KREEDZ IS SHUTTING DOWN? Interview with Kreedz

By Hopez.·27/09/2026 18:00

Dear Community,

I return with a brand-new, informative journalistic post of high importance to this community, with Kreedz.
I hope you will like it, as I worked for months on this, and my whole soul goes into this post and our beloved community...
(Ungrateful *******, 40 comments or I resign so let's see who will give you interviews, probably no one)

Today, I'm interviewing the man without whom none of us would be here. It’s a great honour, and it could be the crowning achievement of my professional huge career. Kreedz! How are you?

I’m great thanks! And you?

Amazing, thank you! While it's fairly well-known by now, many new players and even some veterans aren't familiar with the story, so I think it would be cool to go through it briefly.
Could you tell me how you came up with the idea for the game mode, where the name originated, how people first discovered it, and how it all started? Is it true that you were paid for making maps in the beginning, and that you were putting people’s nicknames in the maps based on how much they would pay?

The mode originated with me experimenting with mapping and mechanics in kz_hauntedhouse_v1 - modeled after my mother’s house at the time, “7 Avenue Chénier, Baie-Comeau” if you’re curious. It does not look at all like the actual house! Two things came together in that map. First, my love of creating game content which I’ve been doing since I had my first computer somewhere around 1994. From creating tracks in my 486 computer race games to Starcraft I & Counter-strike custom maps, I always looked at the map editor when there was one available. Second, I’ve always had a passion for climbing. I’ve built many treehouses when I was young (even got caught by a police for doing one in the forest which apparently wasn’t allowed haha). Those 2 together had me put trees in the map in a way we could reach the top. I realized the feeling of climbing in a first person game was actually quite nice and then kept experimenting until the first very popular map : kz_giantbean. I just played the map with friends and clan members at the time, didn’t try to distribute it or have it become viewed by many people at all, hence my surprise when I started receiving emails from people around the world asking for more of those maps (I had my email in the map as a signature).

About the KZ/Kreedz name, I wish there was some cool story and origin but it is just a name I made up. My native language is French so I did not even know the word “Creed” existed.

KZ was a student job for me for a while. I spent so many hours a week on it that I could not do so much content while having a separate job. It was quite hard with the studies too. There were 2 revenue sources I had - one was the donations where I put the people's nicknames and clan names on a board, the other was sponsored maps where individuals or clans would give me a fixed amount for having a map dedicated to them. They could either let me do the design or tell me how/what theme they wanted the map to be. I think that worked out pretty well.

Cool! Thanks for such detailed and exclusive info. We will also go through some of your pictures later.
You’ve been teaching at a private college, video game programming related. Have you ever shown KZ to your students? If yes, how did they react?
Also, you came out in public saying that you have two kids, and that’s amazing, I congratulate you. If your kid showed interest in gaming, would you be curious to show them KZ?

I taught at College Bart in Quebec for around 4 years. I did not show or tell about KZ, mostly because I don’t like fame very much. One of my employees in my current job just learned through a random discussion that I was the creator of the first KZ maps, I can say it was a funny moment!

My kids are a bit young for first-person gaming which takes a lot of skill (my older kid is 6), but I will definitely show them later on! Right now I’m focussing on having them enjoy the real life climbing by going bouldering with them.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood are some of the games you worked on. Have you worked on any other games since then that the public doesn’t know about?
How does it feel to work for one of the biggest gaming companies, Ubisoft? How did it come to that?

During my studies I got lucky and managed to get an internship at Behaviour Interactive in Montreal which was my first experience in the videogames industry. That experience got me to have a job right after my studies at Ubisoft Quebec. I was there for around 5 years then switched to Beenox (an Activision studio now owned by Microsoft). I’ve worked on Spiderman games, Skylanders and Call of Duty (probably all of them since Black Ops 3). I work as a Director of UI Programming & Scripting. Far from KZ-style work but still fun! It’s nice to work at big game companies with the downside that comes from working on huge games with thousands of people : you can’t do and decide everything. On the other hand, opportunities to learn and grow are everywhere.

What do you think about modern mapping and all the newer designs and features of the maps? And who are your favourite mappers from this newer generation of mappers?

