Do you want your character portraits to be like Baldur's Gate or NWN2?

[ValarMorghulis]

2D portraits for sure. However whether they should be BG style or the darker IWD style shoudl depend ont he atmosphere of PE right? I mean IWD had a much darker feel to it and the portraits fit the game's atmosphere. Either way I feel OE should allow custom PC and companion portraits to be uploaded so each gamer is happy.

[Kurumi Morishita]

I'd like to see some kind of IWD-styled 2D portraits that are made (and updated!) from your 3D model. Guess something like that could be achieved through filters?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I think that they should have some portraits like they did in BG.

 

Also, I think that we should have the option to import our own portraits.

[Jarmo]

NWN2 needed the face creation system for the main game, because the 3D models in game had detailed faces.

I'd assume Eternity's in game 3D models to be maybe about the same level as in NWN. Don't need the higher polygon count when everything is viewed fro higher up.

 

So the detailed 3D face modeling system would be just for the portraits. Doesn't make sense to me.

And even in NWN2, the faces were so butt ugly I couldn't use an elf character even when I wanted, because my eyes started bleeding. (And the same in Skyrim)

 

Elves are slender forest people, with unsurpassed archery skills and faces that look like crows arse.

[Eldmore]

Baldur's gate, definitely

[eselle28]

I'm strongly in favor of 2D portraits, with perhaps a 3D sprite in the inventory screen showing armor. I think portraits solve a lot of controversies and complaints about characters in the game being too ugly/pretty or too sexualized/prudish-looking. There are enough high-quality portrait sets available that most people should be able to find some that fit their preferences. Beyond that, I think 2D portraits are a nice way to get around the whole "hide helmet option" debate, since they let people equip appropriate protective gear without sacrificing the feeling of being able to see their character's face. And portraits seem to make life a little easier on modders as well, or at least on the ones who like to design new joinable companions.

[BasaltineBadger]

I'm in for the 2D portraits, but they should do more player's portraits, because there was not enough of them in the BG2. If there's no money to make a decent number of them they should go NVN route and make a lot of portraits but use them as faces of other NPCs through the game.

[Hormalakh]

I'm in for the 2D portraits, but they should do more player's portraits, because there was not enough of them in the BG2. If there's no money to make a decent number of them they should go NVN route and make a lot of portraits but use them as faces of other NPCs through the game.

 

If they make modding and importing portraits a breeze, this shouldn't be a problem. You could probably use some of your favorite portraits from NVN, ID, BG, if you pleased.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Hormalakh

[GrinningReaper659]

I would definitely prefer 2d portraits as in BG and IWD (and, as someone has already mentioned, perhaps a greater wealth of options than there was in BG), and the inability to select a portrait that belongs to an in-game NPC by default, I don't see any reason to include those as options. Also, of course, the ability to import custom portraits enables those that can't find something they like to simply import something that they do like.

[Feldoth]

Why not something in between? I posted this while kickstarter was still going crazy, so it got buried pretty fast, but so far I've not heard any (accurate) criticism of it: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61508-layered-portraits/

 

It doesn't account for everything, but I think it provides a nice balance between 2D art and customization.

[Tiax Rules All]

What do you think?

Custom made BG avatar.

<----------

I make all my own. I got celebs of all types and did myself and a few friends too back in the day. i love playing IWD with a full part of custom portraits I made too. Can't get any more personalized then that

 

Also. First post. Hi everybody.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Tiax Rules All

[Hormalakh]

Make me one?

[Hormalakh]

Why not something in between? I posted this while kickstarter was still going crazy, so it got buried pretty fast, but so far I've not heard any (accurate) criticism of it: http://forums.obsidi...ered-portraits/

 

It doesn't account for everything, but I think it provides a nice balance between 2D art and customization.

 

I read your ideas, but I was honestly confused. Did you want layers so that when your character wears a helmet, it would unlock tahat layer in your portrait or were you talking strictly about changing colors and the like for a single image? I feel that a image editor sort of isn't worth the trouble for devs because one could always do that in photoshop and reimport the portrait.

[Stalwart Pikeman]

It depends on how much customization we actually have on the ingame model. If we can't change much, then I'd rather have the BG2 style. If we can change a lot give me a 3D head.

[Imrahyl]

I would put on "Options" the possibility to choose between them, adding a custom portrait option too. My choose would be the drawn portraits (Baldur´s Gate), I never liked Dragon Age or Neverwinter Nights 2 portraits, they were so...cold, I don´t know how to explain it better.

 

But there is no need to implement just one of them, I don´t think it´s so hard to implement both. More options, more happy customers (gamers)!

