[2020] Community Creator Interview

Ever since the introduction of hideouts in Path of Exile almost 6 years ago, our players have surprised us with their creativity when it comes to decorating dwellings for their Exiles. This week, we spent some time talking to Path_of_DerroK, one of our most popular hideout creators in our community and veteran Path of Exile player. In this interview DerroK has also provided a lot of useful tips for fellow hideout creators.

Hi DerroK! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! Please introduce yourself.

Hi! Thank you very much for arranging this interview and inviting me to participate.

My name is Andrey, but I don't mind being called DerroK. Around 10 years ago, while playing World of Warcraft, I met a player with the nickname "DerroK" in Dalaran and I just liked this nickname very much!

I live in Russia and I work from home, offering a typography service in my city. I started playing games at the age of four. I remember launching Diablo I for the first time and spending the whole year playing it.

Path of Exile helped me to discover my second hobby - creating hideouts.

When did you first get into Path of Exile?

I started playing Path of Exile in 2013. After spending enough time in Diablo 3, my friends and I decided to try Path of Exile and I suggested playing in the Hardcore league straight away. At that time the Nemesis League was active. As a result, all my friends left the game after the very first death. My character survived, so I decided to play solo and here I am, 7 years later, still playing Path of Exile. I've played Hardcore only for about three years, then tried other modes as well. I have around 20 characters on 100 level in different game modes (SC, HC, SSFSC, SSFHC) and I have also won several Flashback events by finishing first with various Ascendancy classes.

When did you first take an interest in decorating hideouts?

Almost immediately after the Forsaken Masters expansion was released. At first it was hard to come up with any idea and I had doubts about being able to create anything beautiful in this game by myself. I haven't spent much time creating hideouts because I wanted to play and explore Path of Exile even further. And then I saw "The Scarlet Corsair" by Sie_Sayoka. I was so shocked that I realized I wanted to create something similar! Sie_Sayoka's hideout proved to me that it's possible to create such cool things in the game so I decided to dive deep into creating hideouts.

Where do you get the ideas for hideouts and decorations? What gives you inspiration? Do you ever take inspiration from real life locations that you'd like to recreate in-game?

I get inspired by music. I create hideouts while listening to the exact same music track I'll be using for the hideout showcase and it really helps me. I usually listen to the soundtrack composed by Kamil Orman-Janowski, I think he's a true gem of your team. I also like listening to the Disciples and the Diablo soundtracks and getting inspired by the beautiful areas from these games.

Ideas for the hideout decorations suddenly pop up into my head while I'm trying to combine several random decorations into one. I always look for an interesting combination of decorations first and then create a full hideout based on that combination. For example, Nessa, the Golden Mermaid decoration. I made Nessa first and then created the "Mermaids' Cave" hideout.

I decided to use 2 hideout decorations for this one, the Medium Golden Statue and the Rhex Statue and hide their excessive parts with stones and leaves, which turned out quite nice! If you're interested in watching the whole process of making this mermaid, check out this video.

To be honest, I haven't created many decorations inspired by real life locations, perhaps because the developers have already used such locations and objects for in-game areas and doodads, and I just use them for my ideas :)

How much time does it usually take to create a hideout or combination of decorations?

A week in general. Maybe more, in case new interesting content has been added to the game, because I really want to explore it. I try not to skip new Challenge Leagues and events/races in Path of Exile.

Of all the hideouts you've created in the past, which is your favourite and why?

I'd say there are two of them, the Celestial Mystic Wells (based on the Celestial Hideout) and the Emerald Celestial Wells (based on the Celestial Nebula Hideout). I like the Nebula one more, such an amazing place with verdant wells filled with a changing cosmic background!

I've filmed a video tutorial of making this awesome Emerald well, in case you'd like to create one.

Having said that, I prefer using a much more grim hideout, I'm a big fan of the 'Extra gore' theme and I really enjoy other players' reaction when they see this...

In addition to being a hideout creator, you're also a very active Path of Exile player. What are your thoughts about the Conquerors of the Atlas expansion?

I think this expansion made the game a bit harder and more interesting at the same time. To be honest, I'm a little tired of paying too much attention to game mechanics, at the moment I'm enjoying the art aspect of the game more. From the art and lore point of view, I'd say the developers did an amazing job in this expansion. Shout-out to the art team for creating Drox, he's a very cool boss, and to Kamil for the Veritania fight soundtrack.

