CoX Homecoming Proof of Concept: Increased scale cap for player characters

[Dragonfire]

On 6/11/2019 at 11:14 AM, Oneirohero said:

During the last RP Event in Everlasting, people were asked what kind of things they'd like to see added/changed to the game. I was surprised to hear that least a few others wanted to be able to make bigger or smaller characters than we do on live, myself included. One even suggested '2ft to 12ft tall', I would have been happy to see 10ft myself but I was impressed that I wasn't alone. So after hyping myself up talking a friend I went on a mission to Icon 1.72 to create a proposal for the Homecoming devs reading this and to anybody else who supports the idea to increase the server-enforced restrictions to player costume scales to make this a reality.

 

I created an Imgur gallery with numerous textboxes to go through the reasoning and logic behind allowing this change and why the infrequent issues that come with it aren't as bad as it seems from a glance. There's two parts of the proposal, one that goes over the size difference compared with mobs and the second part that covers the worst case scenarios of maps, to read it all you have to go to this link:

 

https://imgur.com/a/prx4pl7

 

As a footnote: I know I'm missing those tiny tunnels that criss-cross some Rikti underground maps however I wasn't able to find the internal mapname for such a place (honestly, there's dozens of the same exact maps, what the...?). But one might argue it will be the same as the Vanguard mini-tunnels as described in the gallery itself.

 

I'd want to forward this proposal to the Homecoming team themselves but I don't know how, so I'm hoping by posting it here at least, the community can also weigh in on their thoughts and compromises, if any.

I'd like to see a female 'large' size character like we already have for men, and with the tailor or somewhere else in-game, the ability to switch between all three - male, female, and giant.  That would open up a lot of role-play options for characters.  I think that'd be an easier option to gather first in the game.

[Varkarrus]

On 6/11/2019 at 2:37 PM, Black Zot said:

 

Caves are badly designed in general and could use a complete overhaul.

On 8/19/2019 at 8:02 AM, Hyperstrike said:

It's something that requires digging in and reworking multiple systems (including mapping).

 

The system reworking required is pretty worth it, actually. These are all systems that need to be reworked already. Everyone and their mother has complained about how awful cave maps are. When it comes to clipping in other areas, I really don't mind. I would rather be able to play a large character whose head awkwardly clips through some door frames, over no large character at all. A "crouch stance" emote that you can bind as a toggle would be fun if you want to roleplay your character ducking to get through doorways, but not necessary.

 

As for it being a PVP exploit, character model size shouldn't have a gameplay impact in the first place. The hitboxes and LOS scanners should all be the same size regardless of a player's aesthetic choice; there should be no incentives whatsoever to make your character look a certain way for any reason beyond aesthetic. If the size of the visual model itself is an issue, then maybe PVP zones should set everyone to the same size temporarily. As far as systems that would need to be edited before implementing this change go, that's the only one that isn't already something that should be changed.

[Rex!22]

On 6/11/2019 at 4:14 PM, Oneirohero said:

During the last RP Event in Everlasting, people were asked what kind of things they'd like to see added/changed to the game. I was surprised to hear that least a few others wanted to be able to make bigger or smaller characters than we do on live, myself included. One even suggested '2ft to 12ft tall', I would have been happy to see 10ft myself but I was impressed that I wasn't alone. So after hyping myself up talking a friend I went on a mission to Icon 1.72 to create a proposal for the Homecoming devs reading this and to anybody else who supports the idea to increase the server-enforced restrictions to player costume scales to make this a reality.

 

I created an Imgur gallery with numerous textboxes to go through the reasoning and logic behind allowing this change and why the infrequent issues that come with it aren't as bad as it seems from a glance. There's two parts of the proposal, one that goes over the size difference compared with mobs and the second part that covers the worst case scenarios of maps, to read it all you have to go to this link:

 

https://imgur.com/a/prx4pl7

 

As a footnote: I know I'm missing those tiny tunnels that criss-cross some Rikti underground maps however I wasn't able to find the internal mapname for such a place (honestly, there's dozens of the same exact maps, what the...?). But one might argue it will be the same as the Vanguard mini-tunnels as described in the gallery itself.

 

I'd want to forward this proposal to the Homecoming team themselves but I don't know how, so I'm hoping by posting it here at least, the community can also weigh in on their thoughts and compromises, if any.

Hell yeah!! I'd love to get my brawlers even bigger. Good job on the screenshots OP, your doing us giants a favour!

[Lost Ninja]

On 6/11/2019 at 7:37 PM, Black Zot said:

Caves are badly designed in general and could use a complete overhaul.

CoT/Crystal caves could, the tunnels of the trolls/rikti caves are fine.

[Lost Ninja]

1. I don't see the need. Current body sizes are based on a normal "human/NPC" size not on outliers represented in the AV/Hero characters. The max size you can get now is already double the height of an NPC, or half with minimum sliders.
2. I think on large teams filled with large bodies you will have issues not being able to see whats going on. This already as issue in some smaller enclosed maps styles (aforementioned CoT/Crystal caves) with current character sizes. Making 12' tall characters would only make this worse.
3. Only the Huge body type looks especially realistic at the very large size IMO. The female and male body types get way too stretched out, very long legs/arms while the torso though being massive doesn't appear to be in proportion.
4. I do think that the current limits should be adhered to by the character creator -36 -> +36, (about half height on a standard NPC to double the height of a standard NPC). However often on loading a tiny character into the character creator the game auto-magically increases that -36 to the lowest slider setting (around -24 IIRC). If you have given us limits to work with at least makes sure they work correctly.)

[molten_dragon]

This isn't something I personally care much about.  Being able to make significantly larger or smaller characters wouldn't enhance my enjoyment of the game.  So from a developer time perspective I'm against this.  However, it's not something that would detract from my enjoyment of the game either, so if enough of the community wants it, I'm cool with it too.

[krj12]

I don't see an issue with shorter characters, but there would definitely be clipping issues on many maps with anything taller. 

Secondary issue:  It's already hard to see what's going on in combat already, with larger characters it could make it even more difficult to see past them.

 

[pattycake]

If there was a scale option to make characters the size of the palm of a hand would make for great customization.

 

if you stack flight speed it could create the illusion for faster travel in a seemingly more gaint world. As for HUGE characters I’d suggest it to be a power set “gigantism” though larger characters would have a difficult time navigating the blue caves and council/5thC story arcs.