character-creation
Latest
New TERA character creation video debuts
En Masse Entertainment's Evan "Scapes" Berman has called our attention to a new TERA-centric video over on the game's official forums. The short, produced by the development team at Bluehole Studio in Korea, shows various changes made in the character creation process as a result of player feedback. "One of the key pieces of feedback we received was the desire for more character customization and this video shows one of the upcoming enhancements to TERA that allows players to customize the unique look of their character: more facial feature options and feature sliders to allow for custom modification," Berman writes. Jump directly to the video on the Hangame website, or access it via the official TERA forums.
TERA's Sam Kim talks PvP Battlefield, questing
German fansite TeraGamers.de features a new interview with TERA developer Sam Kim. While the majority of the web site is, naturally, auf Deutsch, the interview has been helpfully translated to English and is available on the site's forums. Kim discusses everything from quest innovation, to character customization improvements, to PvP options. "I'm sure you know that there will be PvP servers, with world PvP, and PvE servers with consensual PvP. One thing you might not know too much about yet is the Battlefield system. This system has been designed to be scalable -- everything from pickup skirmishes to guild-on-guild frays," Kim says. He also touches on the subject of item quality tiers, and acknowledges the fan demand for more armor and weapon variety. Check out the full interview over at TeraGamers.de.
Make a 3D Dot Game Heroes hero and win the coolest foam sword of all time
We work in a profession which has us coming into contact with an inexplicably large number of fake armaments, so we feel like we can speak with some authority when we say that the foam sword seen above is the coolest foam sword ever. How can you go about acquiring one of these ultra-rare, pixelated beauties? All you have to do is make something using this simplified, online version of 3D Dot Game Heroes' character creation engine, and you could win the non-lethal blade and a copy of the game. You have until May 11 to whip up a blocky hero and submit a picture of it to SouthPeak (the European publisher of the title) for consideration. Sadly, the contest is only open to our European allies, though the character creator is available to everyone. We demand equality on both sides of the Atlantic! Everyone should have a stab at winning these squishy sabers!
Newest responses to Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online talks Klingons
There's a certain mystique that Klingons hold for Star Trek fans, having shown up for many different stories in every show and even several movies. That's not even counting the fact that they have an entire language to back them up. So it's probably not a huge surprise that the most recent Ask Cryptic has been dedicated to questions about the Klingon Empire in Star Trek Online. Players have enjoyed the concept, but there have been more than a few expressions of disappointment at the lack of non-PvP options for the faction and the customization available (or not available) to the participants. The short version is that many of the things being asked for by Klingon players are coming -- more customization, more ship types, and more options to advance oneself without blasting honorless Federation ships out of the sky. There's even a promise of opportunities for the two factions to interact outside of combat, although the question of capturing landmarks via PvP is met with a negative. One of the responses also hints that there may be yet more factions in the game. All of the questions may be found here, which promise an interesting future for Klingons and Federation players alike in Star Trek Online.
The Daily Grind: Are you attached to your characters?
They're not real and we all know it. All your character is in an MMO, really, is just a little mobile indicator for what you're wearing and what you're doing. There's no need to spare them a second thought. Of course, there are games like Champions Online and City of Heroes which give you dizzying amounts of control over what they look like. Or Lord of the Rings Online and Final Fantasy XI that let you decorate your house. Or Star Trek Online letting you detail both what sort of ship you ride around in and who your co-workers are... All right, most of us put a little more thought into our characters than just mobile gear indicators. Roleplayers tend to get even more so, but even if you're avidly not into the RP scene, you can't help but form some connections. So how attached are you to yours? Do you spend a long time staring at the character creator? Do you play the same character transplanted into new settings? Or do you mostly just click through based on whatever looks cool and take what you get, even if it winds up being hideous?
