All Things Art: Building Edition
By
Agent_117,
Posted on: 2010-05-20 22:01 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Sounds cool for sure, but would be a very unlikely addition. Lot of work for relatively little gain. You can achieve much the same effect by saying 'hey, north of the TPN campus.'
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Originally Posted by VileTerror
Also going to put my thumbs up in approval of the idea of signs with street names! Sure, maybe not feasible, but it would still be fantastic!
It would improve immersion AND allow players another means of locating things. "Need help at -3431.1 0.0 78.2!" "What?" "Need help on the corner of Bold and Hughson!" "AH!" |
David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/
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The idea of a museum interior has definitely come up, and we love the idea.
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Originally Posted by ThatGuyThere
The only thing I would like to see added is MUSEUMS.
Both as an instance mission map ("prevent theft", "defeat awakening mummy", etc, etc), and as a place for heroes to wander / gather. We already have lots of stuff to put in it, from the Base Editor. Although adding dinosaur skeletons would also be awesome. Before playing City of Heroes, if you'd asked me the one map a superhero game would HAVE to have, I would have put museum over bank, office building, and cave. |
David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/
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I'm aware of this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Next new redside zone will certainly offer something fresh and new.|
Originally Posted by Charcoal_EU
Redside - general: Redside needs more contrasts. It has really well made slums and dystopias but it there is nothing to compare them to. You know, the nice parts of town where the rich, powerful and secretly villainous can afford to live. |
And fortunately, this is exactly the tack we took with Praetoria: there's a LOT of architectural, color, and tonal contrast among the new zones, and I think it gives all players, regardless of personal taste, something to really latch onto.
David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/
Did. . . did you j-just say new redside zones? :O
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Wait...new redside zone? Seriously?
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
I'm aware of this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Next new redside zone will certainly offer something fresh and new.
And fortunately, this is exactly the tack we took with Praetoria: there's a LOT of architectural, color, and tonal contrast among the new zones, and I think it gives all players, regardless of personal taste, something to really latch onto. |
"And of course, Steven Jay Blum is in it...He's the Sam Jackson of anime." -AmuroNT1
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Don't get TOO excited. We're still hard at work on Praetoria, but yeah, of course we'd like to make new villain content.
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Originally Posted by Yamato_Iouko
Wait...new redside zone? Seriously?
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David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/
Well, a few weeks ago, I was doing an Arachnos base mission. Keep in mind I've had CoV since release, and CoH since a few months after release, and for the first time I saw a roomset in that map that shocked and wow'ed me. The targeting range and barracks type room? Fricken awesome. Made it feel more like a really functioning base or facility than ever before. This old tileset that I'd seen thousands of times suddenly seemed fresher, almost new just cause of one cool room.
While completely new tilesets are always awesome, I think a lot could be done for the old maps simply by creating a few new rooms for them. Can I tell you how many times I groan seeing the blue Council/Column room? Or the many tiered cave room? Or the warehouse room that leads up, into the little room, and then back down in the open storage area? I'd start by making some alternatives to those, and maybe a few other "flavor" rooms, something in the vein of that shooting range/rest/barracks area that just makes it feel more functioning and realistic
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
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Well there you have it. The developers love Villains. |
Originally Posted by Noble Savage
Don't get TOO excited. We're still hard at work on Praetoria, but yeah, of course we'd like to make new villain content.
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Playstation 3 - XBox 360 - Wii - PSP
Remember kids, crack is whack!
Samuel_Tow: Your avatar is... I think I like it
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Perhaps the devs are tsundere for redside?
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Originally Posted by bAss_ackwards
Well there you have it. The developers love Villains.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.
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That idea has a whole lot of potential to create a whole host of non humanoid smashys. Attack of the radioactive, skeletons, Zombie, and/or cyborgs dinosaurs, and/or mammoths saber tooth tigers and dinosaurs. Haunted/possessed cars and planes. Things that are bigger than humans but not GM sized.|
Originally Posted by Noble Savage
The idea of a museum interior has definitely come up, and we love the idea.
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Think "Night at the Museum" meets EVIL. Add a little Riki flora and fauna a little ouroboros/broken time action and you realy have something.
Various reality and times blending into each other letting those that haven't paid for rouge yet get little glimpses into that world the Riki's and countless others (Well maybe not countless but having hints for what might be.).
Knights vs Samari. Cowboy VS Ninja. T-rex VS. Noah. Releasing something like that would make for a killer Halloween event.
