1.First off,some personal questions.What is your name,age,where do you live,what are your hobbies,what kind of music do you listen to?

My name is Ross Thelen, I am 15 years old, and live in Novato, California, USA. I am a huge snowboarder, occasional bodyboarder, and of course enjoy computer art. I'm really into underground rock. I listen to bands like Papa Roach, Natt, Taproot, and Deftones.

2.When did join the firearms team and why did you choose it?

I can hardly remember how long ago I joined FireArms. I would guess over a year ago, but only God (Caspar) really knows. I initially joined the FA team as a skinner, with no previous experience in Photoshop or 3D Studio MAX. I learned to skin, model, and animate in 3D Studio from the ground up, all while on the FA team.

3.What has your role been on the firearms team and what have you accomplished?

As I said, I was initially recruited as the main skinner. I skinned all of the weapons, but then as our modeller became better and learned to skin himself, he redid a majority of the models and skinned them himself. Around December, our main animator decided he didn't have the time and left, so I scrapped all of his work and began from scratch on the weapon animations. And now I am the main animator for FireArms.

4.What has been your favorite weapon to animate so far?

Although it is a hard decision, I would have to say the Beretta 93r. Pistols are great fun with the slide and all, and you can do some cool looking stuff with them.

5.Which has been the hardest?

The hardest gun I have animated would have to be the HK MC51B, because it is belt fed, and Caspar wanted to be able to see the bullets disappearing one by one. to accomplish this required a lot of different anims, and the entire belt is a general pain in the neck. But I can tell you, the result is great!

6.Have you worked on any other mods in the past or planning to in the future?

As I said, FireArms was my first mod ever. I learned everything I know while working on FireArms. Before making any future plans, I would like to sit back and see how well FireArms is accepted throughout the community. We will definately be making add-on packs for FA, so I will be working on those. I plan on taking a few months break, and searching for a job. If I ever make another mod, it would only be with the fine FA team.

7.If you could describe firearms with one word what would it be?

Guns.

8.What is the gameplay like in firearms?(fast-paced,fun)?

FireArms is a very tactical game due to the realistic damage and physics. The gameplay can vary drastically from map to map, but it is mostly extremely fast-paced and strategic. And yes, of course it is fun.

9.What problems have you encountered during the making of Firearms?

I would say our main problem was lack of any real talent in the mod making community. Of course there are the select few who can produce quality work in a short amount of time, but most of the people we sstumbled upon couldn't produce content quickly enough, and if they did, it wasn't the best looking. Our main animator leaving after many months of inactivity set us back quite a bit, as we did not at that time have any other animators. That's where I jumped in and said I would learn to animate to keep the mod moving. The other main problem was the release 0.3.2 leak. Somehow an old beta of Firearms was leaked to a few people, and it spread to quite a few people. We were fearing it would ruin FireArms reputation, but thankfully it was not spread to the majority of the public.

10.What other games/mods do you play other then Firearms and Half-Life?

To tell you the truth, the only game I play now is FireArms. It is the most fun I have had in any game, and offers more features and situations than Q3 and TFC.

11.Whats your favorite gun combo in firearms so far and why?

I usually use the most recently added weapons, but now that they are all done, its hard to decide. Recently I have been using the mc51b and the g36e, with Steilhandgrantes as explosives. The g36e is a great overall weapon offering a fast ROF and a scope, and the mc51b is just the pimp.

12.What is your favorite map scenario so far and how would you describe it?

I think the push rules are the best thing, offering so many different situations and firefights. Tylak's map ps_sand is sure to be a favorite among FA players, with great background sounds that simulate the warfield around you. There is nothing like tossing a steilhandgranate into a bunker filled with enemies and watch them run around frantically before being blown to bits.

13.Do you have any future career plans?

I am really interested in working at a game developement or 3d artwork company. I have been doing a little minor job searching lately, but haven't found much yet. Of course, I could settle for working at Valve. :-)

14.Thanks for taking some time to do this interview=)

No problem, as long as hand over the dough... =D

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