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Interview with R.E.G. for www.xpandrally.com
1. Hello, thank you for making this interview possible. First of all, introduce yourselves and tell us what is R.E.G and why do you deal with racing games in particular?
My name is Cecil Bergwin from R.E.G aka Perfectionist. (www.3dap.com/reg).
R.E.G-Racing-Editing-Gaming is a Racing and Editing orientated community, Firstly and Foremost Founded by Myself aka Perfectionist with an intention of bringing a 100% Editing focus to the Racing Genre, R.E.G on the whole is "everybody" the Community which throughout the ups and the downs come together to work for longevity and life span to our games.
I specifically deal with the racing genre at this time "purely" because I think that there is not enough attention or thoughts towards the general life span of the games we purchase today. Throughout the last (close to two years) R.E.G started as a few documents of my own testing, trials and work, whilst always on the lookout for something interesting and enjoyable for myself i also like to cater for the "Public" who will also enjoy extra Add-ons, Cars, Tracks, Game Modes and general "New Content" for their games. As you are aware there are many communities out there in the racing genre which to be fair are more magazine based which is obviously all needed and welcome but, I have made it my sole intention for some of these non-supported games (no names mentioned ;)) to be supported, if that means people like myself go head deep into investigation and developments and gathering up a community to do so then so be it.
2. How many members are there now at R.E.G.? Are you split into teams working on a particular games or projects or there are no specific divisions?
R.E.G is primarily my foundation and catalyst for my editing needs, this is obviously many other peoples aspirations also, as it seems to grow and grow into an abundance of talent and community spirit. With over 2000 great members and people signing up by the day its just a pleasure to see all these people from around the world come together. I must stress at this point that were pretty flexible here and there are some fantastic people out there who are always on the input, contributions into life span and longevity is clearly second to none with these people. There are also many VIP`s of R.E.G now, some are silent (you never see or hear them) but i can assure they are there and yes this does include other developers and publishing companies throughout the games what we now support. Sometimes we all need some help into the hard worked formats of the games and its always nice to get some inside info. Other members of the community consist of Standalone programmers and developers who all have there own field of specialty who have so much talent to offer and have given so much to R.E.G and the community of the last 2 years or so.
Myself on the other hand, I pretty much cover it all and I am always looking for "New Content" to work with, I work with all aspects of game editing and developments along with any button click that may be needed for whatever the application as I've always classed myself as a flexible person .
3. Which are your favorite racing games and which you find most modable?
Well, this is a big question and could be answered in many ways but I think I will keep this to a real level and not go comparing game to game or Sim to Arcade, Without doubt "Rallisport Challenge" Dice - Digital Illusions !. Why ? Refractor2 engine, not too known by many people still today but lets just say all your BF1942 and Vietnam players are playing it. R.E.G was born because of this engine, you can check my previous site of PCLD (Perfectionist Custom Level Design) www.planetbattlefield.com/perfectionist for more info on this, it will also probably help explain the Birth and transition from 1st person shooter to Racing game for myself. I`ll conclude this answer with this, Xpand Rally developed by you Techland instantly took my attention when i noticed both engines in general, developing a 3d engine with an ease of portraying a variety of game modes and styles ranging from 1st person, to racing game, well that's pretty exceptional in my book and something which many developers should and are working on today. This is a great way to work with your Chrome Engine, as you can see the relation, Chrome-Xpand Rally - BF1942 - Rallisport Challenge ;).
4. We've been observing your activity in modding Xpand Rally. Why did you decide to work with this title? What do you think about the game itself, and, is it easy to mod?
Firstly, the question above will give great hints into this. Secondly without a doubt Xpand Rally or should i say (The Chrome Engine) is obviously a modders dreams, far too many developers out there are either scared ? shy ? or (under the thumb) unwilling to give any support to communities or in fact the people purchasing there games, that's why when I first saw XR i was pretty amazed and many months later still impressed the more deeper I go. The game in general is amazing, from the visual aspects through to the code of the game its all there for you on a plate, really fun and also really competitive racing, the multi player is where this games comes to life. If your like me and you are a Mp gamer as I don't play much Sp you will enjoy battling with your friends online in a variety of races from Free Roam to genuine Rally. I must also the tremendous netcode, I thought from my 1st impressions this was very well handled with the Chrome Engine as other games cease to exist with poor collision comparison in games for force and car movement. There are not many titles out there which take the attention span this has for me and I've not mentioned the word modding ;) that's just purely fun and game play.
5. How do you get along with Techland - the developer of the game? Is Techland's support for modders enough and how does it compare to other developers?
Great, Techland, you guys have been there from day 1 and I'm sure you will be here for a long time to come. Is your support enough you ask ?, in short its pretty damned fine I must say, again I cant reiterate enough how "other" games do no support or do not supply full tools and editing needs so you guys can have a big big feather in your cap there as you are probably the only dev's with enough, mmm what's the word... "courage" to come forward and offer these great support items for your titles. This is something for which you can be most proud of and I'm sure this is a thought from all the Community. We greatly look forward to more :).
