A Forge is a group of artists consisting of at least a 2d artist, a modeller and a texturer, that is supported by NCsoft to make some new content such as new weapons and armour and perhaps even new monsters. This will allow Guild Wars' look to be updated more often than would be possible with just NCsoft alone.
Moreover, a Forge can be "hired" with in-game currency to design unique armor and weapons for exclusive use by a specific guild. The Forge designs and models the equipment and sends it to the guild, and the guild then submits it to NCsoft, who then adds a Crafter to the Guild's Hall capable of making the Guild Specific equipment. To avoid level 5's suddenly wearing high-grade armour, there will be conditions to fullfill before being able to order one.
Think of it this way: the actual Knights Templar would have armour that look like the ones worn by their historical namesakes, and the...say, "Hammers of Light" would wield very shiny Hammers.
UPDATE: well, NCsoft made this statement about custom emblems:
In order to maintain absolute security for every element of the game, we are not able to accept externally designed submissions for inclusion into Guild Wars. However, we have already hosted one official Guild Emblem Contest, and we plan to hold such contests on a regular basis. The emblems that are created in such a competition become available for general use, rather than the use of any single guild. We encourage guilds to consider taking part in such contests if they wish to see their emblem as a possible choice in Guild Wars
basically, this now limits my idea to making content available to EVERYONE. which isn't too bad, really.
as for the external content bit...well, i guess it's gonna take some convincing, or some damn good security measures.
at the very least, 2d artists could still submit designs in a contest.
Petition thread:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...288#post186288
"Forges"
IgnusDei
Caco-Cola
Interesting.
But very costly.
But very costly.
Drago Solaris
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IgnusDei
A Forge is a group of artists consisting of at least a 2d artist, a modeller and a texturer, that is supported by NCsoft to make some new content such as new weapons and armour and perhaps even new monsters. This will allow Guild Wars' look to be updated more often than would be possible with just NCsoft alone.
Moreover, a Forge can be "hired" with in-game currency to design unique armor and weapons for exclusive use by a specific guild. The Forge designs and models the equipment and sends it to the guild, and the guild then submits it to NCsoft, who then adds a Crafter to the Guild's Hall capable of making the Guild Specific equipment. To avoid level 5's suddenly wearing high-grade armour, there will be conditions to fullfill before being able to order one. Think of it this way: the actual Knights Templar would have armour that look like the ones worn by their historical namesakes, and the...say, "Hammers of Light" would wield very shiny Hammers. |
IgnusDei
i don't see how that could be costly in any way, since all the boys at Ncsoft would have to do is write up a bit of code to integrate the new items into drops and crafters. We'd save them time and effort to do the modelling, and their art team can focus on something else.
win/win, methinks.
win/win, methinks.
nechronius
It's not a bad idea, it really isn't, but I think a lot of suggestions are not looking past the immediate "improvement" and not seeing the "world view" of the game and how it will be fundamentally impacted by its additions in terms of how much manpower it will take to affect these changes and how many customers will experience unreasonable game degradation due to added "flair" in the game.
Master Gunner
I think this is a good idea (mainly because I'm a fledgling 3D modeler still in highschool that's willing to work for free just to see my stuff in-game 
). But it could work eventually, but first ANet should work on more immediate issues before putting this in, since all it really does is add more custimization of stuff).
). But it could work eventually, but first ANet should work on more immediate issues before putting this in, since all it really does is add more custimization of stuff).
Crystal NightingGale
It seems that updating armor models is a low priority right now for ArenaNet. May be new armor models will be included in the big patch this summer? The patch that will add the Sorrow's Furnace.
IgnusDei
i don't mean to have this thing implemted immediately, of course, but i would like to present this idea to ANet with more backing than just...me.
Anarchist_Monk
I think this should be left to add in the expansion. Not in an update.
Gs-Cyan Bloodbane
Well its functionality and content so it could go either way. The comments from ANet are that funconality will be free no matter how many chapters you buy, but content will cost.
So being able to thru this add new content woudl go around the way they are currently seeming to lean. not saying they might not like this idea and use it someway but it seem a little in contridiction to thier previously stated views on content and functionality
So being able to thru this add new content woudl go around the way they are currently seeming to lean. not saying they might not like this idea and use it someway but it seem a little in contridiction to thier previously stated views on content and functionality
stumpy
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IgnusDei
i don't mean to have this thing implemted immediately, of course, but i would like to present this idea to ANet with more backing than just...me.
