Player Character customized avatar
by Joel Hargarten · in Artist Corner · 04/12/2006 (1:30 pm) · 4 replies
Hey everyone,
I would like to get people's thoughts on what is the best way to create a custom character for each person who plays my game? My wish is that people would start by selecting a gender and then be able to select from the different hairs, body types, clothes, faces, etc. it would kinda be like a mix and match so that each player would be unique. How does one do that in torque? either TGE or TSE. I assume that this is also along the line of changing your look in game. for example, you would be able to switch gloves in the game to ones that look completely different, but still animate the same as before. I know that a lot of this can be done by changing the textures, but what about if you need to change to something that is bigger or smaller or shaped differently? any idea's on how this would be done or how other games do it? thanks.
I would like to get people's thoughts on what is the best way to create a custom character for each person who plays my game? My wish is that people would start by selecting a gender and then be able to select from the different hairs, body types, clothes, faces, etc. it would kinda be like a mix and match so that each player would be unique. How does one do that in torque? either TGE or TSE. I assume that this is also along the line of changing your look in game. for example, you would be able to switch gloves in the game to ones that look completely different, but still animate the same as before. I know that a lot of this can be done by changing the textures, but what about if you need to change to something that is bigger or smaller or shaped differently? any idea's on how this would be done or how other games do it? thanks.
#2
The first one :
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=2150
This might be better, based off the previous one :
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=5421
They might be slightly outdated now (you might have to play with the code or ask for someones help to get them to work ), but they seem to fit the bill. ;)
04/19/2006 (2:06 am)
Have a look at these resources, I haven't implemented it yet, but I'm planning to use it to implement what you're talking about. Basically, you make one model with all the possible variations in it , then in the engine script you hide all the parts you don't want to see. The first one :
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=2150
This might be better, based off the previous one :
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=5421
They might be slightly outdated now (you might have to play with the code or ask for someones help to get them to work ), but they seem to fit the bill. ;)
#3
First create a wireframe with bone points for attaching things then create heads{-faces} and some faces
and then torsos legs etc
as the player selects the body parts the total character is "made"
because 3 different avatars in this example would share a common wireframe
they would share common animation sets the body parts would be more like armor pieces
except they would be at skin level
there are many limitations to this method but it does provide a low resource method
of individuality to the avatar without adding an ever escalating pool of in game resources
just remember in design a game that even chess played on the beach with a sand drawn board and pebbles for pieces is still chess what we see depends on the game and how much we become immersed within it
before creating a world and avatars and combat trading chatting and all be sure you actually have a "GAME"
for all of this to revolve and evolve around
perhaps a real world analogy is better.. if you go to work and the money you earn will go towards buying something you want and therefore enhance your life work isnt so bad
if you know up front that all it will do is pay the BILLS and basically will just keep your life the same as it is
work is less enjoyable
most games I have seen in the past 20 years even MMO's are single player games that have alot of other single players in them basically enhanced single player games
to create a true multiplayer game you must first be sure that the event and actions of the players
has some effect on the game itself if you play for months and all you have is a tougher character fighting tougher creatures with a diminishing reward you basically havent provided a game is more of a reminder of the real world and the game is supposed to take us away from the real world for enjoyment
designing a good multiplayer game is still a concept most know what it should be its getting one to be IT
that is the real task
I have spent along time asking the question what do you DONT LIKE in order to decide what is left
and basically what most people dont like is what we have available in the MMOs available today
in almost every instance people will say fantastic graphics are nice but pointless without a GAME behind them
music and sound effects can be entertaining until you have heard them so much that they lose thier flavor
basically people hop from game to game trying to find a GAME and instead find 3d chat programs with activities
its becoming more like TV new faces new sites same ol same plot or lack of.