6. What are your Xpand Rally related plans for the nearest future? Are you working on any mod or focus on new tracks/cars/skins?
My plans for XR is infinite to be truthfully, as the life span i cannot see deteriorating at all, I'm always working on some form of project , each day that goes by I am more and more impressed with the Chrome Engine and its limits, I really enjoy learning as I go which is the way I like to work and always have done. New Tracks such as Rockingham, Silverstone, Bilston Streets are my personal projects, these will be dedicated Mod tracks for which specific handling of another nature as oppose to Rally. Each time i load up xpand or the chrome editor ideas come thick and fast and so much work can be done in little time when you have the right tools for the job, so thank you Techland as its nice to see such pleasant tools to work with. There are also many parts of testing of the Chrome Engine for which we do on a Regular basis, we means Myself and Knocka, Knocka aka Winston Wallaby has been side by side testing all components of the racing genre with me for the last 5 years, we've made many breakthroughs in testing and editing whilst we are just in our normal test mode, these meaningfull but hilarious sessions also help for the "New Content" to be added as from those stem great ideas, threads, topics and then "Content".
So as you can see I've much to do with XR and The Chrome Engine, if only editing "father time" was so easy :).
7. Are the additional tools and files published by Techland, such as editor tutorial or car wizard, helpful to you? What is the tool you lack most - consequently, what is the most difficult part about modding Xpand Rally
Tutorials are what people want mostly, although here is vast amounts of information you have provided in the manuals, the community would like some more hands on material to get their teeth into, The Wizards are a great idea but a little more documentation for each part and components would be nice for some of the "newer" people to game editing and modding. Apart from that its pretty nice as I've mentioned before, it does exactly what it says on the tin "so to speak" and we cant ask for more than that sometimes can we ? You ask "What is the tool you lack most", if I can answer that in one word it would be GMAX support as I'm sure this would also be a great addition, GMAX is a limited version of (Discreet's) 3dsmax (Free) which many developers are now taking onboard for communities to have a "Solid" 3d platform to work with, there are great support and tools out there for this so adding this to your every growing to do list would be Perfection.
8. What do you think about publishing in the web an extensive tutorial with video material that describes the car creation process for Xpand Rally.
The possible option funnily enough has now arisen as I've recently purchased myself a nice PVR recorder, I'm not too sure on if Car Creation would be in my contents but I'm sure Video Tutorials of track creation and other aspects of XR editing is something what I could possibly look into for this year sometimes its nice to see something on video as the rewind and pause button always helps. I`ll see what becomes over the next few months and see what happens.
9. You create tarmac tracks based on the existing racing tracks, mixed surface tracks as well as tracks with arcade elements sort of like the classic Stunt. Do you think that the game is practically limitless in terms of modding?
Yes i do, limitless is a very good word to use as well as I've not found any yet, Stunning engine and the possible options of Game Types is well as you say limitless.
10. Techland decided to use Java as the script language and make it available for the gamers to make editing easier. Do you think it's a good move?
Great Move, external scripting for games today is something of a requirement I think, people will always want to edit something so why not give them the options in the 1st place. Java or non-Java code is all fine so Yes again great move.
11. Have you considered developing games professionally? Or do you still see your fascination with racing games as fun?
Again another essay could be written here but ill try and be as brief as I can but to the point. Yes I've always had this in my mind for many years now, for one reason or another I've not ever gone deeper into this arena for some reason, whether it be current work or health reasons (long story in forum search "Spontaneous" in R.E.G forums, but over the last 5 years or so I`ve never ruled anything out as the more I develop for games on a Fun basis the more I am traversing towards the professional path, Fun is a great word and it always nice that Fun is still here after so many years which makes me very optimistic about anything what may happen in the future on a professional note and my doors are always open for opportunities that may arise. I`m pretty much experienced in all fields which I've come across, those i am not familiar with, well more to learn and I'm always willing to do that.
12. Is there anything else you want to tell all Xpand Rally fans?
If your not a Fan ? Why not ? and if your thinking about it, I hope that some of my words above will carry weight towards your thought process. Its the year 2005 and you cannot limit yourself to one or two games these days, stop waiting for the inevitable to be released and realize what potential this title and engine provides. Go out and "Grab the Bull by the Horns", go get Xpand rally Now, Play, Edit, whatever floats your boat.
Finally, many many thanx to all the R.E.G community, guest viewers, members, and general public participation for which I'm very greatful and honoured that I can focus an attention point for these matters what we all regard on such a high level. Special Thx to all the private developers who have been around from the start of R.E.G to witness, cherish and startup many sides of editing and modding in all our featured Games, developing 3rd party programs to do things which original developers should have done in the first place or didn't think of is something we always need and these programmers are hard headed in their fight towards this goal. Lastly I would like to thank a few of the hidden people who have contributed so much, we need and thank you.
Thank you for your time and all the answers.
Thank you Techland
Cecil Bergwin
Perfectionist
Admin/Founder
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