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Feedback Seeking feedback on the idea of custom bodies for races

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by AmazonValkyrie, Dec 2, 2017.

?

Are you for or against custom bodies for races?

  1. Yes, I'm for custom bodies. They are great regardless!

    60.0%
  2. No, I prefer the default body shape for all.

    10.0%
  3. I only like the idea if they have recipes to make all vanilla gear fit the custom body.

    10.0%
  4. I only like the idea if the race has a large amount of clothing options

    20.0%
  1. AmazonValkyrie

    AmazonValkyrie Spaceman Spiff

    I wanted to seek feedback from the player base on this subject mainly because I work on a modded race that I've been wanting to provide a custom body for. I have a pretty decent following and since this would be a late introduction for my mod, I don't want to scare anyone off with the change. The race I work on is canonically taller than humans and has longer limbs. I made changes to reflect this in my testing, but having a custom body for a race means that the race in question is restricted to only wearing the gear of their species, and that any found or crafted vanilla gear just doesn't fit. Initially my thinking was "Well they would most likely only wear clothes of their species anyway." However I know that a lot of players would be upset given that all the default races share the same body shape so that they can all wear the same gear. It would be a daunting process to make versions of all the vanilla gear to fit a race with a custom body, however I'm not against the idea despite the large amount of work it represents. I know that the Avali has been a very successful custom race even though they cannot wear vanilla gear, and this makes me optimistic, but again this would be a change I'd be introducing much later in the mod's life whereas the Avali always have had a custom body. In that manner it feels as though I'd be stripping players of the option to use all vanilla gear, and as I said before I really don't want to turn away players because of this, but I do really want to do it to be true to this race's lore. Any feedback that you all can provide on this subject would be invaluable and I thank you all for your time.
     
  2. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    I'd say that unless you have a very non-humanoid body shape, it's not really worth it to make a non-standard body. I mean, humans vary drastically in size and proportions, and yet are all represented by sprites which lack such variation, so it doesn't seem like a good trade-off if all that's different is just height and arm length, given the amount of work you'd be putting in/the things you'd lose vs. how much more accurate to your original concept it would be.
     
  3. AngleWyrm

    AngleWyrm Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Rather than attempt to replicate altered gear, which sounds really labor intensive, what about altering loot tables? If the player is going to play the tall, slender (and nicely housed) race then swap in loot tables that substitute appropriate gear for the default stuff it would otherwise drop.
     
    AmazonValkyrie likes this.
  4. AmazonValkyrie

    AmazonValkyrie Spaceman Spiff

    Very true. This is what's really bouncing around in my head right now. What has roped me in further though is the larger canvas it provides for me to create more detailed clothing. I know that could sound silly to some, but on this scale of art every pixel counts for so much. Plus the option of creating custom animations. In my mock up I made a new jump animation that I prefer over vanilla's immensely. Still on the fence though x_x

    I like this idea! I hadn't even thought about altering loot tables. I could even create microdungeon spawns that provide a chest in a relevant area.
     
  5. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    I mean, you could try and make it more worth it and at the same time make the race more unique by making them more divergent from the standard humanoid body plan, but I don't know how attached you are to your current design for the race.
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2017
    AmazonValkyrie likes this.
  6. D.M.G.

    D.M.G. Master Astronaut

    Can you provide sommfink like a rough template of what you wanna do? That whole stuff interest me but I’d like to have a clearer vision of it
     
  7. Sparklink

    Sparklink Ketchup Robot

    I actually had a similar experience myself. My own mod, the Canids Race, lacked tails for the first few months of their existence. I later decided to put a tail on them; more people liked the tail but I got one or two complaints about the tail getting in the way of back accessories. So I created a second mod that restores them to their previous tail-less look.

    I know that there are many players who like to simply download race mods simply because they would like to have them in their universe. Also there may be those who are doing multiplayer; one guy is playing as a Glitch, his buddy is playing a Canid, and the third is playing AmazonValkyrie's race. All three of the players would have to have all three race mods installed, and the two who are not playing the Glitch and Canid would be left without armors . I think that altering the loot tables may not turn out so well.

    When it comes to vanilla gear fitted for unique bodies I created this mod the Outfit Fitter. It was an idea I came up with when making my own race mod that I wished to share with others. it serves as a means of swapping out vanilla clothes for variants of the clothes that you have made for your oddly-shaped race.
     