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The poster is simply looking for backup so he can present this idea in the future to Anet. Of all the responses ... I have seen one 'fledgling 3D modeler still in highschool' that has answered he would help. I would back up your idea ... although the little pice of code is alot larger than you realize, taking the modelling, texturizing, etc off lightens the load and helps build this game to becaome as successful as possible.
Anarchist_Monk
Um Stumpy, I don't believe any of us were actually disagreeing with the poster. We were giving our support since noone said "This is a horrible idea and should be trashed!". But I haven't seen on any other posts anyone saying oh yeah that could be done using a complex html code like [ljdafl;af/:][dkjfna]Bob[/ljdafl;af/:][/dkjfna].
Eclair
They could just get fans to act as the "Forge."
There are plenty of fans who have the skills to do so and are willing to do it with the only recognition as their payment.
There are plenty of fans who have the skills to do so and are willing to do it with the only recognition as their payment.
IgnusDei
it's not the "forge", but forges. there's be differnt groups of artists who would focus on a particular class of equipment. Any group i would put together would probably focus more on heavy Warrior equipment, while others would exclusively work on weapons for all, and others would favor working on Monk garbs. Heck, a Forge could a Tatoo parlour, too.
Rhunex
the problem with this, is giving the client side of GW too much customization to it. and if you don't know the problems to that...it's best you never learn...to keep yourself safe from the dark side of the internet O_o
IgnusDei
this is where Ncsoft/Anet comes in. Modders can't integrate models into a MMOG on their own, and so the Game's programmers will have to add the new models themselves. This mean that they'll also act as a filter for all the juvenile crap.
Rhunex
Ah...yes that makes some sense :P
IgnusDei
IgnusDei
Adraeus mentionned in the petition thread that NCsoft wouldn't be able to hold on to it's stakeholders due to the fact that fan-made content would probably be terrible. And this is something i forgot to emphasize: maintaining art quality.
So this is my solution: A fledgling forge must first prove its ability to produce quality art by submitting a Masterpiece: detailed 2d art of the design, and then the fully tectured 3d model itself. If the folks at NCsoft like what they see, they give that forge its approval and support for making new content. If it undeniably sucks, or if there are too many active forges already, they simply say no.
So this is my solution: A fledgling forge must first prove its ability to produce quality art by submitting a Masterpiece: detailed 2d art of the design, and then the fully tectured 3d model itself. If the folks at NCsoft like what they see, they give that forge its approval and support for making new content. If it undeniably sucks, or if there are too many active forges already, they simply say no.
Rhunex
Yeah...horrible art...another thing that slipped my mind. It'd almost be as bad as someone adding a voice command like "Moo" in a FPS...
But, anyways, wouldn't it have to go by NCSoft anyways to be in the actual game? I just mainly say that because it requires a server-side addition so that everyone can see the skins, and not just the people who have it installed on their machines. This way, a sort of sensorship could be upheld as well. You know what kind of skins they'd make for the female models if given too much power....
But, anyways, wouldn't it have to go by NCSoft anyways to be in the actual game? I just mainly say that because it requires a server-side addition so that everyone can see the skins, and not just the people who have it installed on their machines. This way, a sort of sensorship could be upheld as well. You know what kind of skins they'd make for the female models if given too much power....
Adraeus
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IgnusDei
Adraeus mentionned in the petition thread that NCsoft wouldn't be able to hold on to it's stakeholders due to the fact that fan-made content would probably be terrible. And this is something i forgot to emphasize: maintaining art quality.
So this is my solution: A fledgling forge must first prove its ability to produce quality art by submitting a Masterpiece: detailed 2d art of the design, and then the fully tectured 3d model itself. If the folks at NCsoft like what they see, they give that forge its approval and support for making new content. If it undeniably sucks, or if there are too many active forges already, they simply say no. |
There are more factors which render this idea impractical. Here are some:
- Technical requirements: Guild Wars content is setup a certain way, created a certain way, and formatted a certain way. Players don't know this information and cannot legally acquire it. For example, the maximum number of polygons allowed per model, and the minimum/maximum Frames Per Second (FPS) limits. Every studio has its own tome of technical requirements. Players do not have access to the the technical requirements rulebook and will never have access to it. Technical requirements are treated as top secret information available only to NDA-signed employees.