3D Dot Game Heroes' character editor explained
We've been looking forward to getting our hands on 3D Dot Game Heroes since before we knew it would be localized; however, we've worried that our complete lack of artistic ability would limit our proficiency with the game's character creator. Oh, sure, we'd pretend to be really clever: "Look guys, I'm a Tetris brick!" Don't be fooled, friends. We're just terrible artists. Fortunately, a recent post on PlayStation.Blog provides a pretty helpful tutorial on how the character creator can be used to make (and animate) slightly more complicated creations. Like, for instance, two Tetris blocks, smushed together to form an uppercase "T." Look, we're hopeless, alright? Go check out the tutorial so you can whip up some neat characters for us to play with once the game hits store shelves May 11.
Star Trek Online character customization in pictures
Cryptic Studios, the developer behind Star Trek Online, is well known for their character customization options. I know that I spent more time making characters in City of Heroes than beating up bad guys. Cryptic has brought that same design aesthetic to STO. For those of you not currently in open Beta, I've captured a gallery of shots below spotlighting all the available races in open beta (Federation and Klingon factions.) I've also shown the cosmetic customization screens for both factions and the color palettes available. However the true fun lies not in tweaking the familiar Vulcan, Bajoran or Klingon races, but in the build-you-own-alien race tool. For both factions you can randomly create an alien species based on a humanoid model. Blotchy skin, tentacles, protrusions, ridges, antennae and more await those players looking for a unique presence in the game. I've taken screenshots of some crazy creations randomly generated, too. You can also customize your alien if you have something specific in mind. Not seeing the alien life form you're looking for? Borg will be available as a Federation faction playable race to those who pay for the Lifetime subscription option. Ferengi and Risian will be added as playable races right after launch and future expansions promise more familiar faction race sets including Romulan. Star Trek Online launches on February 2, 2010. %Gallery-83416% Enter the Star Trek universe with Cryptic Studios' Star Trek Online. From hands on reviews of the early levels and space combat, through noob question and developer interviews, we've got everything you need to know about the game trekkies are dying for.
More Final Fantasy XIV translations with developer commentary
In some games, adventurers are just regular people, albeit very well-trained and highly-armed people who are a bit dangerous to have hanging around too long. In others, however, there's something special setting them apart, even beyond the fact that they spend all of their waking lives running through muck-infested ruins. Add Final Fantasy XIV to the latter list, as fansite FFXIVCore has translated the most recent issue of Dengeki Playstation, which includes some information straight to the magazine from the developers. They make note of the fact that adventurers have a specific power to change the world, albeit one distinct from the time-travel mechanics used in Final Fantasy XI. The translation covers a lot of ground, and reveals such tidbits as the lack of any hybrid magic-and-melee classes in Final Fantasy XIV -- such abilities will come from a character's growth in multiple areas rather than a specific class such as the Red Mage or Paladin. More details on character creation are included, with the creators talking about both a more flexible creator than Final Fantasy XI and the possibility of changing elements of a character's starting armor. There are also some tidbits on the political state of the land and the three-way conflict between the adventurers of Eorzea, the Garleann Empire, and the beast tribes. Unfortunately, there's no answer to the question many of us want answered -- namely, when we can start the beta.
The Daily Grind: Ruining the blank canvas
It's the start of the new year, and that means you've got a huge number of days stretching out before you in which you can do almost anything, at least once you recover from your hangover. It's a sea of infinite possibilities, which is a good thing... for some people. Sometimes, when you roll the dice and you can be almost anything, you wind up... well, with a large man with freakish hands wearing a scarf and what appear to be cannibalized Gundam shoulders. We're not sure either. Since we have a sea of choice ahead of us for the new year, we're wondering how you approach games and situations where you have a wide variety of options. Games like Champions Online and City of Heroes give us a wealth of options in character creation, and games such as Fallen Earth let us build our characters in myriad ways as we level up. Do you build your character based on outside information, or do you try and make a decent guess at reasonably synergistic abilities? Or do you just pick things at random and hope it forms a cohesive whole in the end?
