Character Customization

[Darkwolf]

This is huge in the gaming community and was more on the lacking side in firefall. I think there needs to be a good selection of char customization from hair, face, eyes etc where theres plenty to pick from to make ur char unique but a bigger addition is to be able to customize your wardrobe. I think being able to pick ur clothing, clothing color, designs etc should be thought on for the game. This would allow ppl to stand out and change up how they look throughout the game and keep things fresh and interesting with new clothing releases as time goes on. In firefall there were patterns for the frames which added something to it but there was never much there and half the time it wasnt so noticeable, especally on the clothing under the frames in which u could only see in operation ares when u were stripped of ur frame. Adding this plus limited edition clothing items for founders I think would work to the games advantage.

 

[MattHunX]

The depth of the initial character-creation, at the beginning of most RPGs, is one of the most important things for me, personally. I liked it even better, in Firefall, that were allowed to change our appearance, afterwards, and quite easily.

That...and more options for hair, face, eyes...etc. should definitely make it to Ember.

I looked up a few RPGs on YouTube to see the kind of character-creation they had, and passed on playing them, because it wasn't enough, or there wasn't any at all, besides choosing some class.

RANT WARNING AND POTENTIAL HIGH-JACKING

Relating back to my thread of allowing, at least, two separate characters for the same account (where one's account name is displayed below the character, as a must, mandatory, cannot be hidden), such customization, is why I like to have a male character with a male name (or even unisex, heh, because some unisex names are just cool) and, then, have a female character (with a different build, different role, different skills, different path) with a female name (or unisex).

It feels awkward if I have to run around with a male name, on a female character and vice-versa. I create a male character through an extensive customization system and give him a name and will build that character and the frame a certain way e.g.: long-range weaponry, high-mobility, with blades for CQC, as I did in FF. Then, I'd like to make a female character, with a suitable name, and build it for e.g.: SMGs or purely for melee with a huge halberd in the mech's hand, as her main weapon. If I could only go with one name, which, by default will be MattHunX, same as here, to avoid confusion, it'll be weird if I need to go into a New You and select all the options again, to turn myself into and back between a male and female character, and I'd feel the need for it, because I want it to be a separate character. With a male character I usually go for stealth, long-range, blades, or pistols. With a female, I usually go for speed, SMGs, even shotguns and either fists or if I can a halberd or bows. Why? Just because, it's what I think looks good. The only crossover is where I may go for a sniper rifle with my female, but that's it. I never go for SMGs or shotgun or bows with a male. And I never go for blades with a female. *shrug*

Sure, we've talked about kits, and keeping builds separate and having the ability to swap between saved setups, which would be the equivalent of switching frames. But, if we're going to have an extensive customization system, then it would be neat if we could differentiate our characters even further, for the sake of making them even more unique, with a name that is suitable for them. And everyone would know it's us, just with a different character, because our account name would be visible to all.

In my case:

ChaserSward
<MattHunX>
or
VesperRaine
<MattHunX>
or
AsterRaine
<MattHunX> (a bit of symbolism, from the word "aster" and "rain" and my femme having an SMG that rains down on the enemy like lethal shooting stars)

 

[Darkwolf]

The depth of the initial character-creation, at the beginning of most RPGs, is one of the most important things for me, personally. I liked it even better, in Firefall, that were allowed to change our appearance, afterwards, and quite easily.

That...and more options for hair, face, eyes...etc. should definitely make it to Ember.

I looked up a few RPGs on YouTube to see the kind of character-creation they had, and passed on playing them, because it wasn't enough, or there wasn't any at all, besides choosing some class.

RANT WARNING AND POTENTIAL HIGH-JACKING

Relating back to my thread of allowing, at least, two separate characters for the same account (where one's account name is displayed below the character, as a must, mandatory, cannot be hidden), such customization, is why I like to have a male character with a male name (or even unisex, heh, because some unisex names are just cool) and, then, have a female character (with a different build, different role, different skills, different path) with a female name (or unisex).

