Matt Hildred interview
25th January 2003
What inspired you to make an OpenGL version of BUILD?
I discovered the original GLDuke project by Jean-Philip, and saw some of the problems that he was having. I figured that many of them were easily solvable, so I had a go at getting a map loader going, without any textures. After that, it just kind of took off.
Just why did you choose to make a BUILD editor, rather than a OpenGL port of Duke3D game?
Getting the Build engine going is half the battle. Once a stable and working engine is running, it would probably require the same amount of time to produce a game. The editor itself is fairly quick and easy to do, which is why I thought I'd concentrate on that first.
So far in, has the project gone as smoothly as you imagined it? Any unexpected problems?
So far it has gone fairly well, most problems I've found have had a solution in the end. The biggest problems have been to do with the textures. It is quite a challenge to convert an engine that renders line-by-line into one that renders polys, and some of the texture coordinate calculations involves some heavy maths. Also working out the different palette lookups was fairly time-consuming.
What big features are you planning to add to GLBuild in the future?
Probably the easiest improvement would be raising the sector and wall limits, although that would of course prevent the maps from running in the original Duke Nukem 3D. One feature I would like to add is allowing the ceilings and floors to be different shapes, so that you could have true sloping walls and much more interesting levels.
When your not working on GLBuild, which computer games fill your spare time?
At the minute I'm playing GTA:Vice City (isn't everyone?). Apart from that I'm a fan of most RTS games, currently I'm playing Cossacks: European Wars.
Compiling GLBuild must take some serious CPU power! Tell me, what kinda hardware have you got in your PC?
Less than you think actually! At home I used to have a Celeron 466 and GeForce 2 GTS. Most maps ran quite nicely on this machine. But I have just bought a new P4 2.4 GHz PC, which is a huge improvement on the old machine.
When your not busy at work on GLBuild, what else do you like to do in your spare time?
I have enjoyed mountain biking for many years, which is my main interest besides programming and gaming.
How and when did you discover Duke3D?
A friend got it when it first came out, and I loved it so much it was the first game I bought when I got my first PC soon after. I still think it is one of the most fun games I've ever played to this day.
How you always enjoyed using computers?
I've had many different computers over the years, from the first Sinclair ZX81, the VIC-20, the Amiga, Apple Macs and PCs. So yes, I've always enjoyed using computers.
Any last messages you'd like to say to all the eager GLBuild fans out there?
Yes, I welcome all the messages of support and comments I get. Please keep the ideas coming, as I want to produce something that everone is interested in.
