While Tesvixen interviewed me for the second Modder's Corner, I took the chance to direct some questions back to her. I want to make sure the chance to hear about her doesn't get passed up simply because she's the one kind enough to start this series and running the interviews! I think we would all enjoy hearing a little about what makes her tick and to get a look behind the scenes into one of Fallout's most talented and interesting modders.
1. I think most gamers can remember a time (or a collection of times) where a game changed their life and sparked a real passion for gaming. Do you have a time or times like this that stand out for you?
Absolutely. It was Metroid, on the NES, which I played for the first time in 1988. I beat it in good time, which allowed me to get the ending which revealed Samus was a female character. This was a big deal to an 11-year old girl who was used to having to save princesses. I loved games prior to this, of course, but Metroid was the first game to legitimately surprise me.
Six years later, Super Metroid would be the first game to make me feel genuine emotion/sadness - the end events caused me to cry and also made me intensely angry. I won't spoil it, but anyone who has beaten the game will understand.
2. Can you give us a rundown of your modding history? How did you get started modding and what brought you into Fallout?I can! My first foray into full-blown modding was with Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I worked with MystyKStar on a retexture project of the old Amazon armor - she did the bulk of the initial texture work, and I worked on a dungeon that contained the items. I also came up with a story that explained the armor's creation/design, as well as the presence of the beings you encounter. There were two boss fights, both extremely difficult, and as my texturing improved I began to add a large amount of alternate gear and matching weapons/shields. I was very proud of it.
A year or so later, I saw the Kaleen mod on the Oblivion Nexus, which was loosely inspired by the Draenei race from World of Warcraft. I *love* Draenei, so I was very excited by this mod - but when I saw they didn't have hooves or tendrils, I found myself wishing they were more like true draenei. So I started reading up on how models are rigged for Oblivion, then extracted resources from World of Warcraft. Long story short, I ended up with a pretty huge mod that added both Draenei (hooves and all!) and their 'evil' Eredar counterparts as playable races. There was a story to stop a long-imprisoned corrupt Exaarch named Mirishka, along with her followers. You had to kill 3 'mini bosses' to be able to reach/fight Mirishka, and she was brutally difficult.
3. One of the things that sets you apart from most other modders is that you almost exclusively mod for Fallout 3. Can you tell us why you choose to stick with Fallout 3 where so many others play New Vegas or TTW?Simply put, I prefer the atmosphere of Fallout 3. While there are many other post-apocalyptic games out there, Fallout 3 was my first experience with one. I found it to be such a striking, powerful environment... nearly a character in and of itself. To this day I still find things I missed in previous playthroughs... hidden shelters, paths, etc.
New Vegas just didn't give me that same sense of 'wow'. In fact, it was the opposite - I was instantly annoyed by its aesthetic and sound, which was a little too 'western' for my tastes. I fully acknowledge that New Vegas is the better of the two (in terms of gameplay systems and stability), but it owes much of its improvement to popular Fallout 3 mods.
4. Anyone who is familiar with your mods knows that the Mass Effect universe plays a huge part in your modding efforts. Can you share with us what about that universe is special to you?Man, the amount of space I could fill with the answer to this question. I guess the easiest way to respond to that is... I genuinely love the characters. Their relationships with one another, for the most part, felt organic and real. When Garrus was gravely wounded during the 'Archangel' portion of ME2, I felt legit despair. When <spoiler> died in ME3 in an act of self-sacrifice, I was depressed for several days. That's when I realized how important those characters have become to me. This is just my opinion, but I consider the Normandy crew to be the greatest cast of characters ever created for a game. (I'd give just about anything for the team of people who worked on ME2 to make a Metroid title)
4b: If you could create a Mass Effect 3 dlc that added up to three characters from other games to the Normandy crew, who would you pick? For the sake of argument, let's assume they could be integrated seamlessly into the world. Samus of course! She'd fit right in, what with being a futuristic bounty hunter who deals with threats to galactic peace. I imagine Samus would play like a 'Vanguard' sort of character, with her heavy armor and high-damage offense, using abilities like the Morph ball to make use of cover or flank enemies.
