Dwarven beards in PE

[IrienUK]

Great to see progress on dwarves for PE in the latest newsletter.  As someone who tends to roleplay dwarves in

video games, I had a few requests come out of that email.

 

Firstly, it sounds like the dwarf has been created as a "smaller human" and my concern is that this can result

in problems with animations/stature/posture.  The original Everquest had some issues with this, for example, when

it introduced its new graphics engine.  Legs ended up a little disproportionate, and some animations/build options

that were possible previously disappeared.  Hopefully the engine will be flexible enough to accomodate racial traits

such as sturdier legs, and variable length limbs to allow the kind of sturdy dwarf that high fantasy requires.  This

differs to the JRPG stylings where dwarves end up looking like elf-children (sigh).

 

Secondly, will it be possible to have longer beards?  Sounds silly, I'm sure, but often facial hair is designed for

Human builds, and copied across to other races as necessary, so you don't get the kind of full-body beard that

games like Warhammer or D&D describe (memories of the D&D spell SilverBeard come to mind).

 

Finally, beards on female dwarves.  Most games these days seem totally based on western-human views on

what makes an attractive human female (breast size, face proportions, lips, hairstyle, ass).  It is rare to see

games offer different approaches for other races.  However, games like Everquest (1 & 2) show that it is

possible to offer different takes on females for other races.  Dwarf females can have beards, for example,

perhaps suitably manicured or inlaid with jewels etc.  In those games, lizard, ogre and feline races had very

different options for the female appearance.

[motorizer]

I hate beards on female dwarves ....please no to that...

its not even original, it's just a cliche that died out...I was kind of thinking about playing a female dwarf..and I'll be pissed off if they have beards...

[Wirdjos]

I have been wondering about how different races are going to be handled in P:E. I like the idea of different ideas of beauty, especially when your whole genetic makeup is different, and I'm hoping for a great deal of visual differences. However, P:E as it stands now seems like a world of great cultural diffusion. It seems like there has been enough mingling between the various races to make culture, and thus perceptions of beauty, a thing not tied to race. I'm really interested to see how this state of the world (if it does turn out to be the state) plays out.

 

 

I hate beards on female dwarves ....please no to that...

its not even original, it's just a cliche that died out...I was kind of thinking about playing a female dwarf..and I'll be pissed off if they have beards...

 

I'm all about options and giving the option to create a beardless dwarf seems like an easy one, time and money wise. Would it ruin female dwarves for you if any of them had beards or only if you had to create a bearded one?

[jivex5k]

I hate beards on female dwarves ....please no to that...

its not even original, it's just a cliche that died out...I was kind of thinking about playing a female dwarf..and I'll be pissed off if they have beards...

 

They woudn't be mandatory though.

Don't limit others because of your close minded view about female dwarf beards.

 

And yes please to entire body length beards.

Dwarves should take great pride in their beards, and should have a large variety of beard styles.

 

In fact, I'd love to get some epic beard style as a quest, you have to seek out the beard master.  It would be a beard that redefined the meaning of beard.

 

A beard so grand, to gaze upon it would cause one to tear up at it's magnificence. That's the beard I want.

Edited February 6, 2013 by jivex5k

[rjshae]

I hear that dwarven females actually have their beards down below... but that is probably just a rumor.

Edited February 6, 2013 by rjshae

[motorizer]

Well I don't particularly want to role play a dwarf woman that shaves and gets 5 o clock shadow either

 

It's not about options for me..It's something I find silly is all..

 

how about beards for elf women instead? that's not a cliche....

 

 

I'm gonna pull out the old "resources" chestnut on this one...it would take far too much of the many extra millions they raised on kickstarter to add them in

Edited February 6, 2013 by motorizer

[TRX850]

There's no reason a full length beard couldn't react the same way as an apron.  i.e. like a cape on back to front.  It could be fitted to the character like a permanent "face apron".

[Falkon Swiftblade]

On beauty – only in America do I see Bikini babes that are 'super hot.' In other country's they like snaggle teeth, fat women, or modest dressed women, etc. The Egyptian's made the whole coke bottle look for women the ideal image of beauty based upon the idol of one of their gods, which showed her to have torpedo boobs and a very thick rump. Because we see it used so much over and over, our society thinks that's supposed to be hot, even though a tiny margin of women actually look like that without the use of fancy brazier's or cosmetic surgery. I'd like the PE team emphasize different body types. Maybe one race has really elaborate ears, maybe one race has different tattoos that make them exotic, Maybe a woman might be of a giant race and be very slender or considerably thick, but if she is– its ok to make her still have pretty eyes or feminine features without forcing her to be masculine. I don't think every man should be a Greek Athlete or Arnold Govenator, nor every lady to be a seductress. There's room for big and tall, wide and small. Hairy faced Women I suppose could be an option, but I don't think it really defines that character in a way that benefits them. It's kinda like a cat with a wing on its back, sure it's kinda an anomaly, but why is it there? If its a feature for male and female, I would prefer it still made sense. 

[jivex5k]

LOL!

There's no country where snaggle teeth is a desirable quality.

 

Hairy women...dude it's a culture thing. No different than choosing to wear jewelry.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

LOL!

There's no country where snaggle teeth is a desirable quality.

