So, over in another thread I balked at the idea of "option bloat" thinking "wtf, how could there possibly be too many options!?‽"
But, giving it some thought, in the [i]vast[/i] ( ;) ) array of options in the Chargen, there have to be a few or many that one just hates and would never, ever use.
Going back to Paragon Chat, after a decade of options, it can be really jarring and annoying to find the texture i want amongst many that I can't stand.
So, I suggest a costume option blocking feature: middle click or whatever on an option giving a dropdown for "block" to remove the option from your lists. Probably have an accessible "restore" feature in case you do want that pony tail, but I think this could help clean up the UI a bit.
[hr]
[color=red]PR, Forum Moderator[/color]
[url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/desvipers-creative-impulsivity]My Non-Canon Backstories[/url]
Avatar by MikeNovember
Why not just have a general Search feature?
This is the opposite of a search feature. "Show me all the options except the ones I hate"
Not a bad idea, really.
[color=red]PR Team, Forum Moderator, Live Response Team[/color]
Perhaps a persistent filter feature rather than having to restore something you just remove the filter and viola the filtered items reappear...
"A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space." ~ Thomas Carlyle
Being able to filter things to better find things that fit your theme might be good, though we have no idea how filtered it's going to be already.
I'd be against blocking options in the character builder mostly because I'd forget that certain parts are available. I know I wouldn't have to use such a feature, but I know that I probably would and then regret it later.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
Yeah, this is probably the best way to do it.
[color=red]PR Team, Forum Moderator, Live Response Team[/color]
I think any costume creator needs a good way to sift through the existing costume pieces efficiently.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Appreciate the fair-mindedness.
What I had in mind was ideally both a search feature and a hidden feature. The search feature feels like it'd be a little harder to implement well (since you may not recall the name of a particular costume item you're looking for) but the hidden feature seems like it'd be simple enough, and you could then go into a list of "hidden" items if you ever wanted to find a particular one. On the other side, a "favorite" function would be equally welcome if you have items, textures, colors etc. that you might want to use often.
~ DariusWolfe
Errant, TNT, Vibrant and Fluxion on Liberty
So...
A search feature, to find pieces "for the moment", or single ones.
A filter feature, to have a medium/longish "sorting/selection" of pieces.
A favorites list, a list of pieces you'd see yourself use fairly often or more.
A "Not wanna see it" list, pieces you'd see yourself effectively never use.
Anything else? I can see all of those be very good QoL additions.
If I might recommend, why not use a similar organization structure to Steam's "Favorite Games" section?
You could set the costume pieces you like best to appear at the top of the list, followed by a partition, then the general set of things, and at the bottom of that you can have another partision, followed by a list of things you've sorted into the bottom?
That way you'd have organization, ease of use for finding the things you want, and removal of the things you don't want from the general list without removing them from view entirely, letting you have access to everything without getting things in the way. Tidy, organized, and player-controlled.
An infinite number of tries doesn't mean that any one of those tries will succeed. I could flip an infinite number of pennies an infinite number of times and, barring genuine randomness, they will never come up "Waffles".
I would like to suggest a way to tag pieces for future use.
I imagine at some point I will stumble upon the perfect hat/mask combo but not for the character I am making at the time.
It could double as a favorites list for those pieces you like to use often.
Hi. I'm Hope.
If we're going that route then we'd also need categories, or tags as Hope said, to make it easier to find what one wants. Only having three section with the middle one potentially having hundreds of options some time down the road would not be a good interface imo.
One thing I actually really disliked about the character creator in CoX was the dropdown list of all the items. I hope this game will have a bit more interactive way of navigating through and selecting costume pieces.
I'd rather enjoy having a favorites tab of outfits or items that you know you will use in a lot of your designs. I know there are certain things that I would use on almost every hero that I would just have to keep scrolling down through in the dropdown to find what I was looking for.
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
Agreed. While it was that bad in the beginning, when they got more awesome pieces, it became a bit annoying.
That said, I don't care for how CO does it.
If it could be something similar to how the Sims does it, that would be very cool. Anything other than scrolling through hundreds of vague names trying to find a specific piece by going off just the name of it.
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
There definitely needs to be a an option to see whatever "complete ensembles" the game has. So like, if you want to start with "ninja" you can set it to the ninja ensemble, which has the ninja-masked head, the ninja boots, the wrapped forearms, etc etc. Then you can make changes and additions from there as a starting point.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising