All Things Art: Building Edition

How about the signage around town? I'm tired of seeing the same old ads on bill boards etc. How about holding a contest for fans to come up with new bill boards/adds and you can hold it like twice a year to keep things fresh?

Also what every one else said. More unique buildings. More unique neighborhoods. Talos (home of the Tsoo) should have an "China/Asian" theamed area, shouldn't it?

The 'all-same-ugly' problem nearly kept me from playing this game.

I got a free trial account a few months ago, loved the character editor to bits, then got into the tutorial zone and went, ".... oh." But hey, give it a chance. So then I got to Atlas Park, and my first impression was, "So it's a Soviet Brutalist version of Des Moines, filled with pusher robots. Maybe that's on purpose?"

Then on my first mission I got lost. And on the way back I got lost. And on my next mission I got lost. And on the way back I got lost again. Also stuck in cul-de-sacs, turned back on myself, routed down things that looked like roads/alleys but just went around a building and came out on the same side. There were no landmarks. All the buildings looked identical. And everywhere I looked, those creepy pusher robots were either getting mugged or walking past muggings without noticing them. *shudder*

So I decided to try villain side. Promising, at first; at least you could tell which way you were facing. But it was so cluttered and dark, and so full of messy little alleys and junk, that I again got lost. And lost. And lost. It was a bombed-out postapocalyptic ruin, inexplicably filled with people standing around waiting to kill me. Why were they there? There was nothing to steal. The looting was obviously long over. There weren't even any pusher robots to mug.

At that point I gave up. Let my trial account lapse and pretty much forgot about the game. Fortunately, about a month ago several of my friends got into it at right around the same time WoW irritated me to the point of cancelling my subscription there, and I decided to go ahead and give CoX another chance just to play with my friends.

And now I'm hooked. So I'm glad I came back, and now I'm seeing some of the really cool stuff, and looking forward to more coolness in the future.

But my point is, my first impression of the game, based on the dated, cloney, boxey blue side starting area, and the headache-inducing darkness and depressing pointlessness of the red side starting area, was basically negative. It didn't make me want to keep playing.


TL;DR: Make the zones a new player first sees look more distinct and vital, please. I'm bummed out to think how I nearly missed out on this awesome game just because my first impression was bad.

There isn't remark here that doesn't ring some truth in... I am happy with over 90% of the suggestions... And hope that at least some of it reaches in the game. Major reworking of the zones is so needed!

Now.. how can I add new stuff in here that hasn't been said already!?

and then it struck me...

Traffic
We not only need more variation. We need simply MORE!

Skyway has freeways... if any freeway would be so empty traffic jams wouldn't excist. There is a minimal amound of cars for a city the size of Paragon. And we should at least come a bit closer to that number.

Night lights and signs are already mentioned. As is street name signs. What about making the verhicles more solid? I remember that Positron once said that he himself tried to stand on the Blip! A lot of us have... Make verhicle roofs possible to stand upon. The blip, cars, metro etc.

And ofcourse make all npc walking or riding around skid of US. Or better still try an AI where they actually will try to avoid hitting us! I wouldn't like to walk against a flaming demon or such!

Destructable instance furniture
Instances are what the name says.. an instance. This means that the tech that is in the bank missions redside to destroy stuff in the surroundings can be implemented in any instance.

The mission inside the casino..? Make all tables etc destroyable! And use this tech on a lot of instances.

Simply remove the randomness of mission doors and link missions to doors to synchronise door/loadscreens/instance. Then slowly remake the instance to fit inside the building the door was picked from. Even the non-rp er will notice the immersian skyrocket compaired to what we have now.

Warehouses where the crates can be blown away by a missing fire blast... doors that are closed but have to be broken/blasted open etc.

End remark
The City needs to be possible to live... What I mean in this is that the best city is a city that has everything a real city needs to make sure its civileans can survive there.

No city can go without groceries, shops, gasstations, schools, public transportation, public library, children, green, entertainment (cinema's, theatre, sports). Simply think what you need to live somewhere. And give that a place in the game.

Use the add tech to rotate banners for musicals and movies etc. The tech is there and the add will not come of the ground. So use it for ingame. Then again... lower some add prices maybe. It would be cool to have a cinema that features the latest block busting movies every week! Rotating by default for all servers. I do not believe the EU would have problems seeying US stuff in cinema's and shops. We really can accept that this world is in the US!

Hello everyone, Hello Noble Savage.

Forgive me but I have been absent a year and only just resubbed, although i have been lurking & following these 'Art of' threads by David and all of your suggestions.
Whilst I re-read this thread and all of the great suggestions therein, may I ask.. "Is there a timetable for getting some of these implemented ingame?" - I mean, I take it there is and these suite of 'Art of: edition' threads is not the Dev's way of gathering ideas for CoH II.

Is there an Implementation timetable? (I'm not interested in what it is, as I'm sure its all a bit hush-hush ;-) ... just that there is a timetable).

Thanks.



Oh, and:

Buildings look incredibly fake right now because of the un-detailed textures.
I'd really like to see the grain and crevices and such in the stone made much more obvious, possibly with chips/cracks or peeled paint here and there.

I'd like to make a late suggestion to this:

Updated and unique tilesets for both Fort Trident and The Crucible. These are meant to be state-of-the-art headquarters for both the Phalanx and Arachnos, and currently they both just have...well...bleh maps, especially the Crucible, which is just recycling Tyrant's old lair.

Please?


S.

