Topic
New Avatars
Discussion thread for the blog post about new avatars: alpha.glitch.com/blog/new-a...
Replies
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I think these are great, I especially love the existing detail in the clothing. One thing I thought might be an interesting addition: tattoos. Tattoos shaped like the giants' glyphs seems like it would be popular.
I also wonder of there could be a "blank" t-shirt for which players could create designs (again, thinking of Animal Crossing here).
Oh--and I hope some version of Halloween will be in effect and costumes will be made available. -
These look like fun. I'm glad to hear that you are putting time into not just the look but the movement too as that will be essential for us to immerse ourselves into this world.
Thanks for giving a peek at what's to come. Any idea how long before we can test some of this? -
Lalu, I agree that expressing supplication to a particular giant through garments/tattoos/jewelry/something would be cool.
Seems like you also might want to visually express your skills e.g. chef's hat/apron, gardening overalls, miner's helmet, etc. Could lead to some interesting skill/object trading interactions with other players.
General comment is that I really like the approach so far and I'm excited about having so much flexibility! -
+1 blank t-shirts for custom designs
+1 custom tattoos
love the expressiveness of the faces, and various states.
hepsibah - talked a little bit about "gear as character class" here: alpha.glitch.com/forum/idea...
basically, the new avatar system looks absolutely incredible. i want to take it for a spin!
the only criticisms i can think of are that there aren't any antlers [seriously, we're going to want antlers] and that all the avatars look human or elfish or goblinish. would like some robot and animal type faces in the mix. - I love the facial expressions. There is a lot of personality in them! Also, I second the desire for antlers. Moose type, please.
- Tattoos. Check.
- I don't know that I will ever use a tattoo, nor do I have any in RL, but some kind of Lem/other giant tribal tattoo just makes sense. Especially a face tattoo.
- The new avatars look wonderful!
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Oh dear... I can see myself needing a wardrobe for all those pretty clothes! ;o)
The avatars really are looking lovely, the expressions look particularly great! :o) - I was hoping they'd look more animal-ish than human-ish.
- On the down-side, do baseball caps and t-shirts detract from the overall theme? I'm thinking that Gods forming a new world might not want to recreate 21st century Earth.
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"On the down-side, do baseball caps and t-shirts detract from the overall theme?"
i was thinking the same thing, but then i thought about the nature of the game and the multiple artists given free reign over level design and realized that there really isn't much of an "overall theme"
some players are going to want baseball caps and t-shirts and look like emo 10th graders who buy clothes at hot topic. i'm not sure it is our place to pre-judge that.
other players are going to want to look less outlandish.
other players are going to want to look more outlandish.
for a first pass it looks like there is a lot of capacity for variation in the avatar system, even if it does lean a bit toward mid 2000s hipster, emo, high school fashion. - i'm not sure the lack of an overall theme is really a problem either, when you consider the incredible popularity of games like The Sims, which also don't have a highly cultivated *overall theme*.
- And when you make a t-shirt available just for alpha testers, can it say "Seriously, we're going to want antlers"?
- Can I gain fabric cutting skills and make my own? ;)
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"And when you make a t-shirt available just for alpha testers, can it say "Seriously, we're going to want antlers"?"
That and "So Glitch emo" -
Re "overall theme": it's a really tough one. It was very tempting to go with something extremely stylized, but each degree of theme/stylization consistency is one less degree of variety/freedom in how people can dress the avatars up. In a single (or small multiplayer) environment, you can get away with having less distinction in look, but if you want to have tens or hundreds of thousands of avatars which look distinct, there need to be many options. (And the closer it is to stuff we can imagine from real life, the easier it is to produce more recognizably different options.)
But yeah, the selection displayed there is perhaps over-emo'd and that will be rectified over time :) -
I love the new-look avatars. I would suggest needing to meet certain requirements in order to gain different clothing options. Rather than just giving someone free choice, force them to go out and find the ways of unlocking the various items. I do like the complicated translucent dress but there are more important things to code right now!
