All Things Art - FX Edition

Yea still waiting years later for customizable pool and APP/PPP powers =\

Personally if the UI is such a big deal let it have a side scroll as well as collapsible vertical menus. Let players just side scroll (left to right) through each pool set to customize. Then you dont have to worry so much about too many collapsible menus on the screen at any one time.

Count me as one of those players who is saddened that progress is being retarded by those unwilling to let go of the DE avatar. I can understand where they're coming from, but being able to customize a swappable avatar is going to take FAR more work than making GA more akin to Crystal or Brimstone armor, which already have swappable textures and customizable colors, without replacing the character's avatar outright.

Perhaps making an additive armor that has a similar L&F to the GA avatar might be a compromise? It wouldn't alter the size of the character, but it would allow for customization.

OTOH, if a system were developed that DID allow for customization of swappable avatars, it would also mean that avenues for Kheldian customization could be re-investigated, although as a part-time Kheld player, that's farther down on my wish list than being able to customize GA.


Edit: of course, customizable Power Pools, APPs, & PPPs might be a nice interim consolation prize

I've seen the same thing with the Frost path aura. I bugged it and started a thread in Tech Issues & Bugs back in July. (The thread dropped like a rock.) Here's how I described the issue at the time:

It was a really nice emote. i'm hoping it becomes available to players soon. One of the rewards for the new Halloween event seems like a good fit.

Could it be pulsing or blinking screens of non-additive particles instead? esecially if it cycles from additive+non-additive and non-additive so there would be periods of non-opacity and periods of opacity?

But Crystal and Brimstone armors are ugly.

@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too

Ok, thanks for your response. If I make a suggestion in the future it'll be with that in mind. As for Weapon Auras, I have yet to give up hope on those, so I'll let you know if I have a brainstorm on that. I know you guys and gals are probably up to your ears (the ones on top of your head, I mean) in work at this time, but maybe some breakthrough will help with Weapon Auras and other things as well.

EDIT: Obsidius and Tunnel Rat, there may be a compromise here. Build more avatar replacements to be chosen from? That was kind of what I meant by throwing out the idea of the Igneous Magma Bosses as an idea, if people want both the old DE avatar for granite and/or others who want something ELSE, perhaps by adding more models both crowds could be satisfied?

Most amusing complement I've ever been paid on an outfit, from @Ukase regarding my Blue Eyed She-Devil Anson Maddocs "Fallen Angel" homage:
"She gives my ex-wife a run for the money."

Says the one guy

But honestly, it's just a matter of opinion. I respect the opinion of the people who want to keep the DE armor, even though I disagree (IF it comes at the cost of progressing this issue. If not,my objection is will be withdrawn).

An agreeable solution, but one that would still require additional code than what the current PowCust system provides.

Pass along to the powers that be: animated textures for character models as base skins, especially ones that conveyed bodies made of energy, gooey stuff, molten materials, starfire, galactic clusters, etc. is something I would run out and spend more $$$ on paragon points to pick up day one. Especially if they incorporated glow tech and if I could then layer things like dimensional chest details and belts from other costume sets over them.

But from your response, I get the idea this is not something you would be working directly on... but seriously pass the word along. And then suggest that they draft Chris Greggory to do these animated textures. What I'm suggesting are basically the skins that would turn characters into less-than-corporeal forces of nature. So an environmental artist would be a natural fit for the task!

Something just occurred to me. You say that for aesthetic reasons, you don't want lots of thick smoke covering up player models... But could I request just that, please? I have a couple of concepts who more or less require that the characters in question are, essentially, constantly obscured by thick black smoke. I can sort of do this with the Thunderhead aura right now, with a pure black tights character underneath, but I can still clearly see the tights reflecting light underneath.

This is something I've wanted for a VERY long time - character auras and character powers which are NOT transparent. I think one of the worst aspects of games transcending from hand-drawn 2D into modelled 3D has been that sprites became very transparent. In olden games like Street Fighter, Golden Axe, Mega Man and so forth, if you shot out energy, fire, ice or anything of the sort, you shot out a solid, opaque effect. That is precisely what I want to see in City of Heroes. If I'm shooting blasts of pure energy, I don't want that energy to be transparent. If I'm setting the ground on fire, I don't want the ground to show through the thick of the blaze. That sort of thing.

Probably the worst offender when it comes to transparency is Dark Armour. I don't know what mix of additive and subtractive particles that set has, but it's almost entirely transparent both in pure black and in pure white. In pure black it looks like very thin smoke and in pure white it looks kind of like very sparse steam. The only way to make it stand out is to pick a bold colour, for some reason. I have a Dark/Dark Brute whom I named "The Tenebrious" and whose general design goal was to look like "a living shadow." Neither Dark Armour toggles nor any costume aura could make that character look the part, because I could always see the black model underneath.

In short, making lots of thick smoke which obscures our characters is not a bad thing in terms of aesthetics. It's a GOOD thing, as it's a new look and effect and right now, we have no means to achieve it.

