character-creation
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Crowfall teases fealty system, ad/disad mechanics
Upcoming MMO Crowfall is rolling out new teases this week, including some concept art of guild banners and a screenshot of character creation, which suggests an advantage/disadvantage system no doubt intended to tug the heartstrings of former Shadowbane players. But what has our attention is the newly unveiled fealty chart, which definitely whisks Shadowbane or Asheron's Call immediately to mind. "This isn't a guild org chart," Crowfall's J. Todd Coleman cautions. "We support guilds (and guild structures) but we've laid a different system on top of that, which ties player fealty directly to land ownership. More on that system, and how it ties to siege conquest, will be coming soon." Coleman promises "a more substantial update coming later this week." We've included all three images below.
Crowfall's first screenshot shows the Knight's character creation
How much can you ascertain from a single screenshot? In the case of Crowfall's first in-game glimpse, perhaps plenty. Creative Director J. Todd Coleman posted Crowfall's first screenshot on the forums today: a snap of the upcoming title's character creation screen. It shows a Knight (one of 12 or more archetypes listed) along with the class' many statistics. These include a few intriguing anomalies such as "warmth conversion" and "life on hit." Coleman said that the numbers are just placeholders for now and that the Knight is "a fully modeled and animated avatar" at this point. He wanted players to get a feel for the Crowfall's art style and interface as well as a hint as to something else: "There is more to this one than meets the eye... the clues are there, for those with a solid design instinct and an eye for detail."
See Bless Online's character creation options
Getting a closer look at character creation options when a title is deep in testing is always useful, especially to those of us who lack access to the beta. Steparu.com took Bless Online's character creator out for a spin as the title's closed beta test revved back up, and you can enjoy a sneak peek as a result. Steparu noted that it doesn't look as though classes are gender-locked, although players may be wedded to a faction once they roll up their first character. You can watch the character creation video after the jump, and make sure you bounce over to Steparu.com for more videos on several of the game's classes.
A glance at Civilization Online's robust character creator
Let's cut to the chase: Past the break, we have two videos embedded showing off Civilization Online's character creator, which you can use the next time anyone starts talking about the challenges of body sliders with stylized art. It doesn't take much to see that the characters here are pretty heavily stylized, but despite that, the character creator features a huge array of options, sliders, and details. Many of the creation options are controlled by a grab-and-pull system similar to the one seen in The Sims 4, making adjustments to body dimensions more instinctive. There's no official timeline for when Civilization Online will come to the US, so you'll have to either wait or get familiar with Korean if you want to try this out for yourself.
Upload your face to this WWE 2K15 trailer
2K offered a new trailer for WWE 2K15 today, showing off a bit of the game's superstar customization options. The latest entry in the wrestling series from Yuke's and Visual Concepts allows players to upload photographs to 2K's servers, importing their likenesses onto the heads of custom wrestlers. Head past the break to check out the video, which also boasts custom tattoo and logo options in the game's creation suite. WWE 2K15 is already available on Xbox 360 and PS3, having launched last week. 2K's wrestling series will debut on PS4 and Xbox One on November 18 in North America and November 21 internationally. The game features a historical rivalries "2K Showcase" mode as well as a My Career mode similar to the publisher's other popular sports series, NBA 2K. Its $25 season pass includes three additional stories for the 2K Showcase mode. [Image: 2K]
ArcheAge addresses AFKers in patch; new servers added [Updated]
A patch delivered to the ArcheAge EU servers last night and en route to NA today should further address queue problems players have been experiencing during this beleaguered launch, albeit in a roundabout way. Idling or AFKing during character creation or selection will now boot you from the server rather than hold your place in line. Better still, "available character slots (via Character Slot Expansions or deleted characters) will now be recognized prior to logging into a game world." Massively's MJ confirmed yesterday's lifting of the character creation embargo as announced via Twitter. The full patch notes are on the official forums. [Update: As of this afternoon, the patch has arrived on NA servers and three new European servers have been opened: Nui, Janudar, and Nebe.]
Black Gold opens up character creation before open beta
Are you looking to start playing Black Gold Online's open beta? The servers open up completely on June 20th, but veteran players will be able to access the character creator starting today at 5:00 p.m. EDT. That means that you can just jump right in on the 20th, and you can earn a few extra prizes along the way for starting early. All players who make a character early will have access to a special gift pack to help jump-start their adventures in the game. They can also take part in a contest to create the most attractive character, the best likeness of a celebrity or other real individual, and the most hideously ugly character possible. Everyone who's not a veteran will have to wait until the 20th and won't be eligible for these special rewards; if you've been involved in the game's testing up until now, you'd best get in and start creating today.
