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 Miguel Marado: Thank you very much for granting me this interview, StormChaser! It's a delight to be able to get to know the mind behind many levels, released over a span of almost 20 years. For those who are new to the TRLE scene and may want to know more: who is Peter Tedstone?
StormChaser: I was born in 1955 (so I am what is called a “Baby Boomer” in the UK) in Bromsgrove, which is a town in Worcestershire (in the West Midlands) in England. The house we lived in was a “two up two down” end of terrace with no bathroom or hot water and an outside toilet which was located at the back of what was originally a nail makers workshop, but by then was simply used as a large brick built shed. When I was seven we moved to a detached house in another part of Bromsgrove (where my mother still lives) which was much nicer, having a bathroom, hot water and an inside toilet. I have one brother who is a couple of years older than me. I have a daughter, two granddaughters (in their early twenties) and a great grandson who is two.
Growing up I was mainly interested in reading and music (my father was a pianist and church organist) and from a young age I read many books and also DC Comics which the local newsagent stocked. I read mainly “Superman”, “World’s Finest” and “The Flash”. At school I learned Violin and Recorder and aged twelve I joined my first band and was in a few bands (playing synthesizers) in pubs and clubs for many years and also had a solo career playing New Age and Berlin School music (do a Google search) up until about ten years ago.
My musical tastes range from Heavy Metal through Berlin School, Prog Rock and currently I am mainly into Doom Metal and Symphonic Metal. I enjoy Sci-Fi and am a big fan of all versions of “Star Trek”. My other interests still include reading and I love old Film Noir. I am also a “petrol head” as I love cars and I also enjoy Heritage Railways.
Career wise I was originally a mobile service engineer for some thirty odd years before moving into retail aged fifty, working mainly in trade based stores. I currently work in the Tile Trade as a Service Specialist. I am quite near retirement age and considering whether to retire or carry on working.
Miguel: That is a great introduction to your interview, Peter! Where does your nickname, StormChaser, come from? And, by the way, should I spell it StormChaser (like on your builder page), or Storm Chaser (as you have it on your forum profile)?
Storm Chaser: I can’t actually remember how I came up with Storm Chaser. There must have been a reason, but for the life of me, I can’t think what it was :$. I don’t mind which version is used, stormchaser or storm chaser.
Miguel: That's funny! It shows how much time it has been since you joined the TRLE.net community. How did you first encounter this site and this forum?
Storm Chaser: After building a few test levels I must have googled TRLE (I presume) and as far as I can remember I originally joined the “blue forum” [tombraiderforums.com] first. From there, I came across trle.net and joined on 4th October 2002. It’s a long time ago and to be frank, my memory of how it all came about has faded with the passing years. Of course in those days there were a lot less levels and they were mainly TR4 and at the time I knew nothing about unofficial editors and other versions of custom TR levels. Using these forums allowed me to find and download various ‘add on’ tools such as Wadmerger and Easylife so I could customise the original wads, scripts and textures that came with the official editor as well as gaining valuable information about level building.
Miguel: So, undoubtedly the forums at trle.net helped you with building from an early stage. What about the social component? Have the forums also played a part in your life, as a part of your day, over the years?
Storm Chaser: I’ve always regarded the social part of forums to be a very important point and in those early days there was no “social media” so they were the only way of chatting to like-minded people. I find the social side of trle.net to be very important and since I don’t ‘do’ social media, it’s the only way I can still connect to those in the custom level community. I usually check trle.net every day, not only for the forum posts but also to read the latest reviews, and check out the latest levels. Although, to be honest, I don’t play many custom levels due to lack of time (that infuriating life thing called work) and the fact that level building is a very time consuming pastime! Having said that, I'll play any castle level that gets released.
Miguel: We'll get to your love of Castle levels later on :) You started building even before getting introduced to this social side of trle custom levels. What motivated you to start your first test levels?