I’m amazed at the quality of the maps, both design-wise and the lighting/textures/details. I don’t really know the new mappers though as I’ve been mostly away so no name dropping here sorry!

How do you feel knowing the game mode you started is still alive, almost more than ever, even after two decades? Do you predict it’s going to stay like that?

I’m always amazed at that fact. It’s so great to see the passion lives on in so many people and that newcomers keep joining.

My favourite map from you is kz_42_amazon. What are the maps you enjoy playing the most?

The bloc maps are fun (not naming one in particular). I guess it fits with my love for bouldering more than rock climbing with ropes on long routes!

Your last map was a collaboration with SadPuppy, back in 2020. Would you say that you’re shutting down or are you cooking some new maps?

How did the collaborations with SadPuppy happen, and what was the process like?

I might go back to mapping when I get more personal time, I don’t know yet. With SadPuppy (or Angie earlier in time) it was mostly because I was impressed with their work and they were good people that I enjoyed playing and chatting with, it just happened naturally. I think the collaboration with SadPuppy happened more around 2006 than 2020 >< although he continued the map for many years after I left.

Have you had any ideas or attempts to create one more CS 1.6 game mode?

Not really a game mode but I enjoyed small fun modes like kz_lavatile and kz_slime.
(Editor's Note: kz_man_lavatile and kz_man_slime are maps that can be found on 17 Buddies website. "Those are fun maps where you try to have tour opponents fall down in lava or slime before you do")

“Vegetarians should not live” was a statement you made in one of your past interviews. What would you say about that today?

That’s… quite ironic, I don’t remember and hope I was joking! My wife is vegetarian and myself and my kids mostly are too (we eat fish). I hope we still live haha. I know I’ve made uninformed & immature statements (and maps!) in the past, apologies for the feelings I’ve hurt along the way :/

Hahaha, I'm pretty sure you will still live! I used to be a vegetarian myself too, for four years! My ex used to tell me exactly that, that he hopes I continue living because I do not eat meat... (may he rest in peace, I heard he passed away).
Five fun facts about you?

I enjoy the whole music spectrum from Slipknot to Enya, through Electronic, Punk & Pop - although I can’t stand the Gummy Bear song my kids play in loop
I play Magic the Gathering. I prefer Vintage/Legacy formats but my friends recently convinced me to build a Commander Deck. Its a Dragon/Reanimator deck
I managed to survive a 65 km trailrun
I did a lot of video editing - from intro videos for my old IcP CS-Clan website to Lord of the Rings condensed versions of battles with epic music (sorry I can’t share those since they contain copyrighted movies/music)
I can self-induce goosebumps

Have you ever had a conflict with someone from the community?

Nothing that strikes me as of now. The community also was quite small when I was active so it was harder to find someone for a fight ><

Your physique - tips, diet, how do you manage to maintain it all these years and how would you rate it from 1 to 10?

I tend to have a good amount of motivation in things I start and one of them was going to the gym, which I did every single day - weekend or not - for one hour during the last 2 years of my studies. I’ve reduced to a more reasonable 5 days a week since then but I managed to keep that habit for the last 20+ years, adding rock climbing, running and trailrunning to it. I mostly like the way it feels and how that training allows me to perform in bouldering. I won’t rate myself hahaha.

I'd give you a solid 10! Let's see and comment some of your photos. :D

That's at a climbing center in Quebec. I do indoors bouldering around 3 times a week. Currently succeeding on many V8s but haven't got back to a V9 yet after the pandemic. Working hard to get back there!

That's my favorite jumping place ever. Île de la Fausse Passe. LOCATION LINK
So many cool rocks to climb on and jump on there. Unfortunately I can't go there very often as its far away from home.

This is the summit of "Acropole des Draveurs" near Quebec. A very nice hiking spot.

Bryce Canyon in the US, that's from a pretty cool hiking trip I made with friends.

Random jump spot on Mount Katahdin, a nice and scary mountain in the US.

A cool tree in Tofino near Vancouver. My wife's family is from Vancouver so we often travel there.

