Ultimate Customizability in Character Creation: Challenges and Innovations

Ultimate Customizability in Character Creation:Challenges and Innovations

What went right and what went wrong while developing two complex character creators– Challenges we faced and solutions we developed– Overview of tools and pipeline

Goals and Overview

Goals:Champions Online

• Ultimate user customization– More of everything! Variety of themes, total parts, and asymmetry

• Modularity (motivated partly by Marvel license)– Ex. Give away Spider-Man’s gloves, belt, boots and mask, reserve

unique eye pieces and emblems

Key features:Champions Online

1) Part and color selection – extreme variety– Large degree of asymmetry and variety

2) Presets for head and body types3) Advanced options for bone scaling in face

and body4) Nested options

– Material and texture swaps

Facts and Figures• Champions Online

– 2140 geometry parts (per gender)– Over 5500 total textures

Goals:Star Trek Online

• Remain faithful to IP while allowing freedom of expression• Differentiate from Champions’ “kitchen sink” approach

• Focus additional depth and complexity in fewer, key areas– Heads and uniforms

Key features:Star Trek Online

1) Parts separated into “buckets” by Species– Certain parts reserved for certain Alien races

2) Presets for head and body types3) Advanced options for bone scaling in face

and body4) Nested options

– Material and texture swaps

Facts and Figures• Star Trek Online

– 1240 geometry parts (per gender)– 70 ear types, 150+ head textures– Over 100 bones in face alone

Pipeline overview

Pipeline overview:Modularity

• Standard construction hierarchy• Skeleton -> geo -> material -> texture

• Modular “paper doll”– Character comprised of numerous individual parts– One part per bone

• Break points – Parts built only within deisgnated areas per bone

Pipeline overview:Champions Online

Pipeline overview:Part Creation

• Part creation– Modeled, skinned, and UV’d in 3DS Max– Naming convention based on bone and breakpoint rules– Proprietary exporter tool – Textured in Zbrush or photoshop

• Real time updates (in-engine)– Engine processes and updates geo (export) and textures (save) in real

time

Pipeline overview:Part Creation

• Challenge = asymmetry yields twice the parts to make and weight, numerous seams across which to match normals

• Solution = custom in-house Max scripts– Mirror weights script– Seam vert snap tool– Seam normals align, etc

Pipeline overview:Body Scaling

• Challenge = one body to fit all sizes• Solution = body scale animation + bone scaling

– Bones specifically for “muscle” growth– Body scale animation created in 3DS Max from skinny to hulking– Additional bone scaling in-engine per bone via slider

Pipeline overview:Body Scaling

Pipeline overview:Texture Creation

• Challenge = allow players to customize colors on any texture• Solution = pattern mask texture

– Defines areas within which players can select any color

Bk = color 0R = color 1G = color 2B = color 3


• Challenge = allow player to define how muscular they look without creating many different normal maps

• Solution = muscle normal map “blends” over a second detail normal map


• Challenge = more depth for customization in Star Trek alien head textures• Solution = unique pattern and normal map blending


• Challenge = more depth for customization in Star Trek alien head textures• Solution = unique pattern and normal map blending

Pipeline overview:In-game setup

• Challenge = create and organize thousands of parts and materials

• Solution = data definition system– Text files point to assets (geo, mat, tex) and assign them properties– Assign data flags such as: region and category part restrictions (what

works with what), random weight, order, display name, etc

Pipeline overview:In-game setup

• Definition system– Ex. Material definitions reference only a few basic material templates

(shaders) but allow “swap” texture for default rather than creating a new material for every single instance

Default Matte “Cloth” Material

Cape Cloth Material Def

Shirt Cloth Material Def

Jeans Cloth Material Def

(etc)

Use Cape Texture instead

Use T-Shirt Texture instead

Use Jeans Texture instead

(use “swap” instead)

Pipeline overview: Regions and Categories

• Data flags allow parts to work together without interpenetration or conflict– Region

• Head, Upper body, Hands, Lower body

– Category• Head = Beast, Insect, Monster, Humanoid w/ hair, Humanoid w/ helmets, etc• Upper body = Tights, Robot arms, Chest armor, Full shirts, Jackets, etc• Hands = Short or Long gloves• Lower body = Tights, Robot legs, Pants, Short skirts, Long skirts, Hip armor, etc

Pipeline overview:Costume Creation tools

• Challenge = needed to efficiently build countless costumes• Solution = innovative, easy to use editor tools

– Copy and paste, part selection, and linking functionality– Intuitive drop down menu options– Bone scaling beyond that offered to players

Pipeline and Tools:Challenges

• Tools built simultaneously with content creation– Asking for improved tools, features– Fighting for programmer time

• Editing costumes and definitions solely in text files before editor came online


• While tools powerful, hand editing individual costume details can be time consuming