It feels awkward if I have to run around with a male name, on a female character and vice-versa. I create a male character through an extensive customization system and give him a name and will build that character and the frame a certain way e.g.: long-range weaponry, high-mobility, with blades for CQC, as I did in FF. Then, I'd like to make a female character, with a suitable name, and build it for e.g.: SMGs or purely for melee with a huge halberd in the mech's hand, as her main weapon. If I could only go with one name, which, by default will be MattHunX, same as here, to avoid confusion, it'll be weird if I need to go into a New You and select all the options again, to turn myself into and back between a male and female character, and I'd feel the need for it, because I want it to be a separate character. With a male character I usually go for stealth, long-range, blades, or pistols. With a female, I usually go for speed, SMGs, even shotguns and either fists or if I can a halberd or bows. Why? Just because, it's what I think looks good. The only crossover is where I may go for a sniper rifle with my female, but that's it. I never go for SMGs or shotgun or bows with a male. And I never go for blades with a female. *shrug*

Sure, we've talked about kits, and keeping builds separate and having the ability to swap between saved setups, which would be the equivalent of switching frames. But, if we're going to have an extensive customization system, then it would be neat if we could differentiate our characters even further, for the sake of making them even more unique, with a name that is suitable for them. And everyone would know it's us, just with a different character, because our account name would be visible to all.

In my case:

ChaserSward
<MattHunX>
or
VesperRaine
<MattHunX>
or
AsterRaine
<MattHunX> (a bit of symbolism, from the word "aster" and "rain" and my femme having an SMG that rains down on the enemy like lethal shooting stars)

Im not sure on the whole diff char name thing but im def sure that having customization like that will def attract more ppl to the game and allow for more creativity on both sides as a player and creator

 

[Pandagnome]

Be cool if they had custom made accessories and styles that were made by the community and put towards a vote to be introduced in the game officially, for example like in killing floor 2.

 

[Darkwolf]

Be cool if they had custom made accessories and styles that were made by the community and put towards a vote to be introduced in the game officially, for example like in killing floor 2.

That wouldnt be a bad idea down the road. Abit early for something like that but def something i like

 

[EvilKitten]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters. At any rate while I realize that having too much body customization tends to cause issues, it would be nice to have a few different body styles to choose from as well as facial customization. Since it is regular clothing and not a bunch of bulky armor plates we would be wearing that might cause unwanted clipping it should be doable. I tend to prefer more elfin characters over the curvaceous sort, but I am sure there are a bunch of teenage boys out there who would prefer the later.

 

[MattHunX]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters.

Well, it only feels weird for me if I cannot even put a suitable name to my femme fatale. From there it's the usual business of ass-kicking and trying to combine parts of armor and equipment that looks good and is relatively good for a fight. Even with my male character I never ever go for heavy, bulky equipment and I always try to get lighter stuff. In a way, I'm going for a bit of...femininity no matter what gender I play. What's more, I like my male characters to have a feminine touch, and I like my female characters to have a little masculine touch, in terms of muscle, aggressiveness, character traits and equipment.

Those steroid monkeys on the cover of fitness mags? Disgusting. Even through the eyes of a straight male. Those oiled up women with the excessive muscle mass? Equally disgusting.

Another weird thing about me. I don't care how strong a piece of equipment or weapon is, if it's downright fugly I won't use it. Nope. Nah-uh. I don't care if I'm missing out on some über-gear, if I don't like how it looks on my guy or on my gal, it's scrap.

I don't know why, but my preference for e.g.: SMGs when playing a female seems to be a trend that some games follow. Like, in Borderlands, both Lilith's and Maya's character had skill-trees revolving around making SMGs more effective. Some coincidence, but there you go. And it's not even a case of me thinking, oh, it's a female character so she shouldn't be holding a heavy weapon. Bullshit! I love a femme fatale with a sniper-rifle. Or a halberd! Hell yeah!

