Informal Art Poll

at a must

re-order / alpha sort the darn things...

notable for me is fur shoulders with tights... no option

option 1 would be best for that... but could we get a legacy editor so to speak so if you have magic bolero and wings and go to tailor your options aren't replace costume entirely or keep as is?
So you could keep the legacy pieces that you no longer can access but still be able to change your costume in other areas or power customize

as it is... you try to tailor and poof half your costume goes

Difficult decision. While I'm tempted to say "Option 1" to improve the look of the entire game, I know from long experience that "improvements" to costume items actually means "removing options from the costume creator." I've had too many characters stuck with costumes I can no longer edit because they use costume items that no longer exist, such as the pointed ears from the "pointed ears" face.

My ideal solution would be to have every costume part examined on a case-by-case basis, having some entirely replaced (e.g., replace existing "body paint/patterns" with better "body paint/patterns") and some split into new and old versions (e.g., keep old Metallic as "Metallic Legacy" and add a shinier version as "Metallic Reflective"). I'm realistic enough to recognize that this won't happen, though.

Essentially, I don't mind improvements, but I don't want the look of a character completely altered because the art team's understanding of what a piece is meant to be doesn't match mine. For instance, I don't want to log into a character with the Steampunk pants one day to discover that they can no longer be matched with any kind of boot, no matter what color one tints the boot. (Incidentally, this isn't just a problem for older sets and mixing and matching; it's impossible to get the same look on Organic Armor boots, for example, as on the gloves in the same color.)

As a corollary of this point, while the new costume sets created over the past year and a half are excellent, I dislike the fact that they seem designed to work only as sets. For all their low-res-ness, one thing that the older pieces do well is work in a variety of combinations. Please, please, whatever you do to the costume creator, keep in mind that its role is not to give us the longest list of costume sets possible, but to enable us to pick and choose from individual pieces to create characters who may or may not use entire sets.

So, in the final analysis, I have to choose Option 2. Based on prior costume creator alterations, I believe the art team has a much more restricted understanding of how costume assets can be used that players do. To avoid interfering with player flexibility and to avoid more "orphan" costumes that can no longer be edited due to removal of entire concepts from the costume creator, leave what exists there.

That said, while I'm sure it'll strand dozens of my costumes, just as past changes have, I wouldn't consider going with Option 1 the end of the world, either. This is an important point to keep in mind as you make your decision; while most people probably have a preference one way or another, that preference may not be all that strong.

Voting for option one.

I'd vote for option 1, provided no changes were made to things like reflectivity or material type. If there was any significant change to the surface finish I'd want the old option to remain available since that can really mess up a costume... for instance, try matching "leather" and "cloth" items. Pick the same color for both and you still get a different tint on the leather so they clash.

Please do not replace things that look "painted on" with things that do not look "painted on". This is a change in basic function of a costume piece for anyone who has intentionally gone for the "painted on" look, which is actually fairly staple of real comic graphics.

So long as we're only talking about sharpening up edges on things that are currently blurry, I'm fine with option 1. The instant a change migrates over into changing the general appearance of something, changing its shape in any way form or manner, I'd want at least that change to be managed as option 2.

The belt example posted early in this thread is a great example of what I mean. That was not just a sharpening up - that texture change completely modified the feel of that costume piece. The old piece, with its blurry and shiny look, would fit well on a metallic or tech costume, whereas the newer one, which looks like a normal piece of clothing, would not.

The loss of the old Gladiator shoulder is one reason I favor option 2. I realize that this also entailed a geometry change, so it might no be subject to the same considerations as stated in the OP.

Basically, I feel that the costume interface has already outgrown itself. I don't really like the idea of any sacrifice being made with an eye to extending it's life. Every time i go to get a geometrical chest emblem, I am reminded about how insufficient the system is.

All in all, I would rather have more options, even fugly ones, when making my costumes. I am sure that, even with the best intentions, there will be old pieces that I prefer.

I would go with Option 1. If nothing drastic is changed and it's just a texture touch-up, I don't see why anybody would complain.

I vote for option 1, replacement. I would even say I'd be fine with core replacement of the art for the ones that are simple cleanups like your t-shirt example. I probably wouldn't be offended if my older costumes pieces were automatically changed. It's nice that you give us plenty of costume tokens to fix things with.

I can understand a few ultra popular pieces being left behind with updated secondary versions. The rest can vanish completely.

It can get rather tedious having to manually fix so many costumes on so many alts when 90% of the time I'd want the old replaced with the new.

Yeah, I highly suggest visiting the Post Your Best Costume Designs thread (Although, it has tons of pages, so, for more recent ones, visit the later pages... do go through the whole thing over time though, it rocks!) and see the versatility that people get out of items (And also just because it is a great thread).

Regardless of the intention... Different is different. Better detail is detail that shifts away from versatility.
It is unavoidable and, frankly, I am surprised to see how many people vote for option 1 (Although, with David detailing how much and why he so wants that option 1 [and zero offense, David, I luvs ya], I'm not entirely surprised. That and... it's not like everyone pushes costume design to the extent of others).

I can see some case by cases basis... but, for the most part... any path an artist chooses for greater detail will lead to limiting the flexibility of an art item.

David:

After reading your clarifications, where the old textures are updated with higher resolutions without any other changes, I'd have to vote for option 1.

Caveat: Leave the lower resolution versions in the files for the graphics engine to reference when someone's computer is running lower resolutions or running under safe rendering mode, etc.

Caveat 2: Many costume pieces now look seamless when worn together. This *must* remain the case.

Fight The Clutter

I vote option 2

Is this going to affect my framerate? ;p