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Miguel: Thank
you, Justin, for agreeing to this interview! I'm excited for this opportunity. Tell us, especially those who may
not know you from the trle.net community forum: who is Justin Brinner?
Justin: Thank you for interviewing
me! At this point, I'm now a stay-at-home dad that
works on making TRLE games in the spare time. I have a beautiful wife (some may recognize her photo in the “Dark
Estate” [level in “Horizons - The Hellgate Saga”, Justin's
latest, and very successful, release]) and an awesome
daughter in grade school.
We also have 2 cats for those
pet-lovers out there.
Miguel: We'll actually
talk a little bit about animals
later on. So, pet-lovers
stay tuned!
Justin, you
have a handle on your email, Ankh of Mishra, and as a sort of
signature on some releases. If I'm not mistaken, that comes from one of
your interests, Magic -
The Gathering. Can you tell
us about that?
Justin: “Magic” is a card game that I've been playing
since 2000, after starting
with CCGs (collectible card games) in the form of Pokemon. I haven't played competitively or even that
much at all in the last
10 years, but it still remains a big part of my
life. Ankh of Mishra is the name
of one of the original cards from the game, and I've always loved it (the character,
Mishra, was an important one
from the original lore).
Miguel: So you've been
playing before you even started
building. That is impressive!
That was my weird segue into level building, everyone.
Justin, you
were "building"
even before there was an editor out, creating architecture using AutoCAD, right? How did you
end up stumbling upon this site, trle.net, when you were
building your first levels?
Justin: Yes, that's right! I can't remember how I found out about the editor, but it was definitely before I got my own copy of TRC [Tomb Raider Chronicles] (maybe
through a gaming magazine). I was in school for drafting, so was already pretty good with AutoCAD, so I basically started "sketching" up level ideas before I got my hands on the Winroomedit. Ironically, I never messed with Meta [Metasequoia] or other various importing tools, so my use of
AutoCAD was strictly for
ideas back then. I can't
remember at all how I found my way
to trle.net, but I suspect
someone from TRF
[tombraiderforums.com] recommended it. It was clearly a good recommendation :)
Miguel: What motivated
you so much to build back then that you
used software like
AutoCAD?
Justin: I think it
was mostly excitement.
The idea that we could start
building our own Tomb
Raider levels was amazing.
At the time, I didn't realize that people were already making custom DOOM levels, and such,
so this was a very new idea to
me. It was only icing on the cake that Tomb Raider happened to be my favorite
series of games.
Miguel: DOOM plays a role in your relationship to trle custom levels. We'll also explore that later on.
You're
not getting paid any money for
your trle work, obviously. Is Tomb Raider
still your favorite
game series? Did that keep you
motivated all of these years? Where do you get your drive
to build?
Justin: Tomb Raider is still actually my favorite! It's played a big part of keeping
me in the LE scene, but the trle community is a stronger pull. I drifted away for months
at a time as my desire to build
waned, but I always wanted to stop
in to at least see how all of my TR friends were doing. My drive to
build was always weird early on. Most of my drive
now comes from my wife,
and you can see what her influence has done with “Emerald Dreamscape”, “Languid
Wastes”, and “Desolation”
[levels in “Horizons - The Hellgate Saga”]. These are
levels I could not have even imagined
before 2007.
Miguel: You mentioned
your now wife, Joan, as a source of well-being in your last interview back in 2008. From what you
just said and from your dedication at the end of
"Horizons - The Hellgate Saga", I think it's fair to say that
is still true. Joan clearly inspires you. Does she
otherwise play an active role in your building experience?
Justin: She plays
an active role in providing ideas and solutions, for sure! She doesn't
play Tomb Raider at all, but enjoys
watching me play :)
Miguel: You'll have
to give Joan shared credit, then! Haha. How about your daughter? Does she watch and/or play?
