1- First of all, could you present youself and maybe add some background on yourself?

Hello ladies & gents, I am a populous player that has been in love with populous since my neighbor brought it to my house in the early 2000s. Back then growing up on computers and not really having much success with online games this one was actually somewhat play-able then, so that was awesome! Me and my friend played a lot of IP games and some on EA and Mplayer before it was gamespy. My original name on EA was hotrodparker, I think. I later became kingofspies after trolling the gabber with only spies on Pressure Point.. some.. 14 years ago..  I wasn't huge into getting to know people then so I didn't keep up with a lot of players then, only the ones that were somewhat nice to me.. I just remember AMPmaster being the top shaman then and alot of other great players Terat0 and others..  I came up playing with sunama in the Mplayer lobby a lot of games when we both first started, of course he became a lot better then I in a short amount of time. I personally never have been much on the weird ranking systems so I quit pop in 2004 after signing up my first account on Popre when it first started. Rainbow six had a lot of players then and huge clan systems that are similiar to the ones on xbox live and all today. I came back in 2012-2013 and have been back in the lobby ever since.

 

2- What is so special about Populous, that other games don't have?

Are you kidding me? This is the best game ever invented seriously, as most people are aware of, the game wasn't even finished yet before they released it.. which is a crying shame.. There are a lot of 2D sprites for animals // gates // walls and other cool things. What makes this game so special is that there's no constriction to movement.. in other RTS games you have time restrictions mostly on the units.. how they're made.. construction times and such, with this.. it's the same but you can make it faster or slower or however you want it.. My movement can be faster then the other persons and it shows.. Everything you do.. shows. 4 Players battling it out to the doom of the village, in real-time. That's epic gameplay.

 

3- What do you think about people wanting a Populous remake or even a Populous 4? And why?

I think it's more possible then people believe, as I read in the Inca interview there have been a lot, but there are alot of players out there with the proper skills to make it happen, but keeping that team over a certain amount of time persay, years, or even months is a difficult task.  The team would have have a leader and the leader would have to point out the jobs to be done and the jobs would have to be done on certain deadlines to keep the progress on the game on task. Using heightmap and importing the levels into a 3D program isn't that hard of a task.. Doing a lot of things isn't that hard of a task with the right team.. but if that will ever happen.. not sure, hope I'm around for that so I can help out.

The easiest thing would be for someone to recreate 8 shamans with mana and blast and light spells in an arcade type battle. In the multiplayer screen they would be able to pick the " shaman " they wanted and the teams. At first the mana wouldn't have to be set off of the braves just like 80% rate or something not too insane to keep mana going for blasts and lights. At first the shaman animations wouldn't have to be too different they could be similiar and later redeveloped on a patch. Same with the light and blast animations, they could be similiar at first, but later developed into freezing attacks and so on. So, in the top right corner there would be an arcade type score setting with kills and death ratio. ( Arcade style battle ). Which could be set in the multiplayer screen.  That way they could update the spells and keep going with the game while the new arcade modes are being played.. I think inca actually said if someone or a team was to recreate this he would host it if it was legitamate enough.

 

4- What would you say to a newcomer that is just starting to play Populous in 2015?

Just have fun and be polite to everyone, troll a lot, and have a lot of fun without being too crazy or too.. yeah.. I would tell new players to just become familiar with the game itself how it works and the hotkeys. Don't take what everyone says to heart and be competitive and put your ideas out there, no matter what anyone says. Things can happen, there's always a future tomorrow. Most " Pro " players are actually pretty nice guys and will help you, just see where you fit in. It takes time to develop, thats why I love populous.. don't get too ahead of yourself just pay attention to whats going on.

 

4- Why do you like to make populous Mods? Artistic vein?

Electric actually got me into messing with the game sprites at first, then seeing what was possible and what wasn't possible.. A lot of people recommend things that would just be easier to put in a newer game then going back and trying something too crazy with this one. It is what it is and its a beautiful game itself. I just wanted to see what I could do with it, I learned a lot and was a good experience in itself. 

