Steven's Question on Hair Customisation

Asgerr

Steven just recently posted this on twitter.

What do you guys think?
PS: them character models tho!!!!

Though I like having lots of options, I think hair color presets would be greatly beneficial to racial identity ingame.

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Comments

Songcaller

Yes. I like to choose my hair colour separate to the hair style. I would also hope for wilder hair colours such as Fire Flow (Red with amber tinges) or plague flow (green with blue tinges), purple, green, blue, pink, orange and other glorious hues. I don't want standardised hair/colour combinations or I'll have hundreds of look a likes.

Edit: I would also hope for dynamic eye colours too, so we can match hair colours and eye colours. We've been told the character creation will rival BDOs and in BDO you can match eye colour and hair colour.

Recluse74

Depends on if they hide helmets or not.

I am all for full customization. And I could live with presets based on race.

LMAO, I really thought I had an opinion till I started typing...... Ignore me

Asgerr

Recluse74 wrote: »

Depends on if they hide helmets or not.

I am all for full customization. And I could live with presets based on race.

LMAO, I really thought I had an opinion till I started typing...... Ignore me

They have confirmed that you can indeed hide your helmet (and possibly any piece of armor)

Sathrago

Well, one of the things that I have talked with others on here in regards to character customization was the ability to create "hybrids" or RP-driven decisions for something like a green-skinned human that is rping as a half-orc or a silver haired fair-skinned orc rping as half-elven. It does not even have to be a hybrid you are rping as, maybe your dwarf has had a run-in with a vampire and now they are pale with bags under their eyes with blood red pupils(Rp details). Baldur's gate 3 stands out perfectly in this regard. You have preset hair, facial types, horns, etc. But you are given free reign on color and the extra details like tattoos, makeup, scars, skin color, eye color, and Hair color.

Letting players have the freedom to create unique characters, to a point, I feel would be best.

Nelirya

Oh my, character models are starting to look really good! Can't wait to see how good they will look in the end.

As to the question regarding customazation, full customization gets my vote - the more options, the better.

Goatrek

I prefer natural hair colours (and other features) as dictated by the lore without the assumption of characters having access to dyes, makeup etc even if its more restrictive.
I dont wanna run into clown characters. Breaks immersion and feels cheap. Example provided

Vhaeyne

I am all for maximum customization.

The lore argument makes little sense to me. There have always been people willing to go against their own culture and adopt styles form other cultures. Even ancient cultures were not always so traditional that some people would not adopt styles from other cultures. If people see someone else with a style they like, they copy it. Any fantasy setting ignoring that part of human nature is just silly to me.

Asgerr

Goatrek wrote: »

I prefer natural hair colours (and other features) as dictated by the lore without the assumption of characters having access to dyes, makeup etc even if its more restrictive.
I dont wanna run into clown characters. Breaks immersion and feels cheap. Example provided xD

That is my fear with full customization as well.

Also, seeing as we have 2 different sub-races for each race, it could be interesting to limit hair colours for each.

For instance we know that one group of humans is mostly desert dwellers. Them having mostly dark hair colours would fit the race's lore and flavor text, and help in differentiating them from the other sect of humans who perhaps might fall under lighter hair colors etc.

I however can see how such a thing could be limiting.

neuroguy

I do like the idea of having races be recognizable. I like the possibility of character driven conflict in terms of 'racism' etc (even if it is too much RP for some). I think character creation should be limited by race but once you are in the world, you have ways of customizing away features like hair color to deviate away from your racial heritage. However this should be a conscious choice and you should have to experience a bit what it's like to be a member of your race and build an identity, even if it's one you don't like and are driven to change.

Edit: I think it's important to remember you can and will continuously customize your character, but your starting point, where you come from, your background, should be a bit more grounded and give weight to your racial heritage. I think aesthetics are a part of the decision making of what race you choose to play. If I can make my elf look like an orc, that level of freedom will render certain choices meaningless. Since there are racial quest lines I assume AoC wants you to feel the weight of the race you belong to, your initial appearance (with freedom to deviate from it in the future) sounds like a nice compromise.
Things like the optional language in chat which serves no purpose other than RP also help with that sense of identity.

Nagash

The more customization the better

Songcaller

There is nothing to say what coloured hair races can or can't use. If I want to min/max I already will have to choose a race that wouldn't be my first choice. If I can't customise a race for me to better fit in with the race then few races will appeal at all. I find it rather silly that we can wield magic but we won't be able to select hair colours besides white, brown, grey and black. I'm also not a fan of clown characters, but, people make weird characters with the sliders too such as deformed faces. The character customisation is said to rival BDO so I doubt wilder hair colours will stop people making weird and wonderful facial creations irrespective of hair colour.

