Downsides to character customization

[Draep]

I can think of two.

First. Giving everyone the ability to customize the look of their gear can ruin the immersion of the game. Not every grunt should have the opportunity to dawn a flowing cape, shoulder boards and a chest of medals. Having every set of gear look slightly different may make sense to an NC player, but to the TR, lock-step uniformity is one of our strong suits. As the leader of an outfit, I would like all of my rank-and-file to look more or less the same and since it's my outfit, I would like to have some control over how it looks to the enemy other than being a gorilla and forcing people to stay uniform.

Second. I imagine customization of every individual character (and possibly vehicle) would result in a performance strain. It will obviously be harder to render everything if it all has a different look.

Have a good one,
Draep

[MgFalcon]

If I can remember correctly, I believe it was myself who suggested Outfit Leaders designing a uniform look for the Members of said Outfit. I'm not 100% positive but I believe that a Dev commented and said that was entirely in the works (don't quote me on that, I'm trying to draw from an intoxicated memory).

As for the capes.... OH GOD I HOPE THEY IMPLEMENT THESE!!! I have on multiple occasions suggested and strained that "Big-ass capes" be put into the game as a nice cosmetic, even a tactical ploy for snipers (canvas capes to blend in and such, and wraps for their rifle).

For your second point I have one answer that T-Ray has said on multiple occasion: Forgelight!

[Xyntech]

The second issue of putting more of a strain on the game has actually already been addressed and you are completely correct. They are currently planning on having your unequipped weapons be invisible, as opposed to being on your back like in PS1. The stated reason being that the wealth of variations was proving too demanding when you had to call up dozens of variations of the same gun for all of the hundreds of players in your area.

As for the customization options breaking immersion, it's hard to say. We've mostly seen TR so far, but I have been pretty satisfied with the overall cohesion in appearance that they have thus far achieved. Obviously we probably haven't glimpsed much of the cosmetic variants that will probably be developed after beta has begun, but as of this moment the TR still strike me as a well disciplined and properly uniformed army.

Taking that a step further and having your entire outfit keep the same style, such as matching gasmasks or no mask at all or whatever, would go that extra step towards uniformity.

I personally hope they keep the customization options a bit more on the subtle side. There is still quite a lot of room for variation without including capes and over sized pauldrons and hood ornaments on top of helmets.

[FIREk]

It's "Loyalty and fealty to the Republic, above all", not "we're all identical drones". :P

There's a shitload of stuff for a soldier to customize that won't break immersion.

[TRex]

Since theres no 3rd person in the game ,I'm trying to fathom out what the point of cosmetic customisation is . Other than the log in screen .

Its like marrying a really beautiful woman ,then putting her in the spare room while you play with yourself.

Maybe on an outfit level it has its uses if you all wear the same thing , but can't see it being for recognition since you will have a big 'zerg warriors' over your head anyway.

[atone]

i'm sure they will keep customization for uniforms within certain perimeters. Though i am all for accessorizing on the battlefield!...uh wait

[EASyEightyEight]

body plate, helmet, eyewear, face wear, extremities, then coloration. Beyond that, I don't think much more soldier customization is necessary. Outfits should have more options based on their direction though. I feel it's optimal for airforce outfits to have their own special helmets and masks for example.

[Xyntech]

Since theres no 3rd person in the game ,I'm trying to fathom out what the point of cosmetic customisation is . Other than the log in screen .

Its like marrying a really beautiful woman ,then putting her in the spare room while you play with yourself.

Maybe on an outfit level it has its uses if you all wear the same thing , but can't see it being for recognition since you will have a big 'zerg warriors' over your head anyway.

I'm the opposite. I never understood putting in 3rd person into PS1 just so that you could see your character.

You get to see how badass your character will look in the login screen and presumably during class selection, isn't that enough? Won't you be too busy playing to be staring at your character?

I always thought providing a cool looking character model should be more for other peoples benefit than your own. Obsessing over staring at your characters in RPG's is half of what leads people to play the opposite gender.

Having things like deployable cameras would be cool for taking screen shots though. You'd even be able to get more interesting shots of yourself than you can in games where you just circle around your character in 3d, where your camera is always centered on your avatar.

[TRex]

maybe you're right ,it's not going to get in the way of how i play ,unless they allow me to put a nekked picture of Jessica Alba on my mcg along with some shrunken Vanu skulls.

[Zulthus]

I played along with the whole cape thing at first. But really, it's a very stupid idea. Why would soldiers be wearing capes? Keep that crap to RPGs imo...