Hands-on with Star Trek Online's early levels
There's been a lot of Star Trek Online coverage lately here at Massively, which is only normal given the looming early February release date. This particular feature is a look at the game over the course of around seven or eight "levels" of play. Sadly, that means I haven't acquired my first non-starter ship, although that goal will soon be reached even if it costs me more sleep. Still, you should check out the brand new beta gallery, because I was still able to catch plenty of cool stuff -- plus a classic Enterprise. Now, onto the preview!%Gallery-81223%
Preview of character creation in Final Fantasy XIV
The start of the beta signups for Final Fantasy XIV was certainly good news for the many people anticipating the game next year, but it didn't exactly pierce the fog surrounding the game. Square-Enix, of course, has always played their cards close to their chest when handing out previews, but there's still so much more to learn about the game and a number of curious people. FFXIVCore, a fansite with an active base of users translating as much new information on the game as possible, has posted a set of new scans and translations detailing that most important of processes in an MMO: character creation. While there isn't as much hard information as fans would like (and isn't that always the case), the characters on display boast a wide variety of slight differences, as noted by the article. There's also some information regarding a third force in the game's main conflict, the Garlean Empire, although details on it are scant. Still, the promise of a detailed character creator is certainly alluring, as are most of the pictures we get regarding said character creator. Final Fantasy XIV often winds up releasing news and previews in chunks, so it's best to keep an eye open for the next few days for further possible information.
The Daily Grind: How do you learn the game?
MMOs are complicated beasts. In most games you have at least a detailed set of game mechanics and combat systems to learn. That's not even getting into things like Fallen Earth with its maddeningly expansive crafting, or EVE Online and the detailed economy, or Champions Online and a costume creator that some find more engaging than the actual gameplay. There's a reason why most popular games spawn countless websites, forums, chat channels, and so forth -- because there's a great deal to learn, a large number of mysteries, and often a limit to how much useful information the game itself gives you. So how do you learn your game? Do you browse forums and ask questions, building up advice from a community? Do you read the numerous sites devoted to the games, such as databases and wikis? Do you buy print strategy guides and try and adapt to the changes as they come, piece-by-piece? Or do you eschew all of the above, preferring to just let yourself amble along and learn things by example and inference? There are a lot of resources out there, and we all have our preferred ones, but today we want to know about yours.
Massively's Black Prophecy Q&A: Character Creation
Black Prophecy is one of the hotly anticipated games on the horizon that sci-fi MMO fans have been wanting to hear more about. Until recently though, Reakktor Media wasn't quite ready to reveal many of the specifics of what the game will offer. We've known that Black Prophecy's gameplay will differ from titles in the genre like EVE Online -- with Reakktor's game a bit more accessible in terms of learning curve and with a more dynamic feel to piloting space ships. Plus, if the screenshots and video footage are an accurate indication, Black Prophecy will be visually stunning as well. Business-wise, things have recently changed for the better at Reakktor Media and the Black Prophecy project is once again moving ahead at full speed. More info about this title is on the way as well; Reakktor was kind enough to agree to do a series of focused Q&As at Massively about various facets of the game. Over time, this series will cover topics ranging from Black Prophecy's modification system to details about how players will build space stations. Since we're going to look at some of the fundamental aspects of Black Prophecy, it makes sense that we'd begin this series where the players themselves will begin -- at character creation. In our first Q&A in this series, Massively spoke with Jens Kortboyer, Lead Artist on Black Prophecy, who walked us through the design decisions Reakktor made in creating the look of the Genides and Tyi characters, as well as the visual choices players will have when starting out.%Gallery-46991%
Cryptic: We didn't want to delete your Batman clone, we had to
One of the most talked about features of Champions Online is the outstanding character creator, practically a game in itself. It's a great part of the game, but there's a downside. It's so versatile, and you can do so much, that you can easily make the perfect Gollum or G.I. Joe clone. That's not as awesome as it sounds, because your character will get downgraded to a plain old shirt-and-jeans-wearing guy sooner or later. "Why is Cryptic so mean?" you might ask. The latest dev blog explains that that's not the case at all. Noel "Destra' Holmes has quite a bit to say about the ongoing issue of IP violations, but it boils down to this: "The requirement to remove IP Violation characters from Champions is completely based on the fact that having IP Violation characters in our game puts us at a legal risk, and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that we are required to remove them from our game, or the owner of the IP in question can take us to court for stealing their stuff." The full blog entry is very informative, and well worth a read for any Champions Online fan.
