Interview with "Slade"




      "Slade" is a 20 year old Canadian born Quake player living in Florida, USA. Just your average guy, until John Carmack released the source code for QuakeWorld. It was then that he became the center of QuakeLives and with it a whirl wind of IRC channels, coding, beta testing, message boards, and hacker threats. But hopefully the final outcome will be a secure QuakeWorld, free from cheaters who ruin the game for the rest of us. I am very honored Slade has allowed me to conduct his first interview.



Wench: Who are you, and what do you do in Real Life?

Slade: Oh, these are like personal questions. I'm Slade, I do stuff. Slade's all I go by on-line....Most of my education can be considered that I'm a student of the streets though recently my lifes gotten more or less stable. I did attend university for 2 years, though I went the route of computer science....after two years I got pissed off at the lack of knowledge in the Computer Science department and left.

Wench: What type of people make up your team?

Slade: We've got basically a team of people who do various tasks. From coding to web development to public relations to just about everything, basically to become a part of the team I need to feel like you really have something to offer. The team got real big real fast from its early days because of the massive support of the project so basically when people want to join up. i need to feel like they can do something that no one else can. The other thing that strikes me is dedication which is one of my big things. I've kicked more then one person out for goofing off and not really being here.

Wench: What was your first thought when you heard that John Carmack had released the source code for Quake1?

Slade: It was "ok so are we going to go play TF or not?".

Wench: How did QuakeLives come about?

Slade: I sat around thinking about all the neat things that could be improved in the engine. Then I saw the potential for cheating. I came up with some methods for getting around it and the entire project kind of merged together. Basically it was me writing a chickenscratch webpage in the back recesses of my clans homepage, Void being my clan. The entire thing kinda formed itself. Gamesnet #console is like my personal channel.. and.. well its not anymore. ;P

Wench: Alot of your coding and Testing has been geared towards Team Fortress, will QL be compatible with all the QW/Q1 mods?

Slade: None of my coding and testing has been geared towards TF. I dont even have a copy of TF installed in my personal test folder.

Wench: Then why are all your beta servers TF?

Slade: They may be, TF's the biggest quake community around, well biggest QuakeWorld community.

Wench: QuakeLives got off to a rocky start...what was the problem (i.e. legal) and is everything back on track now?

Slade: Everything has always been on track, like I said. This all sprung up.. but yes.. I've been persuaded to make my code work "be more appealing to the general public" even though it means it takes longer to accomplish.

Wench: How is QL working with other groups who are also trying to secure QuakeWorld?

Slade: We've signed on Mercury to our project to serve mainly as a liaison between the other groups. QuakeForge, I would have to say is our close "ally" with the QuakeWorld Forever people, as always, still being openly hostile.

Wench: Will you try to make one final secure client between all of you?

Slade: No, everyone has their own ideas and plans. Quakeforge has very little support or desire for Windows support with their project and plan on directing most of their efforts towards other things. However there is talk about making our release compatible with theirs.

Wench: Speaking of QuakeWorld Forever...they released their "beta1", have you seen it? And what do you think of it?

Slade: I've seen it. It stops the typical 'exe' hacks. So all those people who 'download their hacks off the net' are stopped, temporarily, but it doesn't stop most of the problems that were prevalent in the 2.33 release. For instance it really doesn't matter how secure your server is if I can just make you connect to a different server, or disconnect you or whatever.. those are the things we're currently working on.

Wench: People have been giving QL a hard time in the message boards, what would you like to say about that?

Slade: I don't really use public messengers.. because the people who post most actively are flamers. There were alot of people bitter because we released a secure client first there were also alot of people upset because of how we released it and that we didn't give them all the details. Many of the early ones were whining at us because they didn't do their research. Well, specifics to anything, this could range from them saying a part of the code to merge was illegal (like QuakeForges saying Scitech) and its not.... to them saying we have 9 PR guys to 1 Coder. We have lots of behind the scenes guys. We're working with a couple of encryption specialists who work for a living doing bank security.

Wench: Have you heard from John Carmack or id software about QL?

Slade: They never said a word about it.

Wench: Do you go over ever aspect of the coding?

Slade: Every aspect? I am now, yes. I'm also digging up every little tool and note thats ever been written about the QuakeWorld engine, anything anyone dreamed up or released or scribbled on a napkin, find every potential for security leaks, and every potential for improvement in the engine.

Wench: Can you explain how QuakeLives works to secure QW??

Slade: Oh, no I can't.



       I would like to thank Slade for his time.If you would like more information about QuakeLives visit their website or go to #console on irc.GamesNet.com.