Riddick would be a great fit as well, IMO, as a Jack-esque companion who initially distrusts you until you earn his trust/respect. There's a lot you could do with that. His agile, lethal style of combat would be unique as well, as the ME games don't really have anything like it.
3rd I would probably say Nova from the Starcraft universe. Her cloaking/sniper-oriented abilities would be a godsend on many missions at the higher difficulties, and her mindwipes/loss of memory could lead to some powerful story moments as well - maybe even a confrontation with her.
Honorable mentions would include Hicks and Ellen Ripley from Aliens, the Winter Soldier and probably a Predator. Who
wouldn't want a Predator on their side?
4c: In addition to Mass Effect, what other fictional universes really appeal to you? (Video games or otherwise)Just about anything that Bethesda develops will have my attention immediately, of course. While I've made no secret of my disappointment with Skyrim, I think the Elder Scrolls universe in general is one of the most interesting out there.
I also really like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that has produced some of the most entertaining films in recent years. And the Chris Nolan Batman trilogy was pretty amazing too, its a shame they're not expanding further on that (unless the recent rumors pan out).
I'm also a huge fan of Blizzard's franchises and characters - Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo etc. Heroes of the Storm is EXACTLY the kind of game I'd make if I had the means, it dumps countless characters from all their game franchises into one big mixing pot without any explanation whatsoever and says 'have fun!'
And I also loved Star Wars as a child, but the godawful prequel trilogy and constant tinkering/changing of the original three films have left me bitter toward it.
5. Given the special place that Mass Effect holds for you, what is it about porting ME content to Fallout that is exciting for you? In other words, why not just play Mass Effect?Aside from my obsessive love of the series, I am drawn to the challenge. Specifically, the challenge of taking these characters and not only making them not only work in an entirely different game/engine (that was NOT designed for these sorts of aliens, creatures, etc)... but making them work
well. And every time I succeeded in one unusual/challenging thing, I immediately went after an even more difficult goal. It was a huge part of my motivation for many months, to see how far I could take my modding.
The other major reason is that, like many people, I was disgusted with the manner in which the Mass Effect Trilogy concluded. Our decisions ultimately didn't matter: we never even had a true confrontation with Harbinger or the Illusive Man. And so, my Mass Effect modding served as a kind of catharsis for me - it gave me an avenue to continue to enjoy these incredible characters in an open-world game, and also to massively expand that game with a huge number of companions, enemy types, armor, weapons and lore items.
5b: Those are certainly good reasons! To be honest, I thought you might also share my feeling that enabling otherwise impossible crossovers is exciting. Do you ever get a good chill down your spine when, say, FemShep speaks with someone from another game or kills a predator?Oh, I do, absolutely. Impossible crossovers, as you put it, is a huge part of the reason I love modding so much - there's something really cool about seeing Samus fighting alongside Shepard, or watching a Predator fight a collector or annihilate a huge group of raiders. One of my favorite, albeit silly, additions is a gnome companion that uses an automatic potato gun. I greatly enjoy watching her 'potato' things to death, only to say 'hooray!!' afterward.
6. Another distinguishing characteristic of your mods is your custom Samus from Metroid Prime. Can you please tell us more about the history of your Samus mod(s) and why you think Samus stands out above other heroes and heroines?My Samus modding was born from admiration for another modder's work - the Fallout 3 Zero Suit by Mantis. It was so cool to take my little Vault 101 person (who was based on me at the time) and run her around in Samus's outfit, fighting raiders and Talon Mercs and such. But the more I played this way, the more annoyed I became at the lack of Metroid games. Nintendo will crank out Mario titles like they solve world hunger, but we're lucky to get more than one Metroid title every 5 years - and sometimes its a longer wait than that.
Eventually playing as a Vault 101 girl cosplaying as Zero Suit Samus got old, though. So I started taking steps to port more and and more gear from the series, and some really nice people helped me track down or extract 3d models for that purpose. 2 years ago, my ex (who shares my love of Nintendo) found a modder who knew how to make races, and asked that wonderful person to make a Samus race for me. I've played as her ever since.