Frosty Mountain near Vancouver, another cool hiking spot :)

It is also from Frosty Mountain near Vancouver. This is were we took our engagement photos :). We initially planned to get married in June 2020... we now know that was a pretty bad timing for gathering lots of people together. We ended up getting married in 2023. Our wedding trip was a roadtrip across Canada ( 5 000 km each way ) in an electric car with our 2 kids. Although the idea sounds crazy it ended up being a very nice trip without any issues!

Awesome! Height and weight?

6 feet tall, 175 lbs (sorry for the canadian units!)
(Editor's Note: 183 cm, 79.37866475 kg)

What do you think about parts of the community who are not doing their job, because they are lazy, resulting in people waiting for months and complaining?

I would question whether they just have personal stuff that makes it hard to keep up the pace? I don’t have a strong opinion here but I know life can be time consuming!

Khm... Maps or mappers, their style of mapping, you absolutely dislike?

Not “absolutely dislike” but I like maps that are made for diverse player experiences. I don’t like when difficulty is extreme right from the start.

I agree! Is there a mapper who you think deserved more fame?

I’m gonna need to discover the maps from the last 20 years to answer that, give me a couple years ><

Your personal best LJR? Was it hard for you to learn all the new techniques of playing and all they have come up with so far?

Back when I was playing it was somewhere around 220 units. The only existing technique I remember at the time was just the left-right strafing in the air, nothing more.

Since you mention 220 LJR, I figure you haven't really played KZ in the last ~20 years since you left, or? Are you planning to start playing again?

Didn't really play in the last 2 decades, no. I might start again after retiring and getting more free time, no promises though ;)

Do you still hate books?

I absolutely do hate them! And I’ve been tortured for many years for having to read the same kids books over and over. Finally my older kid is starting to be able to read ><

Opinion on Momentum Mod?

Not played it yet I’m sorry!

Are you religious?

No. I like to believe there is something more than our physical body but I don’t think it relies on a god or anything. I like science a lot on the other end, Startalk is one of my favourite Youtube channels.

Do you accept friend requests on Steam?

I’m not on Steam much these times so I don’t really look at those requests. Anyone should feel free to message me on Discord though, I will answer to everyone I have always liked to chat with and have interest in KZ players :) Otherwise if people just want to follow my real life climbing and calisthenics you can follow me on Instagram : patdwright

The origins of surf and HNS - have you played a part in that, and how? What do you personally think about those game modes and which one would you prefer to play?

DeZolance recently made origin stories on these 2 if you want to look up his Youtube channel he makes awesome videos. I played around with surf in a random fun map kz_longwaydown back in 2001 but I don’t think the actual surf movement originated from that map, I’m not taking any credits for it. Kind of the same for HNS, I made a hide and seek map where Ts would get knives and CTs a pistol. It was fun but not very popular at the time. I think I would rather play HNS as I’m not a fan of the unrealistic physic surf is based on (I realize I say that after talking about left-right strafing in the air to jump further haha).

Yeah, that's why I asked you this! The readers can see the videos here and here.

How did you feel when some of your maps got alternative ways of passing, such as big shortcuts that cut a lot of map (+boost, for example)? (or was it intended?)

Ahhh I always tried to prevent those as much as possible so I was just angry at myself for not thinking about those when I saw people do them ><

Would you say that you are successful or is there something more you’d like to achieve?

I like where I’m at with my life - family, love, health and time are what’s most important to me and I’m lucky enough to have all of those (although the last one flows way too fast).

kz_wsp_inferno inscription “Paradise is not for the sincere”. What were your reasons to create this map?

It's interesting how much I forgot about old maps, had to go look at it. That was a theme asked by the sponsor, I don’t have interesting details to share on the map or what was written in it unfortunately.

Who is Gypso?

Blast from the past hearing that nickname! He was my roommate and good friend for around 4 years when I was at Sherbrooke University. He made some 3D models for my maps.

kz_cmp_collage_v2 - collaboration details?

I can’t find a map by that name in my files, can’t remember sorry.

What was the Jett clan and who are the people shown in kz_jett_mountain?

Jett was a CS-Clan that probably did some competition at the time. People from the Jett clan are in the photos. I did not really know them, they were a map sponsor.

Do you know who the girls are from SadPuppy’s map kz_ludo?

That looks like a relatively recent map! I’ve not played it yet

Do you remember your first PC?

