Character graphics: Please have multiple body types, heights

[sugaki]

So I was a huge BG1/BG2 fan, but graphically one thing that bugged me about the Infinity Engine games was that all the characters looked the same. Granted, with the resolution and isometric perspective there are limitations, but one easy way to add visual variety is to have varied body types--morbidly obese, heavyset, normal, skinny, gaunt. And different heights. When everybody has the same body frame and same height it looks rather generic.

[Oerwinde]

As long as they don't do it like swtor where they left out "normal" and only have gaunt, skinny, beefcake, and bodybuilder santa.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

Makes sense if it could be done in the engine. The Infinity Engine literally had one template for 'fighter male human' so only the coloring of the skin/hair/clothing could be changed. Ever see Minsc without a helmet? He has white hair because the engine didn't have a bald model and white was the closest thing to blend in with his body.

[drgonzo]

Yeah that would be nice.

[kirottu]

More options in character generation is always a good thing.

[sugaki]

Makes sense if it could be done in the engine. The Infinity Engine literally had one template for 'fighter male human' so only the coloring of the skin/hair/clothing could be changed. Ever see Minsc without a helmet? He has white hair because the engine didn't have a bald model and white was the closest thing to blend in with his body.

 

Yeah that always bugged me about Minsc--thought he didn't look that different from Keldorn.

[evdk]

If it has some influence on mechanics, why not.

[Vin]

More than better dress-up options, and significantly more than romance subplots, I want this. Very much. The ability to change the basic build and height of your character. I mean, they'll be tiny sprites, so what size chin they have or the shape of their eyes is pointless, but a little appearance diversity would be welcome.

As a five-foot-two-and-a-half-inches-tall chick, I want the ability to make a shorter, slimmer character -- one that's not a halfling or an elf. Just... it would be nice.

Being able to make a male human that is not a hulking meatsack would be refreshing, too.

[thracian]

i also want elder body types. in most games we are forced to play mid-aged persons.

[Nonek]

TOEE did it well, in my opinion.

[Zoma]

Obsidian will be burdened with more work on the armor appearance since they have will have to create even more variations to fit the different sizes. Currently they have to build three different variations for each three different races who may already have different body shapes.

 

For example, if we have to add skinny, obese, heavy body sizes, that means 9 different armor variations Obsidian will have to create for each race. Now we're hitting the 1.8 million anytime soon, that will be 5 races meaning 15 different armor variations for each race.

 

In short, that's ALOT of resources to put in for this cosmetic feature and we may end up with fewer item varieties. Its not that I don't like the feature. Its a great idea, but I rather like to see it being implemented in sequels where we could focus more on aesthetics than on the game engine which is pretty much a higher priority in my opinion.

[pipboy2000]

Yes! I like the idea! If your party consists of a small, skinny, agile thief an an enormous, bulky barbarian, it should be clearly visible who is who on the battlefield...

[Sylvius the Mad]

While I don't particularly need different body types, I will point out that NWN had overweight models available for the player.

[entrerix]

im on board with this request.

 

there should be at least 3-4 different bodies per race and gender combo. there should be several head choices as well. portraits are more important, but the character model for the pc should at least be interesting to look at and customizable. the ones in baldurs gate were way too plain.

 

i'd be ok if they went the torment route for the companions and gave each of them a unique model

[Delterius]

If it has some influence on mechanics, why not.

 

Well, I'd say especially if mechanics are affected because that's the ideal goal. But this doesn't seem like intensive work, so I don't see why not.

[Pangur]

Well... With NWN-like graphics, these things would matter to me. But if they are inch-high figures, I must admit, I don't really care about their height or body type.

[Troller]

Some traits like the arcanum ones, character too tall, too skinny, or too fat, having some effects on strength, dex and con, and armor class, thats pretty cool

[Tauron]

more variety in terms of charcreation is always good, even if it is subtle.

[BasaltineBadger]

IMO:

-every recruitable NPC should have unique sprite like in PS:T, elf party member should be distinguishable from every other elf immediately

-PC can look generic, but I'd rather have him have one fixed unique look (which means two sets of sprites per race), like in Bloodlines

 

I'm not that much into customization, especially face customization because I usually end-up with rubbish.

[pipboy2000]

I'm not that much into customization, especially face customization because I usually end-up with rubbish.

 

That reminds me of my first Oblivion face customization: At first, I was astonished how ugly the default face was, then, after ten minutes of fiddling with all the options my character was of such a tremendous ugliness, a Quasimodo-like freak, that the default face, all of a sudden, looked like a really good trade off...

[PsychoBlonde]

So I was a huge BG1/BG2 fan, but graphically one thing that bugged me about the Infinity Engine games was that all the characters looked the same. Granted, with the resolution and isometric perspective there are limitations, but one easy way to add visual variety is to have varied body types--morbidly obese, heavyset, normal, skinny, gaunt. And different heights. When everybody has the same body frame and same height it looks rather generic.

 

Yay, it's someone who seems aware that they probably won't be able to see their eyeshadow!

 

If the budget allows for it I'd totally like to have a set of options for your character model other than just Generic Human Female. They can (probably?) do height on a slider, it's not like there's going to be cinematics where it's important that your mouth and your LI's are on the same level. This would also allow for greater variety with NPC's.

[duskwind]

For example, if we have to add skinny, obese, heavy body sizes, that means 9 different armor variations Obsidian will have to create for each race. Now we're hitting the 1.8 million anytime soon, that will be 5 races meaning 15 different armor variations for each race.

 

Or they could just make height and thickness scaleable, with different default/min/max values for each race, and automatically adjust armour to match, which means just two basic variations (male and female). How complex the scaling would need to be depends on how close up we see the characters.

[eimatshya]

Ideally I would like to see more variety in body type than we saw in the Infinity Engine games, but I would prefer them spend money on story, dialogue, encounter design, making multiple solutions to problems, etc. than on cosmetic variations. While I like having interesting visuals, I don't think they make or break a game--I haven't been playing Fallout 2 for fourteen years because of the character models.

 

So, if they can implement varied character models without negatively impacting the development of other areas, then sure. But I don't think it should be a priority.

[Shades]

TOEE did it well, in my opinion.

 

I agree, something like ToEE probably wouldn't be too difficult to implement depending on what ends up being used. Just a system where you can make your character taller/shorter and wider/thinner and the character and items scale to match that so you don't need to make a range of specific body builds and items to match them.

[Tychoxi]

are we sure we are facing sprites? couldn't it be 2.5D (or whatever it may be called when you have 3D models in 2D backgrounds)? wouldn't that actually ease up a lot of work?