Additionally, we will be releasing portions of the game leading up to alpha. Up first, our Avaratar Creator.

Echoing the sentiment that a promotional costume creator would be the best thing EVAR! Can't wait to get hands on the controls =)

Doctor Tyche wrote:

*now imagining anthropomorphic aardvarks*

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebus_the_Aardvark][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Cerebus112and113.jpg[/img][/url]

^_^

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but can you give us any reliable date to expect that Avatar Creator by?

Edit: On a related note, are the various Lethal Weapons and Fashionistas going to be done by the time the Avatar Creator is rolled out, or during the "Avatar Creator is live, game still on the way" time period, or after the game goes live, or...?

Doctor Tyche wrote:

Radiac wrote:
I hate to be the one to bring this up, but can you give us any reliable date to expect that Avatar Creator by?
Edit: On a related note, are the various Lethal Weapons and Fashionistas going to be done by the time the Avatar Creator is rolled out, or during the "Avatar Creator is live, game still on the way" time period, or after the game goes live, or...?

The Lethal Weapons and Fashionistas will be after the AB is out, because before then they won't know the full capability.

I can't wait to see the capabilities. It won't change my design plan but it definitely WILL for alot of people who are thinking about the engine in terms of CoH and CO and DCUO. Sounds like you're doing something different.

- -

This is the first time of me hearing the tech concerns and it sounds like a serious tech consideration to make the AB work for a larger audience. Does this mean not just lower-end machines but perhaps also mobile, tablet and others will be able to use this tech?

I'm excitedly hoping the wait is well deserved.

Doctor Tyche wrote:

Radiac wrote:
I hate to be the one to bring this up, but can you give us any reliable date to expect that Avatar Creator by?
Edit: On a related note, are the various Lethal Weapons and Fashionistas going to be done by the time the Avatar Creator is rolled out, or during the "Avatar Creator is live, game still on the way" time period, or after the game goes live, or...?

The design we have proved more ambitious than we originally planned for. As a result, we've hit every snag in the book. We want to do a lot better than the usual MMORPG "drop a mesh on top and that's it" approach, with few body options and customizability limited to a few key areas. The engine change hit this area the hardest, with the reward that the end result is also significantly better than the original plan as well. When ready, and it's getting close, it will be much like a dam breaking, as it is just that flexible and capable. It's not an unknown approach, but it is not common, and adapting it to a new engine is the single largest task we have.
Part of the reason for the approach we've taken is to avoid the performance snags which plague so many higher-end games. I can't reveal too much as of yet, but the goal is to give you far better looking options, without the resource hog we often times find. If we were not aiming for a more performance-friendly title, we could have been over and done with. But we take our promises seriously, and if taking an extra 6 months of work, with the result that we can run it on machines with far lower specs than otherwise, I feel it is a trade worth taking, as we only get to design the character building engine once. Every future choice has to be built on that framework.
The Lethal Weapons and Fashionistas will be after the AB is out, because before then they won't know the full capability.

This is very encouraging! It's always better to do things right the first time.

whiteperegrine wrote:

agreed. measure twice, cut once...

Measure with a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometer]micrometer[/url].

Mark it with a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_pencil]grease pencil[/url].

Cut it with an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe]axe[/url].

What? I talk to engineers! They know how this stuff works ...

They certainly need to take there time but I seriously hope that people are more wise around here about the game on release.

I can't tell you how annoying it is to see a bunch of people whining about the same shit every single time a MMO releases. You would think that they would get the hint that MMOs always have a hard time at release and that the devs are always working hard to fix bugs bugs and more bugs.

Now if the game has the same issues more then 6 months after release then there is a problem.....

Empyrean wrote:

Bleddyn wrote:
They certainly need to take there time but I seriously hope that people are more wise around here about the game on release.
I can't tell you how annoying it is to see a bunch of people whining about the same shit every single time a MMO releases. You would think that they would get the hint that MMOs always have a hard time at release and that the devs are always working hard to fix bugs bugs and more bugs.
Now if the game has the same issues more then 6 months after release then there is a problem.....

Word. CoH was a hot mess at first and really took a while to hit it's stride.

I think it took about....a year I think? It was quite some time ago....I was a wee lad way back then

Empyrean wrote:

+ to all y'all.
There are already "now" options for Superhero games--DCUO, Champions, soon Valiance.
City of Titans has always set their sights on being the "next gen" spiritual successor, so taking the time to actually build the next gen is really the only thing that makes sense.
Just wish I had time travel powers!!!

if the NOW options where any good, we'd be playing them and not all that worried about CoT :p

I might play CO, but it's more for RP with CoH SG than thinking the game is any fun. I now play FFXIV (and WS when I was leveling) for fun since RP hasn't been as good in those games for me.