Justin: Joan definitely gets credit! Our daughter has played a bit, but she's not really into the focused-goal adventure stuff. She's more into Roblox and Minecraft
(but she loves building games in both, so she'll eventually be building her own levels, I'm sure). She does enjoy
watching me play sometimes, though.
Miguel: It runs
in the family, I see! What other
people in your life know about
your building? What do they have to say
about it?
Justin: My siblings
know all about it. My brother tried his hands
at building way back in
the day, but it wasn't his
thing. My younger sister doesn't build, but she loves playing
Tomb Raider, and is actually
playing my game now!
Miguel: That is
really cool! It's fair to say that Tomb Raider is an integral part of your life.
What about it makes it
your favorite game? Is it something
very particular to Tomb Raider, or do you think now
it is more about nostalgia?
Justin: We can't
deny the nostalgia, but I do really love many aspects
of Tomb Raider. It has exploration, various locations, weapons, an attractive,
strong female lead.
Most important for me are the
puzzles.
Miguel: I'm with
you there! The fact is Tomb Raider and the
trle community are still
going strong, attracting
newcomers to build or play
these now vintage gamesPeople like you, active over so many years and very positive towards newcomers (like myself not long ago at all) play a major role in that. I also remembered how Phil, one of our
most trusted walkthrough writers, warmly and repeatedly asked for new
releases from you in reviews and on the forums. What part would
you say the community plays in your daily life and in your motivation towards not only staying active, but actually building?
Justin: The trle community played an enormous part in my daily life between 2001 and 2008, especially
Lara's Home. I'll admit that it was far less a part of my life
until about 2014, but I
was really focused on my family during
that stretch :) I'm glad to be
back and more active, I
just need to make sure I balance everything correctly to avoid burning out. That said, there'd be no motivation to build at all without this strong community. Afterall, most of us
build for everyone in it :D
Miguel: I totally get
how you could get burned
out if you don't pace yourself. After all, you have 21 releases so far, and many more levels included therein. You are the
custom level builder that has been active
for the longest time, almost 20 years! How do you feel about
that accomplishment?
Justin: That's... actually
hard to believe! I hope to see Piega,
Magplus, or GeckoKid release another game
:D Did Titak start after I did? Haha, it's pretty awesome to have been active
for this long :)
Miguel: Titak released
her first game almost two years after you :) [justin’s first release was on July
26th 2001, while Titak’s
was on February 11th 2003] Congratulations
on your longevity and
on being able to stay fresh
and apt to learn! Do you
have any unreleased levels, that you built
as playable
test-levels, or that you thought might not have been good enough?
Justin: Oh I sure have
built a lot that were not released! However, almost all of them were not released because of PC crashes. As you can see,
“Atlantis” and “Dark Skies”
end abruptly!
I had
finished all of the “Northern Station” and a good chunk of the last level (I can't even remember the name) when
I lost it. My biggest regret with that was a really cool bathroom mirror room I created, where the player
would shoot the mirror and find a way into a back room. This was a
time when setting up a mirror room was a lot of work! I had
later finished
“Dark Skies 10-14” and was building and rebuilding the bonus level (I rebuilt
it like 6 times) when my PC crashed again! The bonus level was supposed to be a grand valley, which as you can
see, eventually turned into “Utopia
Vale” when I started
“Legend” (now called
“Horizons”)! Everything
I have built since then has been released,
and since I'm more PC savvy, I haven't lost anything to motherboard crashes (the hdd rarely crashes, so I have been able to
recover my projects). I also backup everything regularly now.
Miguel: I can't begin
to imagine the pain of
losing a number of levels to
crashes. I lost a few writing projects, and that was enough pain for me. I double backup now! Despite
your very prolific start, with 16 (!!) releases within the first year, you don't play
that much, do you? Where do you get inspiration?
How do you set the standards
for your levels, so to speak?
