He’s known as one of the few remaining, and most prominent, mappers in the Freedom Force community. Always delivering with unique maps to make the game more enjoyable and versatile,  Koenig also has found himself dipping his toe into the skinning and, even more recently, modding arena. Willing to try some new things and even honoring the requests of some long time wanted maps, today the FRP spotlights CmdrKoenig.

FREEDOM FORCE

You’ve been making maps since the FF1 days. What is it about mapping that interests you?

It started with me wanting to have new environments to play in myself, but in the end…I decided I wanted to give something back to the community.  To me, the most interesting thing about making maps is trying to create new worlds out of existing terrains and objects, which can be very challenging given the limited content.  I think I started mapping back in 2003-2004.  I did have an extended dry spell after the second game came out…I think I got a bit burnt out in trying to figure out what to do with the limited content of FFVTTR…But after a rest, I’m back.

How hard would you consider the map-making process to be and are there any tips you would want to drop on any new and upcoming mappers?

It’s not terribly difficult. Some aspects of it can be a bit irritating and even frustrating, but it’s fun to see how the end product looks and how it plays.

I don’t know about tips, but I do offer advice once in a while to those who ask…I’ve never been very good at writing up tutes or giving out technical knowledge…It’s probably why I personally have always found the concept of becoming a teacher so unappealing.

Considering all the maps you have made, what or who inspires your mapping choices?

I was originally inspired to even start making maps by the great Map Gods…Conduit, Gengoro, EWZZY, The Human Ton, and even my old mapping buddy Cherokee Black Jack (who unfortunately has been M.I.A. for a few years now).  MikeB7 offered me a place to put my maps at fxforce.com (millions of thanks, Mike)…I was very honored to join this awesome group.  Kommando later asked me if I wanted to join FRPMods (thanks Kom), so I began putting maps there too.

As for what helps me make the choices I make…I started making maps because there weren’t any maps of places I wanted to play on…So I let my imagination run wild.  My first few maps are very, very generic (as you can see at fxforce.com), but as time went on, I got more daring and adventurous in what I did with the terrains.

I’m usually inspired by sci-fi, horror, sword & sorcery, and my favorite superheroes from Marvel and DC comics…I try to come up with settings and worlds that reflect those genres.

Counting both FF and FFVTTR, I’ve made more than 80 maps…It still doesn’t feel enough for me…NEED..MORE…MAP CHOICES!…Urk!

Though you don’t display them as often as you show off new maps, you also skin. Which do you find more enjoyable to do?

Mapping definitely.  With skinning, I like to make characters that have rarely been done (or have never been skinned)…Characters I want to see made (like the Munsters, the DarkStalkers, The Doom Patrol)…

I’m never truly satisfied with how my skins end up looking, though…I’m too much of a perfectionist.

I do have the same issues with some of my maps too…I continually tinker with them…I’m the George Lucas of FF mapping, I guess.

What would you consider your best map and your best skin?

I’m not really sure what my best map would be…I really liked how My Star Trek Enterprise map for FF came out…It’s hard for me to pin down, but my top three are…The Lighthouse map (day and night versions), the Key Mordaz Prison map, and my Sunken City map (all for the first game)…Those maps give me the best feelings when viewing them.  I also really enjoyed how my FFVTTR desert and forest maps have come out, though.

My skinning…I feel that I’m a pretty crappy skinner, but my best skin is probably the skin(s) I did for Dognoodle’s (another M.I.A. FR member) R2-D2 mesh (made completely from the wireframe). It’s one of the only skins I’ve ever been really proud of (I even made a voicepack for him)…He looks so much like R2 to me.  Doing the skin brought back a lot of memories and made me recall how much of a Star Wars nut I was as a kid  (I saw Star Wars in ’77 at a drive-in…LOL!).

What are some maps and/or skins that you want to make but haven’t gotten around to as of this moment?

There are a few more skopes and skins that I’ve been making that are of Dungeons & Dragons characters/monsters…I just never seem to find the time to get back to doing them.

I have quite a few map ideas that I’m working on (some I may never finish for various reasons)…More alien worlds (clues exist to some of them above), More D&D/Sword and Sorcery-style maps, an old western-style map, the underwater maps are still being agonized over and…Oh wait…I can’t mention those…Never mind.  LOL!

How did you find out about Freedom Force and what drew you into the community?

