Mech Masters - Articles http://community.playhawken.com/news/_/mechmasters/ Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:16:29 +0000 86400 This is the category for the Meet the Mech Masters series. Meet the Mech Masters: Level Designer Tyler Buser http://community.playhawken.com/news/_/mechmasters/MechMastersTylerBuser Tyler Buser



Name: Tyler Buser
Callsign: [HWK]sarchasm
Favorite Mech: Infiltrator
Favorite Map: Sahara
Role on HAWKEN: The Level Designer



So, what do you do on HAWKEN?

I’m a, no make that The Level Designer, but only since the beginning of January 2013. I’m here to make some new awesome levels for HAWKEN, which frees the rest of the designers to focus on making HAWKEN that much grander!


As the level designer, I’m in charge of making sure the arenas that we do battle in make the game and its systems shine to their full potential. I tell my dad that I design levels and use their components the way a golf course architect might slope a green or add a bunker; we both make countless decisions about an environment or landscape to maximize the fun (or challenge). Of course, the rules of HAWKEN are much different than the rules of golf (and the pants are different, too). I end up touching a lot of areas of the game, levels are a kind of the nexus for 75% of the content in a game. I end up working very close with the engineers and the artists who turn my turds in to beautiful environments, but I also love collaborating with the other designers on game systems, too.




What got you started working in video games?

QuakeWorld Team Fortress (QWTF) + 12 year old me = addiction. I remember reading about QWTF in PC Gamer when it wasn't even complete. At the time the game only had five classes. It was the first mod that really meant something to me and I desperately wanted to make levels for it. Hilariously, I never released a Team Fortress map, because by the time I was any good Quake II had already been released! Tragically, there was no "Quake II Team Fortress", but by then I had discovered another amazing mod called Jailbreak. I created over a dozen levels for Jailbreak under the moniker “neotic”. I’ll never forget the first time I had a full 32 player server on one of the maps I had created! It was such a rush! It was the thing that really gave me the level designer love and I hope I’ll never be able to shake it! 14-year-old me got in trouble for bragging about the popularity of my maps so now I try to be a little more humble.




Wolf3DBarney



Finally, and most importantly, what's the first game you ever played?

Wolfenstein 3D, my uncle gave me a copy that already had a lot of mods on it. The one that stands out the most is one where the Nazis were swapped with Barney the Dinosaur and the walls were covered in graffiti reading, “DIE BARNEY DIE”. Well, that’s not true at all.. my first was probably NES something, but I liked Wolf 3D more.






Team HAWKEN is glad to have Tyler around to make maps where we can give and take rockets to the face.


]]> Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:18:34 +0000 c6bff625bdb0393992c9d4db0c6bbe45 <![CDATA[Meet the Mech Masters: Producer Jason "[HWK] Hughes...]]> http://community.playhawken.com/news/_/mechmasters/Hughes Jason Hughes



Name: Jason Hughes
Callsign: [HWK]Hughes
Favorite Mech: Reaper
Favorite Map: REDACTED
Role on HAWKEN: Producer



So, don't take this the wrong way, but um... What exactly does a producer do?

Producers are a tricky bunch and I've heard quite a few different definitions on what that entails. I'm not sure that everyone would describe the job in the same way and I believe a lot depends on the personality of the person in the role.


Ultimately, I'm responsible for delivering the game. The guy who makes sure things are taken care of or helps ensure those things get taken care of. True, there's the classic description of being one who balances quality, schedule and budget and my goal is for us to hit as many of those points as possible.


However I consider that to be just a part of what I do and getting things done often involves being a jack of all trades. I jump in where help might be needed, help members of the team out with what might be causing them a problem, look after the studio as a whole, put time into business development needs and ultimately help make sure the vision for the game and studio is unified and on the right path.


I heard someone smart describe the role once as being a head coach of the team and I think that's a pretty fitting description. Everyone at the studio works really hard, does amazing work and I do everything I can to support them, the studio and the project.




What got you started in video games?

Rygar



The interest was there as long as I can remember but I suppose it started with me messing around in Applesoft Basic in elementary school. I was playing Rygar at the local pizza place in fifth grade and had vision of making a game of my own so I got together with a friend and we started work on The Hidden Scroll.



We didn't get very far but it was pretty cool and ended up looking something like The Bard's Tale. I spent a lot of time on lighting design and computer science in college; which I admit sounds like a weird mix, but I had an interest in both movies and games so it made sense to me. I focused much more on movies at first and spent a number of years in the film industry doing commercials, music videos and some small features in both production and camera. I started transitioning to visual effects, but ultimately decided to make a career change.


I switched to gaming and ended up at THQ in 2004. I've been in gaming almost 10 years now and haven't regretted the choice for a moment.



Finally, and most importantly, if you were a mech, what sort of mech would you be?

One with a coffee mug in his hand.






Team HAWKEN thanks Jason for volunteering going first, because Hugs made him do it. You can usually find [HWK]Hughes in our forums between the hours of 2:00 AM- 5:00 AM PST (GMT -8).


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