Interview: Team GraviNULL

Earlier this week, I got a chance to sit down from two senior members from team GraviNULL, and chat to them about how it feels to be behind the best zero-gravity-slingshot-rollerball-deathmatch mod ever.  Also, giant balls of steel.  Oh, and the future of the mod, coincidentally.

Full interview after the jump!

UC: Quick introductions!  Who are you, where are you from, and what’s your background modding and gaming wise?

DuckSauce: My name is Yorg Kuijs, known as DuckSauce on the interwebs, I’m from the Netherlands and my first decent experience (that is with an internet connection capable of downloading something larger than 10 mb) with online games was Unreal Tournament 2004. Since then I’ve continued to like arcade style games like that and when I started modding my goals were set for unique and fun mods, keeping realism and common sense out in favor of being unique and fun! My first modding attempt was an overambitious project, also for Source, somewhere after followed by a would be small scale project called FragOut. About a year and a half year later, GraviNULL was born.

Bekey: I am Blaž “Bekey” Kosi, currently living in Slovenia. Even though I am a few years younger than DuckSauce, I am getting almost the same education as he did. So I might someday be as awesome as he is, follow his footsteps and bring GraviNULL to real-life using NASA technology in 2025. Ever since I got my first computer with an OS older than me, I was fascinated by the level-design of the 2D games I’ve played. I have spent the most time drawing 2D levels into books my father brought me from his job. Already at this age I couldn’t just play games, I had to use my creativity and make concepts for my own games. Years passed and I was still unable to learn how to mod, due to no internet. A year after I finally got sufficient internet connection, DuckSauce helped me start my way in the modding community. Started with beta-testing FragOut and it still continues now with GraviNULL.

UC: Okay, onto more serious topics: GraviNULL – whose idea was it, and how did you come up with such a mad idea?

DuckSauce: GraviNULL was an idea I came up with very shortly after the 0.6 release of one of my favorite SourceMods, JailBreak:Source. I was simply watching a video created by a player and an idea hit me.

I hit up fellow developer, friend and hellspawn Bekey on Steam, with whom I was previously developing a mini-mod called WarBall, which had the idea to use the rollermine from HL2 as a crazy weapon and objective at the same time. I layed out my idea to him and discussed a name and whether I could recycle his idea of using the rollermine into my own idea. He agreed and I started development that same day.

Bekey: The first idea which involved roller-mines used as weapons was WarBall, it would be a normal FPS with one big roller-mine used as a ball to attack enemies and pass it to allies. As always, DuckSauce had to use his saucy game-mastermind brains to get this extra-ordinary idea about hitting each other with balls, in zero-gravity.

UC: What do you do in the development process, and how’s the overall development been going?  You went from start to release of GraviNULL in five or so weeks… a bit hectic?

DuckSauce: Those five weeks have been quite a ride, but the whole process has been kept in check by me the whole time, being the end decider what should be in the first open alpha. Alot of ideas for other gamemodes have been flying forth and back and while good gamemodes are necessary to keep the player interested, keeping just deathmatch is by far the most preferable approach in releasing a mod.

This means you can get your gameplay worked out, instead of making your gamemode and then having to rebuild that because it doesn’t work with your gameplay.

Development for me went very smooth. By simply working my best on the mod and showcasing and pimping it I managed to get the attention of a variety of level designers. Team GraviNULL counts six level designers – it’s alot of people to manage, but it’s been smoothed out by using a program called DropBox, which worked great in sharing things accross the team. My previous experiences with Source have helped alot to get to this point and I also had some very valuable help from another programmer named Biohazard, who gradually also got involved in testing GraviNULL. Although he’s not a developer for GraviNULL since he has his own projects, his advice has certainly helped GraviNULL progress forward succesfully during those five weeks. You also better run when you see him join the server, because he’s probably one of the best GraviNULL players around right now. Also thanks should go to the Jailbreak Team, for sharing their work with the world and Wills for going as far as joining the team and supporting with alot of things, including making the kickass launch trailer, even though he’s bogged down with lots of other stuff to do.

Bekey: I am one of the many mappers GraviNULL has. The overall development goes very smoothly, this team just feels like home, every one of us has known each other for a very long time. For my part, I enjoyed mapping as never before, it was never hectic. Everything got finished up in time without setting deadlines. 

UC: You’re currently working on the “Hazardous” update with Hazard and Puzzle mode – How’s that going? What do we have to look forward to?

DuckSauce: Hazard was going quite well and is 99.999% likely to appear as a new gamemode. Puzzle mode is an experimental singleplayer mode, whether it will make it remains to be seen, it’s not gonna be likely to release with more than 1 map at first. Should the gamemode make it in and be liked, there are plans for co-op as well, potentially with the chance to betray your partner(s), but that’s on a whole new complicated level. The singleplayer mode would have you flying around with your favorite companion ball, to be used as your means of transportation and to solve puzzles with. Maybe you’ll pick up some more ball shaped friends along the way as well.

