[page=Introduction]
We have sought out another mod, and picked it apart in this fresh interview. Psycho Hill Revised will definitely be one of the top contenders, once it's released. Read on to find out why this horror shocker needs to be watched...
[page=Interview]
Interview with: Thomas aka xYn
Website: Electronic-labs.com
ModDB Profile: Moddb.com
modDB.com: Hello Thomas, great that you could make it. Let's start off the interview with a simple question. Can you tell us something about yourself and the position you hold in reference to the mod Psycho Hill?
xYn: Hi there. I’m 18 years old, live in Austria and my job at Psycho Hill is mainly PR management and Mod Administration/Leading.
modDB.com: That's a pretty tough position! Do you have any past modding experience? If yes, what is it and what did you gain from that experience?
xYn: Well, I do have a bit of experience, I was on psycho hill once, before I had to go inactive, and I worked a bit at Bulletvest (some might remember The Demons Lair), and other numerous projects. What did I gain from that, hmm, that’s a good question, I guess I’m better at working with people now, I know my way in the modding-scene as far as i can judge it, and I have good relationships to different sponsors.
modDB.com: Yeah sponsors are a rare thing for mods and it obviously can't hurt. Now, to some it might have already been a known fact and to others it might be fairly new. But as you have just stated, you recently returned from inactivity. Is there a certain energy boost you will bring into the current state of development on Psycho Hill?
xYn: Well I will put it like this, I’m a 150% motivated, so that’s an increase from 150% before I went inactive, so give me work, work, work!!! Basically I work on Psycho Hill all day/night :-)
modDB.com: Hehe, we love to hear such enthusiasm in the community! What will be some of the features of Psycho Hill. And what do you think will set this mod apart from the others?
xYn: Well one of the best features definitely is the game play. While other games rely on giving you one quest after another, we will somewhat let you step in the dark, so for example you need to get to the other end of the town, now its your call how you get there, but equipping yourself with ammo and weapons in a sheriff’s office, hunting shop etc. would not be such a bad idea, so basically you will be on your own and figure out the story. We call it Open Minded Game play - O.M.G, you will love it :-). Also we are planning to get an atmosphere in the game that will force you to turn on the lights ;-)
Another feature would be the Chapter-Based-Game play (C.B.G.). This means that Psycho Hill will be split up into chapters, to allow players to add in more and more ideas after they first played Chapter 1. The ideas will be consulted internally and then possibly added into the mod, if they are relevant, or add to the game play and story.
Another feature is the gripping storyline. A lot of mods have a story.. but most stories aren’t really as captivating as they could be. Already now, the story of Psycho Hill is getting a lot of attention from many gamers in the community, even though only little of it has been released. We are aiming to have the story and the Open-Minded-Game play work together so well, that a truly unique sense of horror and fear can be awoken in the player, while not leaving out the fun and the urge to continue playing the mod.
modDB.com: Keeping the above mentioned features in mind, is there anything in specific that you want the community to remember Psycho Hill by?
xYn: Well, that’s hard to say. Because we don't want just one feature of Psycho Hill to be blowing the gamer away.. but instead we want Psycho Hill in whole to be a great experience. So that’s what I would want Psycho Hill to be remembered by, the game as a whole. But to be feature specific. I think the Open-Minded-Game play really will be a new and definitely pleasant experience to the gamers.
modDB.com: How does the O.M.G. feature specifically affect the player? Can you give us some more insight on that?
xYn: Well, simply put it will directly connect the player to the game itself. In many other mods and retail games, the player is being told what to do, with out much or any chance to get off the red line. With Psycho Hill, we intend to enable the player to make his or her own decisions. As previously already stated, the players will need to find their own way through the game, they need to use their wits if ammo runs low - where could they possibly get more ammo or should you 'jack a car and run over possible zombie threats. Through out the game, many questions will reach the player and there usually will be more than one way of solving such a problem.
modDB.com: Now, how would you describe your modification's game play, other than with O.M.G. Will it be plain horror, shooting around, only puzzle, or what do you have in mind?
xYn: I’d say it will be a hot mixture of it all, kind of hard finding the right balance, but we will manage. We don’t want to make a game play like Doom3, where you run around, not scared, shooting up monsters for no sense.
modDB.com: Yeah, it seemed that that bothered a few Doom 3 gamers. Is that why you are going with Half Life 2? Or why did you choose Half Life 2's Source Engine out of all the available game engines? Do you see any advantage in building your mod on this engine?
xYn: Yes definitely, 2 words and you will know what I am talking about. Physics Engine! No other Engine will offer us as much to work with as HL2 Source Engine. And that will be really cool combined with the shock effects and puzzles we have for you guys.
modDB.com: Very nice! Hehe I'm excited! So are you going to make full use of the given features in Half Life 2, such as the vast size of maps, ability to drive vehicles and of course the specialties of it's physics engine? If yes, do you plan on focusing on a certain area or do you want to try and balance things out?
xYn: Yes we are going to fully use all aspects of the engine. We will not focus on anything, we want to keep the game as balanced as possible, so you don’t get bored from it after 20 Minutes (i guess doom3 puts it here again ;P)
modDB.com: Hehe, seems like you really were disappointed with Doom 3. Taking in account that Psycho Hill has a fairly unrealistic basis, how do you plan on balancing that with realism?
xYn: Fair Hit boxes (you give a zombie a headshot, its dead. Really dead), realistic characters (such as people from town, officers, doctors, special units,...), realistic weapons, realistic atmosphere. The list goes on. But you get the idea :)
modDB.com: Considering that the genre "Zombie-Shooter" is fairly often used. How do you plan on setting Psycho Hill apart from the other Zombie modifications out there?
xYn: Well, we know that Psycho Hill's game play will set it apart from most of the other mods. We know there are some tough contenders out there (Epidemic) but we're not trying to make other mods look bad. Their developers probably put a lot of work into the mods too. Anyway, we know that the game play feeling, the features and the scenery in general will set this mod apart from most of the rest.
modDB.com: What will the arsenal of this mod look like? Do you plan on having plot-related weaponry or will the arsenal resemble a few random weapons bunched together?
xYn: No not at all, we will have weapons that are typical for a small American town, no grenade launchers, RPGs or nukes ;P... Though the arsenal will depend on the chapter you are playing, since we will have slight scenery changes on the 3 chapters.
modDB.com: That sounds very promising! Now, to wrap this up. First of all thank you for investing your time in doing this interview with us. But we have one final question. Seeing as though you are an experienced modder, is there anything you'd like to give on the way for future modders?
xYn: Don’t get frustrated too fast, modding takes time and mostly costs you a girlfriend :-P...
Related Links:
Psycho Hill's modDB profile
Psycho Hill's website
Psycho Hill's forums
[page=Screenshots]
looks cool, now if only hl2 would get out :-P