Storm Chaser: I found it quite fascinating that you could use TRLE to build your own levels, and I was determined to learn how to do it (in the past I had taught myself Basic computer coding, learnt to play keyboards and using a Digital Work Station to name just three). Obviously it’s not easy to learn TRLE, and even more difficult to create a good level, so my early attempts were all boxy and badly textured with no lighting. It took absolutely ages to get to grips with all the ins and outs of it and all the add-on tools. But (as they say) practice makes perfect and so the more you build the more you learn and of course the manual supplied with TRLE was invaluable in getting to grips with it. Of course the only way to get better is to build and sometimes what seems simple turns out to be anything but. As an example, building realistic rock formations or caves is an art in itself.
Miguel: It's very cool that you managed to learn so much on your own, including building, of course! When you got your hands on the original editor, had you played TR1-5 already?
Storm Chaser: I started with TR5. I’m fairly sure that I got hold of a TR demo on one of those discs that used to come with computer magazines, which inspired me to buy TR5. Afterwards I bought all the earlier TR’s. So my first introduction to a full TR game was the Rome levels in TR5, which I thoroughly enjoyed. To be honest I didn’t like the young Lara levels too much, but I really liked the Russian base and the VCI levels. The VCI levels are my second favourite after “Highland Fling”. My favourite overall game is TR3 as the wide variety of locations is very enthralling.
Miguel: From your work, it seems to me you also enjoy TR2 quite a bit, and maybe you aren't a big fan of TR4. Is that impression correct?
Storm Chaser: TR2 is a good game, but not one of my favourites. I liked the Great Wall and Venice, but thought the rest of it was just OK. However, I rather liked the settings of many of the levels, hence my use of the textures and objects from it and the gold versions for several custom levels. As for TR4, I enjoyed the game, especially the city and coastal parts. I haven’t really used any TR4 textures or settings much but often use the objects from it. I have never built an Egypt level -- perhaps I should.
Miguel: You definitely should build one! What is it about Tomb Raider in general that keeps you playing the game and building levels?
Storm Chaser: I think the whole concept of TR is superb: games, films, adverts and level building. I also like the Indiana Jones games (TR with a male character). Since I can’t play first person games (they give me motion sickness) I was really pleased that TR was third person and so it became my main game of choice. To be honest I’ve not played the reboots, as for me they are not the sort of game I like. I did, however, play Legend, Anniversary and Underworld and thought they were OK. As to building, I just enjoy doing it and have probably built twice as many levels than I have ever released.
Screenshot from a Storm Chaser unreleased Oriental project:
 Miguel: I'm very glad Tomb Raider turned out to become a great franchise for you, as we get the pleasure of your company and your levels to play :) I was going to ask just about unreleased levels: Given that you have built them, why did they remain unreleased? Were those mere test levels? Were you not happy with the result?
Storm Chaser: Quite a few were the early test levels and later there were ideas or themes that didn’t work out as I wanted. Others were abandoned simply because they had major bugs that I couldn’t fix. For example, I spent about two months on building a zoo level a couple of years ago that kept crashing at random times. Then there are several TR5 levels that were abandoned due to loads of bugs.
Miguel: I hope at least you didn't have any levels that were lost to PC crashes, like many have during the years. Do you feel the community, through the forums especially, provide some of your motivation towards building?
Storm Chaser: The forum communities have been very useful over the years, from posts about new tools, to answers to specific questions. There is a wealth of information available today including a very useful archive of the “blue forum” [tombraiderforums.com]. I learnt about DXTRE3D from the forums and recently I heard about Tomb Editor which I am currently learning with the intention (if I actually get to grips with it) of replacing DXTRE3D as my editor of choice. I also like the general chat that you get on trle.net as it makes me feel part of an extended family of people who share a common interest. trle.net is also great in that it lists the new levels that become available and I really like reading all the reviews as they appear.