Star Trek Online shows off new head options for Season 9
The character creator in Star Trek Online is pretty robust, but it has its limitations. There are only so many complexion options and only so many head shapes, and trying to create certain looks took an extraordinary amount of effort. So it's good news for all captains that Season 9 will bring with it a far more robust character creation setup with three new head shapes and three new complexions for everyone. It all started with bringing Tuvok into the game; creating a model that matched Tim Russ' actual face required the creation of a framework that segued naturally into more robust player options. It also gave the team an excuse to redo facial textures that had always been seen as problematic, replacing them with slightly higher-resolution versions that have better mapping. Take a look at the full development blog for more details on the process as well as a closer look at what can be done with the new options.
A guide to character creation in The Elder Scrolls Online
Creating the perfect character in an MMO can take hours. In Elder Scrolls games, it can take longer -- mostly because you have to download mods. However, in the Elder Scrolls Online, you can't mod your character's appearance, and you might not want to anyway. In the following video, Massively ESO columnist Larry Everett takes a moment to explore the different aspects of the character creator. Who knows -- this might be the first Elder Scrolls game where you aren't forced to make a hideous Elf.
Choose My Adventure: Through the starting gates of EverQuest
And we're off! The gates of EverQuest have opened, and thanks to the advice of my very own pit crew (that means you!), I am planted firmly in my saddle as ready to take on this wild Choose My Adventure ride. So let's get this show started, shall we? Figuring out where in EQ I was going to go was pretty cut and dried; Firiona Vie was the server winner by a landslide. Either you know me well enough and placed me accordingly, or you're just saying that's an awesome place to be. Of course, it could be both, which is a double bonus. The racial fight was more of a nail-biter. Tier"Dal, Iksar, and Froglok battled it out, but in the end, good won. Well, actually let's not be too hasty tossing that "good" label around: As for classes, only two choices were running pretty much neck in neck, and both were decidedly evil! Ultimately the caster lost and tin can won. So instead of summoning and commanding my own hordes of undead (for which I thank you profusely), I dub myself Sir MJ, the Shadowknight. As much as I have rarely played plate or tank classes, I do appreciate this; necromancy is definitely not a favorite pastime of mine. Add in your final decision to start me off in my racial lands and we are all set to go.
WildStar to reduce character breast size
Citing feedback from testers and others, WildStar developers will be reducing the breast size for Exile, Cassian, and Aurin characters in an upcoming beta patch. The change to bust sizes will bring the characters into a more reasonable proportion. As of right now, all players will receive the same body models per race and gender, although Design Producer Stephen Frost hinted that body shape sliders could be a post-launch feature. Chua will also get a character creation screen change in the form of underpants.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's great big sexist elephant in the room
There's a subtle problem in WildStar that we've all seen lurking around the edges. It's not huge, and it's not glaring, but it's there, and it's pretty obvious. It's the elephant in the room, and much like the traditional elephant, it's something absolutely no one wants to actually point out because it is not fun to point out. But it's pretty obvious as soon as you look at the races that the male Mechari are built like linebackers and the female Mechari are wasp-waisted blowup dolls in a permanent pair of heels. I've been a fan of WildStar since its first teaser trailer, and while I'd hoped for detailed character customization, the beta came without any body sliders or any other options for customizing a character's build. And while the Mechari are easy to cite as problematic (mostly because none of the other women has high heels as part of her feet), this sort of subtle and passive sexism weaves its way into the game on a consistent basis.
Experience Entropy's character creator with new video
The new space sim Entropy hit the scene last month through Steam's early access program, and interested explorers can get a glimpse of character creation thanks to a new video. Players can be a variety of alien species on top of human, or just add alien characteristics to a human. While the options for hair and facial features are not extensive (most have no more than eight ) and the color pallet is fairly limited (ranging between five and 14 choices for most options), players can still create a reasonably unique character -- or an approximation of The Hulk, if desired -- thanks to the number of different features that can be altered. Looks are not the only thing players must settle on, either; one point that the video emphasizes is that picking a background for your character actually has meaning as whichever choice you make grants you different skills and items upon entering the game. Check out some of those options available in the clip below.
Tamriel Infinium: The year before launching the Elder Scrolls Online
Based on the comments for this column a couple of weeks ago, it became apparent to me that many readers have very little idea about what to expect when the Elder Scrolls Online launches. And I guess with the big push of information about PvP, it would seem that that is all ESO has to offer. In some people's minds, that might still hold true. I admit that I believe PvP might be the thrust of the max-level game, but ESO will offer different things to do as you level up as well as when you hit max level. Today, for my year-end review of ESO, I will attempt to paint a picture of the Elder Scrolls Online game based on what we know so far. I think you'll find that the game does have more to offer than PvP, but ultimately, I'll let you decide if it's enough.
