Visually differentiating characters - cheaply

Hey guys,

As I have played King Arthur's Gold more, it has come to my attention that its really quite difficult to identify one character from another, seeing as there are only a small list of heads, and even those are, for the most part, not incredibly distinct from one another given their small size.

I know there have been a lot of character customization ideas, but I feel that they all end up going a little farther than is necessary or involve suggestions that would require tons of implementation man-hours with little to show for it. Also, based on their particular subject matter, I felt this post would be off-topic in their ideas' threads.

My proposal is this.

Goal:
Gain ability to readily identify individuals without displaying names or otherwise compromising their ability to hide or otherwise go unnoticed (much)

Proposed solution:
Allow characters to access a palette to change the colors of parts of their bodies, such as armor, face, helmet, etc. As many regions on the body could be individually customizable as is appropriate for the complexity of the sprites.
This will require that the means of differentiation of the teams will need to be done differently than it is now, due to each player's ability to change his/her character's colors to suit. I'm sure there are several ways to differentiate teams. I have a couple of ideas:
One method could be by assigning each character a samurai banner or war flag attached to his/her body in a non-customizable solid color designating his/her team. This would be a non-colliding, strictly graphical object. Another method could involve some very visible part of the character sprite being a non-customizable color. This spot could be what is used to identify the character's team based on color. A third method could be a semi-transparent halo somewhere behind the character sprite colored to indicate the character's team.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. As I mentioned, I'm sure there's a number of possibilities beyond mine, and possibly even better. I'd look forward to hearing what you guys this of this idea, or even if you agree with me that it is often a bit to difficult to tell who your friends and acquaintances are, especially in a busy server.

Thanks!

 

Again, some players would just create the worst characters imaginable and the consistent style will just be out the window. Maybe some different sprites for armour could be interesting but I think we've got a good selection of heads to choose from at the mo.

 

I just can't see how it would work, if everyone on the battlefield has different coloured armour it would just look so messy.

 

I see your point. Currently, the players look like they're on football teams or something, in that they're all almost completely homogenous in appearance. I don't agree that making that change to allow custom colors would make it look 'too messy', as you put it, only that the teams would probably look a bit more like ragtag groups of warriors. Its strictly a matter of opinion, I know, but I do see a problem with the difficulty of differentiating players, and there are only so many options even possible to address it. Many of those options involve greater challenges for the graphics team/guy, so I am trying to steer clear of those. Not to mention, most of those suggestions have already been made.

 

So how much freedom would players have to customise their character? What's to stop players from giving their characters big googly eyes?

 

Well, of course that would depend on how it is implemented, but I'm talking just about a color palette.

 

So you would have it so you can only change certain colours? As in the four team ones?

 

If there are presets to choose from then definitely.

 

Thanks guys! This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about. Hopefully characters have enough exposed skin so it will actually be discernible enough to make a difference.

I realize that allowing characters to change more than just their skin can be an issue, because it will interfere with team color distinctions and require an alternate solution for that, as I mentioned above. So, I can see why many would be averse to that.

 

Oh god. Here comes nothing but green horse head archers. Its the end of the world Everyone run

 

I don't know how it's hard to notice who is who. It's extremely clear. At least to me. A knight is nearly 2 times as thick as everyone else, and has the shield and armour. While archers are small and skinny, with a quiver on their back. And the builders are the big naked guys.

 

Hes talking about better differentiation between two players who wear the same hat. I wear the viking helmet that covers the eyes. Ever since more steam players have gotten on, they are now coping me because of how much skill I have. Now my rep is going down because other people look like me and think some noob is me. See how big of a problem that is?

 

Differentiating players isn't an issue for me... let me explain;

Everyone plays KAG differently, albeit minutely in some cases, but the differences exist. As a game of skill we all know what the 'Pro' players are capable of, but these players are just those that honed their own play-style.

It is not inherently easy to tell those two knights with the Horse head apart, but when push comes to shove, one will pull back, and the other will risk a fight. This is how I discern players, I have never taken customization/name/language or even attitude into account; it is very possible to know every player you fight, solely because you have fought them.

And for these reasons, I'll argue that further customization is not a necessity. Besides, all Gibs are red anyway.

 

I see what you mean, but we are now dealing with a cast of thousands playing this game. It is no longer as simple as saying "That knight must be FuzzyBlueBaron, because he always does that move," or whatever your example of choice is. There could be literally hundreds of players with playstyles similar enough where you can't discern one from another in the individual brief periods of interaction you have.

For example, I have a good friend who comes over to my place a lot and we often play King Arthur's Gold together. Even though we are in the same room and conversing, it is often quite difficult for us to identify one another's characters unless we verbally call attention to our location to verify.

I certainly don't think it is a huge game breaking issue, sure, but it certainly would add something if you could more easily pick your friends and acquaintances out from a group of approaching enemies. Frankly, I don't even think it is that big a deal even how this is achieved, but it would be a quick and easy way to add to the game's fun if it were. This could even be as simple as allowing character names to appear over a character if you hover your mouse over them for a moment or something.

So far, it seems as though I'm in the minority regarding the issue of increasing the personal interaction factor via player identification. Am I alone on this one? Helloooo??

 

Well if its that hard to tell who is who, I hear you can scroll over people and see their names! (revolutionary, right?)
Seriously this is not an issue at all.

 

Try doing that in-game, while fighting, every time you need to know. Come back and tell me how that goes.

 

I have seen this work and I have seen it not work. Is it restricted to only team mates, or what's up with it? Also, no, it is not revolutionary, but it does seem unreliable, as it doesn't seem to work all the time. Am I doing it wrong, or what?