Miguel: Later we will address tools a little bit, since it is interesting to educate players and builders-to-be as well. It is interesting that you should talk about reviews. It is a hot topic right now, as it tends to be every once in a while. Since you read them, what do you think of the general quality of reviews/reviewers? What is a review's purpose, from your point of view?
Storm Chaser: I read through the reviews as they appear on trle.net most days, as I find them interesting and informative. As to the content and quality it seems to vary from short one liners to massive reviews split into sections covering everything relevant. I don’t really want to get into the subject of how reviews are written, or whether they are biased towards the player’s personal tastes (or are more objective). I personally will take any review of my levels for what it is: good, bad or indifferent, biased or unbiased, and use it to (hopefully) improve my levels.
I don’t usually tend to use reviews to decide if I will download a level, as I only occasionally play custom TR’s as I don’t really have time to play many, but I will always play any castle level that gets uploaded and anything that takes my fancy from the level information page. I think a review's purpose is to inform the potential player of the quality of the build, atmosphere, realism and playability, along with an overview of its difficulty (although this is very subjective depending on the reviewer's skill level) -- along with any problems they found such as bugs or soft locks.
Miguel: That seems like a very balanced and positive view. Is it fair to say you set your building standards from playing some levels, but also from incorporating constructive reviews? Do you also use video playthroughs to check out other levels and builders?
Storm Chaser: I always watch any video walkthroughs of my own levels, mainly to see if the player follows my intended route (they usually don’t), and also to find any errors such as players reaching the end of the world or unintended areas when they shouldn’t be able to. This has happened a few times. I have watched many of AgentXP’s tutorial videos and most of her video play-throughs, as I find them really interesting. I will watch a few levels now and then (mainly Doggett’s) if I get time and I used to regularly watch Badassgamez videos (both official and custom) as I really liked his style of walkthrough but he has now disappeared from the web.
Miguel: Do you feel that you also learn from watching the videos of other builders' work? Do other builders provide inspiration for your level design?
Storm Chaser: Apparently (according to reviews and forum comments) there is a Storm Chaser style of level building. What this is I’m not really sure, but I’ll guess that it’s a realistic(ish) setting with quite a bit of shooting. I don’t generally do fantasy things such as floating islands and that sort of thing -- I prefer to create real style places that could or may exist.
AgentXP’s levels are things of beauty, and although I don’t use Next Gen (so I couldn’t get anywhere near them in terms of aesthetics), I do find them very interesting from a building point of view just to see what is actually possible.
I wouldn’t say that custom video walkthroughs provide inspiration in any major way but sometimes you can see things that are interesting and spark an idea, although I’d say that most of my inspiration comes from the original games.
Miguel: You touched on some interesting points now, like your building style, your tool preference, and the influences of the original games. We're going to touch on those later in the interview. I'll start with what some have pointed out as some traits of "your style" on reviews. You just referred to "a bit of shooting", and some of your levels were described as having a "shooter vibe". I'm talking about "Castle Malvernia" (your debut level), "Adventure in Venice" and the more recent "Melnikov Island", specifically. Would you agree they have a "shooter vibe"? Do you like that style?
Storm Chaser: I don’t really remember much about “Castle Malvernia” other than I found it challenging to build as I’d by then progressed from test levels to building a level for release. I remember struggling with the part with the bridge as it required several linked rooms to build. I also remember adding lots of fixed cameras as it seemed like a good idea at the time! Also there was a fatal building error in that you could miss a key and then not be able to return to get it - a beginner’s error! There were a lot of SAS to shoot as well. As to the “not very ‘Venice’” “Adventure In Venice” -- not one of my best efforts to be honest, but it got some good reviews. Again lots of enemies to shoot but it was mainly “Opera House” with very little actual Venice. Perhaps I should have another go at Venice in the future. “Melnikov Island” was built simply to use the textures from TR2 Gold “The Golden Mask” as they allowed me to build a base that looked and felt old and seemingly abandoned. Another thing was to use the snow and freezing water and throw in some Yetis! To add to the overall design there had to be lots of enemies since it is a secret base after all. I do tend to put plenty of enemies in my levels as I enjoy the challenge of that rather than going for exploration with few or no enemies or difficult jumps or complex puzzles, so I suppose that there is a ‘shooter vibe’ to most of my levels, but I wouldn’t call them ‘shooters’ as they are part of the design and not the raison d’etre for the level. My recent level “Aldwych Adventure” also has plenty of enemies as it’s the lair of a criminal gang and therefore plenty of enemies were required.
