Alain Kinsella
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Posted - 2012.05.07 22:06:00 -
[1] - Quote
Alice Katsuko wrote:Those do look awesome. Unfortunately, the character customization UI is already starting to break down due to item proliferation. It really doesn't make any sense from a UI design standpoint to show each recolor of a garment as a separate item. Not only is it hard to tell from the small icons what exact color a particular garment is, but it takes an awful lot of scrolling to go through all the available garments, and there is no easy way to tell at a glance which designs are available.
It would make a lot more sense if only the garment designs were displayed as discrete items. For example, instead of showing ten recolors of the same pair of boots, the item selection panel only showed that pair of boots in its default color. A player could choose a different color via a context menu, whether it be a popup, a slide-out panel, or a right-click menu.
It may also be a good idea to merge the NEX store and character customization. Players could be given the option of trying on different items, and buying them for AUR before moving on to the avatar/finalize stage. It is not always easy to justify sinking a month's subscription in ISK or cash on a virtual item that you can't even try on except by going to the test server. The idea is to separate a player from his cash as seamlessly as possible.
A big +1 for this, its what Uru / Myst Online did and worked well in most cases (in fact some clothing had two color selections to work with). One item did not allow it (the colorful jacket at the end of TPOTS), so I suspect the trick was through one or two extra texture layers that defined the tinting locations.
SL allowed this with just about everything - to the point where smart designers will supply their wares in grey tones and allow the wearer to re-tint as needed. I would buy things regularly in that format (or in one case, create my own). The reverse of that was There.com, which did not allow tinting (like NeX), and I tried to always make do with what I had or just not buy anything at all.
Eve-based example - I do like the corporate jacket in NeX (the one where it says you can have the sleeves embossed), but not its color (grey I believe). If I could get that tinted closer to goldenrod it would fit in-line with the character background.
I'm supposed to be on vacation this week (hah!), perhaps I'll spend the time to get some examples up. Had finally caved in once already within SL and ditched the original (2004) hair, since it was broken on newer viewers.
I may have come here from Myst Online, but that does not make me any less bloodthirsty than the average Eve player.
Just more subtle.
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