    AngleWyrm likes this.
  8. AngleWyrm

    AngleWyrm Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Hiya bright eyes, I see where all three players would have to have all three mods in order to experience the same game.

    The assessment that Glitch & Canid armor being the best/OP compared to other race choices: Have you ranked armor for the set of mods and concluded that:
    1). Glitch & Canid gear is too good/OP, that something else should hold the top slot
    2). That the rest of the racial gear isn't worth considering, when compared to Glitch & Canid gear.
    Same thing really, just a bit of a change in focus.

    Can you draw up an example tutorial loot table for us to use as a good starting point?
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
  9. Sparklink

    Sparklink Ketchup Robot

    When I had said "left without armors" I had meant Cosmetic Armors, Sorry about that. You had suggested that AmazonValkyrie edit the treasure pools to replace the vanilla cosmetic armors with variants made to fit the race's body, but that would cause trouble with multiplayer. If the Pirate pants were fitted and replaced for AmazonValkyrie's Viera race that would make it so that a player with a normally shaped body could not have pirate pants too.
     
  10. AmazonValkyrie

    AmazonValkyrie Spaceman Spiff

    If I make Viera versions of all vanilla gear I'm thinking of providing each race's and generic, vanilla gear obtainable in bulk via recipe book, perhaps by purchase or by quest. Not entirely sure yet but I'm thinking it would be the best route to go to ensure everybody is happy with the change from the get go. Problems would still persist with custom mod armors, but I can't go thaaaat far to keep the door open, so to speak lol. As it is I don't entirely know what I'm in for by pledging to make versions of all vanilla gear and expanding the Viera wardrobe at the same time O_O One bit at a time though, and slowly but surely goals can be accomplished. Regardless it's a shift that's going to require so much forethought and preparation before being released down the road.
     
  11. Sparklink

    Sparklink Ketchup Robot

    @AmazonValkyrie. Quick question; when you said recipe book do you mean that you intend to have a book teach a simple swap recipe (as in vanilla item for fitted item) or an actual recipe? I am simply asking because if you are going to create a variant for all vanilla armors the crafting station is going to get pretty full. Sometimes when Starbound is loading several recipes it can suffer a little lag (and I use a nice desktop computer.) The Outfit Fitter I suggested does not require the player to learn the recipe and keeps it nice and small.
     
  12. AmazonValkyrie

    AmazonValkyrie Spaceman Spiff

    Hmmm I actually hadn't thought of crafting for said items. I could come up with an organized crafting station, perhaps with tabs separating everything by race and type of clothing. I'll take a look at your mod though, perhaps it'll be a good solution as well ^_^
     
  13. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    You might want to take a look at this mod here, which does automatic conversion without having to do crafting
     
  14. AngleWyrm

    AngleWyrm Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    There was a MMORPG called Age of Conan which did a great job of illustrating what dimensional explosion looks like. There were twelve playable character races, and 70+ levels to cover for armor design. In the end they made something like 1500 different combinations possible, but when you played the game you had to wear just the one outfit that was made for that guy at that level.

    Just don't want to see you choke by biting off more than a person can chew.
    [​IMG]
     
  15. Sparklink

    Sparklink Ketchup Robot

    The Species Clothing mod itself is very impressive, I actually considered simply doing away with the Outfit Fitter and spreading the word about this mod. But I thought that I should probably look for ways the Outfit Fitter could be better, before doing anything.

    The Species Clothing mod does not seem to allow male/female variations in the clothes. The example showed parameters for races but none for genders, I also skimmed over the LUA file but found no indication. (I could be wrong about this one please correct me if I am.)

    AmazonValkyrie mentioned some custom animations (I am assuming that the sprites have an animation completely unique from vanilla) if he wanted to use those he would also have to use a new animation for the clothing items which would mean having to make a new item.

    And lastly it modifies a LUA file. I have not seen all that many mods that modify that particular file, but the one that does will be completely incompatible with no work-around at all.

    I am not saying that it is not an amazing mod, it is certainly more efficient than my solution. I felt that there may be more to the Outfit Fitter than meets the eye. If you were only editing hats then the Species Clothing mod would be better, but there is always the concern with the LUA files or if you needed do more than just hats. Next time a question like this comes up I will present both the Outfit Fitter and the Species Clothing mods and provide a small argument for each.
     

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