Recently we talked to Software Engineer Jordan Sugar to find out more on how he went about developing the Rabbit Hunt mod, and to find out what the future holds for him in regards to mod authoring.

SharkyExtreme : Where did you get the idea for this mod?

Jordan Sugarman : I participated in the beta testing for a game called Sub-Space. It was a massively multi-player top-down space shoot-em-up (that's a mouthful!). They had a number of game variations, one of which was called Rabbit Hunt. I enjoyed the gameplay style, where everyone was always chasing the one player that was 'it' while that person would run like crazy.

SharkyExtreme : How many people are involved in making Rabbit Hunt, and how long did it take to develop this mod?

Jordan Sugarman : I did all the coding and texture editing myself, and got some help playtesting it from a friend. From start to finish, it took about two weeks of tinkering around in the evenings after work and on the weekends to get the release version done.

SharkyExtreme : As a mod developer, what is it about Unreal Tournament that makes you want to create mods for this game (for example; rather than for Unreal or Quake 3)?

Jordan Sugarman : I’ve never been that impressed with any of the Quake games (why don't they just call it Doom 2000?), and it's so much easier to get started in UnrealScript. I actually did a little bit of scripting for Unreal a couple of years ago, but I found it difficult to come up with a good idea that didn't require a lot of effort to see any progress. UT is better, for me, because it offers a good framework for making small changes. Since my mod is derived from the Deathmatch game-type, I was able to code small portions of it and try them out right away in a practice match.