To answer the second half of that, Samus Aran stands out to me because she was the first real heroine of gaming. While Zelda needed Link to save her, while Peach was trapped in another castle, Samus was methodically storming across (and beneath) the surface of alien worlds annihilating threats to the universe. People talk about Lara Croft, Femshep, Chun Li etc as the 'ultimate girls of gaming' but Samus was shooting missiles at space pirates before those characters were a glimmer in their designers' eyes. And she could kick the shit out of any of them.
6b: Speaking of girls in gaming, do you have any thoughts you'd like to share on the way women are portrayed in games? I don't think males listen to a female perspective often enough. Lara Croft was overly sexualized for most of her game history with the short shorts and inflated breasts. FemShep, while not being overly sexualized, can also be a male. And Chun Li... well, let me perhaps share a little too much information... But I used to pause Street Fighter 2 as a 12-year-old boy and try to look up her skirt. Samus, on the other hand, is in a hard-shell power suit that is fairly androgynous. I think its a lot better than it used to be. The industry as a whole has made a very conscious effort to 'grow up' in that regard and it shows. The changes made to Lara Croft for example - she's still very attractive, obviously, but is no longer a blow-up fantasy doll with an english accent.
As far as Femshep/Manshep goes, I wish more games did that. Its nice to have the choice, and Bioware made playing both genders compelling with unique romance/dialogue options for each. They always felt like equals (advertising notwithstanding). This is why I'm drawn to just about everything Bioware and Bethesda release.
Divisive characters like Quiet from MGSV still come along, but they're starting to feel like the exception more than the rule these days. The sad thing is, she's actually very interesting from a story perspective... but that is generally lost amidst the noise of people debating her appearance or 'fan service' moments in the game.
7. You often don't like to port characters from any game unless you have their voice files to port with them. Can you tell us why?Its an OCD thing. I personally don't see the point of spending hours porting, say, Lara Croft only to use her as an existing character's 'skin'. I mean, when I walk up to this established, distinctive character and hear the same generic southern-belle white chick's voice as 88 other NPCs use... ugh!
Imagine a mod that replaces Lucas Simms' race/model with Riddick's - can you imagine "You looking for the mayor... or the sheriff?" coming out of Riddick's mouth? <laughs>
7b. Are there any games or characters that you'd like to port but don't have their files? Do you have a holy grail of modding?Hmm... interesting questions! I really wanted to make a companion of Cirilla from The Witcher 3, but wasn't able to find a means to access her voice files. I would have also loved to make a companion of Jen from Primal (PS2 game), as she was an amazing character. I actually have her model - it is reeeeeally dated, but if I had her voice files I'd deal with that.
The ship has sailed on this I think, but my ultimate holy grail of modding would have been a custom-built HD Samus model made with HD textures and proper normal/spec maps. I came close to having one, but it fell through because Paypal doesn't allow U.S. citizens to send money to Puerto Rico (for whatever reason). The custom Samus race I use now makes me pretty happy though.
8. With Fallout 4 just a few days away, you are probably reflecting back on your history with modding Fallout 3. What would you say you are most proud of as a modder, and what is your biggest regret?I have been reflecting on all this time spent modding, yes.
Without question, I am most proud of the Mass Effect project. I was able to turn practically every bipedal alien race in the series into a fully functional, animated race, and found clever ways to make the more unusual aliens (like Elcor and Volus) work as well. I don't mean that to sound boastful or arrogant - its simply the strongest aspect of my work, I believe.
My biggest regret is how angry and jaded I have allowed myself to become, in regards to the disrespect many people show modders. There are a lot of pricks out there who leak mods, steal mods, and take credit for the work of others. We (meaning GUN) deal with this nearly every day in some fashion, and constantly being reminded that people like that are out there is the reason I don't release many mods.
9. Let's say we could freeze time and the whole world stood still while you completed every Fallout 3 mod you've ever aspired to create. When times unfreezes and the rest of the world can gaze upon your modding magnum opus, what are we looking at?