Places to add:


Shopping Mall
Supermarket
Coffee Shop
Pet Shop
Hair Stylist/Barbershop/Salon
Pharmacy
Train Yard
Airport
Bus Depot
Baseball/Football type Sports Arena
Firefighter Station
Hotel/Convention center
Courthouse
Upscale Restaurants
Nightclub/Jazz Club
Public Library
Museum/Art Gallery
Zoo/Aquarium
Wildlife & Nature preserve
Opera House
Old Fashioned Drive-in
Church/Chapel/Temple
Amusement Park/Waterpark
Skating/Roller Rink
Youth Center (with ping pong tables, basketball courts, slides, swings, seesaws, etc…)
Community swimming pools
Martial Art Dojo
Golf Course/Country Club
Health Club/Spa
Luxury Cruise Ship
Military Base
Salvage/Junk yard
Observatory/Planetarium
Lighthouse
Vineyard/Winery
Trailer Park
Car Wash
Gas Station

you know what might be a cool look for Aeon City in Cap Au and the luddite village?
This:

Quote:

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.

For Spanky's Boardwalk, a few things I would like to see added.


A beach bar at one end of the boardwalk & a arcade at the far end.









Some Beach Chairs.






Street Vendors, & fast food shacks.









And a Ice Cream Truck by the entrance above.







For the grassy hill overlooking the beach, a few benches and a gazebo (not rundown like this one).

Great ideas, Steel! I've always felt Spanky's boardwalk's a little underused and underdeveloped looking.

I thought I might repost something on instanced maps from This semi-art related thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel Quote: Originally Posted by MacOberon Oh and yeah, offices look like they have been designed by a Rikti on crack, but I like that. Can you imagine how boring it'd be if all maps were predictably regular? Ew. I disagree, I think you can make things normal but still interesting. You just have to realize that the labyrinthine nature needs to come from the villains who are raiding/held up in a place and not it's inherent design. For example, consider some of the examples I gave for different means of climbing the floors of a building instead of just the standard elevator alone earlier in this thread: Quote: Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel ... Things could be used like large air ducts, windows to the fire escape, stairwells, maintenance, and even scaling up ladders in empty elevator shafts. In this effect, you gain a layer of complexity by finding different means to climb levels, the idea being that when you start going up one way, the badguys will do something to halt your progress going up further. Then you could throw in destroyable (or in rare cases, indestructible barricades) either with portable force/repulsion field generators from the black market, desks, chairs, cubicle walls, and ripped off doors piled up and nailed together in crude barriers, and even portable defensive turrets to deter people from going a certain path. Now while not adding complexity to a map's navigation I did post an idea to make generic maps like warehouses and so forth have a bit more flavor. With all of these things, I think it would be possible to make realistic office buildings seem like quite a setting worthy of an epic battle.

Also, I cast thread Necromancy.

Quote:

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.

I would like to see Cimerora get an arena.

The city feels way too generic. Not enough unique structures or looks. Many buildings are just odd looking and not too realistically put together (funny angles).

Also, the constant statues of supers is just too too much. Reduce them. They look tacky and loose their significance if there's one of every block type thing.

I think the office mission maps are horrible. Many of the offices aren't even logically made. Who has such odd offices. They are terrible.

I don't mind the war walls and don't care if they stay up forever.

Hopefully there is some revamping of the zones but I hope the devs are making this a low priority. I spend most of my time in missions so unique mission maps are the way to go.

I would love neighborhoods. In a second in Necropolis I think, even though it was all run down, there were houses, yards, fences, and even a gas station! I almost crapped a brick at seeing the only gas station in 2 universes!

So yea, I would like more realistic stuff. Houses, churches, libraries, schools, gas stations, etc. And more signature buildings, like in Praetoria. When I first entered the second zone, I was blown away at how different things were. More of that please.

P.S. There are a ton of construction projects that are being done in Steel, Skyway, etc. How about finishing those up fella's, you've been at em for years.

People have talked a lot about Buildings, and hit most of the notes I was going to. I think above all in that respect though priority should be given to City Services that the cities don't exhibit. i.e. Fire Stations/Trucks and Post Offices/delivery trucks.

The main thrust of my post will be directly contrary to the thread's stated goal, but I think fully in line with the spirit of your request. In short it boils down to the following:

FOCUS ON GREENSPACES

Most of the parks and greenery (brownery in the Isles?) is basically unplanned and undesigned. Simply a matter of filling some dead space with curbstones, shrubs and trees and moving on to the next area. I won't even get into the ridiculous number of outcrops of rock leading to cave complexes (there's even one in Brickstown with a Parking area UNDER the boulder with a cave door).

Anyway, my point is, take some time to make some planned and designed green spaces that have people using and enjoying them.

Rooftop Gardens would be a cool way to green some urban areas without knocking down current buildings, but even then consider community gardens that are used in big cities to reclaim vacant lots and improve neighborhoods.

Change some big areas in Paragon into Sports Fields instead of rock gardens with weird concrete walls sticking out of them. You gave us Sports emotes, and there are only a couple tired, underused urban basketball courts scattered around Paragon to use them at.

You can even green up the Isles. If people aren't allowed gardens by Recluse, then just have an "exhibition area" with all the new and fun stuff Dr. Aeon has cooked up [Enter at your own Risk. Not responsible for lost pets at plant feeding times]

I really have only two words in response to that: Central Park.

Is there a timetable in place for all this ?, I mean when can we can expect to see these changes implemented in-game ?.