Miguel: We'll soon be talking about your exciting latest release, "Aldwych Adventure", for sure! Another trend some reviewers pointed out for your levels was the stylish outfits you pick out for Lara Croft. Do you like having our heroine look nice on levels? Do you feel it adds to the looks and atmosphere?
Storm Chaser: Whilst I was building the TR4 levels I had no skills in building custom objects so I used outfits that had been built by Litepulsar. I'd choose one depending on the theme of the level that I was building and I am also fairly sure that Litepulsar built some custom outfits just for me, but I can't remember which ones they were, as it was all a long time ago. So any credits for the outfits are purely for Litepulsar and not for myself. I don't know if these outfits are still available on the net. I think that the outfit should match the location. I always found it strange that in TR2 Lara had shorts on in the winter setting of the Tibet levels. Currently for my TR3 levels the only custom outfit I've used is the Lara Bomber Jacket (Black) Outfit by Kaejaris from www.core-design.com. There are loads of goodies on that site.
Miguel: I totally agree that shorts are not weather appropriate for winter, but I assumed it would be okay for most Brits :D The use of a shark in "Snowbound" was commented upon by some reviewers. What led you to that, given that you tend to prefer objects to match the environment contextually?
Storm Chaser: I put it there to add a bit of jeopardy to the opening area, much like the two dogs at the beginning of “Aldwych Adventure”. In hindsight it was probably a mistake and out of context but it was an early release. If I built it now I’d probably stick a couple of crows flying around.
Miguel: A shark surely makes the player pay attention, so maybe it works in its own way. Reviewers also provide interesting positive comments, such as references to the very creative use of a rotating blade in "King Arthur's Castle" and the fact that you had become the Castle King by the time you released "Nightmare Castle", your highest rated level. Do you accept that crown? What do you love so much about castle levels?
Storm Chaser: I’ve always had an interest in castles: as a child I read and loved “King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table” and “The Famous Five” books, both of which feature quite a few castles. “Highland Fling” is my all time favourite TR level so both interests sort of gel and thus lead to my love of building castle levels. To be honest I don’t remember much about my King Arthur’s level other than I wanted some ‘mean’ traps in it. I think that my best castle level is indeed “Nightmare Castle”. I love the textures and the overall “feeling” of castle levels. I’ll probably build more castle levels in the future. In fact I’ve thought about doing a “Lara Goes To Kirrin Island” level where she follows the famous five’s adventures in the castle that features in the books.
Miguel: That's great! I actually read a few of Enid Blyton's "The Famous Five" novels. I hope you go through with that idea. When looking at your levels, I can’t help but notice that you stopped releasing levels for 13 and a half years (!!). What was behind that?
Storm Chaser: It was actually a new job. I'd been a mobile service engineer for some 34 years but an injury to my knees meant that I had to change roles, so I moved into retail. As an engineer my work days had been Monday to Friday 8.00am to 5.00pm but the new job involved shifts so I was working most evenings up to 10.00pm, so I simply had no free time to build levels. Another change of job resulted in me working again from Monday to Friday 8.00am to 5.00pm, so in about 2016 I started to learn DXTRE3D with the intention of releasing new levels. My current job finishes at the latest at 6.00pm, so I now still have plenty of evenings free to build levels.
Miguel: I'm certainly glad for that, and many more of your reviewers seem to be too, from what I've read ;) Since you came back to building, after that job-related long break, you only built TR3 levels. What motivated you to delve into that engine?
