Personalized Marine Helmet
Hamlet
Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">How the marine helmet can be enhanced</div>[Suggestion ported over from here: <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=107445&view=findpost&p=1730211" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1730211</a>]
Here is a great suggestion how the marine helmet can be enhanced:
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/89670650_b701ccf261.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://chapters.marssociety.org/winnipeg/helmets/saabs.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Make the player's name appear on it!
Info: This is the first-best picture I could find about a similar-themed, yet set in a not so technologically advanced TV series called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_above_and_beyond" target="_blank">Space - Above and Beyond</a>.
Left4Dead is another example of an, albeit smaller (only 4 players), but very strongly co-op and team-oriented game.
No matter what stupid nicknames the players keep choosing, I call them Bill, Louis, Francis and Zoey if I talk to them on my microphone.
You can attach yourself to them, because they clearly have something like a visual identity of their own - each of the 4 is unique. It's also a bit of role-playing.
In NS2 this won't work as easily, because the marines are much more numerous, yet the developers have decided to turn them from an army of clones to customizable characters (if I'm right). Adding a name would help one a lot to attach oneself to the player character. After all, the main difference between a faceless clone from a conveyor belt and a person is.. their name. Clones have numbers, humans have names.
I guess a preset would also work fine.
Interestingly Zoey (who is some kind of preset persona) is much more popular among players than the 3 male characters.
As I've said in my original posting, in L4D the stupid names simply don't matter.
And it wouldn't be that bad, would it?
If there comes a NS2 single player campaign we could be introduced to the Presets.
Then, in multiplayer, you can choose gender, skin colour, hair colour and face from some pre-made ones. And once you choose a certain face, you get the accompanying name - just as introduced in the single player campaign.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i agree that there should be a preset bank of names that's either given randomly or selectable, and if a name is taken, there won't be repeats (so we don't have 4 marines named "WEST")<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
QFT
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i'm sure if it's not preset, it would get annoying. people would abuse it with long or stupid names.. and may be an issue to fit on the helmet/back if the name is too long as someone mentioned. plus i don't know for sure.. but it may look fake? personally, i like it to be as real as possible (obviously not real to life, but in terms of real to the natural selection video game world). i'd personally find it very distracting (albeit funny) if i see marines running around with names on their armor like "kILLeRNIPPLEs_19" or "__ROBO######__" or "dONGs my scHLONGS"... etc<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That would be very easy to implement:
1) Simply make it all CAPITALS like on the pictures above. So no ###### ChAnGinG ArOuNd.
2) Then, you disallow all characters that don't belong in a real name like numbers [0,1,2,3...], math signs [+,-,/...], special signs [#.*...].
-> So you can only use real letters, no BS. If someone doesn't want to stick to the rules, their name simply gets replaced by a generic "TSA" or the Frontiersmann logo. There you go! :)
3) Also, I would give it a total limit. In the TV series the longest surname was "Damphousse" - which is 10 letters and fitted nicely on the helmet. Let's give it 12 letters max and that should settle it.
Here is a great suggestion how the marine helmet can be enhanced:
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/89670650_b701ccf261.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://chapters.marssociety.org/winnipeg/helmets/saabs.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Make the player's name appear on it!
Info: This is the first-best picture I could find about a similar-themed, yet set in a not so technologically advanced TV series called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_above_and_beyond" target="_blank">Space - Above and Beyond</a>.
Left4Dead is another example of an, albeit smaller (only 4 players), but very strongly co-op and team-oriented game.
No matter what stupid nicknames the players keep choosing, I call them Bill, Louis, Francis and Zoey if I talk to them on my microphone.
You can attach yourself to them, because they clearly have something like a visual identity of their own - each of the 4 is unique. It's also a bit of role-playing.
In NS2 this won't work as easily, because the marines are much more numerous, yet the developers have decided to turn them from an army of clones to customizable characters (if I'm right). Adding a name would help one a lot to attach oneself to the player character. After all, the main difference between a faceless clone from a conveyor belt and a person is.. their name. Clones have numbers, humans have names.
I guess a preset would also work fine.
Interestingly Zoey (who is some kind of preset persona) is much more popular among players than the 3 male characters.
As I've said in my original posting, in L4D the stupid names simply don't matter.
And it wouldn't be that bad, would it?
If there comes a NS2 single player campaign we could be introduced to the Presets.
Then, in multiplayer, you can choose gender, skin colour, hair colour and face from some pre-made ones. And once you choose a certain face, you get the accompanying name - just as introduced in the single player campaign.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i agree that there should be a preset bank of names that's either given randomly or selectable, and if a name is taken, there won't be repeats (so we don't have 4 marines named "WEST")<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
QFT
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i'm sure if it's not preset, it would get annoying. people would abuse it with long or stupid names.. and may be an issue to fit on the helmet/back if the name is too long as someone mentioned. plus i don't know for sure.. but it may look fake? personally, i like it to be as real as possible (obviously not real to life, but in terms of real to the natural selection video game world). i'd personally find it very distracting (albeit funny) if i see marines running around with names on their armor like "kILLeRNIPPLEs_19" or "__ROBO######__" or "dONGs my scHLONGS"... etc<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That would be very easy to implement:
1) Simply make it all CAPITALS like on the pictures above. So no ###### ChAnGinG ArOuNd.
2) Then, you disallow all characters that don't belong in a real name like numbers [0,1,2,3...], math signs [+,-,/...], special signs [#.*...].
-> So you can only use real letters, no BS. If someone doesn't want to stick to the rules, their name simply gets replaced by a generic "TSA" or the Frontiersmann logo. There you go! :)
3) Also, I would give it a total limit. In the TV series the longest surname was "Damphousse" - which is 10 letters and fitted nicely on the helmet. Let's give it 12 letters max and that should settle it.