Character creation in Earthrise an open system
The latest Earthrise Question of the Week from the Masthead Studios developers -- "The Blank Slate" -- gives us another glimpse at the underlying game mechanics of this post-apocalyptic MMO. When you begin as a newly cloned character, reborn in a sense, all knowledge and skills gained in your life before the apocalypse are gone. (On the bright side, you're one of the old world's elite chosen to carry on humanity's legacy.) In this respect, you are essentially a blank slate and must quickly learn how to survive in a radically changed society through initiation training. These initial training missions let a new player get a feel for their options in Earthrise, checking out the various skills available to them. Initiation training is a time when players can determine what they like, what they don't, and how they'd like their character to develop over time. This approach means that Earthrise's character creation system will be a relatively open system, emphasizing freedom for players.
The Daily Grind: How important are character models to you?
We spend nearly all of our time staring at their backs, so you wouldn't think it would matter so much, but many gamers spend a significant amount of time on that character creation screen. The options for height, body type, skin tone, face shape, eye color, hairstyle and so on can seem endless. Details for eye, skin, and hair shades, as well as facial details like scars and piercings number in the hundreds in some games. But in spite of the options at hand, the avatar is just a tool to get the job done, right? Your Paladin's hairstyle won't give him any sort of tactical advantage in battle, so those players who zoom right past the character creator and accept the randomly-generated avatar can get straight to killing. They're having just as much fun." With so many options at your disposal, do you spend the required time getting your character's hair the perfect shade of red and experimenting with that facial scar to get it just so? Or do you skip the vanity part and get to the killing already?
Choose my Adventure: Meet Fahryn Brygo
It's always so exciting to get started in a new game with this series, and this week we officially kick off our time with Dungeons and Dragons Online. You voted earlier this week for the elements of my character creation, and I am happy to say that my new character is alive and well, and eager to begin his journey.I've already discovered that this Choose my Adventure will need to be done a bit differently than the previous two, as I am almost completely unfamiliar with this game. What I have played was back during Module 7, and much of the game has changed since then. The voting will be less reliant on polls, and more on comment discussion. So follow along after the jump for a brief introduction to our newest adventurer, and where he will go from here.
Choose my Adventure: Dungeons and Dragons Online
Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Last week we ended our Lord of the Rings Online edition of Choose my Adventure with the retirement of Gibbi the Hobbit in his very own hobbit hole. This week, the votes have been counted and it appears that Dungeons and Dragons Online will be the next game in which I'll spend the next two months. I'm excited to make my way through DDO, especially since it's the first game in this series that I haven't played beyond level 10, and it will also be fun to try it out since it has re-released as a free-to-play. So follow along after the jump for a set of polls that will determine character creation and play style throughout my adventures in DDO: Unlimited.
Improving the character selection screen
I really like this post over at Mend Pet -- after five years in a game's life, no part of the WoW interface should be remiss from getting the occasional update, and they mention possibly the only part of the game (even the login screen's been updated quite a few times) that's been the same since day one, the character selection screen. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, as you can choose your character and get into the game. But everything can be better, no?
If there was a GI Joe MMO, this is what it would look like
I am in love with the Champions Online character creator. I may not have a character past level 8 in the open beta, but I'm already wishing I had more character slots. I guess it's a good thing we can save our costumes!With the recent GI Joe movie hype, and the simple fact that I'm a ginormous GI Joe fanboy since I was probably 6 or 7, I decided it might be fun to see how close I could get on recreating GI Joe characters from my youth in Champions Online. We've paid homage to this amazing character creator before, but we just can't get enough! Follow along after the jump (warning, large pictures ahead!) to see if you can name the five characters I created. This is not an official competition, and the only thing you'll win is my respect and love. Isn't that totally worth it?