[Death2All]

Who the hell said we're going to have capes and giant shoulderpads?

This just typical pre-release assumptions, taking everything WAY out of proportion. Cool your jets.

[Xyntech]

I want a fucking cape with fully simulated cloth physics. Anything short of that will cause me to cancel me pre-order.

No pre-order? The game is F2P? Now how am I going to express my wild and exaggerated outrage?

[CutterJohn]

I like that everyone won't be clones. I mean have you ever even been in the military? Sure when everyones on a parade ground they get things looking the same, but once there is an enemy to fight, things get reasonably lax.

Hell, in the navy, there were so many uniforms and various combinations of said uniforms it was almost as if there were no uniform at all.

It would also be nice to get some little bit of height and girth sliders. Not enough to comically deform or even alter hitboxes, but a slight range for cosmetic purposes. I'd even love a small number of different walk/run cycles to choose from.

[Crator]

I like that everyone won't be clones. I mean have you ever even been in the military? Sure when everyones on a parade ground they get things looking the same, but once there is an enemy to fight, things get reasonably lax.

Hell, in the navy, there were so many uniforms and various combinations of said uniforms it was almost as if there were no uniform at all.

It would also be nice to get some little bit of height and girth sliders. Not enough to comically deform or even alter hitboxes, but a slight range for cosmetic purposes. I'd even love a small number of different walk/run cycles to choose from.

+1

[Talek Krell]

I played along with the whole cape thing at first. But really, it's a very stupid idea. Why would soldiers be wearing capes? Keep that crap to RPGs imo...I think it depends a lot on exactly what sort you're talking about. Sadly I haven't been able to find a picture of the sort that I'm thinking of.

Somebody also suggested the idea of having dress uniforms for each faction, which sounds kind of nifty to me.

[Traak]

Yeah, we could have the NC with a gangsta limp, the TR stiff, with goose-stepping, and the VS the broad swagger of those who believe in an afterlife, thus don't feel any fear whatsoever about the present.

[TRex]

I always think of the Tr as redneck hillbillies ,confederate type , the NC as Union capitalists , and the Vs as some Caribbean ganja smokers with voodoo dolls worshipping totems.

[Crator]

All the capes I've seen in MMO games I've never really liked. They just don't look real.

[CutterJohn]

Yeah, we could have the NC with a gangsta limp, the TR stiff, with goose-stepping, and the VS the broad swagger of those who believe in an afterlife, thus don't feel any fear whatsoever about the present.

Idea was that people walk different, not that the empires enforce different gaits.

[MgFalcon]

Darth Vader and some of his higher up Imperial Troopers had capes, totally combat ready I'm assuming

[Traak]

Idea was that people walk different, not that the empires enforce different gaits.

Hehe, you mean we can choose, on an individual basis, what kind of walk,run/whatever we can use? Slow, fast, sideways, gunfighter swagger...

The Duel [HD] from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) - YouTube

[Senyu]

No capes. But trench coats.........

Having your commanders wearing big ass trench coats that flow down, that would be cool. Kinda like the russian feel.


On further customization, I want everyone to be same look except with the option of outfits able to customize their outfit gear which is wicked cool. What an awesome cosmetic benifit to joining an outfit that can afford custom armor

[Traak]

It's funny to think of the ridiculous waste of processing power your computer would have to expend to render all the queer costumes.

Most of the guys, I am guessing, would probably not want the game to look like this, no matter how many OMGzzKillZownage whatever merits you had piled up:

KISS - I Wanna Rock N Roll All Night - 1996 - YouTube

It would be funny, though.

[Graywolves]

I want gunslinger swagger and a stetson

[Crator]

No capes. But trench coats.........

http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/t/trench_coats_041206/matrix_reloaded.jpg

[Traak]

Hey, if people want to look weird, let them. Just make it so we can toggle it all off and leave everyone looking normal.

[Draep]

Slight variances to customization can be cool. I'm just working off raw experience. Remember APB? It allowed almost infinite customization but 9/10 people looked really anime or funny or stupid-- it made the game feel lame to me. I just dressed up in a dress shirt, dress pants a tie with a shoulder holster and drove around a plain silver crown vic.

[Traak]

Slight variances to customization can be cool. I'm just working off raw experience. Remember APB? It allowed almost infinite customization but 9/10 people looked really anime or funny or stupid-- it made the game feel lame to me. I just dressed up in a dress shirt, dress pants a tie with a shoulder holster and drove around a plain silver crown vic.

