The Costume Creator is Stagnating

Let's talk about the Costume Creator. It is, in my opinion, the most important part of the game. It's what immediately hooks players and keeps them coming back. The lure of spending time in the Costume Creator, lovingly crafting a new character keeps the game fresh and new.

But, let's be honest here. The last real change to the functionality of the Costume Creator was the ability to save and load costumes, back with issue 13, back in 2008.

It's arguable that the changes to the Character Creator interface, including Power Customization, are also important changes since they affect the way a character can be customized. Even so, those happened many moons ago, back in September, 2009. We still have yet to see any further changes in that direction either... such as customization for pools or epics. With BaBs gone-- who was apparently the primary champion for Power Customization despite being the guy who's job it was to tell us over and over again how difficult Power Customization was and how unlikely it was that we'd ever see it-- we may never see more.

We do get new costume pieces from time to time. However, as time goes by, the pieces we get tend to not work together very well. It's much more difficult to mix, say, the Martial Arts pack pieces with the Magic pack pieces than it is to mix the basic pieces we got with launch, or with i6/CoV.

However, the basic functionality of the costume creator is getting pretty darn dated. The way we can mix and match costumes to create new looks hasn't gotten any real improvements for QUITE a while.

I'm not saying it's not a great system. It is, but it's getting old. Players have been making functionality requests and suggestions for years and the vast majority of them seem to fall on deaf ears. Some of these requests are things we know the engine will support... such as custom colors. Some of these requests have been implemented in other games-- like positionable decals for 'tattoos' or the like.

On top of that, there's BASIC stuff that's been granted to NPCs that player characters just don't get... like the ability to affix a logo to a cape or the back of your costume.

So let's hear about where the Costume Creator is going. Players, share your requests and suggestions for functionality, rather that costume pieces. Devs, share your plans for future updates to keep the CoH Costume Creator on top as the crown jewel of MMO customization.

Here, I'll get you started with some feature requests--

- As mentioned, Custom Colors

- Positionable decals, possibly including the existing Chest Detail images.

- Better control over character geometry so that players can create a broader array of characters... from childlike to otherworldly.

- Cutouts to make parts of existing costume pieces invisible

- Asymmetrical costume design.

- An 'I'll deal with the clipping issues. Just let me have both these pieces at the same time' mode.

- Animation bones for hair and head details so that players can better control the appearance.

- Animation bones for lengthy costume pieces, such as skirts, shorts, capes, tails, etc... so that players can better control their appearance.

- A transparency slider for costume pieces.

I find the number of choices in the CC so bewildering that I just hit random until I find something OK then change the colours to csomething that won't make my eyeballs bleed.

More choices in the CC?

<twitch>

Feh.

I'd rather the devs spend their time elsewhere.

I'm on the fence on whether or not I agree with you about stagnation but I do agree that introducing new features wouldn't hurt.

Personally I'd like Asymmetry, chest symbols on the back or shoulders, customizable pools and epics, and some option to make costume designs glow (i.e. resistance pieces, but with tribal, or isles.)

And for emphasis, pool customization. My brute wants Maelstrom's teleport and I'd kill for a customizable fly aura without needing to switch costumes or turn on prestige sprints.

Just on a whim, I picked up a cheap box from Amazon the other day and that was one of the main things to strike me.

The basic costume creator, that you get wtih the GVE edition is manageable - just about - but it seems really limited compared to a veteran with plenty of boosters. I feel a bit conflicted because there is a lot of content in the standard creator.

My biggest problem with the costume creator as it stands is the sheer volume of poorly sorted options. It's damned confusing and hard to work with. If they could be categorised better and sorted into manageable bits then even better.

We also need better skin options and hat/hair combos - both bugbears of mine that I've posted before. I also happily support decals for the back and shoulders etc, and I'd say increase the choice.

I'd love something to be done, even if it's a case of sorting but even then that's not so simple I suspect, but I'd suggest surely f the character creator gets a makeover that'd be the perfect time to update the character models. Things like fingers and facial expressions (and dare I say flexyhair) are desperately needed. That more than anything else is holding the game back in comparison to other MMOs I'd say.

If an experienced MMO player were to encounter the game for the first time, I seriously wonder what their reaction would be looking at the models and costume creator.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

I think one of the biggest things they can add which would increase the number of variations we can make is to separate out the details even further, especially on the face. Detail 2 is goggles, horns and headpieces, which means you can't make a cool disco demon who has horns and shades. That's always bummed me out.

Make Eyes, Chin, Nose, Ears all separate items. Also, split Neck items from Shoulders and add more things such as jewelry, neck braces, neck supports, collars and collar parts that can be combined with other parts of the outfits. A high collar, for instance, could be combined with some of the jackets to make a yeoman's or cadet's outfit. I don't understand why Neck Bolts and Jester were put in Detail 3 rather than Shoulders, but if there were a separate Neck item they could go there and we could use them in conjunction with all sorts of other things.

