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[Request] New / more paperdolls

AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
edited June 2012 in Archive (Feature Requests)
Originally posted on /r/FriendsOfBaldursGate.

BACKGROUND:

Cameron Tofer has recently stated that half-elves are not hard-coded to use the elven paperdoll any longer. This was reported on Twitter by Trent Oster.

THE PROPOSAL:

I thought Nat Jones could therefore draw brand new paperdolls for BG:EE, thus bringing more variety to each race/class/sex combination. Those hideous BG2 paperdolls would be out of the way, as well as the need to install 1PP to get rid of them in the first place, and the new paperdolls could be rendered in high resolution to match the new UI (=much better than using post-processed originals!). The end result could look stunning from all standpoints.

We'd get high resolution paperdolls (possibly inspired by their BG1 predecessors, which were a ton better than BG2's, and Nat could bring his own dark fantasy twist to them), beardless lady dwarves and lady gnomes that don't look alike, elves that look different from half-elves and half-orcs that don't look like fat stupid oafs.

Pretty please? :)


MORE IDEAS OTHER USERS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS THREAD:

- Draw unique paperdolls for all joinable NPCs, so that each paperdoll carries resemblance to that NPC's portrait.
- Make Familiars appear in their owner's paperdoll
- Make Boo appear in Minsc's paperdoll
Post edited by AndreaColombo on
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Comments

  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    Despite paper dolls being normally bundled with the animations changes added by the mod One Pixel Productions, there really is no reason paperdolls can't be worked on independently, and it's a hell of a lot easier to design static paperdolls and their items on a nice background than animations equipped with them. So I hope there is time to do this and that Nat is put on it, especially given his style that would add something unique to paperdolls. It would make a dramatic difference in identifying with and imagining one's character, particularly given how often we go to the inventory screen, and, as AndreaColombo is suggesting, it would go a long way toward providing for the diversity of character appearances which is going to be lacking in BGEE otherwise given that the animations won't be getting improved.

    And, yes, beardless lady dwarves and gnomes please: the beards "break the fun" of BG, as Trent has put it.

  • KoreKore Member Posts: 245
    Well I don't know. It's quite nice to have something to hang on to... :)

    On topic, I thoroughly agree :)
  • CadrosCadros Member Posts: 253
    Don't forget those lady gnomes who would like some models of their own to! I would also support more paper dolls in a future update or DLC.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @TrentOster

    Hmm, what do you mean?

    Trying to estimate how many new things have to actually be "drawn/rendered" to accomodate new paper dolls?
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    See, I want to click "Like" for what @TrentOster just said on this about making a critical assessment of what implementation would involve, but now all I can do is agree :-P
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    See, I want to click "Like" for what @TrentOster just said on this about making a critical assessment of what implementation would involve, but now all I can do is agree :-P
    So true. But there ya go.
  • GrammarsaladGrammarsalad Member Posts: 2,582
    I like
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    The fact that this is being considered fills me with joy :D
  • WardWard Member Posts: 1,305
    edited June 2012
    I like it until it gets to 'Nat Jones' dark fantasy twist'. I mean Baldur's Gate is dark and fantasy, but I think the original artwork, due to being very much in tact, needs to be matched. It's unavoidable any pieces done for the game will feature his particular art style, but the best attempts must be made to dignify the game with like artwork. If anything looks horribly out of place I personally won't feel it was approached the right way.

    I've complained about this in regards to portraits and all kinds of things, I'm not sure if anyone really has realized the potential problem here. The artwork will be fantastic either way, but will it fit? I don't know.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    @Ward
    I know what you mean. However, I believe Nat's style fits BG1 better than the art in BG2 or even ToB (which looked pretty bad, imho).
  • WardWard Member Posts: 1,305
    @AndreaColombo

    Yes I think Nat's style CAN be compatible, but it has to be well thought out how each thing should be approached in order to not have glaring inconsistencies. I do think BG1 had the best art/landscapes/monsters.

    What I would like to know is if anyone can explain to me what a paperdoll is. Are those the basic models each NPC acts under? I didn't notice much difference between BG1 and BG2 (except BG2 mirrors).
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    @Ward
    A paperdoll is the inventory picture of your character. BG2's looked significantly worse than BG1's, but that applies to animations as well (have a closer look to some BG1 vs BG2 screenshots and you'll notice) :-)
  • WardWard Member Posts: 1,305
    @AndreaColombo

    O OK! I get it now. I'll need to go look so I can be of more help.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    edited June 2012
    @Ward

    You can see BG1 character animations here, and BG2 character animations here.

    Here is a comparative screenshot between BG1 and BG2 paperdolls

    Post edited by AndreaColombo on
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    @AndreaColombo, your last link cannot be clicked.
  • lordkimlordkim Member Posts: 1,063
    edited June 2012
    Here
    :)
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    You're missing the end-quote in the a href link.

    Here you go.

  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    edited June 2012
    It should be clickable now. Thanks @Aliteri for pointing that out.

    EDIT - Thanks @Aosaw too. I didn't notice the missing unquote. Now it's there.
  • Space_hamsterSpace_hamster Member Posts: 950
    edited June 2012
    In other words... Bring back the cleavage, scrap the utility belts (or are those fanny packs?)! ;)


    IMO the original female wiz paperdolls are the best, with the high slip in the robe ;)
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    edited June 2012
    @Coriander... Actually I think that other paperdolls thread wasn't exactly the same as this one. He seemed to be requesting that the NPC paperdolls be given special paperdolls which is different from this thread that's requesting CHARNAME get the full range of paperdolls. I'm not saying it's a realistic request, but certainly valid and actually quite interesting... I mean, giving Minsc a paperdoll which shows his hamster sticking out of his pack or something... you know...
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    Probably the only thing they'd really need to change to differentiate the NPCs would be to give each a different hairstyle that fits their profile picture. And a visible Boo for Minsc.
  • CorianderCoriander Member Posts: 1,667
    edited June 2012
    @Bhryaen -_- I think that falls under the New / More Paperdolls banner of having Nat draw race/class/gender combination paperdolls.

    What if I did this?

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/295/full-character-art-paper-dolls#latest
    Since we've got Nat Jones making new art, why not have full body character art for the joinable NPCs' paper dolls based off of the portraits? They wouldn't need to be as detailed as the portraits, but would be a bit nicer than having major NPCs represented by a generic race/class stand-in and armor color. The player character could either have a more generic paper doll, or you could throw in simple hairstyle/face choice as part as chargen(moddable so people can add in new styles).
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    edited June 2012
    @Coriander Guess so... Just seemed like a new forum participant that wasn't really violating anything and had something new to say- didn't want to clamp down too quickly. Still, at least it's brought here to add to Trent's assessment of the full scope of the undertaking...

    Actually no one has requested the mod of moving Boo from the weapon quickslot to the backpack yet, so they'd have to decide if Boo should be shown coming up from the backpack or sticking out of a... weapon quickslot? A scabbard maybe?
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    In a similar vein, what do people think about having a wizard's familiar appear on the paper doll?
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    edited June 2012
    In a similar vein, what do people think about having a wizard's familiar appear on the paper doll?
    Rather... interesting. But that would only be the case when he's 'stored' on the backpack, right? Can that be done?
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    Oh, enough on the familiars already. "Post-release," Trent said. :-P Focus focus! Hup, 2, 3, 4... but, yes, interesting, I guess...
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    @Bhryaen: Ha!

    In any case, I meant regardless of the familiar's location, the familiar would appear in the paper doll. This would also require more closely tying the familiar to its master, which is another thing I'd like to see - but that's for another request. ;)
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