Suggestion #1: Aesthetics, Walking Graphics Options

[Guest_Miirsche_*]

I was thinking... Having the walking graphic that everyone saw, and not just in dreams, as customizable as the portriats would be great! ..But, the current server is being bogged down even with the current state of things, (and people may misuse it to do unwanted things) so here's three things that would work just as well if used together:
1- Making MORE SPECIES!!!
2- Making the walking graphic change with gender
3- Making the walking graphic almost fully customizable-- making selections for digitigrade, type of clothing, height, hats, hair, amulets, weapons, armor (armor, weapons, and jewlery should be controllable by DS so you can have something like a shop in RP dreams), whether you want to look mechanical, etc. Tied into this should be a system that would allow the archive of available clothing, hats, armor etc. to grow by having a .FSH submission area on the website (though, of course, the files would have to be checked first).

These changes would allow more flexibility and uniqueness for the user. Also, 8 degrees of facing would be good.

[Kubwakanu]

Roar. None of these things, except maybe 1., are really reasonable suggestions until 3D rendered avatars are introduced which will be sometime in the distant future, after the Beta. Until then, there are only so many things they can do with the player.fsh files without creating a huge download. They are planning to add new races, eventually. I believe squirrels/skunks is the next one planned.

Sincerely,
  Kubwkanu



This post has been edited by Kubwakanu: Oct 12 2002, 02:17 AM

[Guest_Miirsche_*]

 Lol, 3D avatars would be big downloads, too! But, what I was thinking was that they would have the basic walking graphic, no changes, then the clothing pic would be placed OVER the furre. But then, the impracticality of this would be that the pic would have to be fit to each and every other pic, meaning multiple files... large.... But still wouldn't the benefit outweigh simple download time?

[Guest_Morpius_*]

Incorrect. It's all possible using piece-meal assembly of the avatars (draw head, then torse, then legs, stick on wings...). But that's quite a lot of work for DEP to aspire to. And of course, most patchmakers who'd made avatars patches would complain that Furcadia, despite having 'ALPHA' smacked straight on it, has lost backwards compatibility.



This post has been edited by Morpius: Oct 11 2002, 10:10 PM

[Entropy Serpent]

All those suggestions were already suggested, over and over. Before posting a new thread, check the archive.
As for 3D avatars, hmm... I guess it would eb difficult to have 3D avatars in a 2D world (having a lot of nasty visual artefacts, especially Z buffer related)

[Nikolas Payne]

2D avatars in a 3D world however looks great.

[Saggio Dragy]

Felorin told me Crawling won't be far off. And he'd be trying to make it so you could crawl UNDER tables.

[Entropy Serpent]

2D avatars in a 3D world however looks great.

You mean, doom style?

[Aeronyth]

Most suggestions that people come up with will actually be implemented into furcadia, for felorin already had them in mind.

But realize, it took us 5 years go get to Beta version....things take a long time in this game.  Be patient.

[Guest_The Ice Queen_*]

Personally, I like Furcadia the way it is. It is (to me at least), a roleplay and chat program, and the most important part of the engine is the text field... The graphics and all are nice, but they're fine the way they are now. New species and all would be great, and a female and male walking avatar too, but lets be honest, that's just a small part of the game, no? It's fun that everything can be patched, but why would you need 3D graphics for a game like this? During roleplay, I don't even look at the avatars on screen, just the text....

[Zarneth]

Miirsche. If you're that desperate for new/better avatars, why don't YOU make them? And while you're at it switch over to a nice slow modem if you arn't allready using one.

Miirsche: Lol, 3D avatars would be big downloads, too!

Actuially I'd think they'd make it a lot smaller. If it just used a wrap around texture, then it probably wouldn't be more than the equivelent of 4 avatar shapes. And a custom 3d model wouldn't be very much either.

Entropy Serpent: As for 3D avatars, hmm... I guess it would eb difficult to have 3D avatars in a 2D world (having a lot of nasty visual artefacts, especially Z buffer related)

Sure you may have a few glitches/problems. But it shouldn't be all that hard to iron out. There's many diferent ways of doing things. If one way is too glitchy, experement and try another.

[Valkaria]

...and a female and male walking avatar too...

Discussed to death already.
I believe the ultimate answer was 'No.'

[Guest_The Ice Queen_*]

I know... It's not that important. I was just agreeing it'd be nice

[Talzhemir]

*
    I thought of  having personalized walkabouts like personalized portraits myself, and it's been suggested many times.  I can see how it would be fun to have everybody see your special walkabout.  However, I don't think we'll do it.

    When I okayed uploadable portraits, we discussed whether or not to turn down those that were "unthemely".  We decided that we would be lenient here.  We don't turn down a portrait because it's a picture of a household appliance or pus-filled sore or a poem, instead of a furre.

