<FPS> It's good to talk to you again.

<Marty> same here man!

<FPS> 1) I'm just looking at the screenshots and one thing in particular really stands out. You seem to have done a really fantastic job with the textures. Did you build them from scratch? Steal them from somewhere? Improve previous versions?

<Marty> Most, if not all of my textures are a compilation of things; I start with some very good base textures and then add detail and embossing to them. There was an excellent set available through 3D World Magazine (I believe they are still on the website for the mag.) I also draw a lot from the world I see. The "Michael" window in the Fourthman office is an actual stainglass window from Ireland, circa early 1800's that a local church has. Driving by one night, I saw it backlit and was just transfixed. I went in to ask the Father if I could include it in a video game, he being the enlightened prelate he was, said quot;sure" and then told me how all of James Bonds villains were based on the seven deadly sins.

<FPS> 2) One thing that I've been saying should be a part of games since Quake 3 simulated them, is curves, and I see a lot of places where they could have helped you out here. Modern video cards just push so many polys that no one cares about legacy trunk technologies anymore. Unfortunately many of us only have moderate cards, or don't have the time/money to build a game based on the latest and greatest. Which advances in engines did you see between Rev 7 and Xibalba? What advances do you look forward to for your next project? Andwhat, if anything, did you miss that could have helped Xibalba?

<Marty> Boy what could have REALLY helped was actually knowing how to code in C++ or C#. I was just having that discussion with another developer. This is the great barrier that stops us from really getting the most out of even the open-source engines like Genesis. I heard that Quake 3 is going gnu license soon, but if it isn't documented well then it may well be useless for the indie developer.

<FPS> 3) What is the medieval Freddy Krueger called? Can you give us some background on the other enemies?

<Marty> He is what we call an "evil cherub". The Apostle Paul identifies 4 levels of evil entities in Ephesians 6. One of those is called a "Throne" or "Principality". I was influenced a lot by H. R. Giger on this one, I added a scorpion tail to him. All he has to do is flame and shoot bolts at you. Here is a preliminary sketch. More of an evil angel trooper.

Now there were some other enemies that I can enlighten you on. In one primeval level, a leftover of the Great Flood, there are dragonfish. Prehistoric fish that attack you. If you ever look at the REAL fish they are pretty scarey all and of the themselves.

<FPS> 4) and weapons?

<Marty> For the weapons I just stuck wth the familiar stuff that came with RF. Except I added a shotgun and brought back the katana sword (I really liked it)

<FPS> 5) For a game with a Mayan/Alien theme, I'd expect the soundtrack to really be something special. What can you tell us about it?

<Marty> Would you believe I am still waiting to get something "custom" done? The music minister's 25 year old son is a metal freak so that is what I am hoping to get accomplished. I'm going to let him listen to the track for Halo 2...

<FPS> 6) And the sound effects?

<Marty> OK, I have to give away one of my ugly little secrets; you know those el-cheapo sound effects disks you get from Office Depot and the like? They are really GREAT for that sort of thing.

<FPS> 7) I notice in this game, and so many others, that certain "natural" textures suffer from tiling. There is a movement toward procedural texturing in engines such as that used by .KKrieger and Genesis 3D. Do you intend to use procedural texturing, phong shading, etc. etc. in your own version of some engine at some point?

<Marty> Yes, and YES! The Alice game by American McGee was done with very complex level geometry and very simple textures with a lot of procedural stuff going on (Quake 3 engine I believe). This is opposed to the early Resident Evil that used a prerendered background over very simple level geometry. All this dependent on me learning something for once like C#...

<FPS> 8) Unreal has quite a lot of levels which resemble your Mayan theme here. Did you draw any inspiration from Unreal? What games or pictures helped you with the feel you wanted for Xibalba?

<Marty> Unreal screenshots were a geat inspiration for the temple look of things. While the interiors of the spaceship and lab stuff were very influenced by DOOM 3 and watching Alien over and over. Even the first Star Wars had some real inspirational ideas on textures. I spent hours watching and sketching out ideas for textures and gadgets watching those movies, and I spent nearly as long studying what was going on in DOOM3.

<FPS> 9) What first drew your attention to the UFO side of the bible? What was the path your mind took from concept to completion?

<Marty> The idea of "signs and wonders" is one that has been around a long time. Even DOOM 3 picks up on a semi biblical idea, that Mars was the home originally of Satan. Now this all comes out of Genesis 6 where the evil angels had offspring of human women before the great flood... what if something survived? We hear a LOT about sex experiements done on hapless humans by evil aliens. I drew a connection between that and what happened in Genesis 6. Why would these advanced beings be so interested in messing with our offspring? Well I believe its the same guiding principle as the first time around in Genesis 6. The aliens claim that THEY influenced our evolution, that Christ was even a product of their "science". Just like in the X-Files though, the truth is out there. Is it true? I leave it up for the viewer to decide. Check here.

In my research for this project, I found a TON of literature out there that outlines all sorts of conspiracies. The game is only one scenario.

<FPS> 10) Is there a back-story about the character you play in Xibalba?

<Marty> He is actually a "man out of time". John Daystar is a victim of the Montauk experiments (also known as the Philadelphia Experiment) which made a Navy ship disappear. Some of the sailors were caught in time warp and projected to the a future 40 years and more ahead of the Second World War.

<FPS> 11) The flow of other alien-based games (Half-Life) and movies (The Arrival) seems to be that 80% or more of the experience is in the real world, then you get a slice of something truly fantastic. Does this hold true for Xibalba? I note that in the screenshots there are some spaceship looking levels but no alien looking ones.

<Marty> It does but not in the way that The Arrival does or Half-Life.The closest parallel would be DOOM 3 where the player enters "hell" (we DON'T enter HELL but the "heavenlies").

<FPS> 12) What is the most interesting thing in Xibalba that few or no other games do?

<Marty> Well I actually BELIEVE this stuff could be true... lol... where as I believe that the boys at iD are just telling a good story. There has been a lot of press about them being "Satanists" and so on. But its just PR on their part... I don't think they are sacrificing poodles or anything like that.

<FPS> 13) Lucky question #13, Which do you like better, Xibalba or Rev 7?

<Marty> I like Rev 7 better but the response to XIBALBA has been much better than Rev 7. Probably because its something they can relate to and not so much out of left field like Rev 7.

<FPS> Thanks again for your time Mr. Bee, we'll buzz off now.