I know that at some point in the course of browsing through my portfolio that people will have a few questions. This is where you will likely find answers to them. If you don't see a question/answer here and would like it posted, if you are recruiting for a studio, or if you simply want to chat, you can e-mail me at Nick [at] Mohilchock.com.
Q. What are you directly responsible for in each of those screenshots?
From the beginning up until Call of Duty 3 I was responsible for the final construction, lighting, texturing, and performance of every level. Another designer (or "scripter") was responsible for the levels' events and AI. On Project: Offset, I created the basic shape of the game space, and wrote the AI combat routines for all the enemies. It was similar on F.E.A.R. 2, where I would create the space and shapes necessary for good encounters with the AI in addition to the overall hull of the level. A world artist then comes in and details the scene using the basic shapes as a guide to ensure that good gameplay is preserved. I also handled a good amount of lighting for the levels I worked on and weapon balancing for the turret fights in the game.
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Q. How did you get your start in the video games industry?
Luck mostly. I was working as an advertising artist and doing I.T. support for a local concert venue called The Grove of Anaheim. Early in 2003, I was laid off because the company managing the venue decided to out-source their I.T. departments to a cheaper company. So there I was at home, unemployed looking through some of my favorite gaming news sites when I saw an opening for a level designer position at Gray Matter Studios. I had been making a number of Quake III Arena levels in my free time, as well as beefing up my skills making textures and shaders, and decided I would build a portfolio from those and see what happened. Sure enough, I got an interview and several weeks later I joined the rank and file of the late Gray Matter Studios.
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Q. I looked up your name on Moby Games and found you worked on another game called "Space Haste 2". What did you do on that game?
Way back in the day when I was still working for The Grove of Anaheim, I became interested in a game called Space Haste 2 (although back then in 1999, it was called Mars Maniacs). I simply sent the studio an e-mail to tell them how much I liked the style of the game, and the lead designer by the name of Dan Joergensen sent me a reply, asking if I wanted to try out a pre-release demo to get some usage data. We exchanged several versions of the game and feedback on each iteration, until the game was pretty much nailed down. He then asked me if I would mind translating and writing the help file, which earned both my wife and I credits in the final game for "Help". I don't really count it as an actual "job" in the industry, more like a quick bit of insight as to what I might later like to do in my career.
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Q. Who or what are your influences?
Mostly I am influenced by music. I'm slightly autistic and have a bit of synesthesia (meaning one sense is affecting/triggering another, or in my case I often see variations of colors when I hear sounds). Mostly I listen to ambient tracks of electronic music (DJ Sasha, Junkie XL, BT, etc.), or hard rock and metal (Foo Fighters, Deftones, In Flames, etc.). My favorite type of music believe it or not is video game soundtracks (and in particular, anything I can find on OC Remix). I am also a huge fan of science fiction movies - especially the Terminator, Star Trek, Firefly, and Ghost In The Shell franchises. There are a few cheesy one-off's that I enjoy like Strange Days, Battle Beyond the Stars, and SeaQuest: DSV.
Among artists and designers I am a huge fan of the US Steel concepts and futurist designs created by Syd Mead. His art and designs are well thought out and embody the positive aspects of what the future could be. Another artist I admire is H.R. Geiger, because his works tend to take me out of my comfort zone and challenge me to look at things differently - his sculpture works in particular are facinating. Also, the geek in me enjoys the work of Michael Okuda and the design work he has done for the Star Trek franchise. The "LCARS" computer/control interface that he created for Star Trek: TNG is one of my favorite subjects, and it would be awesome to see it function with real world practicality someday.
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Q. What has been your favorite and least favorite tool/tech to work with?
I'd have to say my least favorite was Project: Offset's engine. As a content editor it was fairly easy to use and generate variants of content on the fly, but as a content creator it fell very flat. The editor did not have the ability to create geometry and instead relied on a palette of prefab objects to place in the world. My favorite would have to be GtkRadiant for the Quake franchise. It was extremely easy to create, texture, and publish a level in a short amount of time. As a tool designed for a specific purpose, it does the job very well. A close second would be a tie between Unreal Ed (Unreal) and WorldEdit (Lith Tech). Both of these offer a combination of CSG editing with prefab library support.
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Q. Can I get your resume online?
You can now get my resume here on this site by visiting the Resume & Contact page. You can also download it - along with a printable 20-page PDF portfolio - from the Downloads section. If you want the Gamasutra version, you're free to view it as well (since it has a more complete list of tools and programs I am familiar with). If that's still not enough information, you can always send me an e-mail and I will do what I can to help.
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Q. What kind of game would you like to work on the most?
I'd really like to work on an old-school shooter - something similar to Quake II. I'm also a big fan of cooperative games like Gears of War and Halo 3, so if I get the opportunity to work on such a game I'd jump at the chance.
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Q. Did you do anything prior to your Quake 3 Arena maps?
As a matter of fact, yes. Here are a few screens from some old Quake II designs I experimented with shortly after the game came out. I never released them publicly because they weren't very fun to play, but they are what pushed me towards wanting to become a professional designer.
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Q. If you have weaknesses, what are they?
Sunlight. Ok, that's not entirely true. From a design standpoint, sometimes I get the opposite of tunnel-vision... I'll sometimes try to get too big of a picture when it comes to the scope of a project and end up missing some of the fine details that make the individual experience good. When that happens I need to re-trace my steps and re-focus on the current task. It's not often, but sometimes I get carried away like that. Ultimately it is the little details that really help make the player's experience engaging and memorable.
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Q. What are you currently working on?
As of writing this I have finished work on F.E.A.R. 2, and currently looking for a new studio to call home. I'm also continuing to write design documents for projects that I've been working on in my spare time with friends. I'm really getting into Unreal Engine 3 and learning how it stacks up to older versions of Unreal Ed. In particular, I'm learning Kismet (the visual scripting system) and Matinee (the cinematics editor). It's been good to have a lot of free time as of late to spend on learning something new.
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Q. Where did you go to school, and what did you study?
I graduated with a GED and soon after went to Fullerton Community college to pursue an AA in Computer Science and minor in Art. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with the cost of classes or maintain my work schedule. I did take several classes on design (Fundamental Design, Art History) and a few programming courses (HTML, Visual Basic, Java, and C++).
I have not had any formal training to enter the video game industry, but that doesn't mean you can't learn how to make games without getting a degree at places like The Guildhall. I learned how to design and build levels using tutorials that I found online. I also played games just to study them and ask questions about what I experienced - what did I like, what did I not like, etc. This kind of self-development isn't for everyone, but it's how I managed to get noticed and get into the industry. I've been steadily growing over the past few years and discovered that it's a never ending process.
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Q. What were your favorite projects to work on?
F.E.A.R. 2 probably ranks highest on my list. When you get right down to it, who you work with is by far way more important than what you work on. The people at Monolith are incredible to work with both personally and professionally, and I'll miss them a lot. Second place would have to be my first job at Gray Matter Studios. Gray Matter was rare in that it was a teaching studio, bringing unknowns such as myself into the industry based on raw talent and molding them into competent developers. Last would be Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. I learned so much during that year that changed the way I work on games, top among those being how to work as a team. If I had to do it all over again, I most likely would.
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