Interview: The Oracle

"Destiny awaits"

Interview with Oracle of Campaign Creations by Magic. This was made early in 2002. Legacy of the Confederation, Oracle's is still available at Campaign Creations.

MAGIC: Greetings, o glowing one.

ORACLE: *nods*

MAGIC: LOTC [Legacy of the Confederation] is one of the largest, both virtually and fan-base wise, in the community today. How did it all originate? Where did it all begin exactly?

ORACLE: A clan called the Confederation that I led back in early 1998.
The clan only allowed its members to use humans in game-play originally. The story behind the clan was that the zerg invaded the earth, and we were seeking our revenge. We declared 'war' on any clan that allowed its membership to use Zerg in fact.

As a cool little tidbit to put in the downloads section of the clan website, I started work on what's now LotC Episode 1, a campaign that would allow the members to experience the clan's backstory interactively. The entire campaign was from the prologue until mission 6 (in which earth sends the distress signal.) The maps with the protoss (7 and 8) didn't come til awhile later. The campaign was silent, and very 'basic'. I ended up leaving the clan to pursue the campaign full time after a few months as making that was a LOT more fun.

MAGIC: What was it like when you first played Starcraft? Did you ever imagine what you'd be creating what you have today?

ORACLE: Absolutely not. I didn't even know that SC had a map editor til four months into playing the game.

MAGIC: Woah. So what made you decide to take the step of making it all an alternative universe? Simply creative freedom?

ORACLE: I didn't play through the SC single player at all until after BroodWars released actually. I never studied the SC universe at all. LotC was made for the Confederation clan, so the members could actually 'play' the clan's backstory. It was never intended to be a standalone campaign.

Besides, I always wanted to portray an 'invasion earth' scenario in some form.

MAGIC: George Lucas said that the entire process of creating and directing the Star Wars series in a single word was 'unpredictable'. What word would use to describe the same question with LOTC?

ORACLE: Surreal.

MAGIC: What would you have done if Hava's legal threat forced you to destroy LOTC? Or do you not know since that'd never have really happened?

ORACLE: We'd have shut down LotC and that would be that. I'd have continued LotC in prose form so anyone interested in the storyline could pursue it.

MAGIC: What LOTC level is your favourite? Mine would have to be the ending to Episode 1- with the excellent Star Ship Troopers news report music, and I'd personally never seen _that_ many ships before. :)

ORACLE: Mission 5, the assault on Geneva. It was everything I wanted it to be and more.

MAGIC: Remind me, how different and ...'polished' is the new edition of LOTC going to be anyway?

ORACLE: Fallen Angel serves as a good example of what people can expect from future LotC releases.

MAGIC: Are there any particular inspirations you can think of- not just level wise like Star Ship Troopers above, but anywhere else?

ORACLE: Babylon 5 for sure. Also War of the Worlds (the book not the movie or tv series). H.G. Wells did an incredible job in conveying a sense of hopelessness in the reader. Also Stephen King's "The Stand" for much the same reason.

MAGIC: How did you come to meet Mr. Steudler?

ORACLE: I happened across the War of the Tribes campaign at Starcraft Legacy and saw the new portraits and Joel's first video (that I know of) which accompanied the campaign. As LotC 1 was finished and out, I wanted to have some new art and graphics and stuff in LotC II to 'keep' up with the competition.

I contacted Joel and 'hired' him (yes for money) as a contractor to do work on LotC graphics, the LotC II video, and new portraits. We have worked together ever since.

MAGIC: And what is your favourite Blizzard level?

ORACLE: "Ground Zero." The first time I saw the AI drop six nukes on the main complex my mouth hit the floor.

MAGIC: What's your favourite Blizzard and LOTC characters?

ORACLE: My favorite Blizzard character has to be Zeratul. He's the most 'real' to me. He has strengths (bravery, wisdom) and he has faults (holding a grudge, uncompromising) that are all readily apparent. He also changes as the original SC campaign unfolds, moving from his own agenda to the cause of destroying the Overmind. Kinda like he 'remembers' that all Protoss, dark or not, are the same people, and are in the long haul together.

