely need teamwork to cover each other. There’s a few nice features such as an elevator and it should run on lower end systems which will please some people. AA: How long did you work on this map before feeling it was “finishedâ€� Doug: I can only guess -I think it took about 250 hours to learn the editor and build Oilrig. Then I maybe spent 50 hours tweaking it and fixing bugs, my clan spent over 200 combined hours testing it. That gives a total of around 500 hours. AA: What was one of the harder aspects to accomplish in your map? Doug: Trying to make the map balanced and bug free. It took along time and was quite tedious. AA: Do you have any tips for other map makers? How they can best go about building a map, organizing their work, what pitfalls to avoid? Doug: Don’t expect it to be a quick process and you will need lots of patience. While making your map try think of game play and get the basic layout before adding detail. Do not rush the release - ensure you have it beta tested properly and as bug free as possible. Finally if your stuck ask for help, there are lots of great mappers out there who spend lots of time helping others. AA: Did you have any prior experience building maps before you made Oil Rig? Doug: No I had never built a map for any game, this made the AA editor difficult to use at first but I soon learnt by trial and error. I just made alot it up as I went along since I am not very good at following tutorials. AA: Do you have any special skills which you feel helped you while building Oil Rig? Doug: Definitely not! My clan laughed at me when I announced I was attempting to make a map. AA: What have you learned about the Army in your time playing America’s Army? Has your viewpoint of Soldiers and the Army changed since playing AA? Doug: I’ve realized the Army put a lot of effort into training and emphasis on working as a team. I have a lot of respect for people in the Army. AA: How was the process of making Oilrig FMC? Doug: It was very exciting. After a few legal issues the whole process was very quick and smooth and I received lots of help during it. AA: Do you plan to create another map? Doug: I already have created Bunker Crisis jointly with ={KTS}=DELTATHUND3R and started a few other maps. There are also lots more community efforts in development. AA: Any closing remarks you’d like to make? Doug: I would like to thank all the people that have helped me on many occasions. Ones that come to mind are ={KTS}=DELTATHUND3R, SF{SOC}G=Mean, =EE=silvershadow, -=ME=-SpetS.Arg, [-YaNSaG-], (29th)Loose, ZarO!O, blueblaster and Master_Ghost_Knight. Also there are all the people that spend hours beta testing maps but unfortunately there are too many to name. I look forward to your feedback and I hope you all enjoy the map. I will see you in my sights! Note: Oil Rig may be automatically downloaded via our Dynamic Content Delivery System (DCDS) by simply attempting to join any server running Oil Rig. You may also download Oil Rig, or any other community created map by visiting Mission Depot, and download any map you'd like. Once downloaded, just copy the map to your America's Army/Maps folder.
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