anyone who has ever read a good book knows the importance of story and the images and sounds we
see feel and enjoy by leaving the real world and diving into somewhere else
so when designing your game try and make a world where people will see things that arent really there
the world spawns imagination it feels or seems like more than it is
a book if you look at the pages is just words its not until you immerse yourself within it that worlds come to life so look for a game that will draw people into the Game the plot the ROLE and the game itself will become
more than the sum of its resources
04/19/2006 (8:43 am)
This is one method that will allow for some customizing without having to make thousands of models and animationsFirst create a wireframe with bone points for attaching things then create heads{-faces} and some faces
and then torsos legs etc
as the player selects the body parts the total character is "made"
because 3 different avatars in this example would share a common wireframe
they would share common animation sets the body parts would be more like armor pieces
except they would be at skin level
there are many limitations to this method but it does provide a low resource method
of individuality to the avatar without adding an ever escalating pool of in game resources
just remember in design a game that even chess played on the beach with a sand drawn board and pebbles for pieces is still chess what we see depends on the game and how much we become immersed within it
before creating a world and avatars and combat trading chatting and all be sure you actually have a "GAME"
for all of this to revolve and evolve around
perhaps a real world analogy is better.. if you go to work and the money you earn will go towards buying something you want and therefore enhance your life work isnt so bad
if you know up front that all it will do is pay the BILLS and basically will just keep your life the same as it is
work is less enjoyable
most games I have seen in the past 20 years even MMO's are single player games that have alot of other single players in them basically enhanced single player games
to create a true multiplayer game you must first be sure that the event and actions of the players
has some effect on the game itself if you play for months and all you have is a tougher character fighting tougher creatures with a diminishing reward you basically havent provided a game is more of a reminder of the real world and the game is supposed to take us away from the real world for enjoyment
designing a good multiplayer game is still a concept most know what it should be its getting one to be IT
that is the real task
I have spent along time asking the question what do you DONT LIKE in order to decide what is left
and basically what most people dont like is what we have available in the MMOs available today
in almost every instance people will say fantastic graphics are nice but pointless without a GAME behind them
music and sound effects can be entertaining until you have heard them so much that they lose thier flavor
basically people hop from game to game trying to find a GAME and instead find 3d chat programs with activities
its becoming more like TV new faces new sites same ol same plot or lack of.
anyone who has ever read a good book knows the importance of story and the images and sounds we
see feel and enjoy by leaving the real world and diving into somewhere else
so when designing your game try and make a world where people will see things that arent really there
the world spawns imagination it feels or seems like more than it is
a book if you look at the pages is just words its not until you immerse yourself within it that worlds come to life so look for a game that will draw people into the Game the plot the ROLE and the game itself will become
more than the sum of its resources
#4
Lets say that I go with one of the suggestions and created a model that had all of the meshes in it and are all rigged. Then I would hide the ones that I'm not using, and switch accordingly. First, it may sound like a lot of models, but your going to make them anyway if you intend to give the player that kind of variety, so why not just attach them all in the same model. The thing that I am concerned about is, would that affect the performance of the game? I mean having every model loaded at the same time on every player. would that majorly slow it down because of the unused currently wasted polygon processing, or does it just not process them at all if they arent shown?
Lastly,
to what extent can you use mount points to mount a new mesh that would act just like the original? like say a new glove mesh that would just replace the other, and be mounted in the same place?
Thanks.
04/25/2006 (10:36 am)
Hey, Lets say that I go with one of the suggestions and created a model that had all of the meshes in it and are all rigged. Then I would hide the ones that I'm not using, and switch accordingly. First, it may sound like a lot of models, but your going to make them anyway if you intend to give the player that kind of variety, so why not just attach them all in the same model. The thing that I am concerned about is, would that affect the performance of the game? I mean having every model loaded at the same time on every player. would that majorly slow it down because of the unused currently wasted polygon processing, or does it just not process them at all if they arent shown?
Lastly,
to what extent can you use mount points to mount a new mesh that would act just like the original? like say a new glove mesh that would just replace the other, and be mounted in the same place?
Thanks.
Torque Owner Barry Pearson
The only idea I could come up with is perhaps if you modelled each item induvidually and gave each one a certain name. Then when the user created a character the only consistent part of the character could be the torso for example. This way other parts of the body could be mounted onto it.
Then when the character is "built" it would consist of a the "core" (such as a torso), a mounted head, mounted arms, and mounted arms.
I don't think this will be much help but that is how i'd imagine doing it?