Storm Chaser: At first I spent probably far too much time with TR5 (mainly building VCI levels) which all proved fruitless as they were always full of bugs. So, I decided to have a go at TR3 as there were very few about -- I thought it would be different and make a change from all the TR4 levels. Obviously there are limitations with TR3 compared to TR4 such as no shimmying round corners, no ropes or pole climbing and of course no Next Gen, but there is a wealth of enemies, objects and vehicles to use. The sky’s the limit as they say! Also TR3 has much more variety in locations to choose from as well as snow, rain and freezing water (although these are now available in TR4) so there is a lot to inspire the builder. I may have a go at TR2 in the future as it has a completely different set of objects to play around with, although there are limitations with lighting and other things.
Screenshot of a Storm Chaser unreleased mine project:
Miguel: Given your investment in building those levels and your interest in TR2, do you think levels built in "older engines" are undervalued by players?
Storm Chaser: I feel that since the advent of Next Gen TR4 levels where a talented builder (for example, AgentXP) can build levels of extreme beauty, the older engines can seem rather ‘antiquated’ and lacking in an aesthetics kind of way! But in my humble opinion TR is about more than just looks. TR1 although rather limited in the graphics department (oh the joys of DOS) is a very good game but compared to say Legend, it really doesn’t look good. If we look at very early games such as “Sonic”, the graphics by today’s standards are truly awful, but the gameplay is superb and the same could be said for “Mario”, the “Strike” games and even games like “Road Rash”! Good looks are not everything but they do tend to be a major factor. As to TR3, I remember when I first played the coastal village level (where Lara started in the water) and thinking how amazing it looked -- the same could be said for the Nevada level! When I first played Legend I was stunned by the visuals but a bit disappointed by the actual game itself although it was overall rather enjoyable. As to whether the earlier engines are undervalued by players, I suppose that depends on their personal preferences and their favourite TR. If you like TR2 then you are probably going to love TR2 levels, but if your preferences are towards TR4 and later, then TR2 might seem rather disappointing from a graphics point of view.
Miguel: That is a very balanced perspective, and I totally agree. I'm glad there are great builders like yourself working on earlier engines. When you returned to building after a 13 year hiatus you released "The Lost Ruby", which has no story. Do you have a description for the level, or do you feel it doesn't need one?
Storm Chaser: The reason for “The Lost Ruby” was I’d never built a jungle level so I thought I’d build one. I also thought it would be fun to put the kayak in it as there’s not a lot of levels using it. To be honest the level was not very good, as it was made up as it was built, so it probably lacked cohesion and precision and wasn’t beta tested. Still got some positive comments in the reviews despite all that. There was a story in the readme file but it wasn’t put on the level info page for some reason - “Lara has recently heard of the Tunhoo Ruby, lost hundreds of years ago and rumoured to be hidden in a temple deep in the jungle and so she sets off to find it. However, she is not the only person looking for it, as a criminal gang is also said to be in the jungle searching for the same precious gem, as it is worth a small fortune. The jungle is a dangerous place, full of wild animals and deadly traps. Can Lara survive and find The Lost Ruby or will she perish in her quest.”
Miguel: That's a solid story, and I feel like you usually create a very good setup for your levels. In some cases, the story shines, like with "Nightmare Castle" and "Melnikov Island". Do you think storytelling, and connecting the setting to a clear purpose for raiding, are important in creating good levels?
Storm Chaser: I think that a story (or plot) is important in custom levels to give the player an insight into the reason for the level to exist. The original games always had a back story to explain why Lara was there in the first place: be it TR1 where Natla engages Lara to find a mysterious artefact, or TR4 where Lara must defeat Seth. A level could be compared to a novel where the plot plays out as you read, whereas in a custom level the plot plays out as you find your way through the level.
Miguel: I totally agree. Another aspect to your stories is your use of some unusual, creative words, such as "Belhexera", in your level "Scrolls of Belhexera". Where do you come up with those names for your artefacts and places?
