Character Customization - Shouldn't this be a given by now?

[Dastardly]

In any game for which you (ostensibly) create your own character, why is it that some games understand the importance of robust character customization, while others give you five or six hairstyles and a skin color slider?

For a case-in-point, compare the character creators for two recent MMOs--DCUO and Champions Online. There really is no comparison, in terms of variety--Champions stomps all over DCUO in this department. Why is that? Champions and COH/COV came out way before DCUO, and yet they didn't learn this lesson?

Your Character's Appearance
If this is truly going to be "your" character, you've probably got a vision of what that character looks like. It is the responsibility of the game, then, to give you enough options to create the best approximation of that vision you can get. It's more important than textures, particle effects, or anything else, because your character is the piece of artwork that you will spend the most time looking at throughout the entirety of the game.

If a game is going to allow you to create a character, a big part of the focus should be on getting you as many face/body shape, size, hair style, and color options as is practical. Some games, because of the combat animations and weapon models, have limits. This is understandable. But that should mean putting far more options in those areas that allow for them, to balance that limitation.

And Other Stuff, Too!
Okay, so you've got the suit, face, body, and hair you want. That means this is "your" character, right? Not quite. Plenty of games have tons of other options to allow you to adjust other properties of your character, and they work very well. Why not make these features standard?

- Stance/posture
- Body language/basic animations
- Voice*

*This one's tricky. It's obviously not practical in "fully-voiced" games, but in those types of games just remember that the player character isn't really being "created." It's just being rented. This is fine for games like Mass Effect, where you're playing an already-created character, but his really has no place in a player-character RPG or in an MMO (BioWare...)

In Summary
If you're going to allow players to create characters, you've got to include the options for them to do so. This should be a priority! The character model is the single most visible part of the game for your players. If you're not going to include enough options to truly create, consider just making a set of prefabricated characters and letting the player "borrow" one for the game. And also don't make that game an MMO.

 

[Pyro_203]

Creating your own character (In my opinion) should be an industry standard by now.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Sure, I like it ...
Heck, I don't consider Saints Row 2's customisation options excessive ... it's what, 100 sliders ... that have 0-100 values ... and you can visibly see the effects as you move the sliders.

On the other hand, DC Universe Online for instance may have a good reason for NOT allowing that much customisation.
Having a limited number of meshes optimises the engine a fair amount .. but I don't think that's the main reason.
See, one of the first things people do if given the option, is to make freaks of nature ... they probably want to keep the "DC look" in the game reasonably consistent.

 

[SketchyFK]

For driving games i don't think that it really matters as much but then i feel the cars should have some form of customization to them at least (bad spelling i know =S).

Otherwise I guess for the games out there which are u playing a character (Pokemon is a good example, or maybe Final Fantasy (tho never played the later)) you get stuck with one fixed character. In these games there is a fixed storyline that goes with a character, just like the main character from the Dead Space games (Izdesva i can't remember his name =S). It doesn't really work.

First person shooters or mmorpgs I do feel having customization is a key thing, even having unlockables as the game progresses. They don't DO much for the game play, they aren't much in the way of drastically different, they're just an astetic (spelling =/) perk.

They give people something to awe over and aspire to achieve, much like the mounts from World o Warcraft.

On a seperate note, should it not be industry standard now to have mounts or vechiles in fps and mmorpgs?

 

[manythings]

Should it be standard? I dunno, I would really question if customising a surly military gunman in FPS whatever is really something that actually matters a toss to anyone.

On the scale of the customisation I would ask the better question of how long does it take and how much does it cost? I'd say they all start out intending to give you this awesome set of options but it's probably one or two guys with very limited resources that probably only do that in-between other bigger tasks.

 

[Batfred]

The best character customisation ever was on WWE Smackdown Vs Raw. It was so simple to make... well... you. I was wrestling in my normal sports wear against Kane etc.

OT: It should be as standard, but ony if you can be arsed. It should be skippable if you want like in DA:O. They got it right.

