So for those who don't have a time machine to hear episode 32 of the lincolncast before its released, we tricked an Arena Net level artist to do an interview with us! We have just one problem, we don't know what to ask him!

Help us out and submit questions you'd like to hear answered by a person who has been making video games for years! A quick note on things he probably will and wont answer. Still submit a question but he may shoot it down before we start the interview, or he may NOT.

• He makes models and terrain (big note is he made the Lion Statue in LA!) so he probably doesn't know jack about PvP Balance issues!
• Anything ANet has yet to release is probably a 'no spoilers' sorta thing.
• Before he's began working at Arena Net, he helped make many other games under studios like Parallax, Outrage, and THQ.

Again any question you'd like to see him answer will help and worst case he says he can't answer it, but that's better then us going to him with nothing!

We will be sending the questions to the dev for preview on Thursday (12/13) night.

-Is the work environment different for the teams that are typically let go post release of an MMO (most games don't create levels after release in the volume GW2 is). In other words whats it like working on projects with much smaller window of time to create and a much smaller workload?

-Will we see your Lion Statue again or a new one?

OooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOoooooooohhh. Good stuff.

• What sort of interaction do you have with level designers? In other words, what's the split between "decorating" with set-pieces after the environments have been built versus designers being encouraged to highlight existing models and translate the concept art?
• What typical restrictions are placed on you in terms of scale, spatial availability, and animation budget? Do you find that these limits have either a positive or negative impact on the final product?
• Which of the races/factions/regions did you enjoy creating assets for the most?
• Have you worked on any turquoise seas, dark forests, or metropolitan slums recently? *wink, nudge*

Thanks, Thurb!

Probably too late but...

Ask him if he can fix the clipping issues with my characters. It's really terrible on some of them.

Mainly my Asura's ears hide the staff head when he is standing still making it look like a stick unless in combat. Won't be getting anything fancy for him.

My Necro with Nightmare armor you can't see main hand/off hand weapons unless in combat. Staff is the only visible weapon standing still.

Ill throw some easy softballs.

How long did it take him to design the lion

Has he seen any players use his creations in creative ways that he enjoyed (pictures, activites, etc)

what else HAS he created?

When he has time to play the game what does he do in his spare time?

I will add more when I get a chance to think deeper about better questions.

@Chevy: As a general rule of thumb, it's probably a good idea to stay away from "Hey I have this problem, can you fix it?" type questions. Not to mention the fact that he is a level artist, and if I had to guess really doesn't do much when it comes to gear.

If he did the LA Statue, is this the Halloween Jumping puzzle dude that was mentioned many podcasts ago? If so, send him some love for that awesome part and hope he does other jumping puzzles down the line!

• What was his favorite creation that's been shown in the game?
• With Borderlands jumping puzzle cat room and few other hidden areas discovered, are there plans for additional content in those and/or are there a lot more still undiscovered?

- Pat

• What type of work did he do while working at THQ, Paradox, and Outrage?
• How strict of a guideline did he have to work within while working on GW2?
• How did he break into the industry?

• Where does the inspiration come from for the levels created in GW2.
• How long does it generally take to create a zone.

Just throwing some random thoughts out there, not too great but hey hope that it helps bring up conversations in the podcast.

Cheers.

The only real question I want to ask is if there some (not serious) disdain between the art team and the event team, seeing as the event team seems to be pretty fond of blowing things up. The lion statue is a perfect example.

@shinboy630 said:

The only real question I want to ask is if there some (not serious) disdain between the art team and the event team, seeing as the event team seems to be pretty fond of blowing things up. The lion statue is a perfect example.

Probably reliving their Bomberman days.

@shinboy630 said:

The only real question I want to ask is if there some (not serious) disdain between the art team and the event team, seeing as the event team seems to be pretty fond of blowing things up. The lion statue is a perfect example.

Mr. Johanson, tear down this environment art!

Last day for questions before sending them off!

When it comes to the halloween jumping puzzle, how did the creation process go. Do you test it as you created it or did other members of the team get in on testing it at various stages. Etc. It just seems that creating jumping puzzles is a pretty daunting task to undertake because of how crucial placement of the environment is to completion of the activity.

Since the podcast won't be released till after the Wintersday events start, ask him some questions about which wintersday levels/objects he has designed, as well as what his favorite wintersday related dungeon/event/item is.

@halcyonTwilight: Oh, we absolutely intend to talk about Wintersday with him. There's even a new jumping puzzle to talk about!

lol podcasts?

ok questions sent to the dev for vetting, thanks for all the submissions!