Guild Wars 2 to have better character customization - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

mazza558

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

R/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:29 - 1

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hai-phan/13/823/71a

It's funny what details can emerge from work experience/CV information

Quote:

Guild Wars 2:
Creation of Character art work, particularly armor sets, from concept to full 3d model completion/hand painted texturing using both off-the-shelf and proprietary software and tools.

Helped spearhead new production pipeline for "next-gen" character art assets, and helped transition art production to new software. Worked with programmers to establish new character customization/composite system. Helped track asset production and reviewed assets from external production studios.

Next-gen character art sounds good to me, as well! "reviewed assets from external production studios" - wonder what this is about? Other companies working on a GW2 trailer perhaps?

Wonder what else I can find on LinkedIn?

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

01 Jun 2009 at 20:32 - 2

Look up some trailers of FF XIII or Aion. GW2 designers want to reach the same customization standard or even beat it. I put my naive trust hair/weapon clipping will no longer be an issue, just like capes and parts of armour that you can put a stick inside and out.

Mordakai

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2005

Kyhlo

W/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:33 - 3

Is it sad I find this totally awesome?

mazza558

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

R/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:34 - 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordakai

Is it sad I find this totally awesome?

It's the first bit of news we've had for aaages. And I had to dig it out to find it.

worstnameevar

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2008

Between Earth and Sky

The Thuggee[lain]

N/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:47 - 5

I would find it rather humorous if more information is to be had from either resumes of people working on GW2 or perhaps, as the project dwindles to its conclusion, resumes/fact sheets from people leaving the project. The humorous bit coming from the fact that there will be no official verification of the information that is obtained nor probably detailed specs, but because people will be looking for other jobs, they'll want to put as much info as possible on their resumes which gives us, the general populace, deeper insights into just what's being developed in GW2, without ever having an official press release.

Sorry for run-on; first day of summer and too excited

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

01 Jun 2009 at 20:48 - 6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordakai

Is it sad I find this totally awesome?

More the fact that this is some of the only new info we've heard in an insanely long time ; )

I just hope they do the same thing they did in GW1 in regards to character custimization: different models/animations for most classes. I thought it was insanely awesome that a Warrior would look entirely different than an Elementalist. In WoW it was kind of weird playing as an Orc Warlock because they were *INSANELY* buff. You'd think someone that tuff would be better off lifting castles and tossing them at Stormwind (or hey, tossing Stormwind) but instead they're...not.

jiggles

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2007

N/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:53 - 7

Anything as large as the CoH/V customization and I may look forward to it

.

Janlijm

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2008

Lowlandlions

N/

01 Jun 2009 at 20:53 - 8

They just need to make it as in aion CoH/CoV. That you can make a character that you want not bound to classes. Only rase limits it. I mean charr, silvary etc.

Skuld

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Sep 2005

Thousend Tigers Apund Ur Head [Ttgr]

A/

01 Jun 2009 at 21:10 - 9

That guy has an unfortunate name.

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

01 Jun 2009 at 21:49 - 10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiggles

Anything as large as the CoH/V customization and I may look forward to it

.

I love how big that system is... No two people look alike. That right there is an awesome type of thing, no duplicates running around lol... I'd love to see that in GW as I always try to stay away from being another cookie cutter character in the crowd..

Gigashadow

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Bellevue, WA

W/

01 Jun 2009 at 22:08 - 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryant Again

I just hope they do the same thing they did in GW1 in regards to character custimization: different models/animations for most classes. I thought it was insanely awesome that a Warrior would look entirely different than an Elementalist. In WoW it was kind of weird playing as an Orc Warlock because they were *INSANELY* buff. You'd think someone that tuff would be better off lifting castles and tossing them at Stormwind (or hey, tossing Stormwind) but instead they're...not.

Well I think more character customization is sort of obvious for a high production value game being released these days. It does confirm a few other things that I've seen in interviews, that they re-did the tools so that content creators can really crank out new stuff fast, instead of it being a slow pipeline. External production studios, I wonder what that's about? I thought it was all done in house.

I don't think they are sticking to the model=class idea though, because they said there will be at least 4 different races (charr, human, norn, sylvari). Multiply that by say, 6 professions, if you assume any race can play any class (racial restrictions, if they have them, suck). So a charr mesmer will look much more similar to a charr warrior than a human mesmer, and at a distance the first thing you'll think is "that's a charr", not "that's a mesmer".

But maybe everyone is normalized into human forms for competitive PvP.

Inde

Site Contributor

Join Date: Dec 2004

01 Jun 2009 at 22:12 - 12

The power of the internet displayed: to stalk people.

Kind of cool to get a little tidbit like that, not entirely unexpected. I would hope that a sequel to a game would have improved features such as character customization though.

glacialphoenix

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2008

Singapore

Royal Order of Flying Lemmings [ROFL]

Mo/

01 Jun 2009 at 22:19 - 13

Quote:

That right there is an awesome type of thing, no duplicates running around lol...

