Character Creation in Elite: Dangerous

[Erimus Kamzel]

Star citizen is going to have you making a new character if your pilot dies.

Not only that, your characters appearance will change over time. It'll age and will become scarred depending on how many times you've been in combat etc.

It'll be possible to see who are veteran players and who are rookies just by their appearance.

That, coupled with your character having a finite lifespan, I think is an absolutely brilliant way of going about it. Really makes your character mean something and has broken away from the traditional age-old way in which players relate to their avatars in mmo's.

 

[Oddball]

There could be exoskeletons or similar to help out if the gravity is strong (within reason)

I think I have figured it out.... 'G' suits.

Designed to prevent a black-out caused by the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under acceleration, thus depriving the brain of blood. Today fighter pilots can endure 9g but for only short periods of time.

So using G suits could be the solution for humans to be comfortable while on the surface of large planets (1+ Earth masses) for short periods of time.

Solved! (I think)

 

[insanephoton]

I have to say I enjoy a bit of character customisation, sometimes more than the games themselves. If it's first person only for the walking about , I hope the stations have mirrors It's one of the reasons I would like more than one avatar.

Clothing and accessories could be the big vanity item that people would pay for. I can think of good gameplay reasons why you wouldn't want your ship to stand out, but once you're walking around the station you want to look good.

 

[Jenner]

Not only that, your characters appearance will change over time. It'll age and will become scarred depending on how many times you've been in combat etc.

It'll be possible to see who are veteran players and who are rookies just by their appearance.

That, coupled with your character having a finite lifespan, I think is an absolutely brilliant way of going about it. Really makes your character mean something and has broken away from the traditional age-old way in which players relate to their avatars in mmo's.

I agree!
That's one of the reasons why I like FD's decision to make your ship (ie-your second avatar) scar up after awhile. It'll reflect your exploits to see actual wear and tear. Awesome.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Since your character is effectively immortal and will be with you for however long you play the game for I think its important to take character creation seriously when you're on that screen for the first time.

Hopefully FD will make allowances for this and permit players to use a default, stock avatar for their first few hours before committing to something more permanent. It's similar to the Commander name problem; backers already have theirs locked in but because off-the-shelf buyers will want to jump in and play the game immediately there's a risk they might make rash decisions in naming their characters. They really shouldn't be punished for it permanently, and the same should be true for avatars if and when they make an appearance.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I hope there will be many options to customize our avatar. Faces, hair color, eyes, ect ... civilian clothes, helmets, space suits, but also military uniforms with the grades (in this case the uniforms and grades will be imposed by the game of course).

 

[Steve_T]

I will probably use this functionality if/when it becomes available. I usually just make it as close to me as I can (like my avatar here).

That said, if the functionality isn't there, I certainly won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[insanephoton]

Funnily enough, I almost never make my avatars look like me... not even a younger fitter idealised version of me.

 

[izzy]

Funnily enough, I almost never make my avatars look like me... not even a younger fitter idealised version of me.

Me too, my avatars never look like me ... depends of the world of the game (fantasy, scifi etc.)

 

[RobFisher]

there's a risk they might make rash decisions in naming their characters.

I sympathise, dude.

 

[Jack Schitt]

I sympathise, dude.

LOL! Actually I really fancied using this as my commander name but was "advised" that it probably wouldn't make it past the first-round name profanity filter. I'll be very upset if someone else bags it and it goes through. There are a few Jack Schitts on various game platforms. Some, but not all, are me.

 

[Qpid Stunt]

I sometimes have the same issues but my name went through this time - and yeah, most 'Qpidstunt' or Qpid named toons you meet in other MMO's are most likely me

 

[Nagual]

Hopefully FD will make allowances for this and permit players to use a default, stock avatar for their first few hours before committing to something more permanent. It's similar to the Commander name problem; backers already have theirs locked in but because off-the-shelf buyers will want to jump in and play the game immediately there's a risk they might make rash decisions in naming their characters. They really shouldn't be punished for it permanently, and the same should be true for avatars if and when they make an appearance.