Arrrgh…I was dreading a question like this…I have a vague memory of checking out the old Freedom Fans message board…I joined up and then bought the first game…I absolutely fell in love with it.  I am not a big gamer, believe me…FF and FFVTTR are the only games I play.

Do any members in the community inspire you in any form?

As I said above, The Mapping Gurus (Conduit, Gengoro, Human Ton, etc…)…Skopers like Style, BlkCasanova247, Johnny Patches (very nice guy and helpful) and even Cascarudo (he’s doing some amazing things), since I’ve started skoping…I’m not sure if I have any skinning inspirations, but I love the work of Gryphon, Podmark, AfghanAnt, C6, BillDamn and too many more to name…Oh…And Vlad the Impaler…LOL!…Kidding!!!

If you could take up another Freedom Force skill and be good at it, what would it be?

Modding with actual Python code…LOL!  I tried to read up on it, get coaching from you and others, even tried it (in vain)…And it still makes my brain hurt.  I started to mesh with 3DS Max 5, but I was such a newb at it and now Vista refuses to let it work…So I’ve given up on that.  Next less-depressing question, please?  LOL!

Your maps are some of the most popular downloads in the community. How does it feel to have your work in high demand?

Um…Weird, but cool.  I don’t usually think my maps are that great…So I sometimes wonder why people get so excited, but I guess I’m helping to add variety to the game (giving it a longer life, so to speak) and a lot of folks need that right now…Especially since there may not be any more FF sequels in the future (unless they are created by us as a community, via modding, etc.).

What is the story behind your community and avatar name, and do you actually have an official avatar look?

Long boring story (get a pillow and blankie ready)…Since early childhood, I’ve been a fan of Space:1999 (a British-made, 2 season, sci-fi series from the ’70s)…The show scared the crap out of me, but I loved it…I rediscovered it about 15 years ago and now I’m obsessed.

When I got my first computer many years ago, I wanted to create a screen name to protect my RL ID (as many millions have done), so I picked the main character from Space:1999 (along with my birth year slapped onto the end…Although, it gives away my age…LOL!).  I just kept the online ID over the years (on various many, many message boards).  I never bothered to change it…When I first joined the FF community over at Freedom Fans, I considered making up a name that was more super-heroish, but I was stumped at the time…But I thought a sci-fi hero was as good as a super hero, so I stuck with it.

The “look” is of course, based on Commander John Koenig…Think beige jammies with bell-bottoms and a laser gun…LOL!

You have spoken about your semi-ineptness with computers in the past. How has this affected your freedom force related skills and ventures?

LOL…It has affected my ability to map at certain points (not knowing what Markers to put on the maps)…I still have no clue what extents are and what they actually do…LOL!

I still struggle with NIFSkope…Even though, there’s s much I want to do with it.

I can’t make mods with actual Python, so I opted to try my hand at EZScript…I’m finding even that to be a challenge…LOL!

MISC.

You have a certain love of the Micronauts from the Microverse, no? What is it that you like about that team and how do you feel about Bug joining the “Guardians of the Galaxy”?

I loooooooved the Micronauts comic…It was sci-fi/sci-fantasy and it echoed Star Wars some-what in it’s feeling.  I enjoyed the personal interactions the team had in the original series.  The friendship the Jovial Bug had with the cold Prince Acroyear.  The relationship Rann and Mari had and even the qualities the two Roboids, Biotron and Microtron, brought to the group….These people worked/fought together and loved each other as a family, as they faced absolute horrors in their universe and in ours.  Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden made me fall for this series and I’ve been a fan ever since (even through the stories that stunk and the bad re-makes).

As for Bug, I do like that he’s getting exposure in comics lately, but for some reason it doesn’t feel completely real to me.  His appearances have been sporadic in Guardians of The Galaxy and his portrayal is quite different from how he’s been portrayed in the past.

He’s not the jovial, fun-loving guy I grew to love, he’s not tiny in size compared to the people of our universe and he’s shown inconsistently to have three fingers and a thumb or his original two fingers and a thumb (the artists need to correct this)…And the Star Lord uniform looks just awful on him.

I’d much rather see him adventuring with his pals in the Micronauts (or Microns, as they are now known, due to legal restrictions) in the Microverse (along with him being written  in-character and drawn on-model).

Everyone has a favorite character. Who’s your favorite character and why?