As for LotC, I'm most fond of Ra'Chek. I'm very happy with how the character has evolved. From die-hard loyal Confederation officer to renegade, from indifferent to zealous. I look forward to seeing what happens to him.

MAGIC: Are there any other campaigns out there that you admire?

ORACLE: Many. The "Antioch Chronicles" for revolutionizing the community by being the first to put professional quality sounds into a fan-made campaign. "The Fenix" for inventing the 'cutscene.' "War of the Tribes" for an extremely engrossing storyline. "Resurgence" for being the first recognized "Zerg Campaign."

Basically, I admire any campaign that dares to 'pioneer' something. It's easy to perfect and edit a concept. To invent it outright, that requires true talent.

MAGIC: What's the longest time you've spent making a level? Or do you not keep track as most of us do? :)

ORACLE: That would be the "Dionysus" Level in Fallen Angel. The terrain and triggers (not including sound) took about three and a half weeks to get right. Right behind that are "Fracture" from LotC II and "Strike First, Strike Harder" from LotC II.

MAGIC: Where do you think the community is headed? What do you think it'll be like after WC3 comes out? Will LOTC continue if not finally released then?

ORACLE: The community is, unfortunately, dead right now. There are many die hard SC UMS players that still follow various campaigns, but the 'hayday' of SC is long since gone. The game is old, the engine is old. And most of its activity now lies in Korea. If I could have LotC voiced in Korean, that would be a hot topic I think.

As for WC3 and LotC in 2002, no telling what the future may bring.

MAGIC: Speaking of WarCraft III, many people have been planning out campaigns for it - do you have any plans to make one?

ORACLE: No. The whole Havas experience left a bitter taste in our mouthes. Anything we do for WC3 will be much smaller in scale than LotC.

We'd rather devote our resources to our own gaming project, as that will actually get NexusCore some revenue, and will be a lot more fun than working within the confines of someone else's ideas and universe.

MAGIC: Have you ever made levels or products for other games?

ORACLE: No.

MAGIC: What other games are you looking forward to seeing?

ORACLE: Strifeshadow (from Ethermoon), and of course, the next installment of Final Fantasy.

MAGIC: Ok, that's the end of my main questions, and now some from the fans.


NATHAN ROSS: Where did you get the ideas for those great maps?

ORACLE: The maps write themselves. I start, choose a map size at random, and have a basic concept in mind. Let's take the Dionysus map in Fallen Angel. (Evacuate the civilians from a Zerg attack.) I laid out terrain to simulate a real, living, breathing colony, and then triggered events, sound effects, music, and events to as closely replicate the feel of a real evacuation as possible.

Most of the time an idea will just pop in there like, "Hey this would be neat" or "Hey that would be neat." The cool thing is that with SC, there is nothing that is impossible with the triggers. Any event can be triggered, if you have the patience for it. Even the generator boss in Fallen Angel Mission 2 (Delayed Reaction.) All of its attacks and pyrotechnics. Over 150 switches were used for that thing, but it was worth it.

NATHAN ROSS: What inspired you to found Nexuscore?

ORACLE: "Co-Found" NexusCore. To be my own boss, to provide something to the market that is currently unavailable, and most importantly, to make lots and lots of money ;)

NATHAN ROSS: What are your future plans?

ORACLE: NexusCore will be heavily pushing its web design and hosting services (for the next year to two years) before marketing the multimedia side (music composition, voiceovers, sound effects engineering, cg rendering, and the like.) The web design market is still unplied territory and will allow us to establish ourselves in the mainstream. Once we're established, we can open up the multimedia side of the company more effectively, since we'll already have the name recognition.

WARGIANT: What do you think of the current track of the Starcraft mapmaking community and where it will go?

ORACLE: It will burn out, unfortunately. I like where it's going, in fact things are really starting to get interesting, especially with the Gallantry project as so many super-talented people are coordinating to produce a high quality campaign. I just wish it had happened a year earlier.