 

[Darkwolf]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters. At any rate while I realize that having too much body customization tends to cause issues, it would be nice to have a few different body styles to choose from as well as facial customization. Since it is regular clothing and not a bunch of bulky armor plates we would be wearing that might cause unwanted clipping it should be doable. I tend to prefer more elfin characters over the curvaceous sort, but I am sure there are a bunch of teenage boys out there who would prefer the later.

Yea theres a fine line between plenty of customization and too much. Firefall fell in the realm of not nearly enough and there was never really anything truely unique unless u got the cobalt frame color from the founders pack cause theres few if any in use. Rare customization like that tends to be a good seller cause ull never be able to get it outside of being a beta tester or founding the game. And everybody here who funded during these fundraisers def fall into that realm of founders.

 

[EvilKitten]

@MattHunX I chuckled at your comment as just last night I blew General Knoxx out of the water with an explosive SMG. Also the reason why I decided on a Nighthawk for my second frame in FF beta was because it looked sleek and svelte and had a giant gun. There was something about that frame on my lady character that screamed deadly.

 

[Torgue_Joey]

For me, I'd like to be shirtless muscular guy with epic pecs, blueish camo baseball cap and mirror like blue rayban aviator, a big silver dog tag necklace. Oh and a scuffle beard.

For my omniframe, orange-white painting with a big explosion warning sign somewhere. One leg and arm made of salvaged/spare parts. And the name "Sybian" big on the newer arm.

 

[Pandagnome]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters.

Perhaps it stems down to being a drag queen and the others who prefer to be macho beefstakes

 

[Wintersiege]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters.

Not sure the exact reason but if we go off animes, the population of Japan is like 95% women =)

As for me personally, I started playing female toons in WoW since I was playing a Horde Druid and, at the time, was only allowed to pick Tauren, I opted for female as the male body is so huge. Small tanks make the best tanks!

 

[MattHunX]

Not sure the exact reason but if we go off animes, the population of Japan is like 95% women =)

As for me personally, I started playing female toons in WoW since I was playing a Horde Druid and, at the time, was only allowed to pick Tauren, I opted for female as the male body is so huge. Small tanks make the best tanks!

Ah! That's another thing. If I play a warrior class, with a longsword or heavier two-hander, claymores, halberds...etc. I will still try to go for the lightest, sleekest armor possible, even if it is still in the heavy armor class, I try to keep my equipment load low, to stay more mobile and use less stamina for attacks.

I find it extremely annoying that most games try to force certain sets of not only equipment, but certain abilities on me. In Dragon's Dogma, a warrior couldn't roll to the side to dodge. Why? Oh, because my character was trained in the use of armor and heavier weapons, he never could quite grasp the intricacies of rolling to the side? Bad, restrictive developer logic. I downgrade myself to medium or light armor if the game allows me. Sure, I might be screwing myself, but it's something I never want to see, again. Sure, being a slow-attacker, with heavier weapons means I'm more exposed, but that doesn't mean, that in addition to that I have to slug around in heavy equipment, too. If I can evade, then I'll evade. That's always my reaction to stuff like HP and armor boosting heavy equipment and abilities. Oh, I can take on a barrage of attacks and live! Whoop dee doo! How about NOT getting hit? Or getting hit as little as possible. Problem solved. Skill and reflexes and the observation of the enemy's attacks and patterns, above lazy juggernauting.

 

[NitroMidgets]

I don't think Mark will let me have my midget based character finally.

 

[EvilKitten]

Well I am sure with the omniframe that you won't have that problem @MattHunX. So there is no need to make a female character, cause your male toon can be as versitile and pretty as you like.

^ @MattHunX's future character

 

[MattHunX]

Well I am sure with the omniframe that you won't have that problem @MattHunX. So there is no need to make a female character, cause your male toon can be as versitile and pretty as you like.

