Creating custom in-game avatar

[Sedrefilos]

I know this won't be a full 3d game so my guess is that they won't have a 3d avatar cration tool like all recent crpgs as Dragon Age, Fallout NV, NWN2 etc...

 

And, to be honest, I never liked to choose from pre-drawn for me portraits.

 

So, I thought that maybe we could see a 2d avatar creator in game like this one:

http://www.ageofgame...asy-avatar.html

 

I believe it would be cool. What do you think?

Edited October 25, 2012 by Sedrefilos

[chunkalot]

That's pretty badass actually, made a pretty cool looking warrior.

[Sistergoldring]

I'm not going to lie, I would absolutely knock myself out making avatars with something like this. I'd LOVE it.

[Sensuki]

The avatar is the representation in the game, the paperdoll is the inventory one.

 

I prefer the BG/IWD1 system. Painted Portrats, stylized Inventory paperdoll and in-game avatar.

 

Obviously with character models being 3D, they might opt for IWD2 / Titan Quest / etc style where the Paperdoll is the avatar but closer up.

 

I am not too fussed about faces and stuff, you won't get to see them that much. More concerned about gear changing the look when you wear it.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Sensuki

[DocDoomII]

If I'm not mistaken they said the game will have portraits like in the IE games.

 

And I'm happy about it. I love to go hunting on Teh Internet™ for fantasy art to use as portrait.

[Sedrefilos]

Both pre-drawn/import and custom creation can be in the game

[DocDoomII]

The end result with a custom creation tool would most probably be subpar compared to a fully hand drawn portrait from a real artist anyway, so what's the point?

If you are good at drawing, then do so.

 

Collages are terrible, they lack of personality since every piece can be used to create dozens of different, yet slightly similar avatars.

Very sad.

Edited October 25, 2012 by DocDoomII

[Carmelle]

Only issue I have with hand-drawn portraits with in game characters and such is, the discontinuity between the portrait and what my character looks like in game. In the older games it wasn't too bad since the in game model/sprite was small enough where I couldn't really notice too much (minus the gear I guess), but if the new one will use 3d models, how detailed will they be? Will there be cutscenes or pre-scripted scenes where you end up seeing the model up closer?

 

I really do like the look of hand-drawn portraits, it's just the disconnect that gets me I suppose. That said, I'll easily spend hours in a character creator if it's done well Like in City of Heroes/Villains...oh god, I don't even wanna think of how much time I spent making costumes and characters in there... but if it's ****ty (Lineage 2 springs to mind) and every character looks the same, that kinda sucks too :/

 

The one thing that is definitely a huge plus for custom-made avatars (2d, 3d, whatever) is that I find you get attached to them more, since they're an object of your creation and the representation of your character in the world...makes for a stronger link.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Carmelle

[DocDoomII]

They are not gonna use 3D portraits like in NWN2. They said it will be 2D.

Edited October 25, 2012 by DocDoomII

[Carmelle]

They are not gonna use 3D portraits like in NWN2. They said it will be 2D.

 

Good to know.. just to clarify though: I was referring to the 3d model itself, not the portrait. And the sort of disconnect that occurs if the model looks one way (or changes with gear or whatever) while the portrait remains static and looks another way.

[DocDoomII]

They are not gonna use 3D portraits like in NWN2. They said it will be 2D.

 

Good to know.. just to clarify though: I was referring to the 3d model itself, not the portrait. And the sort of disconnect that occurs if the model looks one way (or changes with gear or whatever) while the portrait remains static and looks another way.

Well, it's not like you go to get a new ID Card with a new photo every time you change clothes or your beard grows. Right?

[TheDogProfessor]

I know that the post states avatars, not portraits, but they seem to be a topic on this thread so I'll say my piece: I really like having painted/drawn portraits. I think having artists of the calibre of Justin Sweet, for example, can really help to add atmosphere to a game that I feel isn't achieved by computer-rendered portraits.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Ape_Style

[Eryss]

I think it would be cool if you could upload your own portrait into the game. That way you can make your own, or grab one from one of the older games, or whatever you want.