So much potential is something like that a chance for some real chaos. Ad a whole host of NPCs not just ordinary ones but randomly generated hero's and villains. Even the return of your extra dimensional doppelganger from a dimension where you are the one that died. : D
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
I'm aware of this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Next new redside zone will certainly offer something fresh and new.
And fortunately, this is exactly the tack we took with Praetoria: there's a LOT of architectural, color, and tonal contrast among the new zones, and I think it gives all players, regardless of personal taste, something to really latch onto. |
The funny thing about redside is that the posh areas are there, but they're kind of... out of the way. I mean, the typical villain will pass through fair-to-middling Mercy, and the expensive parts of St Martial, but a lot more could be done with, say, central/east New Haven. Having worked for Golden Roller, Dr Percey and Marshall Brass, I want to get into Langston Corp mansion and find out just who's behind the Brickers. And Villa Requin in Sharkhead? I'd seen it on the map, but I was flummoxed to see what was actually there! It deserves more exposure in gameplay and story!
Three things I'd like to see (which may already have been mentioned):
Shopping mall(s)
Amusement Park(s)
Sports Stadia (baseball, football, hockey/basketball - as the largest city in America, PC should have several pro sports teams)
All at least enterable, and maybe the Amusement Park(s) could be entirely new zones - a rundown, abandonded Park in the RI and an active one in PC.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
Largest...city...in...America? Where'd that come from? It doesn't look it, and is likely Providence. 
If Paragon is supposed to be bigger than L.A. or N.Y., it sure doesn't show it.
Dec out.
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Speaking of Redside, how about some additions to the landscape (where applicable) that show the effects, byproducts, waste and damage caused by the PTS?|
Originally Posted by Noble Savage
I'm aware of this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Next new redside zone will certainly offer something fresh and new.
And fortunately, this is exactly the tack we took with Praetoria: there's a LOT of architectural, color, and tonal contrast among the new zones, and I think it gives all players, regardless of personal taste, something to really latch onto. |
(And still would like to see undersea caverns or access tunnels (even some ultra secret/forgotten travel line) connecting redside zones); who knows... attach it to a Corolax storyline.
More 'water' types - there's an Arachnos map that has a major cavern room with a drainage pool of green liquid (waste product?) at the bottom... can this type of detail be spread to other areas of the Rogue Isles (non-instanced); reflective of the influences that have the most impact on it (sci waste, CoT/BP sacrifices, Devoruing Earth reclamation, Corolax shard presence, Port Oakes shipping industry, etc).
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
Sounds cool for sure, but would be a very unlikely addition. Lot of work for relatively little gain. You can achieve much the same effect by saying 'hey, north of the TPN campus.'
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Disappointed by this
Isn't there a simpler way to approach this other that the way the team is currently looking at it; like:
Just putting generic street sign graphics, assigning those coordinate lines X and Y (as opposed to points X,Y) a name in the database and utilizing a mouseover or right-click to bring up a street name bubble from the database?
At least for major streets (acknowledging that street design in many areas of CoX are haphazard at best (especially redside; which is probably another reason that redside has that slapped together feel).
A plausible street system can open the door for whole new mission types like scavenger hunts, neighborhood tasks, etc. Could add realtime and approximate APBs, Amber Alerts, Code Adam's, etc to blueside.
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
I'm aware of this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Next new redside zone will certainly offer something fresh and new.
And fortunately, this is exactly the tack we took with Praetoria: there's a LOT of architectural, color, and tonal contrast among the new zones, and I think it gives all players, regardless of personal taste, something to really latch onto. |
A new zone might not be COMPLETELY necessary. A few zone tweaks could bring some color to even some of the gloomier isles.
Port Oakes-- Villa Montrose -- changes to show some classic Family excess in preparation of a "Godfather-style" wedding in the works.
- Brighten the existing architecture -it's been washed (and sometimes sandblasted) to let the natural colors through.
- Do a similar facelift to the stairs leading down to the submarine and extend the dock to accomodate the fleet of guest yachts that may be coming for what's bound to be the crime syndicate's event of the decade.
- Port some of the flowers-- and maybe some of the landscaping concepts from Going Rogue. The host family has a lot riding on making this event perfect- both for the rep gained from his guests AND his pricess-for-a-day (or month... if you've ever seen how these kinds of family celebrations can be...).
- Inside the estate wall, maybe add a few high-end cars... a few custom NPC's milling about, representing various organized-crime stereotypes.
- Add lighting to brighten the place, decorations on the main walls and buildings (banners hanging down, flowers, etc) to make the fortress seem more like the princess' palace.
