Interview with Josiah from No More Room in Hell

[19 June 2004 - 10:30 PST GMT-8]
Mod Website

Half-Life Gaming: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Josiah: I'm a damn cowboy.

Half-Life Gaming: Why Cooperation (Co-Op) and not just regular multiplayer?

Josiah: At the moment, there has been discussion among the community and staff alike about changing a bit of the mods ideas into a head-to-head (have a choice of becoming a zombie or a human) mod instead of coop. We'll let you know if we decide to go with this but as of now I won't comment any further.

Half-Life Gaming: How long has No More Room in Hell been in development?

Josiah: No More Room in Hell has been around for nearly a year, and has had its roller coaster rides throughout the duration.

Half-Life Gaming: What is the source of inspiration for this mod?

Josiah: [George A.] Romero's work has always been the inspiration of NMRiH, and always will be, he's created some great movies, and I have yet to miss one of them.

Half-Life Gaming: What is the hardest thing about creating a mod?

Josiah: Keeping the staff on task, many people feel they can get away with showing us their boobs one day, but when the image fades from memory, they are done away with. In other words, people who join oftentimes lose interest in working or become AWOL, and the problem with this is its far too common, so mod leaders find themselves firing staff members left and right. We've had our share of "freeloaders" and its unfortunate people aren't as genuine as they appear when they're applying for a position on the team.

Half-Life Gaming: Who or what got you into gaming?

Josiah: Atari, what a creation. Later came Counter-Strike, which I played at a local internet cafe after school. I just moved to the area so I had to make use of my time, and spending loads of cash to play a couple hours on Counter-Strike was my way of making good use of my time. Come to think of it, I played Operation Flashpoint since the day it came out, that would be the game that really got me into shooters.

Half-Life Gaming: What is your favorite Half-Life mod and explain why it is?

Josiah: Kuja's mod, Digital Paintball. The game really got me into Half-Life and I learned so much about gaming since I first laid my eyes upon the mod's stunning graphics and insane attention to detail...ok the last parts may be a bit of a fib, but the mod was great and lasted quite a while.

Half-Life Gaming: How have you dealt with problems in the past?

Josiah: Well for one I keep my friends close, and my good friends even closer for the rough times we endure. The best way I've learned to deal with problems is keep it out of the public, I've learned from mistakes others have made and my mistakes alike. Its best to settle such problems "under the table" (sadly enough) to stop further damage to the mod.

Half-Life Gaming: What separates this mod from all of the rest?

Josiah: Our name. Oh besides that, our intense love for the genre among our experience hopefully means we can't screw this up, as well as our dedicated fanbase, we have some of the greatest.

Half-Life Gaming: Why the Half-Life 2 engine and not something else like Far Cry?

Josiah: I have nothing against farcry, its a great game, besides the odd, unrealistic physics (bodies launching many many feet in the air from a car tap) as well as the unrealistic feel in general. The whole look is too paradise-ish which is exactly what ubi wanted, but not us, we're looking for something to handle a bit more of a realistic feel. The lighting did not please me too much in FarCry, shooting the lights to have them bounce around in the same pattern every time was boring. I don't feel immersed at all when I'm playing farcry, I just feel like I'm playing spin the bottle on waikiki beach, with the occasional sea urchin. The game sucked me in a few times but we're all hoping for a bit more with Half-Life 2. I have seen Half-Life 2's lighting in a few videos, such as the video while following a trigger-happy shotgun bearing old man through a dimly lit environment, the lighting was phenomenal. I can see a zombie popping out of the shadows in this type of lighting. I was also very pleased with the modability of the original Half-Life, which is twice the experience among other reasons. I've often thought of what the mod would be like if we were to switch over to FarCry like so many other mods, but I cannot see the mod experience being as exciting if we were to make the switch, Half-Life 2 has the perfect atmosphere for what we want.