That’s a challenge to answer…In the world of comics:  I am very fond of the Micronauts (as a team), I love the original Alpha Flight (again, as a team), I love many of Marvel’s monster characters too (like Werewolf By Night, Dracula, Morbius and the Living Mummy)…And the only DC characters I like are the original Doom Patrol….I’d have to say the closest to my favorite is Cliff Steele, Robotman (of the Doom Patrol)…He’s a human brain in a robotic body and he’s gone through hell several times and come back again and again…The poor guy never catches a break…I’m all for the underdog (and underdog teams).

I hate that Alpha Flight’s last volume was basically a humor book (and bad humor at that) and I hate, hate, hate that Alpha Flight was killed in the New Avengers off panel.  The team has gotten no respect from marvel over that last ten to fifteen years…These are fun and interesting characters that Marvel has just wasted and misused for years.

The Micronauts/Microns have been in limbo for years (due to Marvel not owning the rights to use the name “Micronauts” and many of the characters associated with said name), which saddens me that TPTB at Marvel aren’t creative enough to come up with a way to use the characters they do own in a new series, when I easily could….Ugh.

The Doom patrol will be getting their own series this fall written by Keith Giffen (and he’s done a wonderful job with their recent guest-appearances)…So HURRAY!

When you aren’t being annoyed by the downfall of certain comic properties, you must be spending your time reading books ripe with substance. What are some novels you enjoy?

Well…I haven’t read much in ages (bad on me), but a co-worker (who also likes comics) recently gave me the novel “Soon I Will Be Invincible”.  I just got it yesterday, so I have yet to get into it…He previously gave me the Astro City trades, which I did enjoy.

I tend to read darker novels…Like Stephen King (a fellow native Mainer), “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, H.G. Wells stories and more recently some Lovecraft.

A book can’t keep a person occupied all the time. What are some other hobbies that eat up your free time?

I customize action figures, build sci-fi models, collect Micronauts/Microman figures, draw and write (I’m currently re-writing a novel, that I wrote years ago in an effort to get it published).

Everyone complains about the lack of time every-so-often. What would you do if you suddenly found yourself with more time in your day?

Oh Dog!  Um…maybe get more exercise and lose the extra 15-20 pounds I carry, go out and get a bit of sun, get more of my novel re-written, spend more time on finishing my mod, more time to hunt vampires, building a moon-base on the moon…

You know I sleep all day and work all night, right?  So having more time during the day would be most awesome!

Watching too much TV can be seen as being lazy, sure, but sometimes you just want to kick back and relax. What are some shows you recommend for such a purpose?

I don’t watch a lot of TV…Not since Buffy and Angel went off the air (two fun, witty and amazingly well-written series)…I watch British shows mostly now (Doctor Who, Torchwood and Primeval) and I do occasionally enjoy Star Gate SG1 reruns (even though every sci-fi cliche’ has been beaten to death in that series), but that’s about it….

I absolutely and violently despise “Reality” TV…These “shows” are the true “brain-rot” our parents used to warn us about…No imagination, no redeeming qualities, no real substance and they require no actual thought on the part of the viewer…They do actually turn one’s brain to mush.

Several good movies are slated to be appearing in the next few years. Are there any that you are looking forward to seeing?

To tell the truth, I don’t go to the movies very often…I saw Watchmen and really enjoyed it (although, I knew very little of the comic it was based on…Sacrilege and Blasphemy, right?).

I WAS looking forward to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, until all the early reviews started coming in from fans…Now it just sounds like utter crap in a hat…I may just wait to rent it.

I was also intrigued by Star Trek (I am not a Trekkie, BTW), but judging from the trailers…it appears to have a rehash of the plot of the last two or three Star Trek films…I hope I’m wrong.

Not a lot of the other films coming out really inspire me to go and buy a ticket.

Finally, if you were a skrull, what kind of skrull would you be and who would you most likely want to replace?

Hmmmm…I’d be a Sentry skrull and I’d do my darnedest to kill the real Sentry to death.

The End!

And there you have it. Not only is Cmdrkoenig the current mapper supreme, but he also wants to be a skrull of Sentry just to take him out of commission. Though that might be just a bit evil, there’s no doubting that Koenig is a swell guy, right? If you want to play around with Cmdrkoenig’s maps, you can go to FXforce, FRP, or this very site to get them. Oh, and before I forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Cmdr!