Justin: I'm sorry that
you've also experienced
that! Though it's safe to
assume that it's just part of a creative life. Early on, I only set my
standards based on screenshots and the little I did play, which wasn't a good idea. That said, an extraordinary amount of my
inspiration came from Emoo's levels. I absolutely loved “Recon
Labs” and “Antarctica”, and felt my style and abilities were fairly comparable to Emoo's. Nowadays,
I have the luxury of watching
people play levels on Twitch and Youtube!
So I get lots of research and inspiration with so little effort haha. Of course, I only started watching levels in 2020, so that's a very new thing
for me.
I've also played through “Himalayan Mysteries” and “Mists of
Avalon”, so Titak's levels
are my benchmark for top-level.
Miguel: Twitch and YouTube are less of an effort for you than playing,
walkthrough in hand, then? What is the most
interesting thing you have learned
from those streams so far?
Justin: Definitely easier, because I can watch while
doing tasks around the house or while
eating, etc. I've been able to
see some awesome use of objects and effects, and of course marvel at the brilliant texturing, lighting, and atmosphere other builders have been able to
create. I'm also always on the lookout for other builders creating unique puzzle setups.
Miguel: That makes
a lot of sense! I don't
want to linger on your earlier games too much, since
Lara For Ever grilled you on those for your
first interview, haha. Still, according
to the reviewers, your first levels were easy and somewhat short. Then they got progressively
harder until the mid-"Dark Skies" series. More recently, they became more balanced. Is it fair to say you learned
a lot about gameplay, difficulty management and how a certain ebb and flow keeps the player challenged, yet also engaged and not frustrated?
Justin: Yes, I definitely upped the difficulty
with “Dark Skies”,
and went even further with “Marshlands” (though that was at a special request from my friend Terry who loved difficult levels). I've been careful to dial it
way back, and try to leave the
more challenging acrobatics for later levels. I still didn't get it quite right
with enemies, but I'll be paying
even more attention to that in my next saga.
Miguel: Do you mean
you think enemies in "Horizons" were
too easy or too hard? Or
not balanced in accordance
to the moment when they appeared in the saga?
Justin: Definitely unbalanced. I don't think any of
the enemies are too hard,
even the heaviest of bosses. However, I should have done more to
make the zombies and dogs only poison Lara if they hit
her, as opposed to simply touching
her. Some of the later enemies
could have been a little tougher, but I think I got the enemies in the Desert levels just right.
Miguel: Did you
arrive at those conclusions from the feedback you got? If
so, from whom?
Justin: Nope, totally
just on my own in hindsight,
and watching videos of people playing
my level. No one ever
brought it up, I just thought to myself "ah I could have done that a bit better."
Miguel: I guess that
"fly on the wall" perspective changes a lot of things, and that again shows how willing
you are to learn. How
about level darkness? For a while, your levels seemed to receive reviewer complaints about darkness more and more. Even the first levels
in "Horizons - The Hellgate Saga" are pretty dark. Do you enjoy using that effect, or do you feel
it simply suits the atmosphere
of those levels?
Justin: I basically accidentally always have a bright monitor and a dark room :’) I even
tripled the brightness in the “Dark
Estate” before the
final beta! So in my next saga, i'm just going to leave the
ambient at 128 and let the
praises roll in xD
Miguel: I think monitors
and subtle settings have a lot to answer for,
regarding this :D Do you
read reviews for your levels?
How do you feel about them?
Justin: Oh of course
I read all of the reviews! I always eagerly await the next
review to pop up xD I don't
think I have any particular opinion of the reviews, I enjoy reading about the aspects
players enjoy and seeing what I've needed to improve for my next
level.
Miguel: So, Justin being positive as usual, haha. Your reviewers' ratings show a bit of a pattern
in the different categories.
Sometimes that is even reflected
in the review text. Do you feel it
is easier for you to
work on "atmosphere"
and "textures", compared
to the "enemies" and "gameplay"
dimensions of level editing?
Justin: Actually, I don't think I'm great at texturing, and it's not easy!