Asymmetrical would get my vote for the next major free addition. The ability to have different legs and boots similar to the different arms would be cool. (I have a cobbled-together spare parts robot just waiting to be built.) But also asymmetrical patterns which match up to existing components so we can make all sorts of cool stuff.

I really like the idea of having the ability to choose "invisible" for costume parts. I'd play my Broadsword Scrapper again if he only had one arm. How cool would that be? I've always liked the fact that the limbs on Totems and torsos on Ancestor Spirits can't be seen.

Asymetrical designs are near the top of my list. It drives me nuts that if I use the robotic arm or gladiator shoulders that it's always the same side. Seperating arm and leg details into left and right would really open up a lot of options.

On a similar note, seperating some of the facial details, as mentioned above, would make for a big improvement.

Adjusting the brightness setting when looking at powers was a nice addition I'd like to see in the general costume creation part.

-Finishing power customization.

-Introducing the ability to customize non-weapon powers to use a weapon and weapon powers to use bare hands (would require expunging redraw)

-Adding the ability to customize each arm separately, split into upper and lower arm, left and right, with a "default" option for upper arms if we want the arms that come with our torso choice. Customizing at least each foot separately would be a good idea.

-Allowing our weapons to be hung on our bodies, and/or introducing sheaths and holsters for our weapons, so we don't have to draw them from the curve of our spines.

-Giving us a wider ability to layer textures on top of each other, rather than only being able to tint textures with colour mask patterns.

-Adding more types of basic skin, rather than just human skin.

That's all I can think of on short notice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Slot normalisation.

There are many slots that are tied to the same parent "bone"

E.G. most of the head options. In a demo record you can fit any of the head elements in any of the slots So you can have a monocle and earmuffs at the same time for example. I think there should be head 1/2/3/4 and _all_ of the options should be available for any of those slots (because the engine can handle it just fine)

Also things like the spiked collar should additionally be in with the "reaper" face mask as they attach to the same bones

Asymetric arms/legs (Yes I know that would be a lot of work)

Re-work the awful female necks and their tiny toy hands

Separate out the fingers (No I don't need them animated separately, but they look terrible as mittens)

1: More Colour and Skin Tone Options.

2: Making sure all the items have matching parts elsewhere, when logic would dictate they're part of a set: (Heart Plus Boots/Gloves to go with the Top/Bottoms, for example.)

3: Makng sure certain costume options have the right colour editing abilities (IE, Bridal Gloves/Top/Shoes. The skirt can take two colours. The rest have the pattern for it, but can't.)

4: Giving Auras from level 1. We have a load already, there's no logical reason not to simply make the rest available. The Aura mission is chaff with a direly bad premise in any case.

5: Likewise for Capes. We have the option to have them at level 1 now, why not give us the option then just reward a special cape from the Cape Mission.

6: Fixing the gender imbalance in missing costume pieces. Huge does not have Smooth/Sleek Sleeves options in the glove deparment, for example. Male and huge don't have access to shoulder cats/pandas. Females don't have access to the excellent Baron jacket, or the leather non-biker jacket.

7: Work on giving some of the mask options 2 colours, for example: Make Up, allowing for separate lip and eyeshadow colours.

8: Ignore some clipping concerns. There's plenty of items that clip already. Saying we can't have others as they may clip is just a bit silly, we can use such items for interesting purposes that do look good. Give the player base some credit.

9: Allow keyboard presses to jump you to that letter on the menu. So if I go into the chest emblem menu, and want Symbol 4, I can just press S and it takes me to the s section, rather than scrolling through all the letters to S, or backwards through all the greek letters, other chest pieces and so forth to S.

10: Allow us a button to hide the UI in the character screen, much like in the power customization screen. Then centre the character and have a small panel allowing you to control the zoom and camera position. PS: An option for a white/black/green/bluescreen background would be nice.

My top three:

3. Add a teriary color selection. This could be a ton of work, but having the ability to outline some of the existsing patterns in a third color would greatly increase the variety of looks you could make without having to create a ton of new costume pieces.

2. Asymmetry. See arguements above.

1. FIX WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE. Why after almost seven years do we still have a problem with white tops on females making it look like they're in a wet T-shirt contest? And why, for the love of Cole why, have the old patterns that bleed into their background surfaces never been fixed?

1. Tertiary color selection - I like this idea too, as it would add a nice touch of variety to costume pieces

2. Asymetry is a big one that I would like to see more of.

3. Capes - This has been asked for a while, and I think it is time now to unleash capes for level 1's!

It really irks me that I can't use cyborg arms with the warrior tops, or use the warrior belt with the tight top options. There REALLY needs to be a reorganization of the items, and a separation of items as another poster said.

I would be happy if there was a whole issue dedicated to the creator. I know I am in the minority with that, but hey I can be selfish now and again.

Really I just want more. The creator is amazing, and has so much potential, that is being wasted. I had hoped with David coming on board more time would be dedicated to player aesthetics, not just environment and NPCs. I don't know yet if that hope was misplaced.

I don't want a CoX2, because I don't want to start over. I just want this CoX improved.