Sorry I don't have a scan of the page yet, nor does their website hold the same information that is in the magazine so I'll have to type out the entire page. The article appears on Senior editor Darren Gladstone's monthly rant:
Quote: "Enteractive first contacted me with this pitch: "How would you like to create and play your own FPS games without knowing how to model in 3D or understand a single line of code?" That's perfect for a dumbass like me! So, of course, I was willing to spend an afternoon tooling around with its new FPS Creator.
Don't have false expectations here. Nobody will be constructing the next Half-Life with FPS Creator. You can try your hand at making a single-player adventure, but you are limited to the packed-in textures. The initial kit comes loaded with sci-fi and WWII-themed sets and props, because, as everyone knows, it's not a real FPS unless you're killing aliens, Nazis, or alien Nazis. One can only assume the developer--and the community--will eventually release additional asset packs.
My goal for the day was to create the ultimate multiplayer arena map. I wound up with CGW's Dance of Death. Unfortunately, my little project had a rocky start. The original plan was to re-create the CGW offices, map the faces of our staff onto the models, assign each an attribute (Ryan's the stealth ninja, Jeff is the camper/sniper...you get the idea), and then kick ass. Trouble was, that wasn't going to happen in under five hours.
What I settled on instead was an asinine mishmash of rooms slapped next to each other in a hellish cubist nightmare--high-tech zombie labs next to World War II corridors, a Nazi watchtower, French country houses, elevators, stairs leading nowhere, and an oh-so-tempting arsenal room with no way out.
Once you get over the learning hump, it's actually pretty easy to paint levels up to spec. Based off a simple grid system, the program lets you easily drill down to see all the details (though the camera control while doing this could be a little more forgiving).
FPS Creator has an in-game physics engine, lightmapping, and even a half-decent proprietary graphics engine. You just have to remember to keep your expectations low--Quake II--level low, if even that. Other limitations: The arena maps can suppor only eight players, and many of the bigger weapons of mass destruction (rocket launchers and the like) are disabled in multiplay. Still, it's hard to make my own game in under five hours for $50 bucks.
After you're done designing comes the cool part: Via the Build Game option, you can create a self-executable file and folder with all the assets. Now anyone can play your map! OK, so I won't be winning any designer awards with this version, but look for a patch after the game's release.
-Darren Gladstone
Got a bone with Gladstone? E-mail him at
Darren_Gladstone@ziffdavis.com"
I apologize for any mistakes on the typing above. It felt like quite a bit to type during, but I don't think it took long.
There was also an unoffical review of his created game.
Quote: "CGW's Dance of Death
The unoffical review
Good lord! This game wasn't created, it was exreted. Let's not beleaguer the point by trying to make sense of mashing Nazis, zombies, robots, and aliens into the same fragfest. The level design screams "M.C. Escher meets Charles Manson." Basically, you'd have more fun putting starved ferrets in a feedbag and strapping it to your crotch.
It's still better than Postal 2."
His level verdict was one half star out of five. If you buy this magazine with CD attached you'll find the FPS Creator demo on the disc.