The discussion about having a skill which allows further customisability of clothing, such as creating your own designs sounds fantastic, but you need to be careful that someone isn't able to recreate with a skill, something that others have got through other methods. One option would be to either limit the skill through simplification, or to add stat boosts to items that are not gained through home-made methods. - antlers, lamb ears, cat ears and bunny ears could be done through the helmet/hat slot, if they'd otherwise get in the way.
- i call only alpha testers shirts that say I Am Cool
- What... no Ninjas? ;(
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These look really great! I think there is a lot of gameplay possibilities here, I don't know what the ideas are for getting new clothes/slots, but I think that is something people will be very motivated to do. Looks fun!
Ninja outfits seem very doable with that system. ;) - Ninja outfits are there in clever disguise.
- I would love a sackboy costume.
- it would be cool if there were a magical item / event that could turn your avatar transparent, so then you walk around and everyone can see your internal organs like your heart and lungs and stuff.
- I just saw this post... WOW. I love it. I can see you guys really thought this through and I can't wait to play with the new system.
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I saw the post 11 days ago but have been busy and slow. Initial reaction was "wow cool!" followed quickly by a bit of "but aww... SO human!" and then a brief pre-mourning spell in anticipation of the loss of my antennae.
After some reflection, I think there's still lots of possibilities for variety and whimsy, like striatic noted, even with a strictly humanoid starting point. I love the idea of muppety hats or suits from the clothing/gear thread, and I think there could be interesting potential in eventually having a high-level skill like Animal-Human-Hybriding or Cyborg Master, that would allow people to temporarily or permanently gain antennae or antlers or wings or whatnot. -
my thoughts on "too human"
i agree. i think the current selection points to a more human and generally more 'everyday' than the initial alpha avatars.
the current selection is limited, but it seems to point to a good variety of clothing options, rather than a good variety of physical player types.
this is a good thing, i think, because it'll maximise the possible gear and clothing options since they'll all hang off a relatively similar frame/body.
my suggestion to glitch would be to look at the "trunk hat" leaf-girl near the bottom right of this image: alpha.glitch.com/img/blog-b...
i think more character options like that are needed. "muppety hats or suits" as katalazam puts it [although you don't want to go as far as furry fursuits, because.. umn.. i mean i have nothing against furries, i just don't want to play one, you know?]
but suits that turn you into a patchwork moose or a patchwork bird or a cardboard robot sound really fun .. all the way up to "Aliens" like mechanical exoskeleton power-loaders! costumes that honestly alter each character's silhouette.
if the variety of gear and clothes is that diverse, then having relatively straightforward human avatars without immediately obvious variety isn't bad. in fact it would be good since it would make the clothing easier to attach to avatars, since they'd all be relatively the same size and shape. -
looking good :) But we'll we be able to morph into animal shape ? Maybe an hidden identity would be nice
ps. that and the above refered class's - maybe there you can introduce humanoid/robot class (or no class, either way) - Adorable!
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I love the art for these new avatars. But I also love the adorable proto-beings we have now...perhaps we could start out as these tiny blobby ones and grow/evolve into the more detailed, humanoid/elvish ones as we progress through the game?
Also I'd really like to keep my one goofy fang. And get some antlers.
And I want those "Seriously. We're going to want antlers." T-shirts IRL. - I think what I really want on a t-shirt, but for my new avatar, is my old avatar with the Glitch logo and the words Play Glitch. Virtual schwag.
- @Lalu YES!!!
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seconding Captian Starbuck on keeping the single fang. ^_^
and the ideas of having ways to get antlers/wings/etc. seem pretty cool.
and I thought the "Nevermore" girl was awesome, personally. - I would totally rock a 'Play Glitch' shirt at the gym every day.
- i'm pretty sure that we will eventually be able to order our custom avatars, printed on t-shirt.