 

As for the actual avatar character creator, hopefully it's pretty deep. Lots of people love to spend hours with those.

[BBMorti]

Make portrait in that avatar creator, import it into the game. I don't see any need for it as part of the game.

[Malkaven]

I know this won't be a full 3d game so my guess is that they won't have a 3d avatar cration tool like all recent crpgs as Dragon Age, Fallout NV, NWN2 etc...

 

And, to be honest, I never liked to choose from pre-drawn for me portraits.

 

So, I thought that maybe we could see a 2d avatar creator in game like this one:

http://www.ageofgame...asy-avatar.html

 

I believe it would be cool. What do you think?

 

Very cool and nice find. I can't wait to go home and try importing them in BG to see how they look.

[Hormalakh]

This is a grat website. If they allow us to import in images, this would be a great site to go to if I can't find an image that would fit my character. It would be wasteful for them to actually create this again in-game. Why not just use this one?

[Pshaw]

I think they should just give you your set amount of character portraits and allow you to import any image file you want that is cropped to the right sizes. This does kind of cover all bases since you could use that creation tool to export to the game that way. I personally prefer something a bit more painterly so if they don't have default choices that I like I really want to be able to get something from the internet that suits my character.

[LadyCrimson]

I like the website/creator, but it needs a lot more basic options. They can come out looking rather generic, at least for my personal tastes. I didn't try uploading my own pic tho, I'm sure that helps a lot.

 

As long as we can use our own custom images if we want, I don't think we need an image generator built into the game when it's generally so easy these days to find/create your own image and import it.

[Naesh]

I liked the portraits in Baldurs Gate 1 as opposed to Baldurs Gate 2. (Compare the bg1-2 portraits of Jaheira for example. )

 

I hope portraits will be moddable / replacable. When i played bg2 the first thing was for me to replace the bg2 portraits with fitting photoshopped cosplayers portraits from the web. Much better experience. Anyway, i trust in the decision of the devs.

 

I hope they will consider making multiple portraits of characters, depending on their physical and emotional status (health, for example).

 

I want the portrait of a poisoned companion to look sick.

When someone is on the verge of death they could look a bit roughed up, a bleeding nose is not necessarily too distasteful.

 

By "emotional status" i mean that the portraits could change depending on what they feel at the moment - if they are frightened they should look frightened, etc. Plus, you could include multiple different portraits of the same status - and then use one based on a random variable. Not too much effort and there would be a variety in this too.

 

If you think about it we will look at these portraits for a really great amount of time. Small effort - big improvement.

 

Plus, i want the option to import a custom portrait for my character. Yeah. This will be fun.

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

I'm all for hand drawn portraits rather than 3d renders or animated heads (a'la Starcraft). Pre drawn portraits have their pros and cons though. If one of the predefined character looks happens to suit your vision it's awesome, mainly because it it more expressive and coherent than those created with in-game face generators (like in Mass Effect). The down side is when you have too few pre drawn portraits to choose from and none of them is looking like you want it to look.

It would be cool to have a hybrid system which would involve pre drawn portraits but allow, with the use of layers maybe, for the change of facial features or clothes/armour... Maybe something like the tools that police uses - you want your knight to have an eye-patch, click and you have it. That way we could have good looking painterly portraits and some flexibility in customizing them.

 

Naesh's idea of having multiple portraits for poisoned or bleeding characters is cool. As is the one with the emotional statuses.

 

Btw. couldn't help it (BGEE is still not here) and installed my BG1 couple of days ago. I took a stab at creating my own character portrait from a photoref. I sure hope PE will have an option to import character images.

Her name's An Yi, she's a thief/assassin, former Zhentarim.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Solviulnir the Soulbinder

[JFSOCC]

I'd been hoping for an excuse to discuss it.

I would like to be able to import my own images into the portrait gallery.

[.Leif.]

Though with sufficient options you can have a lot of fun (Skyrim, Eve Online,etc), I typically prefer 2D portraits to 3D. More often than not there aren't nearly enough options to switch through. My support for 3D portraits hinges on the number of things they will let me tweak. You absolutely have to have 2D portraits though, it's the IWD/BG/PT way.