Storm Chaser: “Castle Malvernia” came from Malvern, a town some twenty miles from where I live. Belhexera and Kashtuk were words I simply made up, but googled them before use to make sure that they didn’t mean something in another language. It’s the same with any artefacts I use, I make a word up and Google it just in case.
Miguel: That's really cool! I did the same thing, I googled some of your "new words" to check if they belonged to some direct reference. When they didn't, I enjoyed the creativity behind their use all the more ;) We've talked about reviews and some aspects underlined about your style and about specific levels. There is an interesting trend on the ratings for some of your levels: gameplay is (generally) not as highly rated as the other categories. Is that something that concerns you, or do you think it is simply a part of how reviewers evaluate your building style?
Storm Chaser: Gameplay is one of those things that all depends on the player; l personally like wandering around and exploring, but others like difficult platforming or devious traps or clever puzzles. I suppose it’s like our choices in music, films and books -- everyone has their own tastes. As to whether comments about my gameplay style concern me: not really, as my levels are “what they are” and how I wanted them to turn out.
Miguel: I think it is good that you are comfortable with your vision and how it transpires in levels. It helped create what we already talked about, your "building style". There are also some apparent trends to your building. Of course you tend to build castle levels, as we've mentioned. Setting levels in Scotland also connects to that. Another trend is the use of the word "adventure" in recent titles. Also, some of the other settings you use remind me of TR3 very often, aligning with the engine you now prefer. Are these conscious preferences, like your castle levels?
Storm Chaser: One of the great things about castle levels is that you can basically set any theme you like, from shooter to horror in a castle, as it lends itself to most themes. Also I really like building castles as they allow virtually endless architectural licence. I started to use the “adventure” word as it basically says it all i.e. “Highland Adventure” is an adventure in the Highlands of Scotland. Not very adventurous as a title perhaps but I like it and it sums up the level in a few words where for example “Castle Ness” implies a castle with the Loch Ness Monster. I suppose I could have called it “Loch Ness Adventure”.
Miguel: Some of what you said before is also related to how a builder plays their own level, when compared to the approach taken by different players. For instance, you've noted how, in video-playthroughs, people will play your levels very differently than intended. When did you start using beta-testers to account for that different approach?
Storm Chaser: I can’t remember which of my original TR4 levels was first beta tested and some of them weren’t. I think that if you can, then beta tests should be done as that gives you fresh insight into the way the level plays out and obviously any faults or problems that may not be noticed by the builder. Watching video walkthroughs is always interesting in that no one ever plays them the way I intended. For “Aldwych Adventure”, a banana jump was used to get the first secret, which I’d never thought of doing.
Miguel: That's a much quicker solution. I wouldn’t have thought of that either. I pushed that block there all three times! I can only imagine you did many more, haha. You're a creative person, a musician. Does building connect to that in any way? Do you see it as another creative way for you to express yourself?
Storm Chaser: I’ve always been “arty” for as long as I can remember and have had a go at many things. Some, like watercolour painting and photography, I was fairly awful at. thers, like when I used to produce the quarterly magazine for Bromsgrove Arts Alive, were much more successful. I think that building levels is an art form since you basically have to artistically create a world that Lara can visit. Some builders excel at this with stunningly crafted levels. It is definitely an outlet for my creative side.
Miguel: I'm glad for that! As with any art form or creative endeavor, there usually are influences from other pieces of art, like music, film, books, other games, etc. You've mentioned some of your influences, like the Arthurian tales. What other influences can you recall?
