Kubsy

Interview by Reza (aka Charles Kane)

December 2023

CK: Hello there, Kubsy. Thank you for taking your time for this interview. First, would you please introduce yourself to us?

Kubsy: My name is Kubsy (but you can call me Kuba, I don’t mind), I am 20 years old, I am from Poland, and currently I am a university student, studying Computer Science.

CK: Ah, great. Another young potential builder from Poland. Love it.

So, when and how did you get introduced to the world of TRLE, and trle.net in particular?

Kubsy: I Initially got into TRLE in 2012 when I watched a couple of Youtubers playing TRLE, mainly “Nniezapominajka”. I then started to casually play TRLE levels until sometime in 2015-2017 when I wanted to build levels, I tried to install NGLE but the installation process absolutely scared me and did not do that. In 2019, I discovered Tomb Editor. I started to build then. 😊

CK: How nice of you to be introduced to TRLE at an early age. But, since you now not just playing levels, but also build them, how do you manage to spare your time for building levels in your daily activities?

Kubsy: Haha! Back when covid hit and built my ORC21 (back when it wasn’t a full-fledged level) and CaC21 it was simple for me to manage my time. However, it became difficult to manage my time with TRLE as the covid stopped, and I started university. I build levels when I have free time and no work for uni at the time (so if I complete assignments on time then I can build a little).

CK: So I think we can agree that despite many negative effects the covid caused, it also helped many new builders or even the veteran ones to join/rejoin the TRLE community. Now, what are your inspirations in building your levels? Or, which builders inspire you to develop your own building style?

Kubsy: I definitely have my favourite builders that I get inspired by! One of them is Max, who has built Ancient Artifact 1 and 2 and also Above the Horizon levels. This is due to the custom objects, animations and complex geometry and especially the story that he tells. Of course, we couldn’t (and we may not) experience the full version of Above the Horizon game, but the demo is enough. 🙂

CK: Well, even if the builder can't release the full version of a project, we can build our own version of it, as a tribute to them.

Now I'd also like to know which engines are your favorite in level building?

Kubsy: This is difficult to answer because I am now slightly known to be favouring TEN engine but this of course doesn’t mean I will now stop playing TRNG and TR1-3 levels.

I prefer TEN because the first reason is it is open-source, so that anyone can join and develop TEN at their will. It also provides a proper programming language (called LUA) in which I can kind of practice what I learnt at university (Since I am studying Computer Science).

But maybe one day I will try TR1-3 (maybe in 2024? I don’t know :D)

CK: How fitting it is that you study at uni can support your hobby down to a T. Also, do you have any projects currently? Or perhaps, what are your dream projects?

Kubsy: Yes, I have a project in the making, in fact I got 3!

My main project at the moment is a VCI level. Lara will infiltrate the VCI building once again to take the precious Egyptian artifact hidden somewhere in the building. I am aiming to finish it by January/February.

My 2nd project is Christmas Weekend, which was announced for Advent Calendar 2022. Lara will have to explore her mansion in order to uncover some secrets while she is preparing for Christmas. The layout of the manor is supposed to be a hybrid of all 3 TR eras: Classic, LAU (Legend, Anniversary and Underworld), and Reboot, with a slight touch of my imagination.

My 3rd project is Venetian Night Adventure Full Edition. I released my 1st part for the CaC21 challenge. However, upon some recommendations, I decided to fully make it a 1 big adventure (part 1 and 2 connected) with part 1 being majorly reworked but still keeping recognisable areas from my OG release.

In terms of my dream projects, I have a lot 🙂 and I am thinking of them every single day to make them. One of the dream projects to make is to make something about a Marvel character (my favourite one) called Moon Knight/Mr. Knight, which are alter egos of Marc Spector (He has DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, thoroughly explained in the comics but not in the Disney+ plus show).

Since Marvel has multiverse stuff now, I was thinking of incorporating either: making Lara and Marc Spector in the same world somehow, or making no references to Lara but making Marc Spector as Tomb Raider (think of it as Nathan Drake) but using Mr. Knight for this. 

CK: Wow. Given those ideas, we also want to see those projects come true. 😁 Now back to Tomb Engine and Tomb Editor, how did you get involved in the development of them?

Kubsy: With involvement regarding TEN and TE I joined a Tomb Raider server owned by Gh0stBlade back in 2021. TEN was called tr5main and it was in an extreme (unreleaseable) alpha stage. I didn't really test a lot of stuff since I wasn't sure how to test projects like TEN. I started to be involved in development back in May 2022 (3 months before the release) where I helped absolutely a lot of testing stuff. I rarely write code for TEN due to the programming language (C++) being quite difficult to grasp and the codebase in general being hard to understand. But with time, I will hopefully maybe be able to write my own code for TEN. 🙂

CK: We sure hope so. In fact, I think I also want to contribute as well, someday. Now, what are your hopes for Tomb Engine and Tomb Editor?

Kubsy: My highest hopes for TEN is that someday it will become a full-fledged engine which will convince people that TEN is not hard to learn nor tries to compete with TRNG or any other engine. Currently, it has some problems with key areas such as floordata, which is used for geometry stuff within the level, and many features from OG TR4 are missing, such as Lensflares, and Mirrors. 

It is difficult to develop this engine when we have like 5 people developing it and real life can kick our asses sometimes. Especially when it is a hobby project. I do also wish we had more people develop and test TEN and have activities like tr1x (which was created by rr- but now it is maintained by the community).

CK: Yeah, I also hope that TEN can be the de facto engine for builders to create worlds never imagined before. As a closure, do you have any advice for other builders out there?

Kubsy: My advice to beginners would be to not be scared of building and try to make a small 10-15 minute level for testing out what Tomb Editor and TRLE in general have to offer. TRLE building can be very fun and rewarding.

My other advice is to prepare yourself for the reviews from other people. Since summing up the "hot" discussions that happened in the past, some reviewers can be unhelpful or don't give advice. My best advice regarding this is to note down the problems that they note and work on it in your future levels.

CK: Very nice advice there, short but bold. Thanks a lot, Kubsy. It's been an inspiring dialogue we have here. See you again.

Kubsy: Thank you so much for having this interview with me. 🙂