For those of you who don't know, Steve Rescoe is a level designer for Daikatana building levels for the game's first episode taking place in future Japan. Originally, Steve was hired by Tom Hall to work on Anachronox and John Romero himself was going to do the Japan episode. Unfortunately, John's duties as lead designer and company chairman take away from the time he has to work on levels and he decided it would be best for the project if Steve worked full time on the Japan episode. So Anachronox's loss was Daikatana's gain. But hey, Anachronox since hired another very cool level designer. Last summer at E3 I got the chance to meet Steve at Ion Storm's party on the packed rooftop deck of the Chilli Pepper. He's a very personable dude and down to earth. Oh, and he has bitchin' long hair. Well, enough with the boring introduction. Here's the interview.

Daikatana Cabana

What were you doing with yourself before your job at Ion Storm and how did your career change come about?

Steve

Mostly trying to make a living as an artist. About 2 yrs ago I bought a PC so that I could get into 3D modeling and animation. But somebody gave me a shareware of Doom and that led me to buying and playing lots of games instead. Once I discovered you could actually make your own addon levels, I was hooked. My Quake levels Village of Dread and Shadow over Innsmouth got a lot of attention, and last february Tom Hall mailed me about coming down here to work on Anachronox.

Daikatana Cabana	Out of all the Quake levels you've done which is your personal favorite?
Steve	Shadow over Innsmouth, I really enjoyed building that one.

Daikatana Cabana	So whose hair is longer; yours or Romero's?
Steve	Hmmn, I guess we'd have to use a tape measure to know for sure. His is certainly 'fluffier' than mine, heh.

Daikatana Cabana	Story, plot, and mission objectives are an integral part of most first-person shooters now. How will these elements be incorporated into the levels of Daikatana?
Steve	The levels are being built with the story in mind. Some of the plot ideas means building specific structures in the level. The dialogue of the other characters will also guide you to certain objectives, and there will be cinematics in between the levels.

Daikatana Cabana

Do you have a certain formula or list of steps you go through when building a level?

Steve

Nothing that's very rigidly followed. I usually start one when I have a good concept of the visual feel of a level. Sometimes I'll build a test room to help me decide on what kind of textures and architecture to use. I like to sketch out a general plan for the level and then build it up, but sometimes a test room will sort of grow into a level. Then I'll keep making passes over everything, adding more areas, details, and fixing or deleting anything that doesn't feel right or fit in with the story.

Daikatana Cabana	What's the most difficult thing you've had to do so far on Daikatana?
Steve	Probably the swamp level. I want to use a lot more polygons than I'm allowed to.