Art Poll: Signature Characters

The terminology used in scandinavian languages and most translations are more along the lines of "Shield-maidens".

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Very funny. But really, reflectivity only comes up if we're looking at a new part that would logically be shiny (like metal armor). By contrast, it's not going to come up on materials like cloth and fur, which you'll see on future costume options just as much as metal and other materials. Given the choice between a measured amount of reflectivity on metal and none at all, we've of course chosen the more visually impressive and modern option. Over time, we'll have to reconcile that decision with the older parts, but that's part of ongoing development. Work in progress.

Yes, totally agree. Were we to do more medieval armor, I'd like to see it accurately represent the time period, i.e. not very reflective at all.

Actually, it sort of does, going by some closer looks at the HUD Combat aura, the 'sweeping eye' used by Titans and Assault Bots, the night vision goggles used by the KoA, and the skins of the Coralax.

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.

So are non-reflective versions of reflective parts on the table for that theoretical toggle you discussed for legacy parts? As I mentioned in the All Things Art thread, I'm generally not a fan of the reflective parts due to the discoloration the reflections cause. It's cool tech but I have trouble using them on some of my characters due to it messing up my color choices.

ZOMG!!!! I can haz fur soon™!?!?!?!

*faints*

I tried the Justice Boots with kneepads, and they just looked ridiculous on her.
But that was just that one costume piece that "didn't fit" on her (imo), because of the shape and styling. If unique kneepads were designed for Valkyrie, I'd want them to match the styling used for the Enforcer Chest Detail and actually be affixed to the knee(s), rather than being a plate that sticks up from the shin of the boot.

Oh I don't disagree with you there. I just didn't spend the time to keep running back and forth to ICON so as to exactly match the precise shade of blonde that (original) Valkyrie has. Or if you've got a better color mix for blonde you'd like to suggest, I can whip up a new costume on the Test Server really easily to make use of it and go and grab some new screenshots using it. It's not like I'm "wedded" to that exact pair of shades of yellow. The thing is, when I tried deviating from it, I kept winding up with something that looked "too brassy" and kept backing out the changes. I just went with "good enough" to get the idea across in this case.

Yeah ... but ... I don't exactly have access to that sort of thing in the costume creator on Test Server ...

You're not the only one. I've been noticing that same sort of effect on my opinion too! The more I look at that Metallic Tights and Justice version of Valkyrie, the more I keep thinking, "Yup. That's her!"

In fact, it's getting to the point where I look at the original Valkyrie costume ... and feel disappointed (and sorry for her). Now, granted ... I'm a bit more biased in favor of my own creation than most people around here (I assume), and I'm not ashamed to admit it. But I still think it would be totally awesome if David had the NPC Costuming Team use "my" Valkyrie as the basis for a Valkyrie 2.0 when Steel Canyon gets revamped (or even earlier, if they can swing it on the schedule).

I'd love to ... but Noble Savage would have to give me "access" in order to do that with the publicly available costume creator (which somehow, I don't think he can swing for me).

So I work with what've got available to me, and figure that if Noble Savage (and friends) *do* pick up "my" Valkyrie as the basis for a Valkyrie 2.0 update, the final result won't look exactly like my costume code save file (and I'm fine with that).

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

I was thinking the same thing, but for spiky pointy bits.

And please, good sir, if chainmail anything is ever added, please please PLEASE don't use a skin that makes it look like the rings are the size of dinner plates? Rings with an interior diameter of about 3/8" are a more realistic size. ^_^

That's a great question, but I'd have to ask Tunnelrat.

This is my favorite of any of the re-designs posted here so far. Very true to the original while still being new look. Something along these lines that really played with the feathers theme would be great.

And I think those p'shoppin' skills are pretty solid. Nice job.

I'd love to know the answer myself. Having some solid tech parts with buttons and lights would work wonderfully with alternate animations for some powers. I'd much rather engage Cloaking Device with a touch on my tech gauntlet or blinking belt than the current animation - which is probably best described as 'trouble at toilet time'.

I was thinking you could use effects like that to really go to town on an update for Citadel and Luminary.

As you've seen, visual updates for signature characters often coincide with major new storyarcs involving those characters (for example, the Praetorian storyline at the heart of GOING ROGUE). So Art would have to get a plan from Design before it really makes sense to massively rework those characters.

Which characters might Design have in its sights? I'll never tell, but I do like your ideas about new shinies.

Well.. with the Signature Story Arcs maybe I've guessed right and you folks are planning on killing off Citadel only to have him come back months later, upgraded and awesome.

Hahah thanks.. I forgot to add I made her hair black, not sure if that's good, it set's her whole outfit in neutral. Like an American Indian theme only pale skinned.

Not entirely true; it depends a lot more on the social standing of the person the armor belongs to. The common soldiers would have basic utilitarian armor, perhaps issued from their lord's armory when the troops were to take the field, where the care would consist of periodically rolling them in barrels of sand to remove any rust that was forming. Get up to the nobility, and you would likely see someone having a set of 'parade' armor that, while it may have been fully as proof as their regular armor, wasn't primarily intended to be fought in, and was often chased or enameled or gilded on top of being kept polished, all to present a more impressive image of the noble. The higher-ranking the noble, the more important it was for them to be seen to be noble (and sumptuary laws might be used to preserve social distinctions by restricting what kinds of clothing and armor someone could wear, to prevent them from being mistaken as someone of a higher social class).

So you might have a polished but still dark utilitarian armor, like that of Count Galleazzo da Arco from 1445, contrasting with the highly polished and reflective armor parade of Emperor Maximilian I in 1490 (when he was still Archduke, and the ornately enameled parade armor of Prince Nikolaus IV ('The Black') from 1555:


And could you please find someone to look at the code for the forums to find out why I can go to the root forum page, be welcomed by name, click on the 'City Life' forum, be told there that the forum doesn't know who I am and I have to log in, doing so, then opening a forum message, clicking on a 'Quote' button to open a reply editor, then when I click on 'Submit Reply' be told again that the forum doesn't know me from Adam's off ox, and when I sign in again it throws everything out the window and shows me a black page with no content... three times... all in the space of five minutes?

Wouldn't they be animated textures similar to the strobing lights on the signature crab helmets?

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...