Update #43: Pretty and Technical

[Lephys]

Someone mentioned character creation, and it make me think of this tidbit:

 

Could you make sure there's variety in the properties of the different choices? That seems to be an area in which a lot of games' character customization falls short.

 

What I mean is, there might be 900,000,000 different hairstyles, but in all of them, the hair's either 2 inches long, or 1 foot long. The game seems to say "In this world, no one ever has hair longer than chin-length! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 

You see it a lot with beards, too. Guild Wars 2 actually put in some interesting tweaks you could make to your character's features (like the horns on the Charr, or the crazy glow-bud/branch-like ears on the Sylvari) that let you basically make almost the exact same character (with the same distinct aesthetic options selected), but STILL have them look completely different. A Charr with maximum-length, angled out horns looked different from the same Charr head with the same horns set to minimum length and angled back along the sides of their head, for example.

 

It's almost like turning each option into 20 different variants.

 

Of course, I realize I'm referencing an MMORPG here, and they quite possibly had a much larger budget for just character creation. *shrug*

 

Basically, could we please make sure that the variety of options aren't strangely all the same in a way (facial hair length, hair length, face shapes, etc.)? If there's a technical reason for it, then I'll understand. Just thought it was worth pointing out.

 

I just can't even count how many times I've been at character creation, and thought "Man, I like this hair WAY better than all the other hairstyles, if I could JUST make it longer!", or "I want hair with a ponytail on my female character, but I can either go with 5-foot non-ponytail hair, or 1-1/2-foot hair with a 4" ponytail nub. If there's a 5-foot hair option, why can't I have 5-foot hair up in a ponytail?!"

 

8P

Edited February 21, 2013 by Lephys

[SunBroSolaire]

That satyr girl art is fantastic. Internet high five to the artist.

[Lephys]

That satyr girl art is fantastic. Internet high five to the artist.

And yet it's serious artwork. It's not even meant to be... ... satyrical.

[Hormalakh]

Wanted to throw out an idea @Rob Nesler. Maybe you guys should talk to the other devs about coming up with specific god-touched characteristics for character customization and then make these qualities randomized. An example would be like this: let's say there is an earth god/dess and the first art example you showed was several different aspects of a god-touched (ears, horns, mossy hair, green eyes, etc). Then, the player gets to choose the specific god that their character is touched by. However, when it comes to the specific attributes/aspects that the character "gets" (and thus displays) from the god, those are randomized. So not all earth-touched look like they have horns and ears, with mossy skin. Some have only horns, some only have the ears and mossy skin, some might only have green eyes, etc. Some get more, some get less. These appearances can be re-rolled at character creation to get the "right" look for your god-touched. It introduces even more variability in character creation and doesn't have an effect on gameplay (all god-touched have the same bonuses/maluses).

Edited February 21, 2013 by Hormalakh

[Lephys]

^ I've gotta say, I like your idea, Hormalakh. But, at the same time, I can't bring myself not to want them to be randomizable AND individually selectable, if anything. It just seems like 9 times out of 10, the player is going to find himself/herself going "Oooh, I liked those horns, and THOSE ears... I'll just hafta keep re-rolling until I get the ones I want," despite any initial intention to be fine with complete randomization. *shrug*

 

But, yeah, a "randomize" option for each god-set of potential attributes? Hells yeah!

Edited February 21, 2013 by Lephys

[Gumbercules]

Wanted to throw out an idea @Rob Nesler. Maybe you guys should talk to the other devs about coming up with specific god-touched characteristics for character customization and then make these qualities randomized. An example would be like this: let's say there is an earth god/dess and the first art example you showed was several different aspects of a god-touched (ears, horns, mossy hair, green eyes, etc). Then, the player gets to choose the specific god that their character is touched by. However, when it comes to the specific attributes/aspects that the character "gets" (and thus displays) from the god, those are randomized. So not all earth-touched look like they have horns and ears, with mossy skin. Some have only horns, some only have the ears and mossy skin, some might only have green eyes, etc. Some get more, some get less. These appearances can be re-rolled at character creation to get the "right" look for your god-touched. It introduces even more variability in character creation and doesn't have an effect on gameplay (all god-touched have the same bonuses/maluses).

 

I like this idea, although they may decide that it's better to go with one iconic look for each flavor of Godlike, given the zoomed-out isometric perspective. Still, I hope there does turn out to be plenty of variation.