Hazard mode would be singleplayer and multiplayer, alone you could play in time trial, trying to beat your best times(with Desura support maybe even online stats to compare to your friends) while in the online mode, just getting to the finish first to score the most points is going to be more important, regardless of the time you take getting there.

Bekey: That’s correct, already before the open-alpha release, I have made a proof of concept map. Basically, a straight course with a lot of lethal barriers. All over the map are scattered anchors, which you can grapple and use to maneuver yourself to the finish as fast as possible, while dodging the deadly barriers. The other Hazard map I am currently working on, is much more crooked and changes direction and simultaneously height, too. We’ll see how it works out.

UC: How are you finding the feedback you’ve gotten for GraviNULL so far?  Is there anything that’s really stood out in terms of what people have liked or disliked?

DuckSauce: The feedback has been great. What stood out the most is how easily people seem to be giving up, it’s a whole new gameplay style and getting shot in the face repeatedly by developers probably isn’t helping either. However when we’re playing, we’re more than happy to provide people with some useful tips. The other reason for quitting is boredom, I guess. Deathmatch just doesn’t interest people for too long nowadays and the people that do find no one in the servers and stop trying to find someone to play with. That’s why the new gamemodes will be supporting singleplayer as well, so you can have fun even if the servers are completely dried up.

Bekey: We definitely got a lot of feedback from day one of release. A lot of people have added me on Steam and discussed their suggestions, and as well in-game too, even though it’s too hectic to type. Unfortunately, some were suggesting things which the Source Engine is not capable of, coding wise.

UC: What do you have in mind for the future of GraviNULL?  How far would you like to go with the mod?

DuckSauce: I said “was going quite well” before because I’ve currently put the team on a one week “break”, during that time I’m experimenting with the UDK and trying to see how far I can get gameplay of GraviNULL working with that, it’s been somewhat frustrating digging into this new engine, but I do have some high hopes that I can make it work, by coming Sunday(14 March 2010) I will likely have made a decision.

Whatever is to come in the feature, it’s more going to be focused on the real unique aspect of the mod, the zero gravity and grapple only movement, rather than moving towards objective based modes that can easily turn into a second deathmatch. The movement is for me what’s the most fun and that’s what updates will be focusing on. The puzzle mode is also promising great things, but it’s no small thing so that’ll hopefully develop succesfully slowly over the coming months, taking feedback to improve it and weeding out everything bad before also creating as ambitious as the co-op mode for it.

There are alot more gamemode idea’s and I think eventually some of these may be processed into a “mini-games” type gamemode where you’re in a server with people where you randomly get presented with mini-games you have to clear, since alot of the gamemodes suggested would in my opinion work better in smaller versions thrown at you randomly.

Bekey: Both me and DuckSauce learned how modding works the hard way. Now we are following the basic rules, “Release small, release often!” We may implement every crazy gamemode we can dream off. You never know what a Duck can come up with some day, trust me.You are asking how far I would go with the mod? Real-Life NASA alternate sports game in 2025. That’s all I have to say.

UC: If you had to pick one reason why people should try out GraviNULL, what would it be?

DuckSauce: Because shooting balls at people while grappling around in zero gravity is just something every human should have done once in his/her life! Also not to forget… it has balls of steel!

Bekey: It’s something completely new, and it’s changing gaming, according to Wills. The more people will try it out and play it, the more the game will evolve. And the more it evolves, the more it changes gaming.

UC: Okay, so, out of sheer curiousity, what are your favourite mods out there currently?  Other than GraviNULL :P

DuckSauce: I don’t really have any now, since I’m too busy working on GraviNULL and with school, from my past I’d say Pirates, Vikings and Knights II where ages ago I had crazy fun with alot of e-friends there, also Jailbreak: Source before 0.6, racing around bunny hopping killing everything was awesome, nowadays I spend more time in jail than fighting. Hoping for their new patch to improve the situation, or at least keep me entertained in jail with some mini-deathball. Also from ages ago: Ballmen. It’s dead now but it’s an awesome Source mod!

Bekey: Jailbreak of course, Pirates, Vikings and Knights 2, I tried it the first time at the previous release, it’s golden. And Outpost 16 has the best mapping I’ve seen. My all-time favorite however would be Research and Development.

UC: Any last words/crazy random statements?

DuckSauce: I’d like to thank the Jailbreak team for providing the mapping pack to the world, Biohazard for his awesome coding help and ModDB for their awesome service to mods, Desura is sure to rock even more with more developer control! Lastly, thanks Andrea for inviting me for the interview, it’s good to be able to blabber about the mod without starting the blabbering on my own out of nowwhere !

Bekey: I wish the whole UserCreated team best of luck. I always visit this site – very well written articles which are always easy to read! Thanks for the amusing interview. I’d like to thank everyone who tried or will soon try GraviNULL, you can’t imagine the feeling I had one hour before releasing. Also wish me best of luck for 2025, where I will hopefully defy gravity!

That’s it for now folks!  If you want to try out GraviNULL, you check check out the mod’s ModDB page or just download it.  We’ll see you online!