• System depends on setup of underlying data structure– Based on swapping defaults by creating definitions for everything from

geo, material, texture to skeletons, bones, regions and categories


• Abundance of categories and parts– Number of rules for interaction increases dramatically with new part

locations, as does need for new categories to restrict them– More LODs needed = parts are dropped or decimated at distance

Pipeline and Tools:Innovations

• Parts variety, asymmetry and modularity• Bone scaling allows one body to do it all• Strong foundation of region and category rules to avoid parts

conflicting• Proprietary max scripts• Asset processing and updates in real time• Definition system allows for less data and more flexibility

User Experience: Flow and ease of use

User experience – flow and ease of use

• Simpler to use menu items– Sub menus, drop downs,

mouse-over updates– Big step forward from

previous click-through options


• Display names – Describe feel and

intent– Theme consistency

• Order numbers– Alphabetically?– By function? – By rarity?


• Materials presented simply– Matte (cloth or skin)– Shiny (leather)– Reflective (metallic)


• Challenge = Preset options vs. optional “advanced” settings– Pre-made selections for bone scaling, colors and costume parts aid

players in finding a look or theme– Advanced options too hidden?– Players tend to choose the first / default preset– Too tempting to randomize all


• Too many options? Too many categories?– Some players may find it overwhelming, while others thrive on it:

• Escapist review: “I took extra care in designing my power-armor heroine to look exactly how I wanted her, and it took me perhaps an hour - and this was without ever even touching all the myriad sliders and extra options the game gives you. It's an incredibly deep character creation system, but it's also an intimidating one, and it's much easier for newbies to just use the Randomizer to come up with a cool-looking hero (which, thankfully, isn't that hard)”

– Achieved our goal of massive number of options – but needed some way to ease flow for a “newby”


• Solution = keep the complexity, but offer casual players an easy way in– Champions should have continued with preset philosophy to logical

conclusion, offering pre-built, themed starter costumes


• Opportunities for improved presentation in future– Tool tips– More than one choice at a time?

– Tutorial videos– Walkthough FAQs

• Originally considered this, but left it to fan community

Player perception and demands

Player perception and demands• Challenge = how to determine what players want?• Solution = connect with the fans

– Forum communication, Polls, and research into IP

Player perception and demands• Challenge = aesthetic value of costume part vs. functional value of loot• Solution = a balanced approach

– Champions players can make ANY hero they want at level 1

– Later we reserved and created parts as rewards, or for sale in store• (ONLY after all the standard

bases were covered)

Player perception and demands

• Too few options in some categories?– Weakest categories judged against the strongest– Players won’t complain about a missing category as much as one that

only has 2-3 options in it– Star Trek has total parts spread out over numerous “species”

• Lesson = meet a minimum number of parts in each category

Letting go:Leaving art in players’ hands

Leaving art in players’ hands:Champions Online

• Fear = would players create goofy costumes to cause grief or poke fun?– Biggest danger not intentional bad costumes, but the random button – Many players take it very seriously; use parts in ways we never imagined


• Challenge = players trying to copy IP heroes from pop culture• Solution = GM’s enforced a no-tolerance policy

– Offending players notified and asked to change costume– Else, set by default to a t-shirt and jeans costume


• Challenge = player desire to contribute art• Solution = Beta emblem contest

– Gave players a template and a way to contribute in an organized venue– Reviewed all submissions and selected many for actual inclusion in our

game– Results displayed on forums

Leaving art in players’ hands:Star Trek Online

• Challenge = build the definitive Star Trek world for players to explore, OR to build a sandbox where people could create their own vision of the universe?– Ex. Allow a player to create a pink Star Fleet uniform?– Does it break immersion, or allow freedom of expression?

Leaving art in players’ hands:Star Trek Online

• IP holders encouraged erring on side of expression – Star Trek more about diversity than rules of show SO FAR– We’ve never seen a blue-haired Vulcan; doesn’t mean they don’t exist

• Solution = mix of series preset costumes and species, moderate color palette restrictions, and diverse “unrestricted” Alien creator

Conclusion

Conclusion:Lessons learned

• What worked– Modularity, asymmetry, and variety of parts– Foundation of rules to avoid parts conflict and interpenetration– Powerful and flexible pipeline, tool set and player interface– Preset options and advanced settings– Ongoing dialogue with users

Conclusion:Lessons learned

• What could still be improved– Themed preset options for complete starter costumes– More standardization between categories– Even more ease-of-use enhancements for user interface– Better ways to gauge player interests

Conclusion:Going forward

• Open questions for future projects– Do players want to experience a well-defined but rigid world, or do

they want freedom to express themselves and influence that world?– How do we give players the freedom to make the character they want

while offering an artistic helping hand?– How do we as developers better communicate with players about

what they want?

Questions?

Brad StokanLead Artist, Champions OnlineCryptic Studios

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Ultimate Customizability in Character Creation: Challenges and Innovations