WARGIANT: Does Joel ever complain about being under Desler's yoke to him?

ORACLE: Only when Desler locks him in the pet carrier with no food or water.

WARGIANT: How much did he bribe Blizzard to leave him alone in that legal tiffy?

ORACLE: He sacked the NexusCore savings and loan. He even gave them my good luck penny.

ROBERT FRAZER: Did you ever think that LotC would become so popular or so large-scale after the first tentative steps into Episode 1?

ORACLE: Never in wildest imaginings. Even when I decided to make it standalone instead of just a 'clan' item, I never anticipated it would be as popular as it is now. On that note, I really owe a lot of LotC's popularity to Desler. He hosted LotC on Campaign Creations when it had the crappiest sound. He had faith in it when a lot of other people trashed it for not conforming to the Blizzard universe.

Campaign Creations gave LotC the exposure it needed to become popular over time (though it was a long process.) To Desler, I owe more than I can say.

ROBERT FRAZER: Were there any fears that LotC would end up being 'discontinued' like so many other CC campaigns?

ORACLE: Not once.

MAGIC: Glad to hear it!

ROBERT FRAZER: Are you planning to concentrate on LotC for the time being but diversify into other sub-plots (like Fallen Angel) or move on to completely new ground?

ORACLE: There may be 'one' other sub-plot about Vaeregoth. But for right now, the aim is to cover the 'new ground' as you call it.

FREAK: What is coming after LotC 3 and the Gallantry?

MAGIC: Uh, Gallantry is Desler's campaign.

ORACLE: And a majestic campaign it will be. As for LotC 3, after that, NC will be working on its own game most likely.

FREAK: Why do you always end your posts whit "Destiny awaits"?

ORACLE: It's my saying. Every person's dreams, every person's self-actualization, every person's greatest wish lies within his/her reach, waiting. They're just sitting there, our destinies, awaiting us to fulfill them. It's a statement of principle, that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it and think creatively.

Okay okay, the real reason is that it sounds cool, alright?

FREAK: What's you favorite game (other then StarCraft)?

ORACLE: Star Control 2.

FREAK: How long do you work on one map?

ORACLE: Entirely depends on the map. Anywhere from 2 days to three and a half weeks.

FREAK: How much time do you spend behind your computer?

ORACLE: You mean to tell me that reality stretches beyond my computer?

JAYSUN: Did he ever think people would hail him as a true "oracle" (custom wise) within our community?

ORACLE: But of course!

JAYSUN: After LotC is complete, does he plan to make another campaign on such a large scale?

ORACLE: Not unless it's for NexusCore's own game.

TGF: How much is NexusCore making?

ORACLE: You can actually look that up on the internet if you check out the website for the Secretary of State for Texas. We file an earnings report once a year.

TGF: Do you have a clear idea of whats going to happen at the end of LotC or are you making it up as you go along?

ORACLE: I'm as much in the dark as anyone. I think Joel knows though.

TGF: Are there going to be more levels in which the Specter (And other new units) are employed? One problem with the Specter is we hardly see it...

ORACLE: Absolutely. The Specter will be put through its paces, rest assured on that.

TGF: Whats your favourite book/author?

ORACLE: Stephen King / The Stand

CODEBREAKER: The good old desert island Q.

ORACLE: Eh?

MAGIC: Ok then...Oracle, who would you like to be marooned on a desert island with? :)

ORACLE: MacGuyver, cause he'd figure out a way to get me off the island.

MAGIC: That's the end of the fan questions...so what's the biggest secret you could about Joel? (It's worth asking:)

ORACLE: If I told you it wouldn't be a secret.

MAGIC: ...fair enough. What question are you glad I haven't asked?

ORACLE: "Do you wear boxers or briefs?"

MAGIC: And the answer?

ORACLE: *ahem* Hardly an appropriate question.

MAGIC: Indeed. Oracle, thank you very much for taking the time to conduct this interview.

ORACLE: "Destiny Awaits"