 

That said, there shouldn't be mandatory randomization of any kind in character creation in the 21st century. Have a random option, but also allow people to choose the look of their Godlike PC if they want instead of having to pointlessly re-roll.

[Theobeau]

This is the one post where a truer title has never been written.

 

I found both the Pretty and Technical both equally fascinating

 

Looking forward to the next update Team PE!

[Darth Trethon]

Wanted to throw out an idea @Rob Nesler. Maybe you guys should talk to the other devs about coming up with specific god-touched characteristics for character customization and then make these qualities randomized. An example would be like this: let's say there is an earth god/dess and the first art example you showed was several different aspects of a god-touched (ears, horns, mossy hair, green eyes, etc). Then, the player gets to choose the specific god that their character is touched by. However, when it comes to the specific attributes/aspects that the character "gets" (and thus displays) from the god, those are randomized. So not all earth-touched look like they have horns and ears, with mossy skin. Some have only horns, some only have the ears and mossy skin, some might only have green eyes, etc. Some get more, some get less. These appearances can be re-rolled at character creation to get the "right" look for your god-touched. It introduces even more variability in character creation and doesn't have an effect on gameplay (all god-touched have the same bonuses/maluses).

No random nonsense in character creation....absolutely not in any way shape or form. Different variations of alterations based on the god you choose are cool IF you get to choose them as well in character creations. The last thing I have the patience to put up with is "Oh hey it's random so you got a green butt......forget about cool hair or horns and so on, you get to have a green ass."

[IndiraLightfoot]

No random nonsense in character creation....absolutely not in any way shape or form. Different variations of alterations based on the god you choose are cool IF you get to choose them as well in character creations. The last thing I have the patience to put up with is "Oh hey it's random so you got a green butt......forget about cool hair or horns and so on, you get to have a green ass."

 

I laughed myself senseless when I read this reply!    

I have streaks of childish humour, I must admit. And by the way, the post really sums up why it's not a good idea, after all.

Edited February 21, 2013 by IndiraLightfoot

[Hormalakh]

 

Wanted to throw out an idea @Rob Nesler. Maybe you guys should talk to the other devs about coming up with specific god-touched characteristics for character customization and then make these qualities randomized. An example would be like this: let's say there is an earth god/dess and the first art example you showed was several different aspects of a god-touched (ears, horns, mossy hair, green eyes, etc). Then, the player gets to choose the specific god that their character is touched by. However, when it comes to the specific attributes/aspects that the character "gets" (and thus displays) from the god, those are randomized. So not all earth-touched look like they have horns and ears, with mossy skin. Some have only horns, some only have the ears and mossy skin, some might only have green eyes, etc. Some get more, some get less. These appearances can be re-rolled at character creation to get the "right" look for your god-touched. It introduces even more variability in character creation and doesn't have an effect on gameplay (all god-touched have the same bonuses/maluses).

No random nonsense in character creation....absolutely not in any way shape or form. Different variations of alterations based on the god you choose are cool IF you get to choose them as well in character creations. The last thing I have the patience to put up with is "Oh hey it's random so you got a green butt......forget about cool hair or horns and so on, you get to have a green ass."

 

Ok let's not make it random. Let's have several aspects for each god-like, but then make it a bunch of checkboxes for on or off. Take out the randomization, but allow different aspects of the god-likes to stay. If someone only wants the horns or the ears, then allow them to do that. Different god-likes should be "touched" by the gods in varying amounts, in my opinion. 

 

How about now? Is it still a sucky idea? I'm not too adamant about the randomization, but I would like the ability to choose particular aspects.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Hormalakh

[Darth Trethon]

 

 

Wanted to throw out an idea @Rob Nesler. Maybe you guys should talk to the other devs about coming up with specific god-touched characteristics for character customization and then make these qualities randomized. An example would be like this: let's say there is an earth god/dess and the first art example you showed was several different aspects of a god-touched (ears, horns, mossy hair, green eyes, etc). Then, the player gets to choose the specific god that their character is touched by. However, when it comes to the specific attributes/aspects that the character "gets" (and thus displays) from the god, those are randomized. So not all earth-touched look like they have horns and ears, with mossy skin. Some have only horns, some only have the ears and mossy skin, some might only have green eyes, etc. Some get more, some get less. These appearances can be re-rolled at character creation to get the "right" look for your god-touched. It introduces even more variability in character creation and doesn't have an effect on gameplay (all god-touched have the same bonuses/maluses).

