This month I'm going to deviate from standard protocol a bit. I'm going to do a retrospective. Yeah some of you might complain that I interviewed long lost members of the community, But I feel the story they can tell is an interesting one. A tale of the early years of AoMH. A tale so old few members remain who remember it.

So Today I present to you the "Liquid Fire Studios Retrospective". I interviewed "RiderofEternity" and "Nodgene" at the same time over skype.



Out Reach: Hi Guys you ready to begin?

Nodgene: Yes, I am.

Riderofeternity: The normal response as you say is... yes

Out Reach: So why don't you guys remind AoMH who you are?

Nodgene: I was the lead scenario designer for Riders Liquid Fire Studios for a while ... a fair few years ago now. Made a few scenarios, was good fun.

Riderofeternity: I’m a bit of a vet around here, first registered on new year's eve 2002 :| But even before then, I was already designing scenarios under a different name. In 2004 I launched Liquid Fire Studios along with Guardian_112, and that's probably how most of you will remember me


RiderofEternity Left, Nodgene Right.


Out Reach: Retrospectively why do you think AoM was such a good game?

Nodgene: Ah, interesting... well. I would say that it was a good minor evolution of the Age of series, and the integration of God powers and such really gave it a bit of a unique twist. But most importantly of all, it had a "copy" button in the trigger editor

Riderofeternity: Oh it was terrible really, at least compared to AOE2! The editor had issues, the scenarios couldn't get anywhere near to the same fun and the graphics just weren't as nice to look at. BUT crucially, there was a huge community that got together and fixed and improved the editor and made all sorts of things possible with different eye candy and trigger tricks. I think actually it was the thriving community that made it so good - there was constantly drama and rivalry between individuals and studios that helped boost everyone's will to make something better and more fun.

Nodgene: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! It had an *actual* trigger copy button!

Out Reach: Nodgene, Care to talk about some of the maps you made?

Nodgene: Oh, well, I made many scenarios, a few of which got it to "publication" stages. Those that did get to final stages were "Tactical", "Project Extremely Happy", and also "Project Clear fountain". The later is still played on ESO from time to time, but it was edited to make it easier because some idiot didn't get that the point was to see how long you could last, rather than to win it. That version is called "Gladiators". I believe. I recall one map that never got to final stages you, reach, reminded me was entertaining.
You see, I specialized in multiplayer maps, as I wanted to play against people, for it to be far more social and dynamic than it could be in single player.


Either in the original or edited form, "Project Clear Fountain" is one of the most identifiable maps on ESO.

Out Reach: Rider of Eternity, care to talk about running a successful Design studio.

Riderofeternity: It's a pretty insane undertaking and definitely not to be taken lightly! You have to always be on the lookout for up and coming designers (like Nodgene ) so you can recruit and build upon their potential. That's just the beginning! You have to keep in good contact with all your members, make sure everybody's happy with what they're doing and deal with any problems. If someone needs something testing and fixing, you'll have to ask other members to help out.

What boosted our success by a mile though was the undertaking of the whole Legends of the Third Age project. It turns out that to be really successful, you have to be good at negotiating deals too :P There's a LOT more to running a successful studio, including making sure the projects you put out are actually noticed through the use of good showcases and spreading the word.

Nodgene: For those reading this now, I'd like to point out that although our Rider is technically "computer literate" it has taken him an obscene amount of time to type this. I mean... really. It's kind of when you watching a parent type on a computer, that speed. Only much, much worse.

Out Reach: Why do you guys think LFS worked so well?

Nodgene: Well, in honesty I would say it didn't. We only had some key members like myself and Rider that actually contributed quite often. The problem I think is in general though, not just our little scenario design effort. It's easy to recruit people who know what they are doing and say they're eager to do something, but then don't really do anything in the end... so as lead scenario designer I ended up trying to rally the troops while I worked on my own projects. Plus I ended up with some... professional disagreements with other members who didn't seem to do things too professionally. But I shan't name names. It worked because Rider and I kept working on it really. It didn't work because other members didn't either stick around, socialize with us or well, do very much. That's part of why I wanted to do multiplayer scenarios, it encouraged a sense of community.

Riderofeternity: It worked well in the beginning - we had a great start with the infamous Guardian_112 as the co-lead and eXtinction pushing out the incredible Incident 39. We even had a good bond with most of the members. In fact we had many successes over the years, but a lot of things never really went according to plan. As Nodgene says, we recruited good candidates who quickly faded into the void never to be seen again. Meanwhile, I was in school and practicing freelance graphic design, so I tried giving other members authority and instructions to loosen my workload, but it never worked out.

When people stuck around and put the effort in, everything went smoothly Testing Guardian's and Nodgene's scenarios was great fun for everyone involved. And the production of Legends of the Third Age went surprisingly well once we put a good project management system in. So really, I'd say the success of a studio requires the full collaboration of all the members.


Legends of the 3rd Age was but one of several conversion mods for AoM released by LFS.

Out Reach: Is there any advice you want to give to the AoMH community?

Nodgene: Well, in regards to design work. I'd say just do it, keep at it. If you want to get better and make cool maps, practice makes perfect. Same goes for anything in life, if you want to better your craft; practice often, try new things! It doesn't hurt to try and branch out into other fields as well, like traditional art or 3d art or texturing, or scripting too. Since I'm in theory wanting a games design career, having a National Diploma and BSc in Games Design now, it probably would have been better to take an interest in those things sooner. Don't be shy!

Riderofeternity: Stop wasting your lives in the community forum and get back to work slackers Nah just make sure you're being productive. If you're making scenarios or mods, that's a good start to becoming a game level designer or animator or whathaveyou.

Nodgene: As you can see, Rider is getting tired with all this typing... shame, as he's such a lovely man really.

Out Reach: Any Closing statements?

Nodgene: Owh, that's a very final question ... Oh yes, play project clear fountain, or as it was named in the end; the wrath of the angry narrator and a lot of peltasts.

Riderofeternity: This is very ironic, but my final bit of advice to you all would be to NOT go and make a design studio. It's way too much work for one person to handle and it drags every other aspect of your life down. Just concentrate on doing what you enjoy doing so you can become proficient in it and make a career out of it. I feel like an old man giving out advice to young'ns! To end this, I'll just say that I've absolutely loved being part of this community for so many years. I've seen a lot of good people come and go, but in the end they always come back.

Out Reach: Thanks a lot for taking part in the interview.

[This message has been edited by Out Reach (edited 09-30-2010 @ 12:43 PM).]