John Attea is the creator of several Counter-Strike maps. He was a prominent level designer during the beta stages of Counter-Strike, but all his maps were eventually removed from the game during development.
His alias, Poor Yurik, is an intentional misspelling of Poor Yorick from Hamlet.[1]
Biography[]
John Attea got started in level design with the game Marathon.[1] Eventually he moved on to Doom and then Quake, after finally landing on Half-Life.[1] Jess Cliffe approached Attea about mapping for Counter-Strike before the first beta had been released after coming across a map, DM Twist, Attea had designed for Half-Life.[2]
Attea's philosophy behind level design was to make great maps that were very different from other pre-existing maps, trying to cater to a minority of players who loved playing tactically and valued teamwork.[1][2]
During early beta stages he was perhaps the most prominent level designer in Counter-Strike, having a map present in each version of the game from Beta 2.0 until Counter-Strike 1.0. Attea would contribute a total of four maps to the original Counter-Strike, though all of these maps were eventually removed from the game by the time it had matured past its beta stages.
Since retiring from Counter-Strike mapping, he has worked professionally in level design on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.[3] As of 2013, he has been working as an artist on the indie game Cardinal Quest 2.[4]
List of maps[]
Official maps[]
| Map name | Game(s) | Responsibilities | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foption |  (cut)
|
Level designer | 2000 |
| Forest | 
|
Level designer | 2000 |
| Ship | 
|
Level designer | 1999 |
| Zoption |
|
Level designer | 1999 |
Custom maps[]
| Map name | Game(s) | Responsibilities | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defiance (cs) | 
|
Level designer | 2001 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 CS-Nation - poor yurik interview. Archived from the original on 2004-11-05.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 STOMPED - Counter-Strike Map Interviews, Part 3 (John "Poor Yurik" Attea). Archived from the original on 2001-02-15.
- ↑ Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004) Windows credits - MobyGames
- ↑ 2013 IN REVIEW
External links[]
- John Attea's old Counter-Strike website. Archived from original on 2002-08-21.
- John Attea's Art Blog