I'm obviously not bad, but you can always spot where I get lazy. I'll
freely admit that I'll never
be at Jackie's (Geckokid) level :’) Atmosphere
is definitely where I am most comfortable, and I'm usually always pleased with how it turns
out. Early on, I always wanted
to be great at texturing and atmosphere, sacrificing gameplay and objects, but I'm just not patient enough when it comes to
the texturing and lighting part. So in more
recent years, I've realized that I could more effectively focus on gameplay over all other aspects. When I started to work on the Diary function of NG_Center back in 2014, I inadvertently learned a lot about scripting.
Through this, I figured
the possibilities for puzzles were much more
wide open than I previously thought. My goal then
became to introduce never-before-seen puzzles surrounded by atmosphere (and acceptable texturing/lighting :D). All of the puzzles
(and platform tricks) I created
were done with immense help from Titak, Magplus, and tutorials by AkyV and Raymond.
Miguel: Texturing and scripting are exactly the two things
that keep me from building!
Haha. You
started out with Peru
and Mexico levels, but moved
onto city and base levels. Only recently, while still keeping those city elements, you also brought back more lively, natural environments to your raids. Is there a reason behind that?
Justin: Those city
and base levels were both inspired
by Emoo and also just really easy to make compared to natural environments. With
“Dark Skies”, I wanted
to branch out into those natural worlds alongside the more base-like levels. My idea for
“Horizons” was to revisit
that idea, which is why
we start with the gloomy
cities and open up to organic alien worlds. I love sculpting the terrain for forests and mountains, even though texturing them is a nightmare.
My next saga will see a brief return to base levels,
with some different natural worlds in between.
Miguel: That seems
like a very nice balance. You
were self-critical of your storytelling
and puzzle-making earlier in your building career. Do you think there
is too little story to your Peru/Mexico levels, or even in the
“Atlantis” and “Dark Skies”
sagas?
Justin: I really do think so. My puzzles weren't bad back then, we were pretty
limited, afterall. However,
my storytelling was virtually absent. Sure, it's
apparent Lara is heading
back to Atlantis and some
military is involved, but a lot of it doesn't
fit or make much sense. “Dark Skies”
had a more unique story, but I don't think the levels themselves really told the story
well. I wanted to make sure
that the player didn't have to read
anything before diving into
“Horizons”. Something about zombies and demons invading a city, the gameplay itself will tell the rest of
the story as it unfolds.
Miguel: While a good
synopsis can draw someone into playing, ideally the game will tell its own story. The best do, and
“Horizons” does. Still, about
your earlier work: There are a couple of releases with bugs that
can be seen as troubling.
"Ruins of Maya" has
a bug that forces the use of the
DOZY cheat [after pressing
those buttons simultaneously, Lara can fly around the map]. "Marshlands" doesn't seem to have
a finish trigger. Was this
last one even a bug? How about
for "Ruins of Maya"?
Justin: “Ruins of Maya”
was a huge blunder! While beta testing was not
normal practice back then,
I should have at least alpha tested it after changing stuff :’) I remember
clearly that I replaced a crowbar switch and
forgot to test the facing
of it, making me look
real dumb haha.
As for
Marshlands, that was
100% intended. Cruel, yes, it was very cruel hahaha!
Miguel: Let's blame
inexperience for the "Ruins of Maya"
blunder, haha. When
did you start using beta-testers for your levelsets?
Justin: I started with
the “Darkhouse”
[“Horizons” demo release], though I should have allowed for more testing.
Believe it or not, I don't think I did any beta testing before that!
Miguel: For what
it's worth, it doesn't seem to show
too much!
We were talking about stories, and I remembered I noticed something: The descriptions
in the "Atlantis" saga
are sometimes written as if by someone
other than you. Was that the case? What
happened there?
Justin: I believe I wrote the initial storyline for “Edge of Atlantis”, I don't remember writing anything for the subsequent levels xD That
said, I totally had Tommy Tomb Raider write the quick story for “Dark Skies”
(he created the outfit for that series). This time I decided I wanted to create the
story from the ground up myself.
