Custom Outfit Skins

[Novacane]

So we've had decals. We know there will be cosmetic buyables from the store. Why not take it to the next step and let Outfits submit entire custom skins for their vehicles and player armor?

Give out a paint kit (blank textures with the details, shadows, etc.. on layers so we can paint under them) and allow outfits to come out with their own take on their faction's textures for their own use. It wouldn't just be client side, everyone would need to see that outfit in their textures to make it worth while.

Some concerns I can see are:

• We might paint them in another factions color.
• There could be an impact on performance if a lot of custom textures were being used.
• There would need to be a human to approve all new submissions.
• Not painting inside the lines or flipping the texture to make it not fit right on the model anymore.

Some requirements could be:

• Limit the ability to submit custom textures to outfit rank so not everyone has access to the ability to submit them.
• A fee for the service (Monthly, Yearly, One-Time, etc..). This would be to offset any costs associated with the approval, storage and distribution of the custom textures.
• The payment options could be flexible so the outfit leader wouldn't be the only one that is allowed to pay for it.
• We can't paint them with other faction's color schemes.
• We can only paint your factions vehicles. No textures for hacked vehicles you may own. (Assuming that is still in PS2)
• Other boiler plate requirements for not distributing copyrighted material. Maybe even some sort of a EULA that would need to be accepted.

The performance issue would be the only one I can think of that might be a problem. I have no idea nor claim to have any idea how their engine works or handles textures but, by limiting the number of outfits using the service through rank and monetary means should put a limit on the number of extra bits being used on this service.

I think this would be a nice addition to give larger well established outfits that would allow them to stand out among the crowd a bit more than the average outfit.

[psychobilly]

Definitely want custom outfit skins.

Honestly, since there needs to be human approval anyway - they could just specify a file format and dimensions. Outfits could do the artwork offline, and just upload a file. In-game creation tools are nice too though if the devs have the cycles.

As far as the model - Outfit commanders should either upload the file, or designate an 'outfit artist' who uses the in-game creation tools. This should unlock the pattern in the station shop for outfit members - then players could buy it with station cash or auraxium like any other item.

[Xyntech]

If the game can handle a ton of custom cash shop skins, I would guess that player submitted skins would be viable.

I like this idea. As long as it had to meet certain obscenity and quality standards and was a cash shop item, I think it would be fine.

If it cost enough in the cash shop, it probably would even be fine to allow individual players to make their own skins. Just make sure the price covers the cost of screening them, and make it clear that the fee is non refundable if your submission isn't accepted.

[Purple]

how would this make SOE money? i can see it being a way they would loose money by letting outfits do then then having to have someone sitdown a check all of the skins for dicks.

[psychobilly]

Originally Posted by Purple

how would this make SOE money? i can see it being a way they would loose money by letting outfits do then then having to have someone sitdown a check all of the skins for dicks.

The outfit commander would submit/create the art or designate someone to do it in their outfit. The submission process would have a cash fee in the station shop to cover human interaction part (with no refunds for dick submissions).

The members of the outfit would still have to purchase the skin from the shop with in-game earned resources or station cash - like any other item.

[Gullin]

That seems like a well thought out idea you have there Novacane! I like it! As long as outfits have to stay within their faction colors that would be awesome!

[Novacane]

Originally Posted by Purple

how would this make SOE money? i can see it being a way they would loose money by letting outfits do then then having to have someone sitdown a check all of the skins for dicks.

They way I see it, there would only be a couple submissions a month across the whole game. This shouldn't be something that everyone will eventually get, it should be used as a reward for large and organized or old and prestigious outfits as a perk to keep organized game play going by giving their members something more to be proud of.

It could also be given out by the devs to distinguished outfits that are well known also. It would be up to the developers to implement the mechanics because the number of honorees would have to be based on the technical design on the system.

It also doesn't take much time to look over a couple dozen textures either. Approval could be done by a game masters as part of their job.

[bigcracker]

maybe have the faction outfit skins be only able to take from these colors?

[Gullin]

that is awesome!

[onwee]

Yes to all of this.

[Novacane]

Yeah, providing a 'faction palette' along with the base textures would give a good starter for artists to use. I'm not too sure about restricting them to a set of colors though, maybe require certain parts to be specific colors would work though. Like requiring stripes on the TR uniform to being a specific shade of red.

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by Novacane

Yeah, providing a 'faction palette' along with the base textures would give a good starter for artists to use. I'm not too sure about restricting them to a set of colors though, maybe require certain parts to be specific colors would work though. Like requiring stripes on the TR uniform to being a specific shade of red.

What we have seen so far (in the loverator video) was that the zebra stripes couldn't cover the red stripe on the TR Liberator.

My guess would be that custom skins would have certain parts that they can color, and certain parts that are always locked in, so that right there solves a little bit of the problem.

As far as restricting the color pallet, I would say that an empire should be able to use anything in their color pallet, along with any other color that isn't too similar to the other empires pallets. Those colors would be able to be freely used.

Then, since the empire colors take up a decent portion of the spectrum, those colors used by enemy empires should also be available, but in very limited quantities. No more than 10% of a TR vehicle could be taken up with any combination of purple, teal, blue, or yellow for example.

There would still be room for an NC Reaver pilot to paint on a shark face with red in the mouth for example.

Maybe you can use more of the enemy pallet as long as you have a lot of your own empires pallet in the color scheme. For example, if 85% of your skin is red, grey and black as a TR, you could use up to 15% of the enemy colors. Whereas if 50+% was a greenish color, you could only use 5% of the enemy colors.

All of this could be automatically calculated and prescreened before the SOE staff even reviewed your submission.