[Hormalakh]

I would put on "Options" the possibility to choose between them, adding a custom portrait option too. My choose would be the drawn portraits (Baldur´s Gate), I never liked Dragon Age or Neverwinter Nights 2 portraits, they were so...cold, I don´t know how to explain it better.

 

But there is no need to implement just one of them, I don´t think it´s so hard to implement both. More options, more happy customers (gamers)!

 

The problem is that developer time is a limited-resource. By focusing on both at the same time, we will get two mediocre systems instead of one robust, well-designed one. It's always a give and take when it comes to a limited budget and time.

[Labadal]

I want the portraits to be made by an artist. I don't care much for the way NWN2 handled portaits.

[Michael_Galt]

I prefer Arcanum or IWD 2 portraits. I don't care if they "change"- we're not talking about the passage of decades here. I want to have a good idea of what my companions look like, that is all.

[Feldoth]

Why not something in between? I posted this while kickstarter was still going crazy, so it got buried pretty fast, but so far I've not heard any (accurate) criticism of it: http://forums.obsidi...ered-portraits/

 

It doesn't account for everything, but I think it provides a nice balance between 2D art and customization.

 

I read your ideas, but I was honestly confused. Did you want layers so that when your character wears a helmet, it would unlock tahat layer in your portrait or were you talking strictly about changing colors and the like for a single image? I feel that a image editor sort of isn't worth the trouble for devs because one could always do that in photoshop and reimport the portrait.

 

It's entirely about color changing, and possibly show/hide for a few things (that's secondary and something I'd want them to implement only if it was easy to do). Getting new gear and such would have no change on the portrait. It also doesn't require any in-game method of changing the colors, so long as they create the portraits in a layered format and provide them with the game files we can, as you said, import them into photoshop and colorize them ourselves. An in-game way to do this would just be a nice touch, especially for those who do not know anything about image editing, and would encourage the community to create new portraits in the same format so they would work with the coloring system (flat pictures could be used as well, but not colored).

 

It's all about creating the portraits in a manner and format that is easily color-able, all else is secondary (stretch goals if you will).

[Tiax Rules All]

Make me one?

 

heh, I might start into it again. do you have a request? Subject/class/colors any other details...

 

Here are a sampling of others I made by request:

 

Edited October 21, 2012 by Tiax Rules All

[Tiax Rules All]

[Tiax Rules All]

oh including some sillier ones of a buddy of mine...

 

 

 

and of course they work perfectly in game...

 

aight done posting my stuff for now. But anyways. Def stick with the 2d artist portaits please...

Edited October 21, 2012 by Tiax Rules All

[Bokob]

The best character portrait generator I've seen came from the only game that didn't really required one... namely EvE online. You create a character from scratch, shape it, dress it, find a cool position with a background, take a picture, save it and you'll never see anything but that picture (Althought I heard that changed). The portraits are extremely realistic but they are also static.

 

In the case of this game, that might be overkill to go in so much details. I liked the BG way of doing it back in the day but if techology allows it, I won't say no to a bit more in dept character creation. Dragon Age:Origins had a decent character creator I think, not too detailed but enough to make your character unique to your eyes. Althought If I'm never going to see my character up close, a selection of epic painted portraits would still make me happy at the end of the day.

 

Addendum: Tiax Rules All, awesome portraits =)

 

Addendum 2: This was the portrait of my Character in EvE, for example of what I meant by "a bit overkill" (also portrait is in low res, computer obliged) http://imageshack.us...33/90410888.jpg

Edited October 21, 2012 by Bokob

[Kyecthus]

Personally I could go either way on 2d or 3d portraits, what I would like to see is the portrait act as a status monitor. Much easier to glance at a picture to see when I'm close to death, or poisoned, etc. That would probably be easier to achieve with a 3d portrait rather than artist rendered.

[teknoman2]

Why not something in between? I posted this while kickstarter was still going crazy, so it got buried pretty fast, but so far I've not heard any (accurate) criticism of it: http://forums.obsidi...ered-portraits/

 

It doesn't account for everything, but I think it provides a nice balance between 2D art and customization.

 

I read your ideas, but I was honestly confused. Did you want layers so that when your character wears a helmet, it would unlock tahat layer in your portrait or were you talking strictly about changing colors and the like for a single image? I feel that a image editor sort of isn't worth the trouble for devs because one could always do that in photoshop and reimport the portrait.

when you make the 3D model of your character in a game you get to choose from various hair styles, colors, face types and so on, combine them and create your avatar. what he means, is they can implement something like that in a 2D image fashion. so you have 10 faces, 15 hair styles, 5 hair colors and 8 clothe types, all made in 2D BG style for your portrait. you can combine them any way you want to make a custom portrait for your character

however i still think the best solution is to make a character in 3D and then take a picture of him and use it as a portrait... EVE style for those who know, with maybe a an effect added to make it look hand drawn