Miguel: Maybe that's why some older
descriptions mention you, the builder,
in the third person. You
also have a couple of releases without a description. Can you provide short descriptions for "Anubis - Return to the Jackal" and maybe "Dark Skies 5-7"?
Justin: I have nothing
for “Anubis”, I just wanted to make
an Egypt level :’) “DS5-7” didn't have its own story, just a strange alien hub connecting to 3 worlds with special elements. You can see
where “Hellgate
Saga” does a better
job explaining what these elements do and how they interact with the main
characters.
Miguel: That helps,
haha. In your
first interview, talking
to Lara For Ever, you mentioned you were motivated to build during
your "High-School depression".
Are you comfortable going back to that topic? Were you taking
refuge in building, to get you
through a tough time?
Justin: It was certainly
a distraction. However,
if anyone is familiar with depression, they know it
does not go well with creativity
or authentic motivation. I had to force myself
to build in 2003, and the results were not great. Fortunately, it was just your typical highschool depression, nothing as serious as many people
have experienced. I've
long since drifted away from that part
of my life, I can barely remember anything before 2007 :’)
Miguel: I am very glad
for you in that regard. You once said
if the level editor hadn't been released your life would be much worse.
Is level editing cathartic for you? Does
it relax you and provide you with a creative outlet?
Justin: Level editing is just that for me! I liked to draw when
I was young, but never liked painting. Legos were also an artistic-type
release through my life, and level editing has taken over. It allows for
many different storytelling
ideas to merge, without needing to write a book... I'm not a fan of writing :’)
Miguel: And I, the writer, am making you write so much, haha. Sorry! :) We've
talked about inspirations for this creativity, like Joan's important role and Emoo's levels. How about influences from other works, like games, films, books, TV shows (etc.)?
Justin: Well isn't that going to be a laundry
list! I've included a number of Easter eggs in
“Horizons” that hint
at my influences. Some are subtle
(“Breakdown” is the
name of a map from DOOM64, for example), while some more obvious (Turrets from Portal).
As you
can see, DOOM1 and
DOOM64 made a huge early impact on me, as well
as Alien/Aliens. The Pulse Rifle may look familiar,
but there is also music from the Saturn Alien trilogy game
in my “Singularity”
level. Later
influences are Resident
Evil, Lord of the Rings
(“Utopia Vale” is inspired
by Rivendell), and Alan
Wake. An even
subtler influence was
Turok2 for the N64. There was one level with a pitch-black sky and endlessly tall stems around the landscape. This actually gave me the idea
for my “Languid Wastes” mushrooms.
Miguel: I actually hadn't picked up on all of those. Yet, DOOM obviously provides a lot of influence.
Do you play the game a lot? Are you still a big fan?
Justin: I'm still a huge fan. Now I had previously only played DOOM1 once, but I played a lot of 64, including using cheats to find all of the maps
(my friend had this magical thing called a personal computer with his own dial-up connection!). I never
played DOOM3 (that game
required one heck of a rig), but I'm still playing DOOM2016 today. I've always loved the concept of a fast-travel portal between Earth and Mars
ripping open a door to Hell and unleashing demons.
Miguel: I knew virtually
nothing about DOOM, and
I just got confirmation
of its influence on “Horizons” in that last sentence, haha.Have you
ever built a DOOM level or used
a DOOM editor?
Justin: I have never
attempted a DOOM level.
If I recall correctly, it required DOS knowledge back
in the day, but I imagine it's real easy to make levels
now. Still, I don't have any desire
to branch away from Tomb Raider, simply add elements of DOOM to it. Luckily the DOOM edit community is also massive, making access to textures and objects really easy.
Miguel: That's a relief!
We'd hate to lose you to DOOM editing, phew! Haha. After some
very prolific years, your levelsets seemed to become few
and far between. Is that the
cost of increasing quality, or simply a lack of time?