- Software requirements: Guild Wars uses specific file formats and NCsoft uses specific, likely custom, software tools to produce the content for Guild Wars. NCsoft will likely never release this software as Guild Wars was not designed with player-created content in mind.
- Quality requirements: all player-created content must be thoroughly tested by whoever does NCsoft's quality assurance. Quality assurance is one of the most expensive portions of the game development process, usually accounting for 1/3 of a project's overall budget. In addition, player-created artwork must strictly adhere to the Guild Wars style. Unless the player-artists in the "forge" are all Raphaels, fat chance this will happen. Everyone has their own way of doing things and idea of how things should look. The corporate atmosphere, given competent management, ensures that the company creatives create content according to guidelines, which players do not know.
IgnusDei
And the hard, bitter cold reality hits another dream right in the testicles.
Sigh.
Still, i'll submit the idea anyway. who knows? It might work out in some form or another.
As for establishing my own content studio, now that's an idea worth thinking about. hm....
EDIT:
but here's an angle to consider for the investors: There's a demand for new content (mostly centered around the personalization of a character), and i suspect it will grow. there's only so much the dev team can do, and it might not be able to keep up. As such, a lot of players probably will give up on the game itself and probably won't give the expansion packs a chance AND may well spread some bad publicity, effectively cutting up future profits and as such ruining investment. Since the Indep studios offer to help out with this problem FOR FREE, the investors might consider greenlighting managing them.
As for testing, well, i can't really argue with the costs, but i find myself scratching my head as to how much time and effort (and as such. money) testing out new models would take. A very ignorant and inquisitive mind would like to know.
Sigh.
Still, i'll submit the idea anyway. who knows? It might work out in some form or another.
As for establishing my own content studio, now that's an idea worth thinking about. hm....
EDIT:
but here's an angle to consider for the investors: There's a demand for new content (mostly centered around the personalization of a character), and i suspect it will grow. there's only so much the dev team can do, and it might not be able to keep up. As such, a lot of players probably will give up on the game itself and probably won't give the expansion packs a chance AND may well spread some bad publicity, effectively cutting up future profits and as such ruining investment. Since the Indep studios offer to help out with this problem FOR FREE, the investors might consider greenlighting managing them.
As for testing, well, i can't really argue with the costs, but i find myself scratching my head as to how much time and effort (and as such. money) testing out new models would take. A very ignorant and inquisitive mind would like to know.
Madan
A way of involving the community through a standardized processes, towards the creation of new cosmetic content is a great idea. The possibility for customization would be much greater than what NCSoft would be able to generate alone.
Also, it would allow players to better express themselves in game. It may seem frivilous but for a game that is professed to contain RPG components(albeit not an RPG itself), it's absolutely imperative.
Also, it would allow players to better express themselves in game. It may seem frivilous but for a game that is professed to contain RPG components(albeit not an RPG itself), it's absolutely imperative.
toastgodsupreme
http://wiki.xentax.com/index.php/Talk:WIP_Guild_Wars
Looks like some people have been working on extracting shit from it. Who knows, maybe we'll see a mod'ing community if it turns out that we can replace textures and such.
Looks like some people have been working on extracting shit from it. Who knows, maybe we'll see a mod'ing community if it turns out that we can replace textures and such.
Squirrl
/Support
i think they need all the new things they can get because evryone looks the same....
i think they need all the new things they can get because evryone looks the same....
johnnylange
how about learning forging as an in-game trade skill? You could become a blacksmith and as your skill lvl goes up from practice you could make weapons and armor that are unique. 
IgnusDei
unique stats, yes. The models would have to come from another source, however.
IgnusDei
gabby2600 claims that a similar system is in place eclusively for Anet. It's basically a server devoted to test out new additions made by Anet employees and tweak them to perfection before making them available to the public. This info apparently comes from and internal source. If that's the case, then the chances for making this a reality got even better!
IgnusDei
first post updated.