I hope that Frontier make each players avatar slightly random (before customisation), so that when the inevitable happens and lots of people just click on play we don't all look like clones. Too many times I've said to myself, I'll just play this for a short while then start again with a proper character... and just continued with it as I was having too much fun and didn't want to restart.

 

[Riandor]

I hope that Frontier make each players avatar slightly random (before customisation), so that when the inevitable happens and lots of people just click on play we don't all look like clones. Too many times I've said to myself, I'll just play this for a short while then start again with a proper character... and just continued with it as I was having too much fun and didn't want to restart.

Yep... Proceduraly generated! He he.

Im a big fan of it due to rpg games and it will be crucial should we end up walking about. Crucial too that there are enough variations of looks and clothing to make us as unique as possible.

I also like the idea of avatar pics being broadcasted with the text we send, or with voice, i mean we communicate with video chat now in 2013, cant believe that in a thousand years we recert back to texting each other ;-)

I appreciate that Elite is not going to "copy" SC now with their very interesting avatar concept and like others i am glad there is a lot of though put into ship degradation and that it can play more than just an aesthetic role.

 

[Hired Gun]

As for me, I always like detailed character creation/customization, with nice and realistic graphics.
It's not the matter of how much others will see of it, or how visible tiny adjustments will be in the game, but more as a pleasure of accurate character creation for myself. The pleasure of creation itself.
For example, when the editor is realistic, complex and detailed enough, I often choose to create my redhead dream-girl called Ishtar, so each time I play the game I can admire her using a close, enlarged view, and take screenshots of her even. (like in EvE, Oblivion, or Skyrim for example)
Some created/customized characters can count for true artworks even, so a detailed and realistic character editor is always important in modern online games.

 

[Blaze Stark]

I like EVE Online charactor creation, as it also acts as your avatar. some mean looking charactors on there.

And as WiS is never comming anyway, perhaps they sell the character engine to Frontier.

 

[Alien]

I like the character creation in Sims 3. It can be as complex as manually adjusting sliders to literally shape the face, or just go with presets. The same with clothing, except that you import textures and adjust colours. This might seem too complicated, but I normally use presets for the face, but adjust the clothing colours.

 

[Maxheadroom]

Looks-wise I'll probably just his 'randomise' too (it'll all be hidden by a helmet and space suit anyhow )

But are the any plans for customisation to include any kind of RPG/Eve-style stats?

(I'm just asking, the thought honestly didnt occur to me till i read the thread title)

 

[Flossy]

I'm not too fussed about how I look - as long as I look female! I think this will be an option as FD have already indicated there will be female options for clothing in another thread. I also play Aces High and although the pilot figure is rarely seen, when it is it is always male, which bugs me - usually if I bail out of my plane and am able to look at the character in the parachute.

I'd like to see something along the lines of how WoW characters are created, with different faces, hairstyles, hair colour etc.

 

[Darkfyre99]

There have been mentions of commander/character creation before, but no details have been given (and quite rightly so, at this stage). I imagine in the iteration of Elite, the appearance of your commander is a lot more important than before, especially when it comes to walking around in space stations.

My question to you is, in a character creation screen, what would you like to see and what options would you like to be available?

Personally I think some games have gone a bit overboard with the amount of options that no-one's really going to notice. Skyrim is a good example of this. I would prefer a level of customisation more akin to Star Wars: The Old Republic. It would probably be easier to implement as well.

In terms of appearance choices, we definitely need a Michael Brookes beard! What do you guys think?

My response would be: as many options as possible. I adore character generators, and can spend hours trying to get my character looking just like I see her in my head. It doesn't matter to me if one particular detail is is easily missed by others I'll know its there, and that's all that matters.

One thing I'd like, though, is to have several options for outfits. A ship suit for when aboard my ship, a spacesuit for EVA work, and more casual wear for when in a habitual atmosphere (stations and planets).