4 replies to this topic

[Suko]

In a multiplayer online universe, it's crucial to give the players a way to stand out and be noticed apart from the crowd. I suggest offering options for the players to do this by customizing their mech's paint schemes and by adding customizable nose art on their mechs.

I imagine you would want this done in a way that doesn't give the player complete freedom to do something raunchy or crude, but also gives them a wide variety of customization options. One game that did this very well was the Halo series and their 'spartan customization options'. Here the player can change three (or is it 4?) of the color palettes on their character and also create a custom emblem (or in the case of MechWarrior, nose art) utilizing a combination of different icons in various colors. An example of this process can be seen in the video I've attached below.

I think this would be a fun and creative way of giving each player a sense of personal identity.

http://www.youtube.c...dyhW-8#t=01m35s

[saber15]

I'm expecting something like Chromehounds, where you can customize your mech's overall camouflage, and apply some decals (like to make a shark-face design like on WWII planes).

Items (doo-dads, like antennas or big aesthetic slabs of armor) will probably be sold in a microtransaction store, and possibly special paints (chrome, gold, BILLY MAYS OXY-CLEAN vinyls, whatever).

[Kallian Ryke]

saber15, on 01 November 2011 - 08:41 AM, said:

...
Items (doo-dads, like antennas or big aesthetic slabs of armor) will probably be sold in a microtransaction store, and possibly special paints (chrome, gold, BILLY MAYS OXY-CLEAN vinyls, whatever).

I think it would be interesting to have customizable architecture of the mechs themselves. IE, have you SEEN how many different interpretations of the Atlas' head have been around over the years? For example, you could pay to switch to a different one (doesn't really serve a gameplay point, but is oh-so-entertaining). That would be pretty cool, and I know there are a lot of either inconsistencies in interpretation of mechs or just upgrades over time. From an art perspective, it would give the designers a way to add certain elements from concept art that they thought "Were cool, but didn't look the way we wanted it to" for the main design for a particular mech.

[Suko]

I feel that having optional 'extras' that you can add to your mech might be interesting. Antennas, radar dish or specialized armor plating might be interesting.

I don't see them having visually different versions of the same mech (i.e. Atlas or Catapult) at the beginning. Something like that requires an entirely new model, rigging structure and texture pack. This could definitely start getting costly, especially when all that effort could be used to make an entirely new mech.

[MasterErrant]

yes