 

Hairy women...dude it's a culture thing. No different than choosing to wear jewelry.

 

Oh, au contraire mon ami, Boosh! http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/beauty/japanese-snaggletooth-craze-spawns-dental-procedures-girl-group-194500258.html 

[Alexjh]

The only thing I particularly have against the whole "female dwarves have beards" thing is the fact it stems from a fairly half hearted excuse to explain why you never saw female dwarves in early fantasy. I'd kind of preferred they did something interesting with it that reflects that they arent just a type of human, they are their own thing: so either going to some unusual sexual dimorphism (perhaps females are rarer, but they are actually bigger than the males), or that when they are wearing something that hides their shape there is nothing facially that registers as female about a female dwarf.  Seeing that we've already seen a female dwarf who looks decidedly female I think we can rule those out, but I would like to see something intresting done with this for preference.

[TRX850]

 

The eyes, cheekbones, and forehead go a long way to preserving the female likeness.

 

[jivex5k]

 

LOL!

There's no country where snaggle teeth is a desirable quality.

 

Hairy women...dude it's a culture thing. No different than choosing to wear jewelry.

 

Oh, au contraire mon ami, Boosh! http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/beauty/japanese-snaggletooth-craze-spawns-dental-procedures-girl-group-194500258.html 

HAHA OMG!

That's...wow, japan sure likes little girls.

[J.E. Sawyer]

We will probably have a variety of beard lengths, though we will avoid lengths that require separate weighting of facial hair or would cause obvious clipping issues.

 

Dwarves in Project Eternity don't have an inherent racial affinity for beards.  Dwarves from the Aedyr (like humans from the Aedyr) typically don't have beards because the Aedyr has a hot climate.  Dwarves from the Vailian Republics (where they are more common) or farther south often do have beards.  Regardless of where your character is from, if you want to make a dwarf with a big ol' beard, you will be able to do that.

 

We do not plan to have female dwarf beards.

[Jarmo]

We will probably have a variety of beard lengths, though we will avoid lengths that require separate weighting of facial hair or would cause obvious clipping issues.

 

How about hair then?

For some coding mumbu-jumbu-lames-of-excuses-thing, games usually tend to clip the hair at shoulders.

And that kind of kills something, having no classic long haired mystic ladies in white, or proper elves.

[Wirdjos]

I mentioned this above, but it bares repeating. I am absolutely loving this "culture is distinct from and more important than race in deciding personality" direction Project Eternity is taking. This game could shift into some strange action/FPS monster and I would still play it just to see how this design choice plays out.

 

Sawyer, or whoever is supporting/creating this content bend, bloody good work. Please keep it up.

[J.E. Sawyer]

How about hair then?

For some coding mumbu-jumbu-lames-of-excuses-thing, games usually tend to clip the hair at shoulders.

And that kind of kills something, having no classic long haired mystic ladies in white, or proper elves.

 

Hair will probably be subject to the same practical restrictions as facial hair.  The lame excuse is that if you don't have a dynamic hair solution, it looks really terrible.  When the goal is to make something that looks good, a property that makes it look terrible is something we should avoid.

[Gumbercules]

Dwarves from the Aedyr (like humans from the Aedyr) typically don't have beards because the Aedyr has a hot climate.  Dwarves from the Vailian Republics (where they are more common) or farther south often do have beards.

 

I thought that Aedyr was supposed to be based on northwestern Europe and the Vailian Republics were a mixture of African and Italian? Shouldn't it therefore be the other way around?

[obsidiansquid]

 

We do not plan to have female dwarf beards.

Thank God

[J.E. Sawyer]

The climate of the Dyrwood is Mediterranean shifting to temperate and then continental as you go farther East, but much of Aedyr itself (far to the northwest) is humid subtropical to tropical.  The Vailian Empire (from which the Vailian Republics eventually broke free) had a wide range of climates, but many portions of it had colder seasons than the interior of Eír Glanfath.  The ethnic groups that populated those empires did not necessarily begin a distinct existence in those locations.

[Hormalakh]

Cool stuff in here. I guess one of the questions for me was what was the difference between a Project Eternity dwarf race and a human race with achondroplasia? Are these two the same or do dwarves have different physiologies than humans (and are thus unable to mate)?

 

It would be nice to know about some of these differences. What adaptations do dwarves have that make them well-suited to live in Project Eternity and yet have a evolutionary lineage that diverges from humans? Hopefully we can get some answers to these questions either in the game or in the manual (or even here).

Edited February 7, 2013 by Hormalakh

[Gumbercules]

So I guess the takeaway is that we can't just flip medieval Earth upside down and assume that the result will approximate Project Eternity's world. Cool! I'm looking forward to eventually learning more about the world and the cultures in it as the game gets closer to release.

[NOK222]

 

We do not plan to have female dwarf beards.

 

Thank jebus. 

[Dwarfare]

As an avid dwarf fan which likely will go completely unnoticed due to my name, I must say that I am in support of not having ladybeards.  During intense dwarven makeout sessions, sometimes there can be a tangle, which can take hours to properly extricate without, god forbid, having to prune anything.

 

I saw three Developer posts today.  It has been a good day.

[MaximKat]

So, have you heard of the new beard technology from AMD?