All Things Art: Building Edition

I've been suggesting steampunk maps fro Nemesis for ages - the Crey labs just don't match his style

I mentioned this in the main ATA thread but thought I'd mention it here too. Now that the bill board contest (where did they get that idea) is over, how long untill we see the winners in game?

I'd still like an alternative to Pocket D.

Can we get some nice restaurants/pubs. Every time I'm wonder around Nerva, I see some really nice outdoor seating. Yet the only 'social' indoor atmosphere (leaving certain aspects aside,) are the bars Pocket D which have all the atmosphere of a college town dance club the morning after a weekend party. The Tiki Club is nice, but it is not accessible to everyone.

Seating is lacking or unusable, the place is never clean and most of the bar stools have been stolen.

It'd be nice if there were several locations throughout the zones that are restaurants on the outside, and if you click on the door, you enter someplace like this...


or


or


or

Thank you for asking our opinions on this.

Personally I think the main buildings that could use a touch up are interiors. I know that palette swapping the color of these textures is off the table. But if the primary lighting color and fog color varied based on the faction we were fighting, I think it would add a lot. And since I am selfish, the ability to vary lighting colors in the AE would as well. It wouldn't make every map feel completely different, but having seen it used in some other games, its surprising what it can accomplish.

For exteriors, having seen the work your group did on Praetoria, I'm pretty confident you have a sense of what could use touching up in Paragon and RI. Specific models that bother me personally, off the top of my head, are the blocky raised cement columns that appear in Atlas Park around City Hall. Smoothing these out somehow could do a lot for the area.

If you are able, I'd also like to see some really weird additions to the Shadow Shard. Why shouldn't there be a random skyscraper on an island out there? Why not feature an "interdimensional costume designer" in an obscure location? This zone would be a fun play thing for the creative folks on your team. And, of course, we'd like you to share with villains as well.

It also feels a little strange that a city the size of Paragon doesn't have malls and shopping centers. If you were to create a really big one (maybe using parts from the AE building) it would be highly reusable as an instance map as well.

The Paragon City Museum should be in Atlas Park - maybe in palce of some of the more industrial buildings.

We could use a few of these in IP and possibly Sharkhead or somewhere else redside:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/...099f0d_b_d.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/...3455fc_b_d.jpg

As it is now, the cranes in those zones look nothing like actual marine terminal cranes- they don't even look like they would function at all in real life.
If we want the look of a realistic port, we could use a few of the cranes featured above. Heck, we could even have some fun putting Family mobs up there trying to intimidate longshoremen, or something along those lines.

As for skyscrapers, we could use some like these:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/...5b808d_b_d.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...74a5dd_b_d.jpg
Some nice, modern ones to go with the art deco towers we've got.

At night, is there any way to make some of the zones look anywhere near as cool as this when we look at them?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5084/...397cca_b_d.jpg

I'll finish this by asking just what the heck is up with the northernmost of the two suspension bridges in IP? The darn thing's supposedly the twin of the other bridge, but it only has one tower. Huh?

*Casts 'Raise Thread'*

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.

How about a hotel chain with a 3-story atrium complete with two glass elevators. That'd be a cool interior. The existing conference rooms could be ported in, and the basement could have steam tunnels.

No more unique buildings in Atlas. If we throw any more in there, then players really will have no reason to ever leave. Give places like Galaxy City and Skyway City some love. Barely see anyone in there.

Another cast of thread Necromancy as well as further dicussions on the idea of improving interior/instanced environments along with outdoor/persistent ones. This one goes a little beyond the art department though but i think it has a worthy place here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill Quote: Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel I couldn't agree more. Let's not also forget that Paragon, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria are a City of Super Heroes, a City of super Villains, a paranoid police state respectively, it'd be easy to imagine that the office buildings (To say nothing about any of the other places) would have panic rooms, shutters and sturdy doors to lock areas down, people working in them erecting barricades, or even the enemies raiding the building have brought portable shield wall generators or made their own barricades to impede your progress. And then there's the idea of other security measures spawning, such as batteries mini-defense turrets, security cameras (in the form of those laser strobes from mayhem missions), or even just traps laid out by others. From there maps can become amazingly creative in ways to circumvent these things. Like finding the security office and hacking/taking over the security systems to make things easier, busting down barricades with our raw POWAH!, or even just a clever reskin of what's basically an elevator in the form of fire stairs, open windows near drain pipes, open elevator shafts, air ducts, etc. etc. ... I love this. I can think of so many ways to use some of those. Those "Find exit" missions that are generally pointless? Not so pointless if the layout has changed (via traps/shield generators) behind you. Or more ways to come up with "Alternate victory" conditions - stealthing something, or being able to control multiple points at once to make it easier/harder... mmmm.

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.

Besides an arena for Cimerora, another possible addition forum poster Thor’s Assassin’s Titan Island idea, with the creatures listed below.


Cyclops
Minotaurs
Gorgons
Harpies
Satyrs
Hydra Tentacles
Living Statue Warriors (Marble, Granite or Brass versions of Cimeroran Traitors)
Skeletons (ala Jason and the Argonauts)
Gargoyles


And if non-humanoid NPC models get added to the game then I would like to see Giant Scorpions/Spiders, Hellhounds/Cerberus, & Centaurs.

Perhaps an Arachnos Arachnobot can be re-skinned to look like a real spider.

Having been away for quite a few months, anything happening with implementing some of these suggested ideas?.
This thread is a goldmine of great ideas and I don't see much feedback of it (if any) potentially being worked into updating the ageing cityscapes.

Any dev comments?

They said in the anniversary Ustream broadcast that Issue 22 and 23 would use and/or expand on some older zones in some way.

Interesting!, thankyou, I'll check those out immediately.

I am excited for the new content First Ward from the screen shots I've seen looks cool and The Underground looks cool it is nice to see some mineral features to the caves finally something that looks like a a stalactite or stalagmites. Though I am a little sad to see the attack on Galaxy City was awesome and don't we have enough bombed out areas. I hear the struggling to rebuild but com on how many trashed out areas do we need. Can we fix some of them up I mean seriously we have so many supper powered people in the cities you'd think there would be a superpowered construction company that could expedite things some. There are many great ideas in the All Things Art: Building Edition. We also have Aliens we need some neighborhood that were designed and in habited by the the Aliens that have peacefully settled.