All Spotlights

Real Name: Alex Pearson
Forum Identity: Gingerbread Man
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

What first attracted you to Thief, and when was that?
I first picked up Thief in 1999 while on the lookout for games with high-level plot / concept. Basically, I saw the box, read the box, and said "Dude, this looks cool"

Why did you start designing missions, and when was that?
Since Half Life, an SDK or editor has been the primary factor in my decision to purchase a game. Even to the point of me buying System Shock 2 so that I could port the resources to Thief. I actually started building missions for Half Life, and progressed to Dromed when I could grasp the fundamental differences between subtractive and additive engines. The reason why is easy: I am so enamoured of the gaming industry that I rabidly seek to learn how and why these things are made... When I play a game, the only things I think are along the lines of "How did they do THAT?" and "What impact did THAT have on my gameplyaing experience?"

Give us a brief summary of all your currently released missions. Tell us the idea behind them, what you are proud of, and what you regret about them.
Benny's Dead
 My only released FM is "Benny's Dead" (ollol 6620 downloads to date from FilePlanet), [10268 downloads from TTLG - Dan] a story of intrigue and double-cross involving the assassination of a noblewoman's bodyguard. The idea behind it was to develop the concept of "player-herding" without ruining immersion, as well as to bring some small part of my own twisted mythos concerning the Bogies to light. I was intereted, overall, with drawing the players into a world beyond -- yet compatible with -- the world of Thief 1 & 2, as well as adding some new, personal, and hopefully interesting stuff.

I am proud of the readables, and the apparent enjoyment of the backstory, I regret the floating elevator and a couple of anachronistic elements. I'm also proud of the detail that went into things, though only a few people have ever noticed. But those few people made it all worthwhile in spades.

What inspiration outside of Thief 1/Gold, Thief 2, and Deadly Shadows influenced the content of your fan mission?
I was inspired by my brain, and the innumerable lessons I learned from uncountable playings of T1 and 2. Plus all the stuff I learned from horror movies, though I fear they were not as well-implemented as I would have liked. To be honest, I am inspired by everything: buildings, FMs, people, television, books.... everything.

What do you feel is your strongest suit in mission design? Architecture? Story? Atmosphere? Scripting? Gameplay? Something else?
My strengths lie in architecture, writing, and timing. Reality in building is very important to me: Environments need to FEEL like real places, inhabited places, active places. In games like Thief, readables are similarly important, as they lend an atmosphere and backstory that simply cannot be told by action alone. And, since I am a BIG fan of fear and apprehension, timing is so vitally important to encounters... there is a definite schedule to fear, and this can only be accomplished by careful understanding of where a player will be and when -- periods of tension broken only by periods of pant-wetting fear are the way to go, and the way Benny's Dead was built. With a huge dose of hilarity / confusion thrown in for good measure.

Have you ever worked with other people on an FM project? If so, who were they, and what did they do?
I have done outside consulting on missions for a number of people. from JohnEric to Sturnine to Apache. I generally offer technical advice, but I feel I have been most helpful in realms of "setting up immersion" and such, if that's even a real thing. I was also the artistic director / graphics lead for T2x during its inception, and contributed things from plot tweaks to character concet and project branding, as well as preliminary builds of two missions.

If you could rebuild any OM from Thief 1/Gold or 2 from scratch (as a T2 FM), which one would it be, and why?
I would rebuild The Haunted Cathedral, except I would make it scary.

What's your favorite FM(s) from other authors?
Two missions consistently stand out in my mind: Shunned (by Gonchong) is the only mission to make me afraid, and The Temple Of The Forgers sticks with me for some reason -- the fact that I don't recall who built Forgers or why it remains impressive is only deeper testament to the impact it had on me: I don't know WHY I like it so much, I just remember that I do.


(Answer the following questions only if they apply!)
Tell us about that first mission you made in dromed, back when you were first learning the editor, which never saw the light of day.
Benny's Dead was actually the first thing I made that wasn't a "room + hall + guard + torch" It began in T1, but the advent of T2 (and its coloured lights etc) made me immediately switch over. So, as far as "what did you do first" goes, I would have to say "Sweet FA"

Tell us about the mission you currently have in production.
 
Gingerbread Man's Unreal Engine Work

Although I keep threatening to continure the Benny's Dead storyline in "Moth", it is doubtful that it will see the light of day, unless an editor for T3 is forthcoming. Currently my time and effort is spent in UnrealEd, where I consistently hone my skills in preparation for my Next Big Thing (which may or may not ever come to light..)

Have you ever done any mods for other games?
I have done some modding work for Half Life, UT, UT2k3, Morrowind, and Max Payne 2, in addition to numerous RTS games like Pharoah, Civ3, and AoE2. Usually these are simply for personal enjoyment, and I don't tend to release them beyond a small circle of friends. Basically, if it has an SDK, I will mod for it.

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