 

[Veloxe]

I don't know. I think there's something to be said about robust character creation when people use it to actually create great things. But then again I don't really worry about it too much. You brought up MMO's as a main point and I would argue that the gear is far more visible and identifying then your character model (for most current gen MMO's). Like DCU some games offer the ability to pick and choose which gear style is visible and even mess with the colours but I'd much rather see more complete gear modification.

For example: Lets say I make a character that is going to be based around lions (or whatever) and there isn't any helm that is the likeness of a lions head. I'd much rather be able to create that gear through modifying existing models as opposed to making my character have fluffier eyebrows.

Now, that's probably far more involved in the back end then just a customized character face/body structure (or is it? I don't know) but I think that what your character is wearing will say more then their face in most games. Obviously games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, where your face is front and centre most of the time, there should be a focus on allowing for deep customization of a character but for other games, I don't think it's as necessary. Although more options are always welcomed.

 

[DustyDrB]

The best character customisation ever was on WWE Smackdown Vs Raw. It was so simple to make... well... you. I was wrestling in my normal sports wear against Kane etc.

Wow, I haven't played one of those games since my roommate had one like three or four years ago. But you're right. You could really make a character look like you. I had one that looked like me if I were in The Outsiders. And then I make a freaky clown named Paolo. Those games definitely have an in-depth character creator.

 

[linwolf]

Moron game developers. DC Online is just a carbon copy trying to make money off a brand. Champions Online isn't, and thus understands what needs to be put in to make it sell. It's not relying on a crutch made by it's brand.

Have you played these games?
Champions Online character creator was fun, but the gameplay was pretty standard and (read in my opion)boring.
DC Online character creator have a lot less, in return there are a large amount of items in game that you can use to personalise you characters look. And the gameplay is a lot different from other MMO with mean that it have a lot more going for it.

 

[michael87cn]

It really depends on the game. MMORPGs seem like the excellent choice for perfect customization; but I've seen MMOs that have such a great selection of varied and differing armor sets that, ultimately it doesn't matter what your character looks like because they all look the same once they're geared up in equipment/armor.

One thing I've always wanted was the ability to have a selection on character posture and movement. Animations aren't easy to make, but I have yet to see a game that offers you character creation with the ability to change how your character is animated while playing.

Right now you have to keep in mind that money and time are ultimately what are keeping us from the "ultimate" game that has everything we ALL want. I believe it can be done, I believe that the creativity exists in the human psyche, and I believe that if the right people came together and put their efforts into a combined force, we could see a game that's excellent on all fronts for all types of people. But what is the limiting factor? Money and time. Developers are only allowed so much time for development, so many team members and so much money for the project. Right now games are like small projects that focus on single concepts. That's why we have different genres and that's why we see games fail when they try to be more than one.

Obviously a game can't just be given unlimited time (see Duke Nukem Forever) or unlimited money (see all the failed projects that have squandered their budgets). I honestly don't know HOW it would be done but I want to believe it's possible.

 

[Stammer]

lol, reminds me of the Final Fantasy MMO's. Final Fantasy XI even when it was released it had a minimal character creation by the day's standards: 5 races with 8 faces, 8 hair styles, 8 voices each.

But then Final Fantasy XIV came out and we were all really excited "oh yay we're going to get some customization", but then it turned out TO HAVE EVEN FEWER OPTIONS THAN XI!!! In XIV you only had 4 faces, 8 hairstyles, and 3 voices each. It actually made me laugh when the devs made videos explaining their developmental processes and one was character-creation... the guy said "We know our players will spend several hours making the perfect character". haha!

 

[Stammer]

One thing I've always wanted was the ability to have a selection on character posture and movement. Animations aren't easy to make, but I have yet to see a game that offers you character creation with the ability to change how your character is animated while playing.

Me too, actually. This is probably the second largest thing I want to see in character-creation. Something where you can pick a motion personality that changes how the character does everything: stands, walks, attacks, emotes, sits, etc. Even if there were only like 3 options it would be enough to satisfy me.

 

[Mopbucket]

Excellent points. It's big reason I very seldom buy a game with a fixed main character.