It's not a question of versatility, really. I know that the aim of the customization system will be so that people can make a single character and build it towards any role and in-between, in both skills, gear and appearance. But, in Firefall, I could basically do the same. I could unlock all frames with a single character. But I didn't want to, because the only ones I was interested were the Recon classes, and recently the Electron (because I liked the look and the abilities and it was sleek). All other frames, their look and their abilities were either unappealing or downright disgusting and off-putting.

With my guy, I went Raptor. With my female, I went Nighthawk. Because I thought that for me, a Raptor with the charge-rifle suited my guy better and a Nighthawk with a proper sniper-rifle suited my femme better. With my guy, I used energy-blades as an auxiliary and I rarely used my secondary which was an assault rifle most of the time. With my female, I used my fists/servos, as my auxiliary and SMG as secondary and kept the Cryo blast ability (which I replaced with Assassinate for my male, because I think it suits him better than cryo-anything). I could make the two differ in gear and abilities like that and they had separate names and separate inventories.

So I hope I can do the same in Ember. Because when I'm going to have a highly-mobile, sniper+blade build, I want that for my male character. When I'll have a swift, SMG-using and/or a possibly halberd-wielding build, I want that for a female character, and not a male. I don't want to use a blade with a female character and I don't want to use a halberd or fists or and SMG with a male character. I'm picky that way. But if it was possible in Firefall, I don't see why it couldn't be manageable in Ember.

 

[Krhys]

I've never understood the male need to play female characters, I tend to feel rather awkward playing male characters.

Probably coz I don't want to be staring at a bloke's arse on my screen...

Anyway, I suspect one of the reasons (whether planned for or not) why the omniframe is so open at the front is to fully show the actual character and thus make customisation worthwhile.

But personally, a hot girl with big t1ts and a skimpy outfit will always be my default, sry kitten...

 

[NitroMidgets]

Well if we are on the same server you will see my male character parading around in my finest plum smuggler shorts like I am fresh out of Reno 911.

 

[EvilKitten]

Probably coz I don't want to be staring at a bloke's arse on my screen...

Yeah I hear this allllllll the damn time and I call bollocks to that. I mean no offense but if I play a game and I'm staring at my characters butt I would run off the edge of a cliff or run into mailboxes or get killed by the enemy standing right in front of me. Your eye is supposed to be on the action. The only time characterization really matters is in cutscenes, and usually those aren't focused on your butt either. When you watch a movie is it required that every single character be female because you are afraid to see a guys backside? No offense but that answer has been around pretty much since the dawn of character customization and sounds like a cheesy excuse to try and mislead your mom to believe that it wasn't because you weren't just a horny teenage boy who got a woody over pixelated boobies. Given that the actual purpose of customization is to assist in drawing in the player to better identify with the MC, the only other conclusion I can come up with is that secretly most male gamers are actually closet transgendered!

EDIT: Honestly I enjoy staring at most any butt on my screen cause I'm just a perverted girlie who gets excited over pixelated butts . At least as long as it isn't my characters because staring at your own butt is kinda creepy when you think about it.

 

[Grummz]

Phew, that's quite a lot on char customization!

Char visual customization and frame/vehicle visual customization is going to be important to cover day to day sales of Ember between mini-expansions. So, we're going to have to bite the bullet and move this from a nice-to-have to a must-have system.

Also, if fundraising keeps up the way it has, I can see us doing both male and female characters. We know selling cool looks and skins can generate enough revenue to fund ongoing games and also profit. We do have to make a profit for the company to keep going, or its not ever going to be able to grow, attract more talent and do cooler things.

We want you to be able to create your own style/char, instead of providing canned ones like in Overwatch. This means our selection of clothing, equipment will vary from sci-fi reaper street style all the was to armored looks (which we'll probably start with) to fun things like cat-ears.

So that said, how many options should be free at the start for hair/heads, etc vs paid cosmetics?