Comments
Otherwise when the Player picks no Name it can be another word, too.
Like "Bite me!"
Then you don't have to be looking at them from the front to know who they are.
different color pallets for each game model, like skulk and marine and lerk and so on
different color pallets for each game model, like skulk and marine and lerk and so on<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then we would have fools running around in pink and purple.
Can't wait to play with nicks like "I'm with stupid ->" :D
- Use only Capitals
- Use only white font
- Use only the letters A to Z
- Disallow any spaces or signs that aren't letters
- Limit name to a small, fixed number of letters (let's stick to 12)
There you go: No pink, no sentences (as there are no spaces and letters are extremely limited), no arrows ("->").
After all, if someone WANTS to break something, they will succeed, but - after all - who would want to play with <i>that</i> kind of people? In most cases they also belong to other groups like cheaters, wall-hackers or simply griefers (e.g. people who exploit friendly fire). If I can't voteban them, I sure as hell won't wait for them to come up with new creative ways to spoil my fun.
Another nice addition to the uniform's shoulder: A little badge depicting the country flag according to IP.
Or Squad specific colors.
But the colors should be limited to a few greens and greys.
If I saw a bunch of marines, each in his own "war costume" I would have to think of fashion victims, not humanity's last best hope against alienation.
B: I prefer free paint with limited colors depending on the Model you are editing, whether it be skulk, lerk, male marine, female marine, gorge, onos, fade, so on, each will have a unique color pallet to use
C: You can limit the amount of Pixels/Polys able to be colored, so a player can't paint the entire model a single color, the amount of pixels/polys depends on the size of the model, skulk getting the least.
D: I personally would LOVE to put that on my chestplate, "I'm with stupid -->"
Note: The painter can either use Free Hand, or Type, BUT, to prevent, lets say, a Dic-k to appear on a guy, they can put simple identifiers that remove any Addition shaped in this style. Also add server specific bans+reporting to a UWE employee, getting Game Ban, and so on. The identifiers are easy to make.
It personally doesn't matter what Camo you have for a marine ON A SPACE SHIP, Yep, you will totally blend in with the Assortment of pipes and crates behind ya.
A uniform has some very profound psychologic effects.
For example: You see someone in a white doctor's coat -> you automatically assume that this person has a doctor's degree and can cure your illness (if that is his specialization)
Or you see someone in a police uniform -> etc.
You see someone with higher rank insignia -> your behaviour towards that person changes. Completely.
If everyone looks very different (and I'm not talking about small changes like adding a badge or a name tag, I'm talking about changing 90%+ of the uniform/camo), the group of marines does not convey the desired <i>group image</i> anymore. They become fragmented individuals who may - or rather may not - belong together.
Uniforms also make "equal" to some degree. Fashionable peacocks can't stand out by means of dressing, because everyone has to stick to the same olive/black/brown.
This happened in tribes, and it was really easy to get a custom skin that camouflaged you and gave you an advantage over the other players (such as grey and white for clouds, black for shadows, blue for sky), there are just too many ways it could negatively affect the game.
This happened in tribes, and it was really easy to get a custom skin that camouflaged you and gave you an advantage over the other players (such as grey and white for clouds, black for shadows, blue for sky), there are just too many ways it could negatively affect the game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So true.
Overall, here's my criteria of customized avatars:
1) Short, simple.
2) Disable-able by client and server-side.
3) Gives a nice, subtle, noticable characteristic/individuality
<!--quoteo(post=1730625:date=Oct 4 2009, 05:29 AM:name=Hamlet)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hamlet @ Oct 4 2009, 05:29 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1730625"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, most of this can be discarded easily:
- Use only Capitals
- Use only white font
- Use only the letters A to Z
- Disallow any spaces or signs that aren't letters
- Limit name to a small, fixed number of letters (let's stick to 12)
There you go: No pink, no sentences (as there are no spaces and letters are extremely limited), no arrows ("->").<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This works.
Client Side enable-disable is a must.
Like I said, limited Poly count to be colored, you can even get 40% of the model colored cause you have the limit
About the color issue, again, Limited Color pallet, l2read.
I'd like custom color design to an extent for mostly, guilds/clans, which can higher someone to make a clan wide color Uniform, and put a download up on a sight and they all 'equip' it.
This happened in tribes, and it was really easy to get a custom skin that camouflaged you and gave you an advantage over the other players (such as grey and white for clouds, black for shadows, blue for sky), there are just too many ways it could negatively affect the game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This reminds me of the infamous Spy spray paint in Team Fortress 2.
The sprayed image is so high res that one can easily mistake it for an actual player model.
The gamertag on the helmet would be cool, but it would be no means offer a quick visual queue to whom you should be running with.
I'd fancy that as well!
Well, those idiots can have their moronic names already, can't they?
So if they keep on using them, what's the difference... okay, it get's shown on the helmet - but does that get him any award, besides losing all his reputation the very moment he connects to a server?
Besides, me thinks that those names are more prevalent in Counter-Strike...
Symbol on left/right or both shoulder, Left or right side of chest or back. All pre-defined.
You could make it like the spraypaint image selection in Half-Life Games...
By giving a pre-defined selection, we must not fear stupidness reigning the variable again :)
You could make it like the spraypaint image selection in Half-Life Games...
By giving a pre-defined selection, we must not fear stupidness reigning the variable again :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wouldn't mind seeing custom embalms like what halo did.
I think the community should up with symbols and stuff to put on helmets if they're going to do it like Halo.