Storm Chaser: Hmmm, when it comes to more modern films I rather like Sci-Fi, post apocalyptic, “Alien” series, “Terminator” series and the “Indiana Jones” movies (rather TR in format) but my main tastes are 1940/50’s film noir such as “The Big Sleep” and anything that’s in black and white. To be honest I don’t play too many games but back in the Megadrive days I played “Sonic”, “Strike” series and “Road Rash” etc. As for PC, besides TR, I rather like city building games like “Cleopatra” and “Emperor” and I used to play “John Madden NFL” until they stopped doing them for PC (I really like American Football). I can’t play first person games as they give me motion sickness. With books I mainly read Sci-Fi and fantasy with my favourite author being Roger Zelazny. I like the painter Caravaggio and similar artists as I prefer the realism style of painting although I also admire Pop artists such Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
Miguel: Do you feel the influence of these above passions is reflected in your building style? I know you are interested in developing a "Casablanca"-inspired level, as part of your Film Noir love. Isn't that right?
Storm Chaser: I don’t think that my early game playing influences my levels but when you build a level you are creating an illusion much like a painter does. I have a print on the wall of my lounge called “In The Wood” (“Dans Le Bois” by Elizabeth Bouguereau) which is a very nice painting of three girls looking into a wood. It’s realistic and there’s something in the background that you can’t quite make out and just what are the girls looking at in the wood. If you do a Google search you can see what I mean. If you take any level (let’s use “Aldwych Adventure” as an example), you are not in an underground station, you are in an illusion that looks like an underground station. It’s simply a collection of square or rectangular boxes joined together with portals. By using appropriate textures, architecture and objects, an illusion of an underground station is created. The aim is to use these things to try and create a realistic setting but it’s not real, much like my print. Take away the textures and objects and it’s just a load of boxes connected together, much as a painting without any paint is just a blank canvas! I try to create levels that look like a real location (not always 100% successfully) as much as my skills will allow. The “Casablanca” level idea does reflect my love of Film Noir and when I get some free time I will build a test level to see how it all pans out, but there are always other ideas that crop up. I’m toying with a TR3 version of Venice since my TR4 version didn’t really work that well and it would be nice to have another stab at that setting.
Editor screenshot of the late building phase of “Aldwych Adventure”:
Miguel: You make good points! "Aldwych Adventure", your last release, is a great nod to the TR3 London levels where Lara retrieves a dangerous artefact that had just been stolen from her mansion. What more can you tell us about the level and how the idea for it came to you?
Storm Chaser: Whenever I go up to London (you always go ‘up’ to London wherever you are in England), I love going on the underground as its architecture, tiles, signs, typefaces, posters and maps gel together into an iconic whole. The level came about as I really liked the original TR3 level and thought it would be interesting to create my own slant on it, but using outside as well as in the station. One thing I like to use is a reason for Lara to be there, be that a stolen artefact or something else, as otherwise the level has no reason to exist. Also Aldwych station is quite an interesting subject in its own right and well worth an internet search for its history.
Miguel: There was an idea of yours that I loved: "Grand Theft Lara"! It was a joke of yours in the forums, back in April, when after an ethics thread you suggested "Tomb Archaeologist", a Tomb Raider adaptation where Lara would actually behave like a proper modern archaeologist. Then you suggested a "Grand Theft Auto" version of Tomb Raider where Lara would raid private homes and museums in an open world environment to collect artefacts. As you may remember, I really liked that and I'm hoping someone implements it as soon as possible, haha. You're the brains behind the concept. Is that a challenge or what?
Storm Chaser: “Grand Theft Lara” would be a challenge indeed. I've no idea how to build an open world version of Tomb Raider although I suspect there are those who could make a decent go of the idea. Of course as in “GTA” you could play properly or simply go round stealing cars and driving really dangerously.
Miguel: I'd sure love to see that levelset come to life! Maybe a long series of smaller interconnected levels could provide the feel of an open world. If someone does decide to take a crack at your great GTL idea, it could count as a collaboration. I've noticed you haven't collaborated with another builder so far. Has there ever been an opportunity to do that? Would you be interested?
