Character customization?

I haven't seen a forum regarding character creation and customization. I think LB said something about varied clothing and they want armor to be as customizable as possible. Can anyone point me to any threads about actual character creation?

If not, I want to go on record saying I hope there is plenty of customization in character creation. There are some games where character creation is my favorite part!

 

There's been some talk but not a lot of dedicated discussions. RG has said very early on that he wants to avoid a lengthy creation process which may have several implications.. like having the process spread out during the first parts of gameplay..

I think it hasn't quite been a hot topic yet as there isn't much to say yet and they probably don't have the process quite nailed down. We've just had a lot of assurances that there will be plenty of options. Detailed options like body and facial sliders I don't think have been talked about much at all that I can recall.

 

There is no need for character customization. LB will gaze through your PCs built in webcam and beam you in-game ala Tron style!

Seriously though, he seemed to want to avoid locking you into decisions early in the game. How much you will be able to customize your character has not been stated, but you will probably be able to change just about any of those at any time.

Can't wait to know more, though.

 

Maybe it's something you can change any time you want, rather than something you HAVE to do once at character creation.

 

Well certain physical characteristics I prefer to be set sometime near the beginning.. like.. gender. any facial features etc.. most everything else I think can be adjustable..

 

I'm sure there will be like a small customisation that they'll have some sort of shop you do the rest free the first time but pay in game money if you want to redo it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

The most info we have about this is from the 2,25 million $ stretchgoal:

So ingame "New You salons"? So we can actually change our avatar ingame in such salons all time? Wonder if this is aswell for the gender. And if we can change the name aswell, then i know what Lord British means with no need for additional characters.

 

Sometimes character creation is part of the initial gameplay - e.g., the gypsy in the wagon and the old Ultima class selection system based on virtues questions.

I'm pretty ambivalent about it. In some ways it is more immersive than selecting from a drop-down box, but you can get stuck with something you're not interested in playing...

 

Hi Guys,
I'm Qball, one of the Character Artists over at Portalarium, you might have seen my work in the game, the Avatar and Bartender. I thought I would try to address some of your questions;

We are planning lots of clothing and armor creation and customization. As for the direct character customization, we are looking at options for that, though they will come later after the outfits are well in hand. Right now, there is discussion of head swaps, pallette swap and the such. We are a small team of power users, but still a small team, so we have to weigh the options very carefully.

Keep pushing and asking for things, and if this is a key thing to allot of people then the community needs to speak up, so we can move priorities around to make it happen. Also remember this is living game, and since LB wants you all to have the ability to change your looks whenever as you see fit, this is a feature that can come in a future episode. I actually expect changes from player requests to come in as we flesh out this world, for years to come! That is one the cool parts of the game/world.

Thanks,

Qball

 

Thanks Qball.

Here's an issue though with changing looks whenever we want.... Since it sounds like there may not be name tags above people's heads, it could be pretty disconcerting to keep asking people - ok who are you again since their look could change so radically. I don't know if anyone's addressed this in another forum, but looks are pretty important for identification without names in the UI.

 

Vyrinor,

Thats true in RL as well. If someone you know drastically changes their look and then shows up at a party then you may not recognize them. My experience with gaming is that even if/when I can change outfits I wouldn't always do it in game. I find one I like and stick with it for awhile. Also having all your frineds on a server will make a difference.
Also for the names over thier heads deal, I believe Chris answered on our chat with the devs that the interface will be natively hidden but customizable to your playing practices. Personally in any of the main WOW cities I wish could take off all the names. It just ends up as noise. Maybe we can set something that will only show the names of your friends? I am an artist so I have no footing on that statement. You want to make it pretty you come to me.

But all in all I am sure LB is thinking up ways to make this work, even if your wood armor is completely covering your body.

Q

 

Thanks for the response - but in real you usually can't change things so drastically as you can in a game!

 

I definitely think there needs to be a way to change appearances on our physical features beyond initial character creation.. there is just too much to learn and experience over the next few years to try and nail down how I want my character to look at launch and keep it. What if they add an awesome mustache/chops combo in episode 3? I will need that, for my sellsword who went overweight in episode 2

 

I think some stuff should be static which would probably only include face shape/structure and eye color. This is medieval after all so plastic surgery and contacts don't seem to jive. I guess you could put magic in the mix, so I am not stead-fast on this stance but it make sense they would stick. Everything else like beards, mustaches, hair (color/style), body frame (skinny/wide) would be fine to have altered at any time.

In NWN1 they were very limited where you selected preset heads, body frame and skin/hair tones. This worked, but I SO much want something more involved. I love spending time on character customizations, so I would love to have some sliders of some kind to handle cheek-bones, eye styles, etc. Although this can get out of hand, even just a few preset options per "head" style would be appreciated. I understand this may be hidden under armor, or may not really help people recognize you; however, this helps me truly be happy with my character and make it my own. As such I hope some thought is put into the physical customization. It does not need to be complex just something beyond flipping through a bunch of prefab heads and hair styles.

It would be nice to have some sort of gypsy card drawing thing to start you at a base look, which you could then customize. This way people who want to limit the complexity of customizing there character can get ones that look a certain way based on questions related to how you want to play. Something like (assuming male char):

The door is locked and you hear someone screaming for help. What do you do?
- Answer: Break down the door = Muscle bound, ugly dude
- Answer: Pick the Lock = Small frame dude
- Answer: Sing a song to calm the person behind the door until help arrives = Small frame, pretty dude
- Answer: Forget this! = A dude with a lot of scars

Maybe not the best example and would be based on more than one question, but hopefully you get the idea.

 

Because of the stetch goal, they already promised something more advanced. So we can expect something more advanced.

For changing the apperance, this could have something aswell with strong magic to alter the body.

 

Since I will probably be wearing armor and a helm most of the time, if character customization has to wait for more important matters, I'm fine with that.

 

Think some predefined avatars or a random button would be a good idea to include.

 

I am also of the "no plastic surgery" mind.. with everything else being free game.. however I recognize we don't always have the time to tweak and mess with features and may not always be happy with what we settled on and may want to try again later.. it is a game after all and we should be happy with how our character looks.. but I don't like the idea of players changing physical features on a whim.. Perhaps some sort of limitation on how many times you can change facial features.

 

Now one thing that might be interesting would be after a particularly tough fight, either PvE or PvP, the system might prompt you if you want to display one or more new scars as a result of that fight. Over time, you body becomes a record of your battle history.

 

I actually tought it the other way. You get battle scars, if you get hit, but youre able to get rid of them by some skin regeneration magic.
Yes, i am more for the magic way in changeing think. Don't think plastic surgery is already possible there on the more conventional way.