Interview With Fliggerty
This time around, I have had the pleasure of interviewing Fliggerty, a well known modder and admin at Planet Elder Scrolls.
| Interview Conducted By Lettuceman (aka pc_gamer) Can you tell us, for those that may not know you, a brief introduction about yourself, and what you do for The Elder Scrolls? Hi everyone, I'm Fliggerty! My real name is Cody, and I'm from Utah, USA. I try and do a lot for The Elder Scrolls, or more appropriately for the Morrowind modding community. I'd say first and foremost, I mod. I have a knack for twisting and mangling script functions to do what I want them to do...there's nothing I enjoy more than proving people wrong when they say something is impossible. I generally need to rely upon MWSE or MWE to do that, otherwise I'm sure that everything I've created could have been done by others. I'm not a genie as people often say, I just know the potential of third-party programs! I'm also a database admin at Planet Elder Scrolls. I have the task of reviewing the new MW mod submissions to ensure that they meet the high standards of PES. I try to make sure that all files and resources are included, there are no GMSTs, and that the mod does what it advertises. And lastly, I'm the webmaster of Great House Fliggerty. (http://www.cody.erekson.org) How were you introduced to the Elder Scrolls series, and what do you think about them? I've been a fan of Morrowind since about two or three months after it
was released, when my roommate installed it on my computer. I got
Tribunal right away, and Bloodmoon a few weeks after it came out. I
played long and hard, enjoying every minute of it. I had never before
experienced this concept of "open ended," and it's something I've come
to expect in anything I consider "A list." One day, while looking to see if there was a multi-player version (I knew my level 76 Nord barbarian could easily waste my roommates level 50-something Dunmer vampire and needed to prove it) I came across these things called mods. First one I ever installed was Ravensong's Vivec Abode. The rest is history. What do you think about Bethesda's latest TES game, Oblivion? I think it is a depthless RPG-wanna-be hack'n'slash posing as a TES
game. The only really good thing it has going for it is modders. Maybe
next year sometime I'll play it again and see what they have
accomplished with it. Good story though. Why do you mod? There are many reasons. Every time I start a new game, I only get
so far before I see something that either needs to be fixed, or added.
So I go and do that...which always snowballs. Or people ask if
something is possible on ESF and is told it can't be done...so I have
to do it. It is a great stress reliever to be able to create anything I
want, or destroy anything I want. And of course, it's a ton of fun! Looking back, what do you think about the first mod you have done? Ha! I'm glad it doesn't exist anymore. It was the typical pointless
cheater mod that I thought was different than the rest. It was a
hallway with doors that led to all of the major cities, and an amulet
that teleported you to the hallway. I uploaded it under the handle I
was using at the time, and 3 people downloaded it. It was quite
beneficial though, teaching me that an innovative idea is what people
really are looking for. Have you ever contributed anything else to TES, other than modding? Yep, as I mentioned before I'm an admin at PES. I also consider being
involved in the community in general to be contributing. I always have
a standing offer to help those who can't sort out a script, or want to
know if their idea can be done and how. I won't mod forever, so I want
to make sure that what I have learned is available to others so they
can use it. What current projects are you working on? Oh wow...I don't have enough space to answer this. I've always got a lot of WIPs at any given time. One
of my major projects is a revision of Blasphemous Revenants. v3.0 will
include the addition of summoning golems...aimed primarily at
characters who don't care to kill everyone to build an army. Kittybrod
is currently making the actual golems, so the tradition of "Fliggerty and Friends" creating the best works continues. I've also been working on The Return of Mostly-Mini Todd. I can't give any spoilers about this yet. And as always I'm involved in projects with other modders, usually doing the scripting for people like kittybrod, Korana, Westly, and a few others. Right now I'm contributing to the memorial mod for Quatloos/Lord Devil who recently passed away. What is your favorite mod(other than your own), and why? That's really hard to say. There are so many that I won't play without,
that usually when I'm asked that, I respond with the most recent one