Justin: It's both,
for sure. I'm more patient
and more determined,
but have a lot less time than I did in highschool.
Miguel: That makes
a lot sense, once again. Here's
a question I think may be related
to these constraints. What do you think about
builder competitions?
Justin: I love the
builder competitions,
but they are not my bag. I tried
to start the btb [Back to Basics]
classic (2004 maybe [Classic was the Back to Basics theme for 2009]), but realized I can't create with such restrictions. My hats off to everyone who is capable
of participating in
BtB, CaC [Create a Classic], ORC [One Room
Challenge], etc.
Miguel: So, is
it fair to say you don't
expect to ever participate in a
"Back to Basics", for
instance?
Justin: Exactly. I hope they keep
happening, though, as they are
great for the community.
Miguel: Totally agree!
Another tricky question: Have you ever been
invited to collaborate with someone on a level?
Justin: Hmmm, I don't
think I've had any direct
request to collaborate. I would most likely kindly decline, of course, because I know I'd be unreliable.
The last thing I would want is to
hold back a project!
Miguel: That seems
fair. Your
favorite builders, according to your last interview, were Titak, Trix and Emoo. These latter ones haven't been active for a while, but Titak is working on her next release, I believe. Has that list
been updated with new favorite
builders?
Justin: That list
includes a lot of builders now! Of course,
I haven't played much, so it's only based on what I've seen.
I've recently played “City of
Memory” and can already
tell BigFoot will be one of
my favorite builders.
Miguel: "City of Memory" has been on my playlist for a while, and I will certainly play it as soon
as possible :) Have
you been paying attention to some of
the other builders arriving to the scene
the last few years, or even
months? What are your thoughts,
if you've played/seen some of their
releases?
Justin: I haven't played
anything from new builders, but I'm absolutely impressed by what I've seen
through screenshots, trailers, playthroughs, and the reviews.
Miguel: It took
me a while, but let’s get to the point:
"Horizons". Your
most recent release is a very long,
very diverse, very much long awaited
levelset, called
"Horizons - The Hellgate Saga". It has received
very high ratings and
stellar reviews. As I write
this, it is rated as
the best trle custom level ever, alongside OverRaider's "Shadow of
Darkness". That is
quite an achievement. It can be
argued that it brings your
work into cult status. There is a question somewhere in this pile of
compliments: was this much success what you were
aiming for?
Justin: I'd be
lying if I said it wasn't!
I've always wanted to create
a level worthy of top-rating, it just took me many
years to figure out how to do that :’) More importantly, I
just love how many people genuinely enjoy the game. It doesn't need to be the
best, but I did want to make
people go
"Wow."
Miguel: I think that
is very relatable. When you devote yourself and that is the
only "payment"
you get, of course you
want it to be valued.
What
do you treasure the most about
this great game?
Justin: Oh geez I don't
even know how to answer
that! I absolutely love everything that Joan helped me with, and that she let
me use a picture of her! My personal favorite level is “Emerald Dreamscape” (I rebuilt it twice for
a reason). Joan also painted
the Kokopelli [Native
American trickster/fertility
deity] I used in that level for the secrets
:)
Miguel: “Emerald Dreamscape”
is a wonderful level, and the Kokopelli is beautiful and very suiting. "Horizons" introduces many new elements to TRLE customs, like those hints for the secrets.
Tell us, what are some of
your favorite mechanics, puzzles, enemies, weapons, and other innovations to the game?
Justin: I'm glad
you think so :)
The puzzle I was most excited to showcase was the rotating pushable puzzle from “Languid Wastes”. It's really cool that it
doesn't matter which pushable you put into which
slot, as long as it's
facing the correct way (i.e. set to the
correct # in said slot). I was pretty sure this was the first puzzle of its kind.
There
are many other cool puzzles
of course. Reworking the torch puzzle in “Secret Tunnels” was an accomplishment, making it much better
than it was in the demo.