No random nonsense in character creation....absolutely not in any way shape or form. Different variations of alterations based on the god you choose are cool IF you get to choose them as well in character creations. The last thing I have the patience to put up with is "Oh hey it's random so you got a green butt......forget about cool hair or horns and so on, you get to have a green ass."

 

Ok let's not make it random. Let's have several aspects for each god-like, but then make it a bunch of checkboxes for on or off. Take out the randomization, but allow different aspects of the god-likes to stay. If someone only wants the horns or the ears, then allow them to do that. Different god-likes should be "touched" by the gods in varying amounts, in my opinion. 

 

How about now? Is it still a sucky idea? I'm not too adamant about the randomization, but I would like the ability to choose particular aspects.

I like this idea, no problems that I can tell. That way there can be variety between people touched by the same god and one does not have to worry about random bits in character creation screwing up their character.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Much better, Hormalakh, great even! 

 

It would be neat to choose a few aspect of "godlikeness" per god like aspect, say three each.

For instance, for fire elemental god likes, you get to be like a molten Big Ben in one, fiery hair in another, and eyes glowing red hot in a third.

[Keyrock]

 

I'm still likely to play an Aumaua for my first character because the Orc-o-philie in me compels me to play whatever is the closest race available to Orc, but I'm really tempted by the Godlike.  Damn you Obsidian Entertainment for making all these races look and sound so awesome!

 

/shakes fist at Obsidian

 

 

 

 

You know you can have up to six party members, right?

Yeah, but I want to do the first playthrough with just the one character and 5 companions so that I can find out what the different companions are like.

[rjshae]

Or will players select a deity during creation that determines the features or range of choices available for their god-like character?  I wouldn't expect horns or antlers for the god-like characters whose patron deity is a god of predators, for example.  They'd have a range of claws, talons, slit-pupiled eyes, tails, and/or prominent canine teeth to choose from--bestial features of predators, in other words.  Antlers or horns would be inappropriate for them.

 

I'm not sure. Some deities may not have an obvious associated feature type. Take Woedica, for example. Plus, we don't know if the deity of a godlike character is necessarily the deity that formed them. A cunning deity may choose to obscure the origins and aspirations of "their" character.

[PrimeJunta]

Interesting update. Liked the technical stuff.

 

On the critique side, the godlike concept doesn't do it for me. The proportions and anatomy seem just... off, rather than alien or godlike. Also maybe a bit too much tiefling-aasimar-genasi for my blood; I was expecting something a hair more original. Perhaps it'll turn out better as things get fleshed out though.

[Hormalakh]

Interesting update. Liked the technical stuff.

 

On the critique side, the godlike concept doesn't do it for me. The proportions and anatomy seem just... off, rather than alien or godlike. Also maybe a bit too much tiefling-aasimar-genasi for my blood; I was expecting something a hair more original. Perhaps it'll turn out better as things get fleshed out though.

 

I concur. I didn't realize that when they said the god-like would be similar to the plane-touched that they might turn out exactly like the plane-touched in all but name. It is still too early to tell, though, so I am hopeful that these are initial drafts towards a more original race. 

[GhoulishVisage]

 

Does kind of fall down with fire, unless they're going to be based on themophiles (which would look fairly creepy).

I dunno, so long as you aren't too much of a stickler for the designs to incorporate "real" animals there are plenty of mythological creatures that are fire based like dragons or phoenixes.

Then there's always the salamander as I said.

[Amentep]

 

 

Does kind of fall down with fire, unless they're going to be based on themophiles (which would look fairly creepy).

I dunno, so long as you aren't too much of a stickler for the designs to incorporate "real" animals there are plenty of mythological creatures that are fire based like dragons or phoenixes.

Then there's always the salamander as I said.

 

yeah hadn't really thought magical fire animals.

[Tsuga C]

No random nonsense in character creation...

Well said. It's my character and my hope for P:E is to let us closely emulate a tabletop gaming session. I've never used pre-rolled characters in AD&D/D&D 3.X because that'd undermine my agency as a player. Start to finish, my character is mine and the more this principle is diluted, the less attached I am to my creation.