I wish all games had a selection of wildly disparate voices with good actors, like Wizardry 8. It was just so entertaining and endearing, and the way it was implemented caused many a giggle-fit for me.

You also can't overestimate the value of being able to choose your animations. I didn't like in WoW how certain races just had atrocious casting animations, to the point I simply couldn't stand playing them. A little freedom of choice would have gone a long way.

 

[Dastardly]

It really depends on the game. MMORPGs seem like the excellent choice for perfect customization; but I've seen MMOs that have such a great selection of varied and differing armor sets that, ultimately it doesn't matter what your character looks like because they all look the same once they're geared up in equipment/armor.

Yep, that's the next installment in this little saga. In too many MMOs, you're not creating a character. You're borrowing an ambulating trophy case. So, yeah, we have three hairstyles, because you'll only see them until level 9 when you get your first quest reward hat.

WoW is, of course, the prime example of this. All endgame characters of a particular class look basically the same. And it's done on purpose! Allegedly, it's because players want other players to be able to tell, at a glance, "Oh, wow, he's so awesome! He got the Blah blah blah sword!" But at this point, who doesn't?

LotRO had a good system in which you could equip your super gear, but you also had two additional costume slots that were for appearances only. So, once you painstakingly selected that exact look you wanted for your character, you could change your "stat gear" all you wanted without having to look like a patchwork mutant. SWG did the same thing, after awhile.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

lol, reminds me of the Final Fantasy MMO's. Final Fantasy XI even when it was released it had a minimal character creation by the day's standards: 5 races with 8 faces, 8 hair styles, 8 voices each.

don't forget it had a height slider, too! well, maybe not a slider, but at least 3-4 height options. also, i have absolutely no recollection of voices in FFXI...

also, like Dastardly said above me, LotRO's costume system was one of the best ideas i've ever seen in an MMO, especially since there were some really cool looking clothing/gear options.

 

[Nerf Ninja]

Personally I've always thought that character customisation is and should be one of the main selling points of a quality game. Saints row 2 didn't need to have customisation at all and yet including it made it (Among other things) a much better and more rewarding experience than GTA IV

I would love to see it as a standard on all games with a visible character. If I had the choice my Kratos would look completely different to the one included in God of War. Same for my Lara Croft.

The odd thing about the character customisation in DC Universe Online is that there are actually thousands of possible combinations but they don't include them all at the beginning. When actually creating the character you have to make do with what you get and then hope you can either buy or find the pieces you really want later on in the game and that to me feels limiting.

 

[Stammer]

don't forget it had a height slider, too! well, maybe not a slider, but at least 3-4 height options. also, i have absolutely no recollection of voices in FFXI...

Well, height wasn't really much of an option in that game. It really only gave you Short, Medium, and Tall as options, and just like in XI all they did was change your character's height by about 2 inches. It's not even noticeable unless you're standing next to someone of the same race, and even then all it does is makes one of you look either like a giant or like a midget.

In FFXI there wasn't any dialogue spoken by your character but they still had voices. Each face had a unique voice that you could distinguish in battle cries and grunts. FFXIV has only 3 voices per race, and of those 3 there's only about 1 good one. So where in XI you could at least distinguish your character by his or her attack noises, you can't even do that in XIV.

And believe it or not, voices are my number-one most important feature for characters in MMO's. I couldn't care less if there were only 2 faces to choose from because you hardly ever see that anyway. But if your character doesn't even have a voice it makes the whole thing jarring and incredibly lifeless. Allowing you to choose the voice is even better, and the wider the variety the better it is. That hairstyle you spent half an hour perfecting isn't going to be visible when you're wearing a helmet-- but the voice you chose is going to be very noticeable.

 

[Fawcks]

Hat Simulator 2 has all you're looking for.'

Ever wonder how you'd look in a fancy fedora?

How about a miner's helmet?

If you're feeling risque, how about going no hat at all?

On Hat Simulator 2, all these options are availible to you, and more! The world's most advanced hat simulator to date! Comes complete with a FPS style mini-game!