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| Interview with Jesse Petrilla |
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Could you tell something about yourself? And about your game career?
I'm Jesse Petrilla, 18 years old, I live in Auburn (California USA) and I am currently going to
school for a computer science degree. I have always been good at electronics and computers, as a
little kid I would always be taking apart electronic devices, VCRs, TVs, etc., just to learn how
they were put together. I started working with computers when I was six years old in my first
grade class. I built my first computer at age 7, and I picked up all computer skills on my own.
I have always wanted to pursue a career in the game development industry. When I was ten, I ran
up hundreds of dollars worth of phone calls to
LucasArts Entertainment Company asking
all of the programmers there all sorts of questions. I strayed off for a while and joined the
military only to realize that I could make far more money as a game designer.
Screenshot of Quest for Al-Qa'eda: The Hunt for Bin Laden
Could you give a description of your latest game?
One of my latest games, and by far the most popular, is called
Quest for Al-Qa'eda: The Hunt for Bin Laden, a first person shooter
in which the player is dropped by helicopter in the heart of Al-Qa'eda territory. You must
travel through caves, bunkers, and deserts batteling against Osama bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda
cronies.
I was looking for something that could make Americans feel a little bit better, give them an
outlet to express emotions of the September 11 attacks. It's easy to explain why the game is so
popular: it's a way to work out the anger left over from America's most disastrous terrorist
attack. And they just enjoy it because it's timely and it's fun.
Which applications did you use and how long did it take to make the game?
I have used many applications in the development of all my games. For Quest for Al-Qa'eda
I used the Build engine by
3d Realms /
Ken Silverman (maker of
Ken's Labyrinth). Build was also used to develop such
mainstream games as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior,
Redneck Rampage, as well as many others. Quest For Al-Qa'eda was actually a
modification of another game I made, called
Plunder & Pillage which took me about 3 months to
complete; DOS games are certainly far more simpler to develop than modern full 3d games, I have
learned that from recent experiences working with full 3D.
Screenshot of Quest for Al-Qa'eda: The Hunt for Bin Laden
Could you describe that other game too?
In the FPS game Plunder & Pillage the player plays the part of a 16th century pirate
captain who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. He washes up on the shore of an enemy pirate
island. You must battle against gangs of enemy pirates, plunder your way through enemy villages,
and pillage everything in sight in an attempt to regain what was lost at sea and gain a name for
yourself as the most notorious pirate on the high seas.
Why did you pick the Duke Nukem 3D engine for your games?
I chose the Build engine because it is such a small engine, the engine itself is only a
megabyte. I chose this because my intention all along was to distribute it on the Internet for
free for people to download. My game is only 10 megs, so just about anyone can download it. Most
engines, such as the Quake engine are absolutely huge, over a hundred
megs.
What do you like most while creating a game?
Creating a game is the ultimate feeling of creation, being able to create any world you could
possibly imagine. It is an awesome feeling.
Did you ever thought that the game would get so much publicity?
I knew that Quest for Al-Qa'eda would be a popular title, but I never expected for one
moment that it would be as popular as it has become. I have appeared on
MSNBC twice for it
(read the article on MSNBC),
it has been mentioned in magazines throughout the world including two in the USA and as far down
as Australia. The number of downloads, just from servers that I know of, number in the millions.
I think my own site got a hundred the first day, after that it was a thousand then it jumped to
four thousand, now it's just incredible how many people are downloading it.
Because I had no idea how popular the game would become, I released it in a hurry with only 3
levels. After I saw how many people were downloading the game, and after I received a ton of
e-mails from people who absolutely loved the game, I saw the number one complaint was that
people wanted more :) So, I decided to make an expansion pack.
Do you think you will continue making mission packs?
I will definitely release more levels for people to download on my site
(quest.shorturl.com). Several people
have sent in user maps that they made
for the game, I offer those on my site as well for people to download.
Do you've plans for Quest for Al-Qa'eda 2?
I've thought of sometime coming out with a version of this game in the Quake 3 engine,
but that would take time. And by that time, Osama would probably already be caught. My next few
projects are most likely going to be on another topic other than Al-Qa'eda.
Screenshot of Quest for Al-Qa'eda: The Hunt for Bin Laden
Could you tell more about your coming games?
At the moment I am working on several projects including one with a movie producer out of
Hollywood. I am co-producing a game based on a movie which will come out in about a year. My
hope was that somebody would see Quest for Al-Qa'eda and offer a job. That's exactly what
happened when Hollywood producer Van Hook contacted me after seeing the game.
Another of my current projects is a video game involving Britney Spears, in which the pop star
shoots aliens while singing her hit songs. It's called Britney Goes Crazy, and I've
already, actually, surprisingly, received written permission from Britney's agent.
I've worked with many different engines, and I see myself creating an RPG style game as my next
project sometime in the future.
Could you tell something more about that movie?
The movie is called The Fallen Ones and it's about giant mummies and is similar to
The Mummy - I can't say much about it now, except to stay tuned... ;)
What's your favorite DOS or Windows game?
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Full Throttle are
by far my favorite titles. They were some of the last few great games before games went
commercial. Nowadays, most all games have little or no thought put into them, the companies
focus on just graphics and rarely take the time to give games in depth story lines or truly
entertaining gameplay.
What do you want to achieve in the gaming business?
My goal is to one day work for George Lucas at LucasArts Entertainment. I am planning on one day
starting my own computer gaming company, too. I would like to call it Petrilla Entertainment or
Petrilla Enterprises. And oh, by the way, my company is going to run
Microsoft out of business. Bill Gates
better watch out ;)
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