Igiss Q&A Thread

[Igiss]

Thanks for the great questions! I'll answer everything, gradually. So if I haven't got to yours I will later. (I will combine some answers into one though, like the ones about which factions I enjoyed playing for.)

If you were to dive back in Discovery Freelancer, what faction would you play? And another question, what faction you never played?

I'll try to answer this and other faction-related questions here. (Just read the page on Discovery factions here, the new ones are pretty interesting.)

I mostly loved RPing for outlaw and neutral factions. Lane Hackers, Outcasts, Mollys and Junkers have been, in a way, my favourite. I liked the aesthetics of pirate hideouts in asteroid fields in general. Liberty Rogues were fun too, by the way... simple and honest guys, if you ask me. No complicated agenda which other rogues hide behind.

I didn't play for Kusari or Rheinland factions much because I found Kusari and Rheinland spaces less interesting, visually and NPC-wise, then other spaces. Not sure if it affected Discovery priorities in any way, but I probably focused on them less than on other areas...

I loved independent spaces of various sorts. Hispania systems in particular. Lots of hidden mysteries to discover. But I mostly preferred Outcasts over Corsairs, partially because of their cool ship designs.

I also rarely played for police or military factions. Rarely played for corporations, and trading has not usually been a priority for me, other than save some money on a few long routes to buy a better ship.

Where did the idea for disco come from? Where did the inspiration come from?
And I read that you went to university for law and got your barrister's degree.
Why didn't you ever work as a lawyer?

The idea of Discovery appeared when I saw what modders could do with it, and saw some modding tutorials. I thought that it would be great to make a mod that I would enjoy playing myself. Perhaps other people would like that too. There was this IlluminatingDarkness community too, which had some Freelancer presence, though it's hard for me to remember how extensive it was at that point.

As for law: I didn't get a barrister degree (not a thing in Russia anyways), I was specializing in international public law. I was an unexperienced nerdy guy with no skills or wit to communicate with people in a way necessary to secure any descent job. And had few friends back then, in this sphere, if any. I was not very keen to work in government institutions (which turned out to be a good thing, given where Russia is headed now), so I just went into gaming.

I had some regrets because I could've been useful for things like defending political protestors in courts, but it was no chance of coming back at that point.

last but not least

how many eggs do you eat every day

I hate eggs.

[He||oween]

What conclusions have you drawn about polyamorous relationships?
What shouldn't be done, and what is okay to do?
Have you had a MLR coach?
Do you consider it a waste of time?

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Open Sirius

[Igiss]

Okay let's start from the beginning

I would like to inquiry about Normandy, one of the lost things from 4.85-4.86 era that was never elaborated on but Igiss was clearly working on. I always wanted to know original intent and plan for it.

I was planning to make a few systems, including one extremely large system, that would contain certain rebel groups and interesting societal structures which are very different from what Gallia has. Since they are isolated from the rest of the world, they could develop certain tech that would differ a lot from what other sectors have. But apparently those plans never went into fruition. Not sure if anyone would be interested to continue this line of thought. Seems that Gallia is still not very popular and not easily accessible (correct me if I'm wrong), so extending it further may not be the best idea at this point.

If you could go back in time and change anything about Discovery would you?

I was very unexperienced back when I started, and I would probably make some other choices given the admin team conflict resolutions. I often tried to seek solutions that would please everyone, and this did not work out all so well. As for the mod itself, I don't have any regrets on what we were doing. There were some mistakes but they were reverted soon enough.

When you come back to Disco?

(Also answering the same question from Nodoka Hanamura) As an admin and developer, that's hardly possible, but I do want to go flying from time to time.

Did you ever have an "end" to the mod and its story in mind?

No, there weren't any plans for the ending. More like a growing universe with certain developments happening all the time.

Have you ever considered making, instead of Gallia, something like a full introduction of the Coalition house in respect to Freelancer roots?

I didn't consider the Coalition house because the Coalition could have never reached Sirius, and there seemed to be no point in reusing existing plot lines. Gallia was good because it allowed to introduce something completely new to the mix.

How does it feel to see Discovery where it is 20 years later? To see the mod still being alive, kicking and in active development?

It's truly awesome, I love it.

Thankyou for the mod.

Is the mod as expected all this time later?

The mod is as expected and better, yeah.

Can you name any characters you played when you were active?

Character names? I don't remember but I often used my usual nicknames (igiss, silipan, etc). I also sometimes just made up full names based on the culture for which I was playing.

[Igiss]

Okay let's move on.

What were your favorite systems, ships, and memories from the time you were playing Discovery?

As far as systems go, I mainly liked Independent Worlds and Border Worlds, with lots of unexplored space and vast asteroid fields or ice fields. I generally liked to explore the edges of various systems, that's why I've been adding lots of new pathways, rogue stations and wrecks to Discovery when it all began.

As for ships, I liked Molly and Liberty Rogues ships (Bloodhound and such), also Junker ships, Lane Hacker/Outcast ships and some others. Always liked the shapes of Bretonian ships.

Memories are mostly related to how new mod features and new things, notably new systems, came into fruition. When you see the new systems only in the system editor and in the ini file, it's one thing. But when you see them in-game as huge 3D spaces, it's completely different, loads of joy.

Have you been working on any other mods or similar projects since you moved away from Discovery?

I did some student projects when I was studying Unreal Engine and Unity, some Twine games of my own, but nothing as large-scale as Discovery. Nothing I'm really proud of as an achievement of any kind.

How does it feel that your creation can almost drink in the US without your parental supervision?

Can it shoot an AR-15 already?

Also thank you, and thanks to Cannon and others before my time for the awesome mod.

Thanks to you! I guess I've already answered the first part of your question.

do you like cats Igiss?

I do like cats, but I only had a cat as a pet during a very short period in my childhood. I like amphibians and reptiles, and I used to have a cane toad and a chameleon as pets while I lived in Moscow. Having pets as an immigrant is challenging so I don't keep any animals right now.

What surprised you the most in your brief time back today? What did you like seeing the most? Do you have any advice for the staff and dev team, or for the players?

No advices from me, just keep on going. I liked to see that the mod is alive and lots of new things are being added. As for suprises, new features look awesome. I still need to explore more in order to make any conclusions...

I have no questions, Igiss. I am just very grateful because you founded Discovery, thank you, and cheers

Thanks to you!

And thanks for all the questions. I'm probably not as enigmatic as many of you thought, but yeah, I'm just a human with pretty average life.

[Zayne Carrick]

I guess I'm horribly late to the party, but I'll try asking anyway.

Since you've ended up with a career in gamedev-related area, do you list Discovery in your resume?

[TheKusari]

. .Guess I showed up late too. I'll throw this one out to you Igiss! If you had the keys to the castle today, what would you add, change or remove in Discovery Freelancer? . .

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Discovery's Best Faction:  Starfliers
Second Best: Liberty Navy 46th Fleet

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[Serpentis]

Hey hey, Igiss, think I actually got you on Facebook from a long time ago. Think we chatted once or twice too.
Glad to see you here answering questions and just showing up again! It's a blast to read though all your answers from you.
It's been a lot of changes over the years, for good and bad.
I am sure that you have had some fun reading through -some- of all the additional Lore that has been created since you last checked in.

I really only have one question.

Mind telling us one of the best memories you've had from Discovery in the years you were active? As in, an event, an Roleplay situation, personal conversation (no need to mention names) or anything like that?

Thank you again, for creating this lovely mod. I am not nearly an active player right now, but, I always keep an eye on the forums for what is going on.
I can say that your creation is in safe hands.
Both the Staff and (most) of the playerbase just want to have fun in this universe.
Thank you.

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