 

This is a single-player game, so it won't matter if two or three features are consistently selected by players in preference to others. I'm the only one who'll be staring at my screen, so it doesn't matter. If Obsidian has reservations about godlike characters being too similar, then let them offer a sufficient number of choices with panache that players creating a certain sub-type of godlike character won't all look alike.

[rjshae]

 

Interesting update. Liked the technical stuff.

 

On the critique side, the godlike concept doesn't do it for me. The proportions and anatomy seem just... off, rather than alien or godlike. Also maybe a bit too much tiefling-aasimar-genasi for my blood; I was expecting something a hair more original. Perhaps it'll turn out better as things get fleshed out though.

 

I concur. I didn't realize that when they said the god-like would be similar to the plane-touched that they might turn out exactly like the plane-touched in all but name. It is still too early to tell, though, so I am hopeful that these are initial drafts towards a more original race. 

 

Planetouched-like is pretty much what I had expected when I heard godlike; IP rights and all that. But that still leaves plenty of room for future inventiveness. (Mechanus-touched humanoid, anyone?) Her slightly unusual proportions I wrote off as a legacy of her birthright.

Edited February 21, 2013 by rjshae

[Tsuga C]

^ Yep, I'm fine with the equivalent of Planetouched, too.

[Lephys]

Interesting update. Liked the technical stuff.

 

On the critique side, the godlike concept doesn't do it for me. The proportions and anatomy seem just... off, rather than alien or godlike. Also maybe a bit too much tiefling-aasimar-genasi for my blood; I was expecting something a hair more original. Perhaps it'll turn out better as things get fleshed out though.

Considering that's but a single example of a godlike, I'm not really sure how original they're supposed to go with it without leaving the realm of "this is a humanoid that possesses very nature-like features because this is supposed to be a nature-themed godlike."

 

Not that you're not welcome to your opinion, but I'm just not comprehending how it's supposed to look if it's too cliche as-is. I mean, dozens of low-creativity results could've involved simply slapping horns on a regular human, and giving them different colored eyes, or just putting leafy clothes on them and calling it a day. Objectively, they seem to have merged together a variety of nature themes into a figure that clearly originated as a humanoid, but now is slightly non-humanoid, and quite well at that.

 

Subjectively, maybe it's just not your preference. But objectively (i.e. "It should really be more like [examples on how it should be different]"), I think they did a fine job.

 

If I dislike broccoli, I'm going to go on disliking it even when it's masterfully prepared. *shrug*

[Gyor]

I'm not sure that the first Godlike in,that strip of three is lightening, I don't see sparks. She could simply be a Godlike of Light, as in Eothas God of Light and Redemption.

[Osvir]

 

Wow, beautiful <3 I've read through this twice and looked at the art with a magnifying glass (slightly, I like the earthy hands and forearms, and the horns of course). Is it faun inspired?

 

Great job 

 

 

I will not be able to address all those other questions. There were many other versions of this concept thread.  She evolved out of them and probably had some faun influences.

 

Cool as for all of the rest of the questions, not really intended to be answered, just brainstorming inspiration, thoughts and ideas. Don't do any of it, do some of it, or just gain insight/inspiration from it that's up to you.

[PrimeJunta]

Considering that's but a single example of a godlike, I'm not really sure how original they're supposed to go with it without leaving the realm of "this is a humanoid that possesses very nature-like features because this is supposed to be a nature-themed godlike."

 

Not that you're not welcome to your opinion, but I'm just not comprehending how it's supposed to look if it's too cliche as-is. I mean, dozens of low-creativity results could've involved simply slapping horns on a regular human, and giving them different colored eyes, or just putting leafy clothes on them and calling it a day. Objectively, they seem to have merged together a variety of nature themes into a figure that clearly originated as a humanoid, but now is slightly non-humanoid, and quite well at that.

I'm afraid I can't really be more specific, because there isn't anything specific I dislike about it, other than the wonky proportions/anatomy that I already mentioned. It just felt pedestrian and unimaginative, especially compared to some of the P:E concept art that's already out -- I really liked Orlock Holmes and Sagani, to name two.

 

How would I have done it? Dunno, I haven't really given it much thought. Maybe I'd either have gone for way more over the top, or much subtler. Think Elric of Melniboné, or Mazikeen from the Lucifer comics, or something like that.

 

But whatever it is, that ain't it.