About

Erik “foyleman” Guilfoyle joined the game-modding scene shortly after the release of Half Life in early 2000 by creating a custom level and supporting material for the game. After that, Erik was hooked on modding games.

While building on his knowledge of games, he was also building on his career. Working with Tres, Inc., foyleman worked on many media projects assisting with programming, modeling and art. It would be with Tres, Inc., while he was finishing up his Bachelors degree in Finance, that he would gain the diversity required within the gaming industry.

Two years and a lot of practice later, Soldier of Fortune was released. Foyleman jumped at the opportunity to map a custom level for this game and was among the first to release a map for the game with custom textures. This led to a flurry of emails requesting advice for constructing custom material, and the beginning of a compendium of game modification tutorials.

Not much later, foyleman started up his own Web site to host existing and new tutorials. The site grew until he had the largest collection of tutorials on the Internet for Call of Duty mapping. Now,foyleman is running the MODSonline.com modding community with the assistance of two other administrators and several friends, covering many games including Quake 4 and Half-Life 2. As new games are released, he starts off the tutorials section with beginner instruction and leads the member forums in preparation for the next up-and-coming game.

Being an authority in the game modding world, in 2005 Wiley Publishing, Inc. contacted foyleman and contracted him to write a book. In August of 2006, foyleman Published his first book through Wiley Publishing, Inc. titled Quake 4 Mods For Dummies. In January of 2007, his second book, Half-Life 2 Mods For Dummies was also published.

Aside from his love for games, foyleman is also the vice president of an established media company, Tres Inc. (tres3d.com & tresware.com). His company has been producing 3D models, animations, motion graphics, and websites for companies and corporations throughout New Jersey for over five years. Mission Critical Studios, an off-shoot of Tres Inc., is now working on a game of their own. Foyleman is a member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) as well as the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA).

Games explored (chronological, descending):

  • Prey
    • Beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum support related to level construction.
  • Call of Duty 2
    • Beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum support related to level construction.
  • Quake 4
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio, scripting.
    • Beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum support related to level construction.
    • A beginner’s modding book through Wiley Publishing.
  • Half-Life 2
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio, scripting.
    • Beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum support related to level construction.
  • Doom III
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio, scripting.
    • Beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum support related to level construction.
  • Battlefield 2
    • Level design and construction
  • Call of Duty: United Offensive
    • Forum and live user support related to level construction and texture creation.
  • Call of Duty
    • Level design and construction.
    • Forum and live user support related to level construction and texture creation.
  • Unreal Tournament 2003
    • Level design and construction.
  • Quake III Arena
    • Level design and construction.
  • Red Faction
    • Level design and construction
  • Soldier of Fortune 2
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio.
    • Several written tutorials and beginner video tutorials.
    • Forum and live user support related to level construction.
  • Tribes
    • Level design and construction.
  • Soldier of Fortune
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio.
    • Over 25 written tutorials for level design and construction, textures and working with tools and the SDK.
    • Forum and live user support related to all forms of modification.
  • Half-Life
    • Level design and construction, custom textures, custom audio.

Tools Employed:

  • Level construction
    • Worldcraft (Half-Life, Tribes)
    • Radiant (Quake Engine)
    • UnrealEd (Unreal Engine)
    • Hammer (Half-Life 2)
    • Battlefield 2 Editor
  • Scripting and coding
    • Ultra Edit
    • Notepad
    • MS Visual C++
  • Artistic
    • Adobe Photoshop
  • Audio
    • Sonar
    • Goldwave
  • Modeling
    • Lightwave 3D
  • Additional Tools
    • Adobe Premiere
    • Adobe After Effects
    • Camtasia