I don't know, finding your whatever-professiontwin is quite amusing - like the time the boyfriend and I discovered we'd created ele male/female twins completely by accident. Still, yeah, it would be great not looking like every single <insert profession here> out there. Not that mine do (too much), I think. I hope.

Shayne Hawke

Departed from Tyria

Join Date: May 2007

Clan Dethryche [dth]

R/

01 Jun 2009 at 22:46 - 14

If you give me some info on what the system is like that they are working on, I could have some kind of opinion about that. The only thing that "worked on new stuff" says to me is that they're doing something, which is what we've been told they've been doing for years now.

alluring athena

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2009

01 Jun 2009 at 23:00 - 15

Limited CHR customization and cookie-cutter choices was acceptable 4 years ago but these days most every new MMORPG is coming out with extensive customization ability.

This is a required and mandatory feature IMHO

Loralai_gw

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Mar 2007

01 Jun 2009 at 23:07 - 16

Hmmm, another little reveal about GW2:

Quote:

Voice-Over Actor
ArenaNet
Privately Held; Computer Games industry
May 2009 – May 2009 (1 month)
Kadatta, Harathi Centaur - Guild Wars 2

Assuming Kadatta is the name of the Centaur. And Harathi is the tribe for GW2.

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?view...*1_Rele vance

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

01 Jun 2009 at 23:29 - 17

Every MMO that gets released has "one of the most immersive and complex character customization features ever."

That's just marketing. I'm sure GW2 will be "better" then GW1, but being able to compare it to any other existing/upcoming product will be tentative at best.
Although something as nice as Aion or Champions Online (which is supposed to be like CoH but with even more options, like being able to customize your character's posture and the way they walk) would be sweet.

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

01 Jun 2009 at 23:51 - 18

This 'news' is extremely unexciting. So they're updating their character customisation, is this really a big deal? I mean, there's what, an 8 year gap between GW and GW2? I'm pretty sure that if they didn't update the customisation they'd be laughed out of the gaming industry.

sportacus

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2008

Burninating the countryside

D/

01 Jun 2009 at 23:58 - 19

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

This 'news' is extremely unexciting. So they're updating their character customisation, is this really a big deal? I mean, there's what, an 8 year gap between GW and GW2? I'm pretty sure that if they didn't update the customisation they'd be laughed out of the gaming industry.

The point is that there actually is news.

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

02 Jun 2009 at 00:01 - 20

But this isn't news. It's some guy posting stuff on linkedin. Hell, I could post on linkedin saying how I worked for ANet designing new 3D graphic systems, who's to say I didn't? It is the internet after all.

Gigashadow

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Bellevue, WA

W/

02 Jun 2009 at 00:06 - 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

But this isn't news. It's some guy posting stuff on linkedin. Hell, I could post on linkedin saying how I worked for ANet designing new 3D graphic systems, who's to say I didn't? It is the internet after all.

Since you would have zero linkedin connections to anyone working there, nobody would believe you. If you check you can see the ANet guys on linkedin have a deep connection web with each other.

Longasc

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

02 Jun 2009 at 00:24 - 22

Smart move, op!

Inde is right, the internet is really the perfect place to stalk people.

"Kadatta, Harathi Centaur" - even more interesting than the char customization. Who has heard of the Harathi Centaurs before?

Sounds Elonian, but was Elona not to be firm in Palawa Jokos grip? I thought we get only Tyria without Elona in GW2, at least on release.

subarucar

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

New Zealand

None

02 Jun 2009 at 00:59 - 23

If the character customisation is as good as Saints Row 2 then A-net will have some extremely happy people.

shoyon456

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

D/

02 Jun 2009 at 01:29 - 24

I find this very interesting as I'm sure most people do... because the centaur name and possibly tribe are the only bit of info.

It's completely irrelevant out of context, but its very sad people resort to this to get info because of anet's complete silence.

Tarun

Technician's Corner Moderator

Join Date: Jan 2006

The TARDIS

http://www.lunarsoft.net/ http://forums.lunarsoft.net/

02 Jun 2009 at 01:36 - 25

Maybe they'll update their weapons so they're not 1px thick too!

The Scorpion Knight

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2009

02 Jun 2009 at 01:41 - 26

Pretty good, lets see how it is in the end.

Fril Estelin

So Serious...

Join Date: Jan 2007

London

Nerfs Are [WHAK]

E/

02 Jun 2009 at 01:43 - 27

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

But this isn't news. It's some guy posting stuff on linkedin. Hell, I could post on linkedin saying how I worked for ANet designing new 3D graphic systems, who's to say I didn't? It is the internet after all.

LinkedIn is fairly reliable in practice, it's not facebook. Yet, this is sort-of no news, it was to be expected. It's like the higher polygon counts, following the market trends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigashadow

Since you would have zero linkedin connections to anyone working there, nobody would believe you. If you check you can see the ANet guys on linkedin have a deep connection web with each other.

Funnily enough, I'm connected at the 3rd level with the 2nd guy (about centaurs)

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

02 Jun 2009 at 01:54 - 28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarun

Maybe they'll update their weapons so they're not 1px thick too!