Oh yes. A 486 PC. The CPU did not have a heatsink because it did not need one. The hard drive was 300 megabytes. Fun times.

Got any pets?

When I was young I had an Iguana and then a dog (Golden Retriever) but no pets since I left my hometown.

Have you ever had an offer to do a map with somebody, but you declined it? If yes, could you share info who the person was and the reason for declining?

All the offers I remember were pretty reasonable. There surely were some pricing discussions but no offensive themes were asked that I remember.

Have you ever met with somebody from kz communities IRL and how did it go?

Not that I remember… but I’d like to travel more in the future (scoop : I am retiring in January 2027) and one of my ideas since there are people from everywhere in the community was to ask around on Discord for cool places to go for trailruns and climbing high mountains so it could happen if people want me as a hiking partner!

A mapper you’d want to collaborate with?

If Sadpuppy and Angie can come back to mapping along with me I’d be up for it :D

Are you aware of the more-advanced stuff that "came out" in the meantime - such as FOG stats for bhopping, and so on? Do you know about advanced articles, such as KZ-Rush articles, and what do you say on that? Are you aware who the best kz players are nowadays?

Not aware of advanced stuff, I was just sad when they killed bhoping in CS! It also changed KZ quite a lot when we got to slow down a lot upon landing. Not aware of the competitive scene, no.

Favourite food?

seafood & fish in general, shrimps/scallops/salmon

COMMUNITY QUESTIONS FROM KZ.COM AND MY FRIENDS

Do you believe KZ would have existed if you never jumpstarted the whole thing, considering mechanics were technically in the game so it would have been a matter of time until climbing/jumping maps were invented by someone?

I think so yes. It’s nothing tricky to think about and the amount of mappers is quite bigger than at the time I started.

Why did you step aside from the community for some time in the past, and was it true you were present all the time just under a fake nickname?

I left mostly when I started at Ubisoft in 2007. Maintaining KZ and a full-time job was just too much. I’ve been around from time to time but never under a fake nickname.

Have you ever watched anime, and if yes - what are your favourites? Have you ever had a waifu? (Do you really want to answer this tho?....)

The closest I watched would be Final Fantasy Advent Children. I like the Final Fantasy series a lot. I recently played the first 2 parts of Final Fantasy VII Remake and can’t wait for the 3rd one!

Do you still have older maps that you didn’t hand over to SadPuppy?

There might have been a couple but I recently gave everything to p0ker and DeZolance. You can bug them :D

What was your intention behind your early maps? Were you expecting the maps you made to become something that would be competitively speed-ran, or was that just a happy accident that followed?

Happy accident although as soon as I noticed the competitive aspect I made the timecounter. That was quite a headache to make with hammer editor entities!

MINI-GAME

Kindly finish the sentences with the first idea that comes to your mind:

If I were a millionaire, I …

would retire from work ;).

KZ.com should ...

go on forever!!

I would never ...

smoke! I hate it

kz_gigablockier_pub was …

fun I think? Was that the one with SadPuppy? SadPuppy was so slow on releasing the maps ><

The game I’m never going to play again is ...

inexistant. I’m a nostalgic

My secret talent is …

building epic Lego structures.

When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is …

oh no, not a kid poo to wipe again.

I can’t stand when …

not sure, I’m not easily annoyed in general.

The hardest moment in my KZ career was …

the decision to step away and hope for the best.

The best map I made is …

I’m gonna name GiantBean since that was mostly the start of everything.

The games I’ve enjoyed playing the most are …

Doom II, Sim City, Command & Conquer Red Alert, Super Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Starcraft I, Counter-Strike, Final Fantasy VII to name a few.

A concert I would go to is from …

a Final Fantasy / videogames orchestral concert!

Any shoutouts?

I won’t write names for the fear of forgetting some since there are literally hundreds of awesome people who contributed to all this but a special shoutout to all the extreme-jumps crew that kept the website, Discord and community alive for all these years. It warms my heart to come back here and see it’s alive and well!

Do you think I did a good job with this interview or should they finally fire me?

This is the most thorough interview I’ve ever seen. You are awesome :)

Thanks Community,

Hopezev
CEO of KZ Journalism