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| Thread: Customizable Game Experience |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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yann
Adventuring Hero
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posted October 31, 2008 12:51 AM |
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Edited by yann at 00:53, 31 Oct 2008.
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Customizable Game Experience
This is something that just hit me but it would make Heroes gameplay so much more fun and interesting.
There should be a feature that allows you to customize the aspects of all the available towns and creatures ranging from color of outfits to archetecture of buildings to music.
For example: The Haven/Castle could have buildings that could be presented in highly customizable and unique archetectural styles (i.e. gothic, baroque, mideval, etc.). The different tiers of creatures would have to remain with their set statistics but their colorations and style of uniform should be customizable (i.e. different style helmets, leather or metal armor, etc.). Even their weapons could be chosen at the player's discretion (i.e. pikemen could wield swords, axes while the standard swordsmen could wield pikes, maces, and whatever else) while those weapons' features could be altered as well. The Heroes should be customizable in this fashion as well which would be especially cool if the hero gains a more involved role on the battlefield.
Music should work like that of Super Smash Bros. Brawl where several selections are presented to the player and the player can select which songs should be played more often or not at all so that the player is not limited to only one song per faction. Whether battle music should work this way is subject to debate.
The town interface should also be customizable not just in terms of music but also where buildings are located and perhaps the various landscapes could be customizable (their should be customizing options for each faction in each terrain setting (i.e. the castle town interface would be different for each terrain setting)).
Of course their would be a standard for all the towns, units, and heroes as created by the game developers, but their should be an in-depth customization option for all players in many different aspects.
Please post your opinions/ideas
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted October 31, 2008 01:09 AM |
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Hmm, remember how in Heroes 4 each town had a "Mayor"? Well, maybe depending on what hero was mayor of the town, based on that heroes skill selections, the town would look different accordingly. So a knight with "Dark Magic" would give the castle a gothic look, for example, or a knight with "Leadership" would put extra flags and banners throughout the town.
I definitely think more variety to the looks of towns would be cool 
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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Asheera
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Elite Assassin
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posted October 31, 2008 01:23 PM |
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I absolutely love this idea 
But it would probably be too much work for the developers...
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted October 31, 2008 01:31 PM |
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It is useless, as it can be done by fan mods.
And I hope they remove any visual effects for the next heroes, as HoMMV is so stuffed with them that it became unplayable. It was a pure strategy game, now it come with lights, animations and other annoying things. If I want customizable towns/weapons/creatures then Oblivion/Civilization are there.
Don't believe me? Check ToH number of players 3 years ago and now.
Long life HoMM3 for ever, the best from all
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Era II mods and utilities
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GenieLord
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted October 31, 2008 03:54 PM |
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I don't know, it will make us spend more time taking customizing our creatures and designing them, and less time playing. Many heroes players are working people, who don't have much time, they just want to come and play. This seems to be a bit unneeded. Let the game producers make it pretty for you. 
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Asheera
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Elite Assassin
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posted October 31, 2008 04:03 PM |
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Maybe you should be able to save your customizations in some format so that you won't have to do it all the time you want to play.
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Snatch
Promising
Known Hero
Proud Kappa
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posted October 31, 2008 04:04 PM |
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Taking GenieLords argument blizzard_boys idea would come in handy. Visual changing depending on hero. That would automatise the whole thing.
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GenieLord
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted October 31, 2008 05:41 PM |
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Combining the concepts of this thread that this one, I got a new idea:
The colours of the creatures and the design of the town will be set according to the terrain of the soil the town is built on. For example, the clothes of Sylvan creatures which their town is on grassy terrain will be green, but if their town is in underground, they clothes will be purple-black.
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yann
Adventuring Hero
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posted November 03, 2008 12:13 AM |
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Edited by yann at 05:52, 03 Nov 2008.
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Quote:
Maybe you should be able to save your customizations in some format so that you won't have to do it all the time you want to play.
Sorry, I forgot to add the save feature that would be very necessary for this idea to take effect.
Also, to lessen the work load on the players and the developers, perhaps there could be set modifications instead of the ability to address every single little detail. If you are familiar with "Battle for Middle Earth" and the "Customize Hero" option, I was thinking something to that effect but applied to a broader spectrum of things other than heroes. The time consumed might not be as long as some would suspect, unless of course you're one of those players that just obsesses over the various options and then spends hours getting through one hero.
If anything, I think the ability to choose different kinds of set music as featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be pretty cool. Ex: The Haven would have the Heroes III castle theme, the Heroes V castle theme, the new Heroes VI version of the castle theme, etc.) You could then set how often you want different songs to play, or not at all (although one has to be played at all times unless you turn off audio).
As a composer for Heroes , I would love the idea of creating various themes (or versions of a theme) for each town, at the same time I would probably not like the idea of people neglecting specific works that I spent effort concieving.
Just something to think about...
I also like your idea Genielord
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weakofrabbits
Hired Hero
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posted November 04, 2008 03:50 AM |
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That is a good idea.
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Willow
Adventuring Hero
Tree of Knowledge
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posted January 28, 2009 01:06 PM |
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I think in the current gaming environment, customization is very important. If you look at popular games like Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, The Sims, Spore... they all feature highly customizable systems which contributes to their success and their replayability. Just think how boring Heroes would be if we didn't have map editors? We would be stuck only with campaigns and developer maps.
A lot of gamers also spend a considerable amount of time customizing their games, some even more than playing the actual game itself. I think Heroes VI would be fantastic if they could introduce a Hero Editor, similar to the Body Shop or Creat-A-Sim of the Sims. This way you won't be limited to a small selection of heroes that get monotonous after a while.
