• Hello Promeus. Could you present yourself, and tell us a few words on your gamer background and past experience in mapping ?
    Yeah sure, my name is Emil Johan and I’m from Denmark. Don’t really have a background as an AFPS player, mostly played Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft growing up. Before picking up Reflex I had never played an AFPS, besides maybe UT99 years and years ago. Similarly, I had never really ventured much into mapmaking, closest would be building a dirt house in Minecraft – Before, my creative outlet have always been drawing.

  • What is your favorite mode in reflex and what is your level ?
    Duel, by far. Duel was the reason I got into AFPS and Reflex in the first place, it’s not something you get in other FPS titles. When I played actively I hovered around the overlord rank.

  • How did you split the work between you two on this map ?
    The core layout was done by Irish and the goal of the map was to be a viable, original map for the Arena ruleset, since that’s a mode that still relies heavily on ported maps in Reflex. I chimed in and gave him some feedback on the layout and offered to give the map an art pass since I already had an idea for an environment I wanted to create. So overall, it’s his design with my visual style – but we both helped each other in both areas.

  • Were there some particular sources of inspiration ?
    The only direct source of inspiration would be Diablo 3, the β€œRuins of Sescheron” area. Other than that, it would mostly be the overall mood of a remote fortified cathedral in a snowy landscape. Whatever ideas that would create was put into the map.

  • Could you explain your process of creation of a map ? Is it the same for every map ?
    I typically start out having an idea for a central part of the map, and then build everything around that to try and support the gameplay it lends itself to. If the map survives the initial blockout and playtesting phase, I will typically start getting an idea of how the final map would look while still iterating. Once I’m happy with the state of the layout I’ll start working on the visual pass of the map. There have been a few exceptions to this process, mostly in the first phase.

  • Do you think a lot about gameplay while making the map, or you rather prioritize aesthetic/architectural ideas ?
    I try not thinking about the theme or setting of the map before it’s time for the art pass. I usually find it straightforward fitting a theme onto geometry, so while forming the layout and playtesting, it’s 100% focused on gameplay. Some people might find it hard to believe that I actually do playtest.

  • What could be in your opinion the main missing feature that would improve the map editor ?
    In terms of full features, it would be more in-depth scripting, such as buttons, movers and triggers. It opens the editor up for more freedom and more precise design in maps.
    A smaller feature, a more quality-of-life thing, would be the ability to edit the properties of multiple entities at the same time. Would speed things up significantly.

  • Tell us why people should get on with playing reflex.
    If you’re bummed out by how Quake Champions turned out, Reflex offers a pure version of the AFPS format.

  • 1.2 wen ?
    Another day,
    Another wen
    Thinking of you,
    1.2

  • Anything you would like to add, a final word ?
    If you want to keep track of what I’m working on I regularly post WIP shots of projects on twitter, you can find me at twitter.com/Eml_Jhn – Recently started working on a map for Counter-Strike Global Offensive!