Some of us like to customise our characters without making goofy faces and clown faces. I feel we shouldn't block the enjoyment of the masses over a limited few.

Sathrago

Vhaeyne wrote: »

I am all for maximum customization.

The lore argument makes little sense to me. There have always been people willing to go against their own culture and adopt styles form other cultures. Even ancient cultures were not always so traditional that some people would not adopt styles from other cultures. If people see someone else with a style they like, they copy it. Any fantasy setting ignoring that part of human nature is just silly to me.

I think it makes sense to tell us what the natural hair colors and features are, so players can build on that to explain why their character looks like it bathes with poisonous toads once a day to keep up the sickly yellow tint to their skin. This is purely from an rp stand point, and I am basically asking for both the natural hair/skin tones and the unnatural ones. As for taking from other cultures maybe they could add some sort of reputation system that unlocks those once you help that race out enough? Or just allow it, whatever they want to do but I do agree that it should be possible.

Arkson

I love the BDO character creator for instance, but it does allow you to create some grotesque monstrosities that absolutely obliterate immersion, so I wouldn't mind some restrictions on some of the more 'out there' combinations.

Nerror

Absolutely we should have full customization I think. It'll be great with some lore-friendly presets as well, but honestly, considering all the crazy cosmetics we'll be getting from day one, any semblance of keeping it strictly lore-based is out the window anyway.

Jirue

Really digging those hair styles! Nice work, modeling artist!

For the coloring question, I like having a wide range of colors for both a base and highlight. But it's no big deal if it's a few presets to make things easier to develop.

Dygz

High fantasy with illusions. Dyes will be there.
And it will be expected in 5 years. It's common for kids and parents to dye their hair blue, pink, green, etc.

That being said. I don't think ALL colors should be available.
The devs should select a pallet of colors and make those available for every race.

Dygz

Baldur's Gate 3 customization was perfect.

Vhaeyne

Asgerr wrote: »

That is my fear with full customization as well.

Also, seeing as we have 2 different sub-races for each race, it could be interesting to limit hair colours for each.

For instance we know that one group of humans is mostly desert dwellers. Them having mostly dark hair colours would fit the race's lore and flavor text, and help in differentiating them from the other sect of humans who perhaps might fall under lighter hair colors etc.

I however can see how such a thing could be limiting.

Yeah, that is pretty bad... I guess y'all have never been to Seattle.

Jokes aside, I understand the fear. The main area where I think character creation can go too far is proportions. If you have ever played ARK or Atlas you know what I mean. Players will create abominations with insane proportions for the laughs and the reduced hitbox. This is something I don't want to see.

Assuming that players can only create characters with normal proportions. It is always possible for people to mix plants and minerals to make dyes and body paints. This is what I want to see.

Anything a human could reasonably have modified about themselves in the ancient world should be up for grabs. While that technically would include the joke of a character you posted above. I would rather play in a world where some can take customization too far. Than in a world where I can't take character customization far enough.

Asgerr

Vhaeyne wrote: »

Asgerr wrote: »

That is my fear with full customization as well.

Also, seeing as we have 2 different sub-races for each race, it could be interesting to limit hair colours for each.

For instance we know that one group of humans is mostly desert dwellers. Them having mostly dark hair colours would fit the race's lore and flavor text, and help in differentiating them from the other sect of humans who perhaps might fall under lighter hair colors etc.

I however can see how such a thing could be limiting.

Yeah, that is pretty bad... I guess y'all have never been to Seattle.

As a fan of the 90's music scene from Seattle, it's still on my bucked list to go visit it some day.

Vhaeyne wrote: »

Jokes aside, I understand the fear. The main area where I think character creation can go too far is proportions. If you have ever played ARK or Atlas you know what I mean. Players will create abominations with insane proportions for the laughs and the reduced hitbox. This is something I don't want to see.

Assuming that players can only create characters with normal proportions. It is always possible for people to mix plants and minerals to make dyes and body paints. This is what I want to see.

I remember reading about AION, and how since the hitboxes actually matched the character's proportions, that you would see players that would come up only to your ankle, as it gave them a tremendous advantage in PvP and PvE

Hopefully those level of customization can't exploit something similar in Ashes

Recluse74

Just give us 2 - 3 layers of hair that can be colored the way we want, just using natural colors.

If you want a solid colored head of hair, dye all layers the same color, if you don't... mix it up.

Just no bright, bright colors... I hate games where someone's hair looks like it connected to a car battery to light it up.

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