Interview Page 1

Q: Hi there. Would you like to introduce yourself, explain who you are and where Splash Damage came from?

Sure! My name’s Paul Wedgwood, though I’m known better online as Locki, and I’m the Lead Designer at Splash Damage. Splash Damage was formed in June 2001 because a number of us had been working for a year and half on a mod for Quake 3 called Q3F and we realized that there was potential to start a game development company. We’d been invited out to Texas for QuakeCon by Robert Duffy at id a couple of times and he seemed quite impressed with what we’d achieved with Q3F.

Airstrike called

Boom hehe

Careful...

As Robert was helping begin some conversations between us, id, and Activision, we were working on two or three different commercial projects, including the creation of in-game camera technology, HUD and maps for a television series called Lock n Load (which broadcasts QUAKE III matches). We also created nine multiplayer maps for Games Domain (the most famous of which is probably Market Garden). We did this for around six months and managed to get the core Q3F team all moved to the UK. The first thing we did for Activision and id Software was to produce three multiplayer maps for the Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Game of the Year Edition (Tram Siege, The Damned and Rocket) and then we moved on to working on Enemy Territory, which we’ve been working on for about a year.

Q: Just a few questions on the business side of things, since people are so curious about the whole matter. Could you give us the story of how and why Enemy Territory became a free download rather than the stand-alone expansion it was supposed to be? Were there any periods where morale or finances made you wonder if it was worth the trouble, and if so, how did you struggle through?

To be completely honest, it’s been very smooth for us all the way through development. Activision and id Software have always told us that they were very happy with the way Enemy Territory multiplayer was shaping up, and they have been great business mentors to us throughout.

Whozzat?

Those allies aren't gonna be happy

Kaboom

Had it been any other publisher or executive producer, I think there’s a chance that Splash Damage could have been in trouble when the retail product was cancelled. As it stands, we’ve been well looked after and are very proud of our association with Activision and id Software as a result.