Massively previews WildStar's character creation, housing, Engineer, and Medic
What do you get when you throw a bunch of Massively writers into the WildStar beta for a week and tell them they can roll a million characters, play the new classes, and muck around with floating houses in the sky? You get today's embargo-lift extravaganza, that's what, and a whole bunch of bunnygirls. Massively's Eliot Lefebvre, Justin Olivetti, and Gavin Townsley trekked to the planet Nexus and back to relate their deep-dive hands-on experience with the upcoming sci-fi MMO's character creation, Medic, and Engineer, as well as a take fresh look at the updated housing system. Enjoy our complete coverage! Massively's hands-on with WildStar's character creation Eliot tinkers with character customization, judging WildStar's somewhere between the extremes of World of Warcraft and City of Heroes. Expect an expert opinion on hair styles and body sliders. Massively's hands-on with WildStar's housing system In the wake of the latest housing demo, Gavin explains the differences between sockets, plugs, and buff boards, and then repeats rumors of a strip club for small stuffed animals. Massively's hands-on with WildStar's Engineer Justin is a sucker for Engineers: "This is my rifle and this is my gun; this is for fighting and this is for statistical improvements that help my gearscore for the inevitable raid gating." Massively's hands-on with WildStar's Medic Eliot covers the feel of WildStar's hard-to-master melee healer and his role in the overall environment: "Sure, I had moments of frustration, but I certainly wasn't ever bored."
Massively's hands-on with WildStar's character creation
Character creators are a big deal to me. If I didn't have to make my characters quickly enough at launch to avoid losing my precious names, I would probably spend the better part of a month before clicking "create" the first time. So you know that the first thing I did when I sat down to play WildStar's recent press beta was to play around with the character creator. All right, that's the first thing everyone does: You have to make a character, but I was playing that to win, people. Character creation in MMOs usually falls short of what's offered in games like The Sims and Saints Row IV. At the low end you have games like Final Fantasy XI (pick a race, pick a face, pick a hair color, am I seriously done now?), and at the high end you've got Champions Online or the dearly departed City of Heroes. WildStar does not hit the high end, but it does do some things pretty nicely, even if it also misses some opportunities.
Blade & Soul opens the beta doors in China November 28th
The final closed beta for the Chinese version of Blade & Soul got rolling just over three weeks ago, but Tencent is already preparing to throw the beta doors wide open to any and all who want to check the free-to-play fantasy game out. Steparu.com discovered that open beta, scheduled to launch next week on November 28th, will not have an IP block, meaning folks from other areas can also get in on the martial-arts action. The client is available for download starting today, which is helpful to all those who want to get a head start by participating in the special character creation event on November 23rd and November 24th. While you wait for your download, take a look at some in-game emotes courtesy this video from Steparu:
Tamriel Infinium: The critical elements of Elder Scrolls Online character creation
When I think of The Elder Scrolls Online character creation or MMO character creation in general, my thoughts usually extend beyond the mechanical idea of what my avatar looks like. I'm usually contemplating motivation, history, and skillset as well. When I'm creating a pen and paper character, the actual appearance of the character is secondary to what the character could do or where he came from. Of course, I always end up drawing the character, but the art was born on the character sheet. MMOs, and frankly most RPGs, do character creation backward. They usually start with the appearance of the character when it should start with some sort of history or class. But there are some very important elements that every MMO character creation screen should have and still more that I'd like to see specifically in ESO.
The Elder Scrolls Online answers questions about character creation
Players have yet to really explore the character creation options available in The Elder Scrolls Online. How could they? The game isn't out yet. But when you release a trailer on character creation, people begin to speculate; when people begin to speculate, they start asking questions; when people start asking questions, the developers behind The Elder Scrolls Online generally take some time to answer some of those questions in a public forum. You see where this is going. According to this latest batch of answers, every race will have certain unique customization options in addition to sharing certain options with other races. How much is shared varies; Khajiit and Argonians obviously can't share hairstyles with humans, as the races are simply too different. There will also be more character options than were present in the original video, so those of you worried about the fact that the men could have beer bellies while the women could not will be appropriately mollified. For more details, peruse the full list of answers.
Choose My Adventure: If it's Neverwinter, is it Alwayssummer?
I had a good time this weekend in Neverwinter streaming the first part of our adventure on Massively's Twitch channel. The viewers even participated in creating my character with me based on the gender, race, and class chosen in last week's column. When sitting down to actually create a male Tiefling Control Wizard, I realized that many other relevant choices that could take multiple articles just to vote on. In fact, as was evident in the livestream, in Neverwinter's character creator, you could take over an hour to roll the ideal character. Eventually, the stream audience settled on a medium-red Goku-lookalike named Morthos Angelbane. I don't know how canon that name is, but this is Choose My Adventure. It's not really my decision to make. However, character creation for Cryptic's Neverwinter offers some interesting choices that I feel really set the game apart from other similar games.
