One thing a good deal of players want to see is more customization options for base characters, but creating new options and systems does take considerable time. Knowing this, what if instead of focusing on bigger changes with longer development time, why not start off by remixing things already in engine?
For instance, I like my Hellsguard, but I do wish I had more face options when fantasiaing, and there are a few different faces between Hellsgaurd and Sea Wolves male Roes. These faces are rigged up to the same model and animations, the only difference between them are skin color and the little dog nose face paint stuff Hellsguards have, so why arbitrarily separate them?
A lot of male Highlander players have been begging for actual eyebrow options to be added, so why not include some Midlander faces as a stop-gap? Hyur's share the same animations and rigging, the only difference is the slightly increased musculature for Highlanders that would need to be resized (despite Mid Male Face 3 already looking like a Highlander by how much it juts out compared to others). The devs already slap a Midlander head on Elezens to make Garleans, it seems like a comparable feat to do it with a model that already shares 90% similarity.
Another arbitrary separation are the hair highlight color options, which have choices you can't use for the standard hair color option. Why not include those too?
A more minor one but a pet peeve to me are the voice/battle grunt options for races. Some races share a pool of voices options within genders (Roes, Hrothgars, Highlanders especially), but why stop only at "some"? If my Roe can have an identical voice to a Highlander or Hrothgar, why can't I use other options from them as well, or even different ones like Au Ra or Midlander?
So these are a few ideas for more customization. I know I would love options like more body sliders, physique options, or facial hair choices, but I know those are probably unlikely or not feasible in the engine within an ideal amount of development time. However, working with what we have already would be wonderful, and the added options to our characters would be well appreciated and add more variety to what everyone sees out in the world.
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For instance, I like my Hellsguard, but I do wish I had more face options when fantasiaing, and there are a few different faces between Hellsgaurd and Sea Wolves male Roes. These faces are rigged up to the same model and animations, the only difference between them are skin color and the little dog nose face paint stuff Hellsguards have, so why arbitrarily separate them?
A lot of male Highlander players have been begging for actual eyebrow options to be added, so why not include some Midlander faces as a stop-gap? Hyur's share the same animations and rigging, the only difference is the slightly increased musculature for Highlanders that would need to be resized (despite Mid Male Face 3 already looking like a Highlander by how much it juts out compared to others). The devs already slap a Midlander head on Elezens to make Garleans, it seems like a comparable feat to do it with a model that already shares 90% similarity.
Another arbitrary separation are the hair highlight color options, which have choices you can't use for the standard hair color option. Why not include those too?
A more minor one but a pet peeve to me are the voice/battle grunt options for races. Some races share a pool of voices options within genders (Roes, Hrothgars, Highlanders especially), but why stop only at "some"? If my Roe can have an identical voice to a Highlander or Hrothgar, why can't I use other options from them as well, or even different ones like Au Ra or Midlander?
So these are a few ideas for more customization. I know I would love options like more body sliders, physique options, or facial hair choices, but I know those are probably unlikely or not feasible in the engine within an ideal amount of development time. However, working with what we have already would be wonderful, and the added options to our characters would be well appreciated and add more variety to what everyone sees out in the world.
Continue reading...