Here's a fun and informative interview with Turgut '2good' Özbayram. Turgut is from Turkey and he is currently working on Crysis 2 singleplayer levels at Crytek Frankfurt. This fourteenth interview in the Inside Crytek series at MyCrysis.com revealed that Crysis 2 levels will be a lot different from the Crysis ones and that effort has been put into getting more fun out of the Nanosuit gameplay.

Today sees another addition to our "Inside Crytek" series. This is a series of Q&A's with different members of the Crytek team, where they answer questions on all sorts of topics. These are not just ordinary interviews though. Once their intro has been posted you get the opportunity to ask them your questions!

This time we are speaking with Turgut.

What do you do at Crytek?

I’m a Level Designer on Crysis 2.

Why did you want to work in the games industry and how did you get started? Do you have any tips for people wanting to get started in the industry?

I was always a gamer. When I was 16 I played so many games where I said in this game this could be much better and in other game I said they could make this much much better, so I started to create my own levels with the CryEditor 1 (FarCry) which I never release :) Later on I stopped to level design because of school and family. After I finished my school I would like to work in a game industry to show what I can. I was living really near to Crytek and I really liked their game. With 18 I started to work at Crytek in Quality Assurance first because I thought I had not enough experience to start with level design. When I was finished with my apprenticeship in QA as Digital Media Designer I became an official Level Designer on Crysis 2. Now I have been a Crytekker for 5 years.

Why Crytek?

Because Crytek is the biggest and best developer in Germany and Crytek makes really awesome games which fulfilled my prospects. I hope (know) Crytek will become one of the top developers in all around the world.

What are the best and worst parts of your job?

Best parts are to work with the whole team and to work with the CryEditor. Teamwork in Crytek is one of the important things; all of the Crytek team members are really friendly and cooperative. I really enjoy working with all of them. There are no bad things from my side.

What are you working on at the minute?

I’m working on Crysis 2 singleplayer levels on all platforms. This will be really awesome game :)

What types of games do you like, and what's your favorite game of all time?

I like to play first person shooters, third person shooters and role-playing games. I love to play Counter Strike Source and Crysis Wars. But now I try to play FarCry 2. I also played every parts of Hitman and Metal Gear Solid uuuuuh uuuuh uuuh. As role-playing game I love Fahrenheit and all Broken Sword parts.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not at work?

I enjoy going out with my girlfriend and doing stuff with my family. I like to drink non-alcohol cocktails :) and Crytek Parties!

Fan Q&A

Inside your work area, when communicating with the team, you speak German, English or even Turkish?

We always talk English. When I go out for a cigarette with a German guy or Turkish guy then I’m talking German or Turkish.

How do you say "Turgut Özbayram"?

To say Turgut is really easy. Many of Crytek mates call me target or 2good. I’ve also problems to say Özbayram hehehe.

Why don't you drink real alcoholic drinks?

I do drink alcoholic drinks but I don’t want to drink anymore because I’m Turkish, so for me my family is more important than parties.

Hey Turgut, do you still design levels for Crysis 2 so that the player benefits from using the Nanosuit abilities. (Jump from roof to roof, nanosprinting between rocks.)?

Yes, we try to do awesome Nanosuit game play areas where player has to choose. Nanosuit or chicken. I hope you guys will have more fun with the Nanosuit than before.

What I really want to ask is what is your “You must be this tall to take this ride" idea. I mean, what abilities must I posses to be there?

I don’t fully understand your question but I think to be here you need different abilities. You should have a look at crytek.com for more information. But, what I can say is, to need really good experience with the CryEditor 2 and logic thinking - 2. I thought first of all about the stuff they wanted from me. I mean it’s not really easy to do levels for games like "Crytek style". I learned so many stuff in a short time, because all the Crytek mates are very friendly and cooperative and now I really enjoy to work with Crytek mates and with the CryEditor and I love to make levels for Crysis 2.

Like in the news post, has Crysis 2 been worked on for 5 years? What settings are the levels you make for Crysis 2 in?

With 5 years I meant with QA time, no comment! But, now I’m doing singleplayer levels for Crysis 2. I would take Lamborghini.

Will the levels in Crysis 2 be substantially different than the Crysis 1 levels? Or at least will some of the Crysis 2 levels be?

Crysis 2 levels will be a lot different from the Crysis 1 levels.

Can you give us any hints on Crysis 2?

No comment, sorry!

Do you guys have days where you just play online with some people of the company using other names than cry-...?

Yeah, we’re playing other online games. But not with cry-...

Psycho, Nomad or Prophet, and why?

Psycho: Because he is British, he is just cool and funny.

Will the Nanosuit 2 change the gameplay??

Yes, you guys will have more fun with the Nanosuit 2.0.

Do you like kebabs?

Yes, I love kebabs!

Did you do the levels for Crysis?

Nope, while Crysis was in progress I was in Quality Assurance. But, I did some multiplayer maps for Crysis. But not official. You can find them in crymod.com.

How many minutes you walk from your house to Crytek office?

When I drive to work it takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

Are you allowed to tell us anything about Crysis 2? (Don’t side-step; you know you want to tell us!)

I would, but I'm not allowed. Sorry!

What kind of levels are you making? Jungle or something else?

All I can say is that I am currently only working on singleplayer maps.

Is there a difference between the old CryEngine editor and CryEditor 2?

Yes, it’s totally changed. As you know we’ve now got the Flow Graph feature which allows us to do really logical things which help us a lot.

Do you carry on working at home on your levels or does it stay at the office?

It stays at the office.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time and where would you like to be?

Level designing was always my dream. But in 10 years I would like to do more game design or become a story writer.

Have you ever scrapped a level because you thought it wasn't good enough?

Yes, I already have.

When you start a new level (map) do you make all the terrain by hand or do you use any other third-party programs? Can you tell me you **secret** tip about level designing?

I´m doing it by hand because when you do it with hand you can do it like as you really want. I don´t have any secret :) You just need logical and sometimes crazy thinking combined with an epic vision.

In Closing

A big thanks to Turgut for taking time to answer all these community questions, we hope this has given you a better insight into the world of a Level Designer. As always, the next Inside Crytek article will be up next week for you to read and learn about another profession within Crytek.

- MyCrysis Staff

MyCrysis: Inside Crytek - Turgut Özbayram – Crysis 2 Level Designer
MyCrysis: Inside Crytek - Turgut Özbayram – Community Answers!