    Unlike portraits, which are seen by those who are interested in you, walkabouts are seen immediately; they're "in your face".  I'm not willing to give away the guarantee that what you see immediately, for the most part, when you log onto Furcadia, is furres.

    Not only would I have heavy limitations of what a walkabout could be, but I would also insist on censoring the ones I didn't think were *good enough*.    I don't want to do that.  (it's a valid concern: One of big complaints  players have about "The Palace" is being forced to look at what some of them think is "stupid" art.)

    You also need to consider what happens if there are lots  of them present on the map.  Right now, you enter a Dream and there's that inevitable delay as the Patch trickles onto your local hard drive.  If there were 30 furres with custom walkabouts, you'd also have to wait for 30 furres worth of bitmaps.  As each frame of an avatar can be 150X150 pixels, that's quite a bit of downloading.

    Having once seen them, their avatar would now be stored on your computer.  You could take the time to flush the place they were stored... but the next time that furre came walking up to you, you would have to download them again.

[Talzhemir]

re: male/female shapes

    I get this question so often, it's one of my FAQ questions.

So, here's the stock answer:

#34 "Could you add male and female walking shapes?"

    --I'm sorry, but no. This question isn't as simple as it sounds. Early on, Furcadia's predecessor DragonSpires had both genders. As a direct result of this, the atmosphere was different. Amongst the major problems was abusive behavior towards females and strong adult language that the filters could not prevent.

    The need for Owsla [Guardians] would have been much higher and I was never in favor of having the game be forever patrolled by "babysitters". I was faced with a VERY hard decision here: to risk my livelihood by taking the chance that we'd have a game that we would have to ban anybody under 18, or to make a game that I felt confident even 10 year olds could have a good time playing!!!

    I knew there would be time for four or five shapes. We could have males and females but we'd have to have limited it to canines and mustelines. Or I could dump the females and have canines, mustelines, equines, and rodents. I opted for having no genders, and twice as many shapes. Unless we're charging for it, I'm inclined to add 1 new Types, not an extra version of an existing ones. Having to have three winged versions already makes adding one new type a huge chore.

    If we were to go over to having females now, it would cost as much time as it takes to modify 400 frames of animation. Even if there was time to add the second genders, the size of the download is still a MAJOR limiting factor for Furcadia, and it still is. Furcadia's market includes people with slow connections, who can't play real-time action games and often can't afford a game that charges a monthly fee. It also includes people who have slow connections because they live overseas.

    Every byte added to our download increases the chance of a disconnect during download. If that happens, they may try again. But they're very very likely to say, "Heck with this-- I'm playing NeoPets!" and then we've lost a potential Furre. Our download size is already severely pushing the limits.

    I *do* agree with everybody who says, it would be nice to have female figures. I'm still open to that possibility. But something would have to change that counteracts the abusive atmosphere problem in a way that doesn't depend on us having to police the game more.

    Another (less significant) problem is that, in the year 2001, wearing skirts is subtly associated with a menial position, more and more. Waitresses, female secretaries, female nurses, female receptionists, cheerleaders who are there to lead the worship of male athletes, stereotypically all wear skirts. In modern times, women don't all have long hair, they don't all have big Lara Croft sized breasts, and they don't all wear skirts. Maybe it's just as well that Furcadia's avatars are unisex for now.

[hugin]

but why would you need 3D graphics for a game like this? During roleplay, I don't even look at the avatars on screen, just the text....

Thats right! listen to Jane(aka: the ice queen)
Who the heck needs 3d graphics in Rp. Its just like she states above.  And the stuff about armor and weapons is just as much a waste.

[Zaboo]

Another (less significant) problem is that, in the year 2001, wearing skirts is subtly associated with a menial position, more and more. Waitresses, female secretaries, female nurses, female receptionists, cheerleaders who are there to lead the worship of male athletes, stereotypically all wear skirts.

I wear skirts quite often and it in no way means i've a menial position.  Perhaps the only reason it is subtly associated with menial positions is because people keep saying it is.  

I wear skirts... and I've got a good job and am not looked 'down' upon by anyone in the office, infact most of the women I see around here do wear skirts, and that INCLUDES the executives.

As for male / female avatars.. bah.. I play female AND male characters... doesn't make a difference to me!

And Zaboo rambles on ...

[Youlanda]

I actually agree with Zaboo (*The crowd gasps*) on this one.

I wear a skirt sometimes... (I would more, but I'm pickey about what I wear, and usually only buy one or two articles of clothing a year.) Doesn't mean I'm some subserviant male worshiping woman. (I'm more likely to kick a guy in the nadz than I am to worship one, thank you very much.)  I don't think female avatars should nessasarily have a skirt.

Although male and female avatars would be nice, it's been multiple times made clear that it will not happen.

And I also play both sexes. (Infact, I play male more than female)