That bugged you too, huh : P ?

NeHoMaR

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

02 Jun 2009 at 02:16 - 29

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoyon456

... its very sad people resort to this to get info because of anet's complete silence.

Well, I suggested to ArenaNet (indirectly in a post to Gaile) to stay in complete silence about GW2; so people focus on GW1 and stop to speculate (something not really good for a game)

Now, I am not sure if the silence is related to my suggestion.

Right now, I am interested only in one information about GW2: professions; I want to know about that, what professions will be in game, if they have primary attribute, similar to GW1 or not, and how the races change the stats of the player (if races change something) With that info I can start to imagining/planning my character.

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

02 Jun 2009 at 02:18 - 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeHoMaR

Well, I suggested to ArenaNet (indirectly in a post to Gaile) to stay in complete silence about GW2; so people focus on GW1 and stop to speculate (something not really good for a game)

Now, I am not sure if the silence is related to my suggestion.

Right now, I am interested only in one information about GW2: professions; I want to know about that, what professions will be in game, if they have primary attribute, similar to GW1 or not, and how the races change the stats of the player (if races change something) With that info I can start to imagining/planning my character.

They've been quiet about it since they announced it. Sorry to tell you, but it has nothing to do with your suggestion.

Shadowfox1125

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

PST

W/

02 Jun 2009 at 02:27 - 31

After seeing the Aion character customization, I'd assume Anet going this route.

Qing Guang

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2008

California

Lucid Spirits [LIFE]

N/A

02 Jun 2009 at 02:33 - 32

Much as Aion's stuff is pretty (saw a glimpse of it on Makani's LJ), I hope GW2's customization isn't like that. It was bordering on the Uncanny Valley... it looked too real to be CG, and yet too CG to be real. Also, Aion seemed kind of plasticky. I'd rather have something a little more artistic.

NeHoMaR

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

02 Jun 2009 at 03:22 - 33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arkantos

They've been quiet about it since they announced it. Sorry to tell you, but it has nothing to do with your suggestion.

I suggested it when they started to release info, when the "GW is dead" started. Also, why you say "sorry"?, I win/lose nothing if this is true/false.

Tarun

Technician's Corner Moderator

Join Date: Jan 2006

The TARDIS

http://www.lunarsoft.net/ http://forums.lunarsoft.net/

02 Jun 2009 at 03:54 - 34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryant Again

That bugged you too, huh : P ?

Yes it did. GW was the only game with 1px wide weapons. "I'm going to give them a papercut! Ouch!"

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

02 Jun 2009 at 04:17 - 35

issuing a challenge to Arena Net dev team

mwahahahahaha

more then just emote, facial expression and body language for our characters.

why?
Because, however well you can customize you character, this technology is near its "end" every other game can make good customization in say 5 years time. they probably already have it now. so how do you excel and be more than just a static looking character.

emotions and expression.

bena

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2009

this tale of sorrow

E/

02 Jun 2009 at 05:02 - 36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qing Guang

Much as Aion's stuff is pretty (saw a glimpse of it on Makani's LJ), I hope GW2's customization isn't like that. It was bordering on the Uncanny Valley... it looked too real to be CG, and yet too CG to be real. Also, Aion seemed kind of plasticky. I'd rather have something a little more artistic.

i heard somewhere that the 'plasticy' look is inherent to how computer graphics work. like how the graphics drivers etc were all made sorta made it difficult/hard to have things that didnt look plasticy.

so im fine with things being plasticy... im just not going to like cartoony like some other game...

Fril Estelin

So Serious...

Join Date: Jan 2007

London

Nerfs Are [WHAK]

E/

02 Jun 2009 at 05:06 - 37

Quote:

Originally Posted by bena

i heard somewhere that the 'plasticy' look is inherent to how computer graphics work. like how the graphics drivers etc were all made sorta made it difficult/hard to have things that didnt look plasticy.

GW, like many offline games, is not like that, as it had complex/realistic textures. But it's a matter of taste, millions of people enjoy the "cartoony" look of WoW.

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

02 Jun 2009 at 05:12 - 38

maybe they did not use maxon's body paint

if i remember correctly, that is one of the program for texturing that arena net uses.

immortius

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Black Cats

E/Mo

02 Jun 2009 at 08:32 - 39

Quote:

Originally Posted by bena

i heard somewhere that the 'plasticy' look is inherent to how computer graphics work. like how the graphics drivers etc were all made sorta made it difficult/hard to have things that didnt look plasticy.

so im fine with things being plasticy... im just not going to like cartoony like some other game...

The default rendering pipeline in graphics libraries and thus video cards results in a somewhat plasticy feel, generally. Many games these days make use of shaders to have a customised rendering pipeline, which can avoid this issue and opens the way for a lot of interesting effects.

Brett Kuntz

Core Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

02 Jun 2009 at 08:54 - 40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarun

Yes it did. GW was the only game with 1px wide weapons. "I'm going to give them a papercut! Ouch!"

1px wide weapons? Do you have a CRT from 1993?