Altogether, all that wealth makes a GREAT contrast to the boarded-up resort hotels on the south side of the island.
Sharkhead-- Villa Requin could be an alternative wedding location, but I'd style it more for the upper-echelons of Cage Consortium. They probably don't LIVE there, but they've got to fly in on occasion and would want to maintain their current lifestyle.
Finish the airstrip, convert an adjoining building to appear more like a luxury hotel-- maybe add some landscaping characteristics to it. The family's presence is still dominant there, but they're making considerable money playing to their new host.
Nerva-- Agincourt --, under Longbow's control, might be showing a good mix of revitalization (investment following a confidence in the new "law of the land" Longbow brought) and destruction (covert Arachnos actions trying to make the residents feel less safe under their new guardians.
The contrasts... both extremes so close to one another... would be a strong reminder of the forces at play here.
St Martial -- North End --
Island cities will have marinas. Tourist destinations will have HUGE marinas... and those catering to gamblers-- they'll be ready to handle the largest of the yachts... the kinds of yachts that the high-rollers use so they can bring all the comfort- and security- of home with them.
These will be more than just piers out into the water- they'll have luxury gathering areas, exclusive party zones, all kinds of services vying to get as close to those with the money as they can.
It'll have the kind of people the Carnies would draw from... and cater to. Private security will be in full force... as will Arachnos middle-uppers making sure wealthy allies are happy... and the Family goes without mention.
I don't think there should be any all-new zones, blueside or redside, until the current zones fill up more.
I think the work and time should be put into revamps of the older existing zones (both art and content-wise). Make those 'new' again.
New zones attract people to the game, but they also split up the existing players so that the game feels 'empty', especially with all of the instancing.
I think we have hit a point of diminishing returns on this.
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
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You Tease!
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
Don't get TOO excited. We're still hard at work on Praetoria, but yeah, of course we'd like to make new villain content.
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The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU
Haven't the villains gotten enough new content? I mean a whole different game was released for them alongside issue 6, what more could you possible want?? I think what we really need to do is re-make heroside to be more like Praetoria, and keep villains at their current status, hated by devs, as they have always been.
By the way, villains need their accuracy nerfed again....
Of course I am kidding, new villainside content would be cool indeed, and I would never seriously complain about that.
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This. Very much this.
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Originally Posted by Kitsune9tails
I don't think there should be any all-new zones, blueside or redside, until the current zones fill up more.
I think the work and time should be put into revamps of the older existing zones (both art and content-wise). Make those 'new' again. New zones attract people to the game, but they also split up the existing players so that the game feels 'empty', especially with all of the instancing. I think we have hit a point of diminishing returns on this. |
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I guess looks can be deceiving (see third paragraph)
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Originally Posted by Decorum
Largest...city...in...America? Where'd that come from? It doesn't look it, and is likely Providence.
If Paragon is supposed to be bigger than L.A. or N.Y., it sure doesn't show it. |
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
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That would explain everything! |
Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel
Perhaps the devs are tsundere for redside?
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Originally Posted by mousedroid
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"not only does Paragon City have the largest Hero population in the US,"
I sit in my zen of not being able to do anything right while simultaniously not being able to do anything wrong. Om. -CuppaJo
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
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「レッドーサイドの。。。バカ! *punches Redside*」
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Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel
Perhaps the devs are tsundere for redside?
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"And of course, Steven Jay Blum is in it...He's the Sam Jackson of anime." -AmuroNT1
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There are plenty of un-needed warhouses in Atlas Park that could be replaced with the Paragon City Museum and its landscaped gardens.|
Originally Posted by Noble Savage
The idea of a museum interior has definitely come up, and we love the idea.
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I think something in the same style as City Hall would look very grand.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Both as an instance mission map ("prevent theft", "defeat awakening mummy", etc, etc), and as a place for heroes to wander / gather.
We already have lots of stuff to put in it, from the Base Editor. Although adding dinosaur skeletons would also be awesome.
Before playing City of Heroes, if you'd asked me the one map a superhero game would HAVE to have, I would have put museum over bank, office building, and cave.
Plus, it'd be nice to expand on the 4-10 painting designs that exist in the game to flesh out the museum and provide those designs to the bases as well!
(Liberty) Trick Dacy - Forge Steel - Hypother Mia
(Freedom) Folgus Sprit
(Infinity) Marcus Solomon
(Protector) Thylacine
(Justice) Ashkicker - Revile