You can create your own hero, choose their name, their race, their face. Then when the game starts, it automatically generates a portrait of your created character as it does in Sims. I also don't think it's too far fetched to create corresponding artifact or item models that appear on your hero model when you equip them, such as in Neverwinter Nights when you equip armour or weapons.
As for towns, I think they should make them adaptive to terrain as they did in Heroes IV. It looks a little silly when you have a town on snow terrain and inside the town it's a desert.
Music should also be adaptable. I know I'm talking a lot about Sims, but that is really one of the best games in terms of customization. When you go into settings, you can select a list of music files which is played randomly at specific locations/parts of the game.
And the best part is, for those who don't want to spend hours customizing, they can just use the default settings or pre-made/random generated heroes and enjoy the game. The customization should add to the game but not make it too extravagant or complicated, just add variety to it. I think optional (and accessible) customization will really improve the Heroes series and its replayability.
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Warmonger
Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
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posted January 28, 2009 01:49 PM |
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Quote:
It is useless, as it can be done by fan mods.
Quite simply, we have the same attitude to mods.
I expect the game to be playable and full of content. There is no point of altering the graphics when they're supposed to look realistic or stylee.
Some simple options like chaning colors of interface, creature or buidling depending on the owner's color is quite nice, but don't go any further. Even the best graphics can't make up for ridiculous 40 level limit.
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Malgore
Adventuring Hero
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posted January 28, 2009 02:11 PM |
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Edited by Malgore at 14:12, 28 Jan 2009.
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I tend to disagree on usefulness of suggested amount of customization.
Too much unnecessary work for artists. It takes to much time to create special atmosphere and look. Such level of customization will effect visual style - while rainbow-colored Death Knights still will be a horrible close combat unit, the fantasy feel will definitely suffer  .
Also it is not that funny and interesting since main part of gameplay revolves around strategy/tactics/unit management.
Though customization issue brings forth some interesting ideas.
Quote:
Hmm, remember how in Heroes 4 each town had a "Mayor"? Well, maybe depending on what hero was mayor of the town, based on that heroes skill selections, the town would look different accordingly. So a knight with "Dark Magic" would give the castle a gothic look, for example, or a knight with "Leadership" would put extra flags and banners throughout the town.
While idea of linking town view with hero alignment can look attractive at the first sight, it has little value since all heroes/towns already have distinctive good-bad-neutral look.
Yet I think that your ideas about terrain affecting the town view are cool!
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Totoro
Famous Hero
in User
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posted January 28, 2009 02:18 PM |
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If you like just things to look different go play Spore or Sims or something as boring...
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Willow
Adventuring Hero
Tree of Knowledge
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posted January 28, 2009 02:33 PM |
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Quote:
If you like just things to look different go play Spore or Sims or something as boring...
What's wrong with wanting visual variety? It keeps things fresh, in my opinion. And like I said, it doesn't have to go overboard. There's no reason gameplay has to suffer to have more customization. The two are not mutually exclusive. If other games can include increased customization, why not Heroes? And it doesn't detract from the strategic element of the game, it just makes things more "realistic".
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Warmonger
Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
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posted January 28, 2009 03:58 PM |
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A somoeone has pointed out, we're discussing.
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Customizable Game Experience
Graphics don't belong to game experience. They are here only because they have to as we abandoned text games year ago.
But no one claimed that the main reason to design, buy or play heroes is the graphic of highest quality. It's not a gaming feature, it's just a form one may like or not. It is the reason H5 may score more or less points in review, but it's still the same game for millions of fans.
Quote:
There's no reason gameplay has to suffer to have more customization.
That's ideal, but not realistic unfortunatelly. No one is going to pimp your ride for free.
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doomnezeu
Supreme Hero
Miaumiaumiau
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posted January 28, 2009 03:59 PM |
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Quote:
Combining the concepts of this thread that this one, I got a new idea:
The colours of the creatures and the design of the town will be set according to the terrain of the soil the town is built on. For example, the clothes of Sylvan creatures which their town is on grassy terrain will be green, but if their town is in underground, they clothes will be purple-black.
OK, so what if I have 2 Sylvian castles, one on grass, one underground?
How would you mix a bunch of Huntards who wear different sets of clothes?
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Willow
Adventuring Hero
Tree of Knowledge
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posted January 28, 2009 04:09 PM |
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Quote:
Graphics don't belong to game experience. They are here only because they have to as we abandoned text games year ago.
I disagree... graphics absolutely belong to Game Experience. You generally have a better experience playing a game with good graphics than one with horrible graphics.
If graphics/aesthetics weren't part of the conversation I'm sure the topic would have said "Customizable Game Mechanics" instead of "Customizable Game Mechanics".
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Warmonger
Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
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posted January 28, 2009 04:19 PM |
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Do you find H5 graphics not good then?
If you don't, there is no problem. If you do, what's the point of adding more colors and variety to something that sucks either way?
Muhc bigger problem are engine requirements which doesn't allow to push the limits of grahics even on a computer much better than recommended requirements. And yes, that affects game experience.
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Willow
Adventuring Hero
Tree of Knowledge
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posted January 28, 2009 04:39 PM |
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Edited by Willow at 16:41, 28 Jan 2009.
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I don't have a problem with Heroes V graphics, but this thread is about what we would like to see in Heroes VI. So I'm not discussing what they could have done better in Heroes V.
What I do think is possible is that they could, for example, provide alternate terrain views for towns without having to go to too much length to do it. I think a simple editing of atmosphere and substitution of textures could do the trick and make a big difference. So, if for example a Haven town is built on snow, the game does a reference check and then replaces the field textures with snow textures and the sky bitmap with a snowy one.
I guess it all depends on how big the development team's budget is going to be. But for now I'm just giving opinions/ideas about what I'd like to see without fitting it into a budget or what requirements the game will have, since we have no idea about either.
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