Idea: upload art texture for units

[Codde]

Was thinking about how you can buy custom colors, though what if you want it REALLY unique, or to draw it your own way?
I was thinking a premium $5 skin would let you either 'paint by numbers' or color in the lines(maybe for a higher fee).

The idea reminded me of painting your own figurines in table top games. Listen, I don't spend a lot of money, especially on free games. But something like this would be worth it.

[Aleonymous]

Yup, that would be totally cool. This game can profit from more "vanity" Renown-sinks (or bought with real-money)...

Tech Note: Bear in mind that for Factions, an online game, the visuals of your units are still stored locally, i.e. in your computer. When you play online, the remote-server tells your computer that unit-X is wearing color-Y, so that your game-client can load the appropriate pre-saved file (currently, there's 3 colors per unit) and display it.

That said, it is currently possible to edit/mod the local files in your computer and change the units' looks. The "problem" is that these changes will only be noticeable in your computer. Example: if you make a pink bowmaster by editing the blue-bowmaster color-skin, she will appear pink in your computer (as will all blue bowmasters!), but she'll still be blue in your opponent's computer, because he won't have access to that modded file...

[Codde]

Perhaps there is a 'color by number' method that would work. So the game can just put the RGB value to each color. As far as alternatives to cash to buy this as you brought up renown, how about an art contest? I've always liked it when games let you pay through community participation. Also artwork could be displayed in the prematch loading screen. It may take some re arranging but it worked really well in Awesomenauts and really brought people together in a positive and creative way.

I don't know the technological limitations that would prevent this, but say there are not, why wouldn't you do this?

I know this is how grass color works in minecraft as it transitions smoothly from one biom to another. There is a sprite (below), and it takes a sample to color the otherwise black and white blocks.

[Aleonymous]

Perhaps there is a 'color by number' method that would work. So the game can just put the RGB value to each color. As far as alternatives to cash to buy this as you brought up renown, how about an art contest? I've always liked it when games let you pay through community participation. Also artwork could be displayed in the prematch loading screen. It may take some re arranging but it worked really well in Awesomenauts and really brought people together in a positive and creative way.

I don't know the technological limitations that would prevent this, but say there are not, why wouldn't you do this?

I know this is how grass color works in minecraft as it transitions smoothly from one biom to another. There is a sprite (below), and it takes a sample to color the otherwise black and white blocks.

That "color-by-number" (e.g. a RGB color triplet, or a color-index in a wider palette) idea is usually a very good option. However, it does require some re-working of the game's file-structure from Stoic's part, because, as I've said, all unit-sprites are pre-rendered and stored in either bitmap-picture format (for Saga) or flash-SWF files (for Factions). Apart from that small "technical" issue, that can be relatively easily amended, there's also a problem of stylistic nature: The game is strong on its aesthetics, so they wouldn't like their players turning the nicely colored/painted units into pink or neon-green monstrosities! Finally, that shading/graded pixel idea you propose is interesting. Presently, the sprites are all solidly-colored (i.e. there's no gradient/fountain fills on any of the uniform-color areas (e.g. hair, clothes, shield, weapon), but I don't see any harm to the aesthetics if a negligibly smooth color-gradient is applied; check this post for an (unfinished) modding example in that vein.

EDIT -- I forgot to comment on the competition thing That would be a great idea, if the community was bigger... We did have a couple of very talented artists in the community, but now they've drifted away, along with everybody else. Once the devs focus back on Factions, and the playerbase picks up again, that would be a good thing to have around! Check out this thread with some fan-artwork, from the "Banner Contest" that was made after the launch of the Saga; check our wiki fan-art page.

[Codde]

Hmm a chicken or the egg debate. I think such a contest would grow the community. Like frogs to a pond. If I could trade renown I'd host it myself. Though it would be up to Stoic to display it in game. Which would be a big part of it. And the appeal.

Perhaps your right that only certain colors should be selectable to promote the mood. But maybe not. It may be better to allow such things, and trust that most of it will be creative and positive and worth their own effort or investment in obtaining it. Also, there could simply be a check box to see customs or not.

I would like to see everyone get 1 for free though. To be their imaginary 'hero unit'. Which they can apply to a single unit one time.

Perhaps these customized units could be called heroes, just for a name.