Hello there,

My name is Scott Baker, I’m 16 years old, and I currently live in Ireland. Nearly 6 years ago I had bought my first copy of Half-Life 2. After playing through it, I decided to take a look around Steam and found myself Source SDK. I realized through googling it that Source SDK was a tool used for creating custom content for Half-life 2.

I continued my research into Source SDK, and by my first year working with Source, I had started a modification called ‘Genetics’. Through modding for HL2 and Gentics I had learned a lot more than just working with Hammer and Faceposer, I had learned how to create textures using Photoshop, video editing in After Effects and even some programming for Genetics.

Half way through my second year with Source, Genetics had hit some problems. Members of the team had to move onto other associations in their life, and so Genetics became a dead modification. To find out more about Genetics, check the links below.

After Genetics, I spent the rest of my time revising my skills with Hammer, but I also experimented in mapping for other engines such as Doom 3, and then Unreal Engine 2. During this time I had created some basic multi-player maps in UnrealEd, and in Doom 3 I had worked on some basic horror examples maps (as test for trying to scare players), which lead onto a future project, Dark Ambience.

Dark Ambience, initially started off on the Doom 3 engine, but I found that after I moved back to the Source Engine, that I found it would be better to portray Dark Ambience as I wished it too. To this day, Dark Ambience has been my most ambitious project in terms of storyline. But as I found that other project had occupied my time, I decided that Dark Ambience would best be left on the shelf until I had found the time to work on it. I still plan on making this modification happen when I have the time. To find out more about Dark Ambience, check the links below.

At this stage, I was about three years after using the Source Engine, and at this stage I was really doubting my work. So I joined a forum online called Interlopers.net. This forum is really a god-send for all Level Designers, and I would recommend it for all, from newbies to professionals. I posted some of my work on Interlopers, and found that the critique really did help me progress my work faster and better. I found that my maps became a much better quality. This gave me better feeling about my designs, and gave me inspiration to work on further projects.

It was at this time I was in my 3rd year of Secondary School (aged 15) I had joined The BT Young Scientist 2008 (find out more below). This event was one of the biggest of my life. I, and Matthew McCann, had entered a project called “Essence of Fear” which was a Machinima project that used 3D sound. The project essentially was to test that if sound had scared players when playing games, and if it made the player feel more involved. We earned Highly Commended for our project.

I had also entered the BT Young Scientist 2009, with a Half-Life 2 modification called “Bully: Source”. This modification got me into contact with many of the people that I would be involved with in college, such lecturers like Bryan Duggan from D.I.T. College in Kevin Street, has helped me find out the information I need to get my degree in game design. He has also supported me in learning more about game theory. I would like to thank him for that.

I then spent the next year working on more theory and going over tutorials, learning more about architecture and lighting for my level designs.

Near December of 2008, I had been on a chat room of a website called 3D Buzz, and had found a member called Shane Murphy. Shane by the end of that month had already finished his first modification by himself called Outbreak: Episode One. Due to comments from members of Moddb, explaining that he could work harder, we decided in January of 2009, to work on a full total conversion modification which then became Outbreak: Condemned. We’ve been working on this modification for a long time now, and at the moment it is a highly regarded modification to the Moddb users. When Shane and I started the modification, I became Lead Level Designer for the project. Now we have a team of eleven dedicated members, who are working on the project as we speak.

To this date, I have found that the Outbreak: Condemned Modification has been the biggest modification I have worked (and still working) on. Currently the two modifications that I am working on are Outbreak: Condemned, and Project Omega: Redux.

Project Omega: Redux has been a project I’ve had in my mind for a long time. I’ve always found this modification (Project Omega) a really interesting modification. When I had found out that Project Omega had stopped in 2007, I had always wanted to continue it on, and finish it as a personal project. I have found huge enjoyment in Level Design, and I certainly do plan on making it a career move for me after College.

Thank you all for reading, it’s been a longer About page than I expected,
Please check out the rest of the site!

Links:
Genetics: http://www.moddb.com/mods/genetics
Essence of Fear (Not much information): http://www.moddb.com/mods/essence-of-fear

Special Thanks to people who have both helped and supported me:
My parents and my little brother – For always being there for me

My friends – For supporting certain design stages of my mods,
and being there as friends would be.

Bryan Duggan, D.I.T College – Kevin Street Lecturer,
for aiding me with career choices and getting my maps and mods known.

Garrett Lindquist – Founder of ‘Dire’ A Half-Life 2 Modification,
for helping me with sound and mapping.

Interlopers.net – Largest and greatest community for Half-life 2 mapping and modding.

Scott “Sythen” Baker.