Storm Chaser: I’ve never collaborated on a level and to be honest it’s not something I’ve really thought about. There have been quite a few well received collaborative levels released but I’ve not played any of them. I’m not sure I’d be much good at joining a collaboration, as I tend to build in ‘dribs and drabs’ and am not that good at working to a deadline.
Miguel: Of course a collaboration is an extra commitment and involves more responsibility, at least as an abstract concept. I imagine, however, that there are builders whose style and approach you particularly enjoy and would suit your own. Who would you say are your favorite builders?
Storm Chaser: I’ve played most of Feder’s levels as I really like the style of building and also AgentXP whose levels are things of great beauty. To be honest I don’t play a great many levels but in the past I played Oxy’s levels, but generally I only play levels where the screenshots appeal to me or it’s a castle.
Miguel: Those are some great choices ;) You participated in the first "Back to Basics" competition, back in 2005. How was the experience? What do you think of builder competitions?
Storm Chaser: I didn’t win, but then again, I didn’t expect to :D. It was the only time I’ve participated in a competition because as I mentioned earlier I tend not to like working to a time limit, preferring to take my time over building. It was, however, an interesting experience and I’m glad I took part. I like the idea of builder competitions as I think it can bring out the best in builders as they, presumably, would all like to win. It also generates quite a lot of player interest from what I’ve seen from the posts in the forums.
Miguel: Another issue that is always interesting, but this time mostly for builders, is the newest editing tool, Tomb Editor. You've mentioned how you've experimented with it. Are you getting used to it? Are you maybe going to release a level using it eventually?
Storm Chaser: I’ve played with Tomb Editor and it’s a very nice piece of software and credit to its creators for all the work that must have gone into writing the programme. I’m not yet at the stage where I can use it without thinking about what does what, but hopefully will get there eventually. With DXTRE3D I don’t have to think about it, as I know it more or less inside out. Talking about tools, it's incredible the amount of very useful add-on tools that some amazingly talented people have produced over the years, enabling the builder to do so much more than when the original official TRLE came out.
Miguel: Do you think these tools, including add-ons, have helped motivate new builders to get started, or some builders to get back at editing?
Storm Chaser: I’ve noticed that there are quite a few new builders on the scene as well as the return of others after many years away. I wonder if the release of TE has something to do with this as there are also quite a few non-TR4 levels appearing. It’s interesting that after learning any editor you then need to find out the other tools you need and how to use them, although TE has quite a lot of add-on tools already included which is very useful. Without the many tools we would still be producing TR4 levels without any customisation.
Miguel: Given all of that, would you say the vitality within the community is as high as ever?
Storm Chaser: I would say yes! There always seem to be plenty of new custom levels appearing along with new reviewers and new members of the forum. Also if you look at all the other forums and the sites that host tools, textures and objects then it definitely seems to be in a good place.
Miguel: This seems like a great positive place to end our interview :) Thank you so much for putting up with me this long xD The last thing I'd like to ask you is: what is your message for any new members of the community (be they builders, reviewers or players) that are now getting acquainted with TRLE and its scene?
Storm Chaser: It has been a pleasure (and an honour) to participate in the interview. Thank you for selecting me to interview.
For new builders I’d say that learning to build is time consuming as you will need to learn a lot of things. Reading the manuals (or watching the videos in the case of TE) is essential, as is playing a wide range of levels from low scoring to high scoring so you can see what the differences are. The hardest parts seem to be getting the lighting right, along with texturing. Also, it can be difficult to create realistic outside areas such as rocks and cliffs, but AgentXP has some great videos about building architecture on the net. I don’t write many reviews so I’m not really an expert in these, but be fair and factual. So, even if you didn’t like the level, mark it on what it is. As to players, that's a difficult one as it depends on what sort of levels you like, but I’d say start with a decent scoring level in a style that appeals to you and go from there. I will always play any castle level that comes out as I really like castles. I also like Oriental levels, city and base levels, but I don’t tend to play Egypt style levels or the more fantasy type, as I’m not keen on them. The joke and test levels don’t appeal to me either.
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