I'm tired of reused Inventory Graphics..

[Docaholic]

Hi All,

I've been playing for close to 5 years now, and one thing that has always rubbed me the wrong way about AO is the reuse of the same inventory graphic and simply renaming it.. Look I found a Juggler's treat, errm wait it's an OT ring, no,.. it's an augmented OT ring, nooo, it's a Notum ring.. hmm they all look the same.. grrrrrrrr

I did some serious searching and found that there are only 29 unique 'Ring Graphics' in the game but several hundred different named rings in the game. I'm a gaming artist and it always bugged me that the little details like this get pushed aside and claims of it would take too long to fill in the blank Inventory item slots for 'reused graphics'. I say that's Horse Hockey! Today I decided to see how long it would take me to make 29 new rings for use as inventory graphics (matching the current number of rings graphics in the game).. just making rings off and on through the day, an estimated 6-7 hours of actual work and I got 29 new rings made.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...wAO_Rings1.jpg

AO rings on the left and the new rings I made on the right. (I included 2 larger renderings of rings so you can see the quality of the work)

I'd estimate that about a single week would be needed, and only one artist to finally put the reused graphics 'bug' to sleep once and for all. no more repetitive use of the same graphic in your inventory, no more accidently scraping your Biocomm processing what you thought was a monster part but actually was a half digested body part...

Funcon, please take care of the age old eyesore. fill in the holes in your items database.. for the love of AO, do it now!

Ok, I'm done venting, but seriously, you guys give us game artists a bad name. you either have the laziest artists in the industry, or all your artists have lost interest in the Anarchy Online Franchise.

Did I say I'm done venting? I am now.. Cheers!



EDIT: I've been asked to update this first post to give everyone a better idea of where I am at in the artwork, here goes...

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...s_Sample-1.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...Gem_Chart1.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...olor_Test1.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ff_Recap01.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ff_Recap02.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ng_Sample1.jpg

There are a bunch of other stuff for those who want to take the time to browse the thread, but the above samples give you a better idea of where I am at. The renderings of the new filigree rings are now like what you see in this backpack sample..

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2..._TestFit01.jpg

That should be enough to encourage anyone to browse the whole thread.

Latest update is the finished Filigree Rings, Silver, Gold and Platinum, here's a sample of the final look..

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ngs_Sample.jpg

Cheers!

[Aiken]

I couldn't bump this more even if I drove my damned car into it.

All it ever showed me was a lack of depth & creativity which ruins, albeit a small part of the game play for me when they use the same goddamned textures for things. It's been a pet peeve of mine with AO for ages. Its more obvious with the newer stuff, you can easily spot where the creativity is lacking, for want of a better word.

Nice work on the rings btw, I liked those

[Matammyr]

Whether it gets implemented or not, I just want to compliment you on your art.

[milkduds]

Bump for this idea.

(wtb moar toe ringz!)

[Affliktion]

Nice work funcom should hire you

[Saetos]

Very cool ring designs Not only would I support this, but some way to visibly display your rings would be even more awesome.

[Honorbound]

In general, I agree with the OP, and it's not just the ring icons that are being constantly recycled like this, but a fair number of other things (actually, some of these ring icons themselves also double as "circlet" type of headwear, and even as bracelets in some cases).
And the new rings designed and showcased in the OP indeed look very good, while staying within the generic feel and look of the "official" ring designs.

One reason I can think of for this kind of asset recycling aside possible the lack of creativity or time to do it properly is, or now rather only was, the limited DB size.
Before the 18.x update line, Means said that the at that time current DB structure was running out of entry space so maybe they simply couldn't afford to add too many new assets because of that, and had to resort to reusing things that were already in the DB and just had to be linked to the new items.

However, since that's not the case any more, maybe (hopefully) we'll see some improvements in this regard.

[Eralius2]

Bump, that work is tremendous. I wouldnt even mind seeing the majority of those in game they're of such good quality, although FC does have alot 'else' to be doing - updating small things like this along the way helps the player feel like AO is still improving, going somewhere and is still perfecting.

/bump!

[Docaholic]

I'd gladly make more rings and stuff if Funcom asked. the only thing I'd need would be file specs for the bitmaps.. transparent gif? .png images with alpha chanel? .bmp with a mask? what size are the bitmaps? I guessed 48x48 but that was just a guess.

I'd also need to be able to see/edit the DB to plug the images in. hmmm.. maybe start a Community DB hunt.. spot the duplicate items (graphically speaking) and post them. then see if I and any other artists that play can make new artwork for Funcom's consideration.

But first we need the file specs.. Funcom? can you hear us?

Cheers, and thanks for the kind words about the rings.



P.S. here are some other things I did awhile back.. a few monster parts and gems..

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...OPicWork01.png

[Ruffixx]

Bump for you for good work.

[FC] Give him free play time for making graphics for you and just taking his ideas. Win-win for everyone. New textures for us, no real work on your side, and Doc gets compensated a bit

[howlin]

Bump, the amount of laziness in using the same old models is amazing.

[cbus97]

If that large rendering on the left existed IRL, I would wear it. Damn that is hot!

[Phyxr]

Bump for idea, and for some very nice designs.

[Shonta]

That's some great work. And bump for more inventory graphics.

[MajorOutage]

Bump for awesome graphics work, and more unique icons.

But, if you expect every icon/texture/etc to be unique, you should also expect your subscription fee to double. That's alot of work.

[Bloodwriath]

Well i think this is a very good idea and it would shine up ao a bit for the new engine, bumb

[Chrys]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...wAO_Rings1.jpg

Some of those rings are bracers!

[Matammyr]

One reason I can think of for this kind of asset recycling aside possible the lack of creativity or time to do it properly is, or now rather only was, the limited DB size.
Before the 18.x update line, Means said that the at that time current DB structure was running out of entry space so maybe they simply couldn't afford to add too many new assets because of that, and had to resort to reusing things that were already in the DB and just had to be linked to the new items.

However, since that's not the case any more, maybe (hopefully) we'll see some improvements in this regard.

I thought they didn't even know that was a problem until it almost became a problem?

[Urbanjohn]

Firstly they're called icons. 2ndly sorry if you actually have to read the description of the item to know what it is.

[Kintaii]

Some really impressive stuff - Good job. =)