22 replies to this topic

[Andi Nagasia]

now i know its not too important right now, with CW coming,
but we all have some things on our mechs we would like to change,

Cosmetics that we could choose to make our mech our own,
additions that could be easily added to a mech to enhance its look,
this upgradable option would be under Upgrades, or under Camo Spec,
and would allow a mech to change portions of its appearance,


=Cosmetic Examples=
below are some mechs and how their cosmetics could be applied,
Atlas's(Faces)= unique Masks, overlaid on the existing face,
Centurion(Shield)= custom & unique shields, added over existing shield,
Jagermech's(Spoiler)= custom spoiler on top of mech, added over existing spoiler,
Catapult(Nose)= unique mech nose, with fins ect, overlaid on the existing nose,
Orian(shoulder)= symmetrical shoulders, style of the right shoulder, replacing the left,
ShadowHawk(Head)= Combine Samurai Helmet, covering the head,
Ravens(Nose)= unique mech nose, with fins ect, overlaid on the existing nose,
KitFox's(LeftArm)= symmetrical arms, style of the right arm, replacing the left arm,
...as well as others, small armor plates or fins could be added onto mechs,
......on or over a mechs Shoulders / Arms / Head, changing their look,


again these add-ons would be a mostly cosmetic, as they would not add anything extra,
if an add-on is attacked the mech takes damage to where the add-on was attached to,
as such at most they would increase the size of the mech which isn't really a bonus,

these cosmetics, could be sold for C-bills or for MC to further fund MWO,
as they would act very much like equip-able cockpit items in execution,
players could buy several and switch between them in the mech-lab,
in addition they would add a new source of revenue for PGI,
as well as give players more options with their battle mechs,


=Special Geometry=
In the case of Special Geometry they could become special Skins,
these Skins only available to those Special or Hero Mechs with them Equipped,
unequipped the Skin would removed the said Special Geometry,
but it can only be reequipped to that Special or Hero Mech,


Variable cost, now on account of this Levi is right,
some add-on parts would be easier to produce and some harder,
the difference in cost would simply represent the difference in difficulty,

an Atlas Mask could be easily implemented as a simple overlay mesh,
having no hit-box it would simply cover the existing face of the Atlas,

however the nose of the Catapult would add extra geometry,
and would require more work to add it to the existing frame,

as a modeler i know how these all factor in to this,
but i do feel these additions could help lighten the load on PGI,
rotating modelers from mech generation to this one at a time,
allowing them to vent and relax instead of getting burnt out,
and they would still be producing for the players and PGI,


=LINK=
to Alistair Winter's Topic on Mech Cosmetic Customization,
(Big Cosmetic Custom Geometry Upgrades Poll (With Response From Pgi))


thoughts, comment, concerns?
thanks,

Edit- Added new poll Question, Cost,
Edit2- Added new poll option, Variable,
Edit3- Orian Shoulder Cosmetic,
Edit4- Shadowhawk Combine options,
Edit5- new Idea for Special Geometry Mechs,
Edit6- Link to Alistairs Topic,

Edited by Andi Nagasia, 27 August 2015 - 07:32 PM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

You need a new answer for the cost poll, with Variable. Some alternate geometry options would be cheaper and easier to produce than others, and the MC price should scale based on that.

[Johnny Z]

Great suggestions. Some of this would be great to see in game. I went with yep.

[Mattiator]

As long as it includes hood ornaments for my Dragon.

[Syrkres]

What I could see is if for weapons and stuff you could choose different weapon manufacturers, which would give it a slightly different look.

For example if you have a PPC mounted, different manufacturers would have slightly different looks. By paying a small amount of MC you could customize your mech slightly.

This would be similar to adding decals.

More customization.

[Johnny Z]

One of my favourite mech customization ideas I have heard is the mech glass color. I cant stand the commandos red eye for instance. Let me make it green or yellow or something.

[Nightmare1]

Skull necklace for the Atlas where the skulls are Commando Heads.

Ragged Quasimodo cloak for the HBK.

Various Roman helmets for the Cents.

Etc, etc, etc.

[Telmasa]

I think the prices should vary. I think there should be c-bill variants and MC variants available.



This would be a very long-term project though, the amount of work needed to go back over every mech and come up with cosmetics that could be added - and multiple versions of it at that - would be...considerable, to put it lightly.

[WarZealot]

Things like this would be great, though perhaps with limits. Get too far afield and it starts to become silly beyond words.

As much as I think the ideas for model customization are generally good, there is a matter of customziation I'd like to see first, and it would be overall much easier. The current selection of camo patterns are very limited. I have no idea if this is being discussed, but I would like to see a decal system much like some racing games use (Forza, etc.), where you can pick and paste/overlay various decals on your mech. Of course, it might be infeasible, or at least limited, due to performance hits - but there's always the possibility of an option to limit the number of decals on the screen, too.

Overall, more customization would be nice, but if it comes at the expense of overall feature development, it's of secondary concern at best.

[Navid A1]

I would pay anything for a re-worked mech animation package.

[Johnny Z]

Early request for new Orion left shoulder model! Also new Orion walk animation!

Edited by Johnny Z, 21 January 2015 - 10:12 AM.

[Lily from animove]

well, you need to udnerstand, the more customisation you add, the more difficulties has the client to perform good, and with many already havign issues I doubt this would be a feasable thing.

MWO had a lot cool features that were already turned off, and tbh I blame client performance for this.

cool feature? yes, feasable? probably not.

would like to have spikes on ym adder until it looks like a hedgehog

[Waffles 2pt0]

The Hellbringer Prime(I) has some fairly good looking upper arms. How about having these babies available as upgrades for the Maddog, and the Timby, and the Summoner's right arm. Their TRO's had round upper arms. I'd pay for that.

How about some longer large laser geo's. Most concept art had the large lasers depicted as longer than the mediums and the smalls. Make the new large laser geo camo-specs exempt. Meaning that any pattern or color applied to the mech is not applied to the new large laser geometry. This way, no massive re-skinning. I'd pay for that.

Faction Specific Pilot Costumes. I'd pay for that.

Female Pilots. I'd pay for that.

Skinny Pilots, Overweight Pilots, Cybernetic Arm Pilots. I'd pay for that.

Center vertical bar for the Shadow Cat cockpit. I'd pay for that.





Edit: Even more awesome-ness

Edited by S Morgenstern, 04 March 2015 - 12:05 PM.

[Waffles 2pt0]

B.uit-in
U.rbanmech
M.elee
P.rowess

Edited by S Morgenstern, 04 March 2015 - 12:08 PM.

[Bors Mistral]

Outfits for the pilot.
And maybe a couple of body types, not just male/female selection.

This is what I'd pay MC for.

[Darwins Dog]

I like the idea. It seems to fit with the decal system already in the works. They would have to be careful with external mech customizations so that they don't alter the hitboxes (as you noted). A slight increase (read penalty) would be fine, but too much would and no one would buy it.

[TheArisen]

This is a cool idea, as long as it doesn't get too crazy.

[TheArisen]

Here's an idea. Some people don't like Pgi's redone version of some mechs. The Catapult for example gets a lot of people complaining. Perhaps you could choose which version of the model you want. (The old ppcs on the K2 anyone?)

[AkoolPopTart]

Just this on the nose of my Mad Cat plz...

[TheArisen]

Does anyone really think something as time consuming as creating new models & paint should go for Cbills only?