 

5- Top 5 or 10 best Populous players of all time (ordered or not)?

Nici ( Look this dude has been number 1 for so long he deserves chocolates )

Genesis, Keith, Tsuyoshi, Baxter, Jedd, AMPmaster, sunama, Terat0, Addi, Teist0, TheSent,RedRum,Incawarrior,Shao, Ice-t.. just depends on which era you goto to where you find the best of that era.

 

6- Top 5 or 10 best Populous players in 2015 (ordered or not)? 

Sora, Adena, Maganha, Bene, Kosjak. 

 

7- What is the difference in the game and community, between when you started online long ago and nowadays?

Everything.

 

8- What are your best 5 or 10 online levels?

AvA Teamlights ( Pretty much unrektable , which I've played lights way too much )

Kataras Voyage - Ice Raider

Then just regular TB maps.

 

9- What are your worst 5 or 10 online levels?

All of them :).

 

10- What are your most hated 5 or 10 online levels?

I don't hate any of the levels, just think some of them should be weeded out and replaced with better ones, maybe in categories or subs.

 

11- Best 5 clans (ordered) of all time?

Rw, Rw, Rw, Rw, Rw?

 

12- Best 4 clans (ordered) in 2015?

Rw, GoD, ......

 

13- Who are your best matchmaker friends?

I have a lot of MM friends I think, it's pretty cool!!! :D

 

14- What are your favourite 5 allies?

I like allying sora // ice-t.

 

15- What are your favourite 5 enemies?

No enemies.

 

16- Who would you most likely avoid to play with?

Someone that pauses a lot.

 

17- How important using the forums?

Pretty important.

 

18- What do you think is missing in Populous online?

Nothing, just more exposure in the correct ways.

 

19- Favourite spells?

Swarms and lights.

 

20- In your opinion, what are the strongest spells, mana-cost effectiveness wise?

Just depends how you use them, when you use them.

 

21- What is your favourite single player level?

The first one, LB FOR DAYS!! :D

 

22- What was the hardest single player level when you started Populous?

Archipelago.

 

23- What is the biggest challenge on changing between single player and online playing?

Getting used to the pace.

 

24- Do you recommend Populous? Also, do you have future projects related to it?

I recommend populous to everyone. The only projects I have are finishing up Divinity Calls and checking others maps that are submitted.. would be nice to get into some really cool this winter in 2015, whatever that may be, populous wise.

 

25- What are the best ways of reaching a bigger community? How can Populous be promoted?

Things have to be set-up and done on time and in appropriate and professional effort.. communication is key.  Setting up social networks and making them big and having a lot of things going on with that would help to make a huge progress. The community and players need to be more involved, it can't just be one person.

 

26- How important is streaming for this community, or even for the promotion of Populous?

It's the biggest breakthrough we have really in my opinion. You can do anything nowadays with some good ol' footage.

 

27- What do you think about TheGabber-IncaWarrior situation?

Im friends with both these guys for along time, so I'd rather just stay out of it.

 

28- What are your favourite clans, players, streamers, administrators and populous sites?

I like people that are doing things and keeping the community active, I've tried to do several things over the last years to be cool and keep things going as much as I could with the help from alot of the community. Special thanks to alot of people for helping. I like all players we are the best community in gaming after all. Seems that some clans are falling off but some are staying strong.. I like streams they're boss.. I like all admins they do a good job. My favorite populous site is probably poptb.com or popre.net.

 

29- What do you think about The Populous Bible site?

I think it's awesome keep up the good work.

 

30- Thank you for this interview. Anything you want to add? (:

Hope that I've been some what of a good helper in this community you guys are awesome and I like doing things with and for you guys. I love to see the community grow as it always is, slowly but surely.  You all play an important part on our community and for that I'd like to say thanks to you all. More cool stuff in the future ;D!

 

 

(31-08-2015)