Recently you created a pretty interesting hideout with Arthur_von_Schreyer, another popular creator from our community. Do you have any similar projects on the horizon (in collaboration with other hideout creators)?

When Arthur_von_Schreyer (thanks again!) contacted me with this idea, I thought it'd be fun. It was pretty interesting to see the final result after we both were working on a same hideout having different ideas in mind. He wanted to make his side of the hideout dark and gloom that would look like a crypt.

I decided to make my side gory by using gore Oriath fountains, pools of blood and skulls. I like gory style!

I'd like to build a hideout in collaboration with someone once again. Perhaps, with TarkeCat or BrittleKnee?

Do you have any tips on combining hideout decorations to create something that looks completely new?

Don't be afraid of using 'ugly' decorations, any gloom decoration can get a nice new look. For example, you can create beautiful alien plants with the Glandular Anemone from the Belly of The Beast.

Also don't forget to use decorations that have some sort of a visual effect, such as my favourite Copper Chest. This decoration not only looks like a nice chest, it also has an effect of tiny green sparks. We can use this chest to make a firefly decoration. Here's an example:

Here we covered several chests with stones in order to leave only the green sparks effect visible. As a result, we have green fireflies flying around the trees!

You can also try experimenting with portals by using some decorations, to make portals more beautiful.

What thought needs to be given to make sure that hideouts are both functional and aesthetically pleasing?

I don't think about hideout functionality much, although many players put it first, but I try to make my hideouts good as a whole. Having said that, I do have some hideouts that match both the functionality and aesthetics. I think that the waypoint, Masters and even the crafting bench should have their own unique place, it always looks interesting and unusual.

As an example, I have this tiny forest area for Sister Cassia and the crafting bench, which is surrounded by Mystic Pets.

Or have a look at this Map Device area, hidden in the depths of a dark grove.

What would you like the future of hideouts in Path of Exile to be?

I hope for a future rework of the master reputation system. It's very hard to gain a lot of reputation at the moment, even if you run the highest tiers of maps. Maybe devs can consider adding another way of earning reputation, aside from completing the master missions.

I'd also like to have an option to change the light conditions for a hideout so you can select daytime or nighttime, that would be perfect!

I really want to be able to make the pets stay at one place without them running around the hideout.

The idea of adding the Celestial Nebula Hideout, a huge area where players can express their creativity, was brilliant. I think it would be cool to have a bunch of similar hideout templates with a clean preset. For example, an area covered in grass instead of a cosmic background, or a snowy area and other terrain.

What are your favourite areas in the game from a level design perspective?

I like the Act 8 Lunaris Temple very much, especially its atmosphere. A dark and cold area with blue carpets and plants. Take a closer look and you can notice tiny blue petals flying around. Maybe those are sparks, I am not quite sure :)

Are there any decorations or hideout features you'd like to see created for Path of Exile?

I'd really like to have more lighting decorations with different colours! I was thinking about this so I created concept art using a lantern from the Corsair Building Supplies decoration.

There is also a lack of water decorations in my opinion, even small water puddles would be enough for me. At this moment we have only the Oriath Fountain as a source of water decorations.

One of your special talents seems to be creating cool lighting sources, are you able to tell us more about how you achieve that?

In order to get good lighting, you need to create a shadow using some decorations. Trees or large works usually work well. When we got an ability to export hideout templates in the game, I started to create hideouts in different styles with different lighting and showcase them in my videos. We don't have a lot of light sources in the game:

To make the lighting stand out, I like to use decorations of matching colour. For example, azurite decorations for blue lighting, foliage and fireflies for green lighting.

Do you have any advice for other hideout creators or players who would like to get into it but don't know where to begin?

Be sure to check out as many hideouts from other creators as possible! Almost every hideout has its own unique decorations and combinations which will surely inspire you to create something similar. This way you'll gain enough experience to work on your own big projects.

I started with creating individual decorations first and showcasing them on Reddit about a year ago.

I've also filmed a series of video tutorials for doodads, combinations and Map Device decorations. After that I began building full-decorated hideouts, but I still continue filming short video tutorials for individual combinations.

Are there any other hideout creators that you think the community should check out?

There are so many and that's very cool! I think everyone who's looking for a nice hideout should check out the work of these creators:

Arthur_von_Schreyer

Recently I discovered creations of these two players which I liked very much!

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Thanks for participating in the interview! If you don't want to miss DerroK's updates, check out his hideouts on forum or follow him on YouTube and Twitter!