Mateos is a mapper and waypointer for W:ET, heavy metal fan, huge FPS fan old or recent (Duke Nukem 3D, Painkiller, Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, Blood, Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Doom, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Borderlands, …) just to name a few.
Q. Hey Mateos! How are you doing?
Hello, fine thanks, and you ?
Q. Thanks for taking this Q&A interview with me.
No problem ^^
Q. Probably not many knows of Mateos. What kind of guy is he?
I play ET since 2006, been an admin, mapper, waypointer, and programmed a bit on the map editor, GtkRadiant. I used to be active on Splash Damage Forums, helping people whenever I could, especially mapping-wise.
Q. Is there a special meaning behind your nickname? Or just random?
It’s simply my family name Which translates into ”Kill yourselves” in spanish, for some reason!
Q. You’ve been a long time in W:ET and RtCW scene. What got you in to these games?
It started back in 2006 when I first got an internet connection. I bought a little magazine about windows software, and in the games section ET was listed. I recall my XP couldn’t run the game in multiplayer once the 2.60b patch was installed, so back then I used to play on 2.55, until I upgraded the RAM from 256 to 256+512 MB
Q. Have you played W:ET and RTCW since it’s release?
Well no, I wasn’t gaming on PC until I got an internet connection on my own PC, then started with ET and Duke Nukem 3D I played when I was a kid on a Windows 95
Q. Do you still play these games?
Yes! ET-wise I still play and make waypoints (I plan to make maps again, and learn to programming to tweak GtkRadiant), and I play from time to time DN3D ; More rarely, RtCW, mainly MP or the Co-Op mod, also following ioRtCW progress, just like ET: Legacy
Q. I see sometimes you play other games too? What games do you play?
I mainly play FPS and solo RPG games, to name a few: Killing Floor, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Serious Sam game series. I appreciate more co-op games than deathmatch, though CTF is an exception. I like team-based games
Q. You’ve been mapping also for a long time for ET, how many maps have you made?
I mainly fixed or reworked existing maps, I helped people make some, but I have one made from scratch in preparation. And some ideas for others.
Q. Can you tell us about your maps?
It started with 1944 Nordwind, an old popular but buggy map (spawns appearing/disappearing, Tank going through built Truck barrier, …), and it evolved into reworked, more detailed version: 1944 Nordwind 2. I released the source a while ago on SD Forums.
Then I fixes 1944 Huertgen Forest (Final 2 version, also made a Christmas version). I plan on going back to it because it has a few issues still, and some admins wanted to control the Tank speed.
I did (with permission) a rework of Supply, called Supply Depot Winter Edition (Supply_WE.pk3), which includes options available to admins (enable or disable cabinets, just like a popular ETPro script does, fixed the mortar and crane controls exploits natively). A map most have forgot about
I have a map called Berghof Assault in the pipe, it has some balancing issues (because I expected some ETPro behaviors, and on pub servers it turned into a massacre ^^’), it’s on hold for beyond a year now. I’m trying to finish my currents waypoints first before going back to it.
I helped Devil Right Hand rebuild the geometry of Biohazard.
I promised Kemon to look into Dingenskirchen B1 performances (Dingenskirchen B2 is the latest release), but I couldn’t compile it well on my computer back then, planned to retry here again
Also promised Magic years ago to finish a map.
I did some tests on map by WuTang regarding optimisation, but it led nowhere, due to lack of time.
Q. Have you done any maps for RtCW or other games?
I tried Source mapping but never got beyond tutorials.
I’d like to map for Duke Nukem 3D someday too.
Q. Any new maps coming in near future?
Perhaps… But no date yet
Q. You also do waypoints for bots for ET maps. What got you started with this?
Back in 2009, I was part of a clan called The PartyCafe.
Fliquid, its founder, wanted to retire, and a vote was called to choose a new leader.
I got elected and started managing servers, which were running Omni-Bot 0.66; I noticed they weren’t quite smart, just running around like headless chickens, and then I started to learn waypointing, and still so to this day
This is what made my choose my professional career later, as I am now a software engineer (so v6 works in game and IRL :P)
Q. Some say it’s hard to make waypoints, is it really?
The wiki is quite complete with text and video tutorials, you have a lot of waypoint on the official repository over atAssembla with commented scripts and various examples, plus the forums… If you’re interested in making or improving waypoints, you’re welcome ! It’s not that hard, just like mapping it takes time and motivation You’ll always find some help, no worry !
Q. How long time does it approx to make waypoints for one map?
It highly depends on the map, and it complexity: is it just straight, can you do several objectives at once, can some parts be bypassed (for instance, Fuel Dump covi+engi skip once the grate is destroyed)?
The human factor is something really big that waypointers usually take into account.
You have to think a lot when writing the script, sometimes you even need to create your own triggers to avoid bots playing in an incorrect area of the map (OB uses the printed text called upon events to know what’s going on, but stuff like switches or other objectives don’t always print something, this is something as mapper I do a lot since I started waypointing first ).
I started some waypoints in 2009, and they’re still not finished, while some were done and complete in an evening…
Q. Are you involved in any other projects now?
I’m a lot interested in engine and map tools programming for ET and Duke Nukem 3D, I worked a bit on a HD-fying mod for Redrum add-on for DN3D (I try to learn mapping, waypointing, engine programming, texture and model making for these two games, all the aspects of the game design in fact).
Following I always ask, they are standard 2 questions these days
Q. How would you make W:ET and RTCW better?
Both scenes have a dedicated community still making custom content to this day, what more do you want?
Perhaps making RtCW free
Q. How do you see the RTCW and W:ET scene today?
Active and interesting! I follow several projects around these on GitHub and ModDB (Venom, Remake, RealRtCW, ETL, ioRtCW, …).
People saying games are dead since 10 years… lol
Q. Anything else you would like to add here about W:ET or RTCW?
I guess if I still play them to this day, it means I’m fine with them as is
Q. Do you have any expectations of the Wolfenstein2 franchise in the future?
I liked The New Order, bought but haven’t played The Old Blood yet, The New Colossus looks cool. They have a good atmosphere and character work. Some people are sad (perhaps almost upset) that there’s no MP, but like many I prefer a good SP game than a rushed SP and generic MP. ET is there and free (Sidenote by Ray: I‘m doing a playthrough of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and will be uploaded on YouTube in some days)
Q. What’s your favourite metal band?
Ouch, hard question!
I mainly listen to thrash and black metal, and some heavy and industrial. I often go see gigs with friends.
I can’t really give a favorite as a single, and even if I split by sub-genre I can’t really
I’ll just quote a few: Amon Amarth, Annihilator, Anthrax, Asphyx, Bathory, Black Sabbath, Clutch, the Cult, Deep Purple, Gojira, Havok, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Korn, Led Zeppelin, Machine Head, Ministry, Nostromo, The Offspring, Overkill, Rammstein, RATM, Sepultura, Slayer, Tchornobog…
I’ve seen most of them live. Perhaps I could meet some ET player at a fest like HellFest?
I also listen to some pop (Coldplay, Keane, The Killers) and quite a lot of synthwave (Carpenter Brut, Dan Terminus, Dynatron, Perturbator, …).
Q. A non-related question: What do you have in your fridge right now?
Cheese, beer, eggs, a lot of charcuterie, milk…
Green stuff, I don’t store, I buy when I need
Thank you!
Links recommended by Mateos:
Mateos personal links:
Nice, another interview. I'll advertise it via one of my website updates.