I was also pleased with my Pulse Rifle and Hellknight, two
of the few objects I made entirely from scratch.
Miguel: I know we
are all pleased to play with
these new goodies, since it’s like receiving fifty presents for Christmas. However, all of that must
have taken an enormous amount of effort. Were these new features "to blame" for the lengthy
build?
Justin: Believe it or not, no! It certainly took a lot of testing and correcting, but none of the puzzles
took more than a week or two. This doesn't compare to the time spent on, for example, all of the components involved with the cutscene from “Utopia Vale”! The boss
fights were all intense. That
said, the long wait was almost entirely due to me taking
months at a time away from building (sometimes even years without building).
Miguel: Life is to
blame, then, like with so many other things. What matters is it was definitely
worth the wait! These details,
your commitment to delivering an extraordinary game, and some other things suggest you were aiming for a professional-grade achievement,
similar to what a TR official release would look like. Was that your aim?
To have a game be as flawless
and complete as they come? Is that also why you wanted
to have many of the
world's most common languages available for the community?
Justin: Damn life :’) I certainly
did want to create as
professional a game as I could
with the help of the
community. There are always going to be
unforeseen glitches and
crashes, but I think the betatesting caught a lot. I was super excited to get multiple languages and a
real Lara voice to
bring it up to a new level
(for me, that is).
Miguel: "Horizons" is a fairly fantastical setting. Do you agree? Is fantasy
your genre, when it comes
to trle, or do you see yourself
returning once again to archaeological/historical settings for your adventures?
Justin: Simple answer: nope :’) I once
envisioned a grand game
in search of Atlantis by visiting real life locations
like Bimini. This would
have involved a lot of research
and historical accuracy,
and realized it was too ambitious for me (this was back in
2002). I found the otherworldly fantasy stuff more up my alley.
I also plan to only work on the
“Horizons” story, since
I designed it from the start
to be an always open-ended series.
Miguel: Nice segue to my next
questions about the future. As for "Horizons'', you've made clear it is going
beyond "The Hellgate
Saga". Are you still roughly
following the outline you gave Lara For Ever back in 2008?
Justin: Very close, yes! So in 2008 I planned out the following:
Set2, levels
8-14:
Sky Fortress (unknown1)
The Island (unknown1)
Off-shore research
(unknown1)
Hell's gates (Hell)
Journey through
Hell (Hell)
Center of
Hell (Hell)
Return to
Earth (Earth)
Set2 will of
course now be “Horizons: the Demon Saga”. It will
still be the Skywing, followed by an Island level, and then the offshore lab. From there, I'm currently planning for it to be
about 4 hellbound levels filled with demons. If all goes well, there will be a lot of
demons to kill. The biggest change is that I don't
expect to be returning to Earth. I later on decided that Lara would actually find her way to the
Lizard's capital city of Trohkeir
after returning from
Hell. We'll see how the storyline
plays out, I keep adjusting it as I get new
ideas :)
Miguel: That sounds
amazing, and you're already setting up more to
come. Want to keep us wanting
more, eh? Haha.How
does your building schedule look for this
next stage? Or do you not have the "luxury" of having one?
Justin: I can only
say that I'm building whenever I have free time. Let's hope I can keep that up!
Miguel: So, there would
be no point in pestering you over when
the next saga is going
to be done in the next few months,
or even years, right?
Justin: Yeah no
pestering me :’) , I try not to set deadlines
or even estimate a release time. Luxury
of building as a hobby, I'm done when
I'm done :D
Miguel: Everyone: be
warned! Haha. What
are you most excited about for these
new levels?
Justin: There's a lot
to be excited about. I just started using Tomb Editor
after using NGLE for
13+ years, and this new tool opens
up so many possibilities.I actually
don't know how I'm going
to one-up my puzzles, but the enemies will be a huge upgrade and focus this time. I've already finished the biggest demons and they look awesome,
thanks to the combination of Wadtool and Blender.