Three words: Less is more.

Hit Man comes to mind. Something about the suit and tie just made him seem all that much more lethal.

[Xyntech]

Yeah, APB followed more of the over the top kind of customization. It's okay if PS2's aesthetic customization options are extensive, as long as it is also subtle.

[FIREk]

Slight variances to customization can be cool. I'm just working off raw experience. Remember APB? It allowed almost infinite customization but 9/10 people looked really anime or funny or stupid-- it made the game feel lame to me. I just dressed up in a dress shirt, dress pants a tie with a shoulder holster and drove around a plain silver crown vic.

What kind of retarded server gave you this kind of "raw experience"? I saw some pretty insane, original characters in both APB and APB:R. I also made a pretty awesome Subject Zero character for my then-GF. ;)

Of course there were people in underpants, gimp suits and stuff, but those were like 1% of the population. 90% looked casual, 3% were original. The remaining 5% were Russians covered in Nazi symbols... :P

[CutterJohn]

Hehe, you mean we can choose, on an individual basis, what kind of walk,run/whatever we can use? Slow, fast, sideways, gunfighter swagger...

Yeah. Saints Row 2 allowed you to pick between like 10 different walks for your character. Granted since its a city simulator game with a lot of civilians, they already had to do the various walk cycles, but it was cool nonetheless. I'd definitely love to see more games do it just to do it. I find it strange that they never do, despite having many other customization options and goofy animations for the fun of it.

Rather than just using one mocap artist(or two if there are women), get 5 or 10 different people and record their walk/run cycles.

[Crator]

The only reason people would buy stuff that makes them look stupid is so they can wear it when not in serious game-play. During actual game-play, you are going to wear the things that make you're character fit the play style that you like. So if you are a sniper you are going to wear the field gear suited to hide your character in the backdrop of whatever enivironment you are fighting in. I could see SOE selling spoof gear for fun, but do you really think people will wear it while playing the game? I doubt anyone would squad with you. Meh, who knows...

[Traak]

But they don't have to be visible to anyone else but themselves.

So videos of the TR PWNing with his skull bass-guitar and KISS outfit, replete with 12" platform shoes would make it to youtube, but what we would see in combat is just the familiar set of normal-looking options.

But... wait, no third person, so there wouldn't be any point in having some nutty costume that no one else could see, because you couldn't see it either!

I guess that solves that.

I think people want to have the ridiculous outfits to wear to preen and strut in front of others, and really rub it in when they kill someone *you were just killed by that weirdo in the flasher coat and pink stockings*. Or whatever.

Since we can't see our player anyway, and God knows, the rest of the community isn't interested in seeing him/her/shim/it/whatever, then I don't really see any point in the customizations.

[Crator]

Customizations that make sense, for the battle field, I'm all for. Just the silly stuff, yes, I agree completely with Traak.

[CutterJohn]

Silly PS universe. Breaks the Laws of Thermodynamics, but not the Laws of Fashion.

[Talek Krell]

All the capes I've seen in MMO games I've never really liked. They just don't look real.I think the problem is that games don't generally put much effort into it. Ends up looking like you're wearing a sheet of colored cardboard. Unfortunately doing it properly is probably pretty expensive, and I don't know how to fix that one.

[Xyntech]

The only real way to do it properly is to have it behave like a real cape. That may take more money, but what it really takes is more processing power to calculate the physics.

Do we really want to have optional cosmetic items that have that much greater a performance impact than players who aren't wearing them? Seems like a bad idea.

Trench coats would benefit from cloth physics as well, but still can look okay without physics, so trench coats would be a lot better of an idea. Much more appropriate for most battlefield situations as well.

[Talek Krell]

Trench coats would benefit from cloth physics as well, but still can look okay without physics, so trench coats would be a lot better of an idea. Much more appropriate for most battlefield situations as well.As long as we're not taking our inspiration from the Matrix movies. >_>

[FastAndFree]

As long as we're not taking our inspiration from the Matrix movies. >_>

Okay :)

http://phantasmagoriandelusion.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/zee_captain_by_alexiuss.jpg

[Talek Krell]

Okay :)

http://phantasmagoriandelusion.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/zee_captain_by_alexiuss.jpgBooya, Captain! :lol:
The mug can be a cash shop item.:D

[Graywolves]

Okay :)

http://phantasmagoriandelusion.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/zee_captain_by_alexiuss.jpg

I've seen it....



....I must have it!