Weapons Factory Direct: Interview with Tumorhead 8-20-98

August interview with Tumorhead shortly after the release of WF 3.0. 

WFD – What are you feelings on Weapons Factory becoming one of PlanetQuake’s Mods of the week?

Tumorhead – Also Captured’s site of the week. Gregg and I have thought all along that if we could create a mod with many TF features then it would become popular and that seems to be happening now. When TFS announced that there would be “no TF for Q2” it created a void just needing to be filled. I love seeing new players come on board, and we are getting a lot of exposure now.

WFD – From our poll we found that 25% of our visitors (the majority) are desiring more special abilities. Are you planning on filling the gap of some classes having no special abilities?

Tumorhead – Well, here’s the chronology of what we want to happen:

1) 3.1 bug fix and game play balance (ie sentry too expensive, marines too many homers)
2) Release of the WF Mod Construction Kit so other mods can use our base software.
3) Addition of new weapons and special abilities such as Nurse healing depot and Spy “feign death”

We want to smooth out the gameplay before adding new stuff.

WFD – What exactly are you planning for in the next release of WF?

Tumorhead – Probably some sort of 10th class to compete with TF2 for Half-Life. They’ll have a Commander class. We’re not sure what would be the most fun. I’d like to give clan leaders a class that they could direct their clan with somehow. That might be a good poll question….

WFD – Alot of players have noticed that WF is becoming more like TF in every release. We understand that TF has a great setup, however most of the players (including myself) are not looking for TF in Q2, we are playing WF for it’s variety. Do you plan on mimicking TF to any closer of a similarity, or will future releases add more diversity because of added features?

Tumorhead – I think we are pretty much done with the TF direction. We already have 90% of TF’s features. Some more will be added but most of the new stuff will be completely different. I’ve got enough ideas for 10,000 mods, the problem is implementation and prioritizing what needs to be done ie release the spy class now even though the turrets can still target him.

WFD – With the Mod Construction Kit being released to the public in the next month, and with my understanding it allows you to completely customise WF, won’t that make it rather difficult to find a “normal wf server” since there will indefinatly be many customized servers?

Tumorhead – SCOOP. MOCK 1 will only read encrypted definition files for WF and use the WF directory. Unencrypted files will not be able to use the WF directory. MOD creators will have to use a separate directory which the GameSpy tab will recognize. That way WF team3, 6 and 9 will not get confused with other MOCK 1 Mods. We will have links to the other mods from the WF site.

WFD – With half-life and respectively TF2, how do you feel their future release will affect the WF community?

Tumorhead – Might lose some, might gain some. Personally I feel loyal to id software. Without them none of this could have happened. I have no plans to abandon them and look forward to Quake III/Arena. There’s no reason why some of the better TF2 features can’t be used in WF. Remember also that Unreal was supposed to take over the gaming community and that didn’t happen.

WFD – Quake 3 is official and it is aimed on a 100% multiplayer theme. Do you have any intentions on porting WF? What about constructing a entirely new mod (similar to comparisons between TF1 and TF2)

Tumorhead – I think the MOCK 1 will fit in the Quake III and that’s probably the tool that will be most useful to Q3 players. We’ll port over WF to Quake 3 no problem.

WFD – I know it is hard and tedious for both Tom and yourself to program, keep people updated, deal with support, and hold a job. What do you most enjoy about WF that keeps you coding future releases?

Tumorhead – Whenever I get burned out working on WF, and believe me it’s like a second unpaid full time job, I just connect to a WF server and blow someone’s head off with the railgun. I am in awe of what the WF team has put together in such a short period of time. BTW this is a virtual project. I have never met anyone other than Gregg on the team.

WFD –Any last comments or concerns you would like to make known to the public?

Tumorhead – I’d like to thank WF Direct for help in screening maps. Anything that eases my workload is a big help. It gives me more time to make my own maps and dream up new ways to kill each other. Thanks.

WFD – Thanx for taking the time to take this poll. The WF community cannot thank you enough for this quality q2 product you guys have come out with. The best of luck to you in future releases, and I do hope you hold your turf when TF2 surfaces.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000305122236/http://www.captured.com:80/wfd/interviews/082098.html