I've
also created a solid working
Basecamp and Merchant setup.
I just need to figure out how to balance it with traditional TR gameplay without overwhelming the players.
Miguel: The Basecamp and Merchant features are something you brought up recently on the trle.net forum, and it seems like a great change of pace.
I trust that you'll integrate it seamlessly. You
seem to be very active
in the Level Editing forum. Would you say you
enjoy helping others with their level building difficulties? Do you have a knack for it?
Justin: I don't know
if I have a knack for it, but I've always loved helping others since I started building. I was actually a mod for the level
editor forum on trf [tombraiderforums.com] back in
2001, too.
Miguel: You seem
to have a knack for it to
me ;) You
just mentioned you were active (and prominent)
in the trle scene in 2001, besides building and releasing levels. In your opinion, is vitality still present in the community?
Justin: It is
very strong now. As you noticed when looking at level releases over the years,
we had a dip after 2010 (this all coincided with Lara's Home closing, for me). The community is very active
in the last few years with many great builders and players both coming back and newly joining. It's simply amazing.
Miguel: I agree, and the trend seems
to be there in the release numbers over the years. Do you think this
may be somewhat related to new tech?
Looking at every new tool and technical approach there is now to
trle customs, does it seem easier
to get started? Or do you think the
use of scripting and other highly technical options made the barrier to entry higher?
Justin: I wouldn't be surprised if the scripting
and advanced techniques
pushed people away in 2010, while Tomb Editor may be bringing more in in the last few years. There's obviously way more to it,
like life for everyone being a factor, but I think Tomb
Editor makes it much easier for new builders
to start strong. So with basic building so much more approachable, new builders can more easily
move onto advanced techniques.
Miguel: That is
an interesting perspective.
But, do you think it is even
harder now to get a highly
rated release, because of how the
most talented builders and the newest tools raised the bar?
Justin: Yes and no. A good level still needs work, but the new tools
should make the basics much easier. For example, building the architecture and texturing a jungle level in NGLE was an enormous undertaking, while virtually a breeze with Tomb Editor. You still can't just wallpaper a cube room, but forming the geometry and aligning textures is so much easier. So the foundation of a level won't be as arduous
at it once was, letting us builders spend more time on gameplay, etc.
Miguel: That is
great insight for up-and-comers and for those curious about building with new (and more traditional) tools, thank you! We're
nearing the end, and I can't resist circling back to the animal theme we alluded
to at the beginning of the interview. I loved to read
on the forums how you dislike shooting dogs in Tomb Raider.
You also mentioned your pet cats
earlier. I noticed how you only
had the "undead" (dogs and people) or "monsters" for enemies in "Horizons". Was that a conscious choice? What is behind that?
Justin: It was a conscious
decision. Not 100% because
I don't like shooting animals, but a large part was
theme. When in the jungle, you're bound to come across
aggressive predators, so it
makes sense to have to shoot them. For the
most part, I don't need aggressive healthy dogs to kill, it makes more sense to me when
they are demonic or zombified, etc. Now I did have a few humans in “Event
Horizon”, but they were
basically the aggressive
surviving humans that attack other humans for supplies (typical apocalyptic scenario). I'm also entirely fine with the normal "Lara's gotta kill the military guys after the same artifact!" thing, but it doesn't quite fit my story at this time. Still, I think killing demons and lizards is way more fun!
Miguel: I agree. There
aren't too many enemies in
"Horizons" in general, and I'm a fan of all of that.
This interview has reached its last moment. Thank you very
much for your immense availability and
for sharing your insight. To finish, what do you have to
say to future builders and reviewers who are just now getting to know TRLE.net and the wider
TRLE community?
Justin: Thanks so much
for taking the time! And to everyone starting out, both playing and building: Thank you for helping
this amazing community grow and thrive, I hope you enjoy this
game for a very long time!
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