This month, we will have members of the month: Yeebaagooon and Mephiles. Mephiles is a long-time member, once known as Titan602, with many scenarios on his name, not to mention playing a big part within Kalos Design Studios during its lifetime. Yeebaagooon is also a long time member, with some great experience, and both have released great amounts of multiplayer fun, now, they are even joining forces!

Both designers where interviewed separately, with similar questions, and those interviews have been mixed to form this one. Enjoy!

First of all welcome to this interview! Second, Yeebaagooon, you mostly do multiplayer scenarios, can you tell why?
Yeebaagooon: Well, when I started playing AOM my computer had no internet connection, so I googled about for some editor tips like how to tilt the camera and found AOMH. It was a great resource and I downloaded loads of single player scenarios. A few years later I came back to AOM with an internet connection ready to learn, and I immediately did a multiplayer scenario called Egyptian Wars. The prospect of people playing online has always enthralled me. I have always been attracted to the idea of human competition.

Mephiles, Checking in the download section, I saw that you first started doing a lot of single player scenario's, but now you mostly do multiplayer ones. Can you explain why
Mephiles: Well back in the day when I was a newbie, I had a crappy dial-up connection. I wasn't able to download the patches to go to ESO because of it. Now I am able to go online and I started playing the multiplayer scenarios. I was a n00b at supremacy

Could you please tell me bit about the Omega studios please?
Yeebaagooon: Well first of all its my design team (). I founded it because I wanted to be a leader of something (as do we all) and persuaded some of my friends to join. My friends are really talented at scenario design and the studio soon flourished. Mephiles was responsible for doing all the great skinning and all the members contribute hugely. Over the summer we took a bit of a beating though as the shout box made some people crash so we had to let it go and lots of people weren’t very active anymore. But we survived .
Overall its been a great experience to help and lead my brilliant members.
Mephiles: I originally came and asked if I could create a better skin for them because their original one was very bad. I asked Yeebaagooon if I could and I ended up admin. I then became webmaster and ever since Kalos Designs merged with it, I became a leader.

Could you talk about your relationship with each other? You did some projects together, and also both work on Omega Studios.
Yeebaagooon: We haven’t know each other that long but in that small amount of time we have become great friends. I can’t remember exactly how we met but I think it was when he was doing the black canal RPG and I playtested the early version with him. We usually work on projects together now because they are mainly so huge and I need help with the eye candy aspect. I’m sure we will have many more surprises.
Mephiles: Like Yeebaagooon said, I asked him to playtest. He then asked me to join Omega Studios. I asked if I could create a skin for the forum. He then showed me a cinematic which caused the creation of the Pwn The N00b RPG and we've been friends ever since.

So Mephiles, you worked on some scenario's together, could you tell a bit about Berry Z?
Mephiles: Before Kalos Designs merged with Omega, me and AngleOfLight were working on BerryZ. We finished and everyone was saying it was boring, so I created another BerryZ that was 4 player, but I needed help and asked Yeebaagooon. About the idea: You'd have to ask AngleOfLight that. He said that he's gone mad and made a map about berries

Do you have any big interests next to AoM?
Mephiles: I play AoEIII a lot but I like playing other games like the Sims 2. I tried designing for AoEIII, but that editor is so buggy, the recent patch didn’t help either. It actually made things worse! But the people at AoE3H know better than me. I often played the Sims 2, but my graphics card broke so it lags a lot and is almost impossible to play.
Yeebaagooon: In computing my next favourite games are Battle For Middle Earth 2 and Open TTD. I can’t really play BFME2 anymore because I can’t download the patch and that means I can’t play online (Curse EA!). Open TTD is a Windows XP version of Transport Tycoon Deluxe that was first released in about 1996. I was young at that time and enjoyed it immensely. Building complex stuff has always enthralled me (Thats why I do huge projects). Apart from computing I enjoy swimming, cricket, tennis listening to a wide variety of music, watching things explode and composing evil taunts.

Yeebaagooon, did you make any projects for Battle for Middle Earth 2?
Yeebaagooon: Well the trouble with BFME2 is 2 things: One if you want good results you have to use a coding called .ini. This involves creating a GIGANTIC and flawless code piece to wham in the map to achieve good results. Hardly any people know how to do this and they sit around making their maps whilst sneering at the many people who fail learning it (me included). Secondly the worldbuilder is really difficult! The unit selection has at least 50 different menus you have to trawl though to place units, player setup is next to impossible and elevation and terrain mixing is almost impossible with no minimap to assist you (Curse EA again!). But if you can master these the results are far better than any AOM map (Apart from The Lost Legion). That’s why i came back to AOM, the editor is so easy to use.