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.

It does. When Power Customization first came out, all powers were given two "themes" - Light and Dark, which correspond to an additive and a subtractive colour model, or more loosely to the models of mixing coloured lights vs. mixing coloured pigments. I'm not sure if something special needed to be done to the game to support this (I don't think so), but we really never had a choice before this.

Now that we do have a choice, however, I would VERY much like to see Dark/Subtractive versions of all the existing auras we have. Just as a random example, I have a Fire/Fire Brute who uses Dark Fire, yet his flaming eyes HAVE to be bright fire. Would it be too much of a bother to add Dark versions of existing auras?

*edit*
I'm talking about costume auras, just to specify.

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.

Just to nit pick not all powers have a dark and light option I wish they did...

Dark Miasma, Dark Blast, Pain Domination, and others only have a dark (often called only color tintable) option. I know the word "dark" is in the name for some sets but that doesn't mean there can't be a "bright" version. For example... Soul Tentacles from the Soul Mastery set is a Bright version of Tenebrous Tentacles and it looks awesome! What I wouldnt give to make a dark character that looks ethereal or ectoplasmic using "bright" versions of those powers!

Dark Melee and Dark Armour are a bit of a special case. Dark Armour in particular is a combination of additive and subtractive effects, such that if you reduced it to JUST one or JUST the other, the set's look would change dramatically. I highly suspect that's the reason Dark and Pain only have one option - their default effects were using a combination of both.

I have no idea why Strom Summoning received such a limited selection of colours, though. Essentially, the most you can do is slightly tinted white with those sets. Both Ice and Earth were given a limited selection of colours because, if I read BABs right, other colours ended up making them look like "cartoony gems." There was this whole theory that the developers didn't want yellow ice which I never bought, but there was something to do with the aesthetics of Earth and Ice when used outside of the limited pallets they're given.

Personally, I feel that all of these should be given the full range of power customization, even if their customizable variants ended up looking radically different from the powers, themselves. Obviously, that's up to Tunnel Rat to decide, but I'd still like to at least suggest it.

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obsidius Count me as one of those players who is saddened that progress is being retarded by those unwilling to let go of the DE avatar. I can understand where they're coming from, but being able to customize a swappable avatar is going to take FAR more work than making GA more akin to Crystal or Brimstone armor, which already have swappable textures and customizable colors, without replacing the character's avatar outright.

Something important to keep in mind is that this feature is still unscheduled, which means that both the time allotted for it and the actual "deadline" for its completion are up in the air. This gives the FX team some flexibility to investigate what the players really want out of this feature, and to make adjustments accordingly. I’ve already done a few hours of preliminary research into customizing Granite Armor, so I have a good idea of how much time it'll take to accommodate the desires of the pro-Devouring Earth camp. Ultimately, I don't think this additional investment will have a significant impact on the feature's launch date.

I am quite happy to have received so much feedback about Granite Armor from all sorts of different perspectives, though. It's an indication that it's something you guys really want, and I'm always happy to try to accommodate specific, long-standing requests.


Also, thanks for the reports about the bugged path auras. We are actively looking into this.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for looking Granite Armor. I made a stone tank long ago when customization first came out, and I've been dying for Granite's customization to come. Thank you.

I understand the no ETA set for this; I am am curious if there might be one for Venomous Gas? It went live without the means to customize it, and was afraid--like Granite--the day might not come for its customiztion...ing.

Thanks for checking back with us! If you ever want honest opinions on any set or Power we will be happy to respond!

Thanks Tunnel Rat. In any case, I'm just glad this is still under research and hasn't fallen off the radar entirely

I'm sure this was probably mentioned at some point, but why not just have the original granite armor as one of the selections in the customize area? Sort of like how with every single other power you can select "original" "dark" "light" etc. Just have "original" and "customizable" as the two options, and let them not look the same.

Because the mechanic is completely different than other armors or almost anything else in the game besides Kheldian shape shifts. It doesn't add anything to your character's avatar - it replaces it entirely with a new model. The model isn't designed to be color tinted (although some MA tech might be able to fix this), and the PowCust code doesn't support customizing that sort of tech. Any way you hack it, new tech and perhaps a newer GUI would be needed.

Hey, while you're working on that, don't forget the good 'ole Kheldian forms. Equally important to those that like Kheldians, or those that don't play them or the forms because of their current locked in look.

Seeing a convergence of interests here between these ideas and the image Golden Girl posted recently of the new four legged rig canine from the new Halloween event (which Zwill has confirmed as a new rig and others have indicated may be part of the [wolf pet] non combat power):

True customization of alternate body forms activated by power type, including the tech and CC interface design to manage these options. This could open up the door for either a more general shape shifting AT or shape shifting powersets nested within existing ATs, complete with things like customizable wolf forms, etc. Just sayin'...

So.....what's the status on Hasten and/or Super Speed power customization?