The Mass Effect mod that I've already mostly built, only with a full Normandy interior and a large section of the Citadel that you can actually visit. Oh, and there'd be a boss fight with a full-scale (2km), re-animated Reaper.
10. We've often joked with each other about how terrible our first mods were. Can you share with us what your first mod was and your feelings on it when you look back at it now?My first mod for Oblivion was the one mentioned above that I did with Mystykstar. It wasn't terrible thankfully, but it was missing things that I wouldn't allow it to be missing these days (like voiced dialogue). Now my first Fallout mods? Haha, now we're talking terrible. Practically every model I ported back in 2012 had multiple scene roots, wasted nodes, chopped-off-and-hastily-rigged hands, you name it. I recently looked at one of my old Zero Suits and I have no idea how it didn't break my game. Oh that's right, it did. <laughs>
11. Anyone who has ever worked as a server in a restaurant often says that everyone should be required to work for at least a short while as a server so they have the necessary understanding of what it's like to work in that environment. I think the same is true of being a modder. From your experience, what would you like for players to know about what it's like to be a modder?That it takes a lot of time, patience and dedication to do this stuff. That it is frustrating as hell to see your work somewhere you didn't post it. That cheerfully agreeing to help with one thing doesn't mean I agreed to help with 36 others (you know who you are).
12. What advice do you have for aspiring modders?For the love of God, start small. All the time I see people with zero modding experience talking about a custom companion or race as their first mod and I'm like... could you make this ANY harder on yourself? Start with the little things. Change the stats on a weapon in GECK. Learn how to place it in the world, and maybe do a custom texture for it so that it at least looks somewhat unique. Baby steps! You're only setting yourself up for failure and frustration otherwise.
Also, Google/Youtube are your friends. There's a plethora of modding tutorials that can be found that way. Googling <Fallout 3 custom hair> is what led me to the information that taught me to make custom hairstyles. And I found out how to do a lot of Nifskope work with Youtube.
13. With everyone excited for Fallout 4, here's the burning question: What are your plans for modding FO4?Believe it or not, I have absolutely no plans to mod Fallout 4 at this time. For most of the past 2 years I've been a modder who has gamed sporadically here and there. For Fallout 4 I'm going back to the days of being a gamer that mods from time to time... at least for a while.
14. Enough about modding! Tell us about you. When you're not modding, how do you like to spend your time? What are some of your favorite television shows, movies, albums, and non-gaming hobbies?But what if I want to talk about modding more?
Fine, fine. My name is Bethany, I'm in my 30's and first and foremost I'm a mom to a pretty amazing teenager. I'm also a freelance writer and a 'rain or shine' bicycler. Biking keeps me from breaking my office chair since I mostly eat junk. I'm also a full-blown geek that collects everything from Amiibos (Nintendo game figures) to life-size Mass Effect weapons, to Minions from Despicable Me. I have over 100 plush Eeyores, and I am obsessed with pretty shoes and nail polish. And gnomes.
For 10 years I was an avid World of Warcraft player, and was GM of a guild that has had as many as 600 members. I've recently lost interest in the game, but the new expansion (Legion) coming in 2016 looks incredible, so I'll likely at least try it.
As far as movies go, I love fantasy and post-apocalyptic movies, in addition to pretty much anything by Disney/Pixar. I enjoy 'comic book movies' and consider The Dark Knight and Captain America: The Winter Soldier to be 2 of the best films I've ever seen. I also love a good comedy. My favorite shows are The Walking Dead and Parks and Recreation (I'm secretly in love with Ron Swanson).
I used to be an avid shooter and own several firearms. My weapon of choice is a Glock20 10MM but I recently bought a .357 Desert Eagle.
My taste in music is all over the place... I love 80s, 90s, some 70s, Heavy metal, techno, film/game soundtracks, pop and symphonic/orchestrated. When I'm modding something from a specific game or film, I tend to put on music that is relevant to it. Helps me get my head in that space and be more interested in what I'm working on.
So that's me in a nutshell. Yay me!
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