Any plans for the future (on the gaming part, new games, etc.)?
Yeebaagooon: Well as most of you know I have a few projects underway. Omega Escape is at the forefront with over 50% completed (Yes!) but loads to do. Pwn the N00b 2 is also a priority but the free-roam system is very difficult to think about and Mephiles seems to like glitching it up (). I have a few secret projects underway though. I finished The Eternity Game ages ago but cant be bothered to release it and fix the finale. Also the eyecandy critics would burn me alive for the blasphemous black space of doom. I’m also nearing the completion of The Chariot Race Of Probable Doom, a bit like the horse race but in a Roman Spina (Racing course). This has loads of new stuff like meteors throwing you over spaces and hitting hidden targets on the wall to continue. That’s the foreseeable future but after that I intend to make another few projects with Mephiles. Probably an RPG where you play as evil characters and have to destroy the forces of good with a huge god power system. They will implement all my tricks and get more powerful as the game progresses. I’m also open to any other ideas people submit to me.
Mephiles: At the moment I'm working on Pwn The N00b 2. I can't say anything though. I thought of another good idea for a scenario but I forgot it.

Could you tell a bit about your average day?
Mephiles: Well, I go to school, come home and go on AoMH and talk to you guys . I just go on the Scenario Design forums and post in anything that isn't a question, then I go to Valhalla and play games. Then I have tea and go on AoM and on the weekend, I try to get out as much as possible but I’m usually stuck inside.
At school, I go to form, then I go to my first lesson, then second, then its break and I talk to my friends, then I have another lesson, then I have lunch. At lunch we usually get legs.
Is it interesting? Or do simply hate talking about it?
Mephiles: I don't hate it but I don't like it either. I do very well at school but I hate it like everyone else.
Yeebaagooon: Well on the weekdays I get up at 8. I then proceed to eat breakfast get dressed feed the rabbit and then go off to school. I’m bogged down with homework for my GCSEs (Geography, Digital photography and Computer Graphics with all the core subjects). I get home and do some homework, feed the rabbit again and then do my admin at OS and I check around at AOMH.
On weekends I get up early to check OS and AoMH and then usually design most of the time and do homework. Sometimes I visit friends, play games or invite friends round. But I usually use the weekends for AoM and walking the rabbit round the garden.

Could tell me a bit about your hobbies?
Yeebaagooon: Well at my primary school we had swimming lessons so I learnt to swim when I was 4. I have some really great memories of 'Fun Splash' where we could play with all the equipment and memories like diving in, swimming at the bottom of the pool and mad games with my friends. I am also left with some unpleasant memories such as the boys communal changing room (we had to use that for 7 years) then we left that school . I don’t swim as much, but can swim about half a mile if I want to and maybe further. I can also surf and body board and find both great. I play cricket and tennis at school with my friends and usually end up firing the ball at someone (by mistake of course). And in the garden I whack apples with my cricket bat. I am also a Young Leader at scouts and have many fond memories with real true friends like summer camp etc.
Mephiles: Well I love listening to my favourite band Crush 40. I also love playing Sonic The Hedgehog, and having a laugh with friends, I mostly play 3D Sonic, but I love both 3D and 2D. I was given a used mega drive when I was 5 or 6, and it came with copies of both Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2. I played them and got addicted. It was the first video game I ever played. I then started playing other sonic games years later. That's how I found out about Crush 40. They work for SEGA.

Since you started some Sonic games, did you get more SEGA consoles later?
Mephiles: No. I don't think we have Saturn or Dreamware (or whatever it's called) in England.

Yeebaagooon, could you tell a bit about what you do as a scout?
Yeebaagooon: I joined beavers when i was 6 and all I can remember was cake decorating . At cubs I had a great time swinging on the ropes and stuff but then I went to the scouts and the leader was really disorganised and careless. So I left and joined one where my friends das led. He is so brilliant. Humorous and witty. I have had a great 4 years there and made a lot of strong friendship bonds. But the real highlight was summer camp to Kandersteg in Switzerland. Such memories include: Making my friends cry with laughter at the awful cooking we had to endure, white water rafting, hiking up mountains and back down, taboganning and going up the Jungfrau. There I was invested as a Young Leader but I’m still active at my group. The coach journey was long but the driver entertained us with his great humour. As we got off the ferry and drove through France he pointed at a power station and said 'Its a cloud factory!'

Thank you for your time
Yeebaagooon: Ego increased by 10%. Now I'm off to the pub!
Mephiles: Is that it then?

Note: this will be my last Member of the Month interview