that I've added. lol I always play with the ones I consider "obligatory:" Better Bodies, MCA, GCD, Pursuit Enhanced, LGNPC, Creatures, NOM, PTE, etc. But I still have to say that the best quest/faction mod I've ever played is Suran Underworld. I consider that a masterpiece. What mod have you made that you had the most fun making? There's two really that I have to say: Blasphemous Revenants and Visceral Discernment. BR mainly because I am still so impressed with the coming together of minds that made it happen. It was while I was working on it that I became familiar with the community. I learned a lot about who could/would provide certain resources, and made a lot friends. VisDis was fun because I got to test the limits of my scripting ability and what MWSE could accomplish. I have dozens of funny screenshots from really random things happening, like a giant mudcrab in a tree and dozens upon dozens of naked nords chasing me. One of my largest WIPs (which will probably be my masterpiece) Fliggerty's Artifacts is much the same as that. I've implemented so many interesting effects on various objects, that the results were often very hilarious. There's a few screenshots here: http://www.cody.erekson.org/coppermine/thu...ls.php?album=15 What can you tell all those who want to learn to mod, especially to script, but feel intimidated? It's a lot easier than it looks. Always ask for help, and ALWAYS just
experiment. When I want to see if something will work, I often make a
small plugin just for that. In fact I have several standard "test" esps
that I will load just to try out a new script. You can't ever break
anything permanently, so TRY it. Scripting is a LOT of fun, way more fun IMO than moving vertexes around and dressing up NPCs or writing dialogue. Are there any other games you mod for, other than just the TES series? No. I play a lot of other games, but I've never had the desire to mod
them. The closest I come is building maps for various C&C games.
Generals is a classic for me, so I make maps for my brother and I to
play. Will you ever mod for Oblivion? If so why, and if not, why not? I'd be surprised if I do. I don't like Oblivion (was it obvious?) and I
love Morrowind. With such a contrasting difference in how I feel about
the two, I don't think I can do the same things for OB that I do for MW. Where do you look for inspiration for your work? Everywhere. Mainly just by playing the game. I browse through various
forums a lot to see what is being talked about (Nerra once accused me
of searching for the word "impossible" to get my ideas, I hadn't
thought about it at the time, but I have done that since!) And a lot of
people come to me with ideas. I get a lot of requests, which I usually
try to honor if I can. And in a very large capacity, Bryss Phoenix is a
bit of a muse. She has so much talent when it comes to world-building,
I always feel like I have to write the most perfect scripts to match
the pretty things she creates. Not to mention she always comes up with
crazy ideas and fully expects me to make them come to pass...and I
rarely have a choice in the matter.  Do you ever think of modding, when you are not actually modding like ideas and such? Constantly. I can't tell you how many times I've been stumped about
something and have figured out the answer in that state between asleep
and waking up in the morning. If I'm really stumped, I'll go take a
shower. I can always figure it out there. I have a copy of The Morrowind Prophecies, which is the official walkthrough. I'll often take that to work and pore over the maps and questlines and such to determine where to put something, or how a specific NPC would talk or act in a given scenario. So in a word, yes. Other than modding what are some other interests that you have? I've recently taken up fishing again...haven't done it since I was 11
or 12. So often on the weekends I go up one of the canyons around here
and build a campfire and fish. And it is finally the season for two of my dear loves: fireworks and demolition derbies! I know all of this makes me sound delightfully redneck, but I assure you I am not! I don't care for Nascar at all. I just really love senseless destruction. I used to work for one of the largest firework companies in the western United States, Fireworks West. I believe there is no better way to celebrate your love for your country than by blowing up a small chunk of it! Now, this is probably the most serious question I will ask, the most mind boggling thing someone can even dare ask.  . . . . . Will Eldanorcora ever be released?  To be perfectly honest, it's very doubtful. There is a huge assumption
that a ton of work had been done on it before it was passed to me.
Honestly, there wasn't. A TON of resources were created for it, and I
have all of those. But the actual island and shops were barely started.
There's still so much work, and everyone who has offered to work on it
has so many other projects going on that if it is completed, it won't
be for a LONG time. The theory has recently been put forth that the release of Eldanorcara will mark the end of Morrowind modding as we know it. So maybe it's best that it stay under wraps. Thanks for this opportunity. I always love the chance to tell people about my views and experiences when it comes to modding! --Fligg |
