UMA, Mutable, Megaflies? So many options but which is the right one?

[nekollx]

Ello everyone, over the last months i’ve been training my team in the basics of Unity as we gear up for our big game projects, one’s a 2d action platformer, kind of Mega-Man in style though changing out the “weapon get” sestem for more of a experience system, you start with most of your powers from the get go and earn experience completing levels to upgrade those skills instead of “beat boss, get new power.”

That i have a pretty good grasps on but the second project is a but harder, a 3d MO Like (well more Diabilo Like and less WoW) fantasy rpg (the game is primarily single player but would have more of a drop in, drop out co-op feature)

However looking at the character creator options I’m just not sure which works best for our needs.

I need a system that would beable to create humanoid (and some not quite humanoid but lets focus on the former first) Player and NPc characters. UMA looked good at first but looking at sliders and the link in the web player of the in gamre character creator i see no real options for changing the shape of the ears which makes stuff like elves a bit harder, or even hiding the ears for hybrid races that have more unusual animal like ears. There also doesn’t seem to be a way to stretch the torso and legs. which as we look at our races will be a big issues for constraints, humans constraining within a range for elves to be long and lanky, dwarves short and stoute, and humans middle of the road goes a long way to establishing these as different races instead of just “oh yeah elves have pointy ears” *see concept/2d art for a example)

a secondary concern of mine is equipment but i think that will be less of a issue simple because i don’t need to worry about conforming every piece of armor to every body type, clothing will come in sizes, try to put on a S tunic as a human and it just wont fit try to put a Large outfit on a elves and its just hangs there all bagy and impratical, you will need to find (or forge/tailors) equipment to fit your body type which makes the modeling easier as the actual range of deformation of any particular article of clothing has less of a scope to conform to (granted the base items will need multiple irritations for different sizes but no system is perfect) Gender clothing follows the same line so looting that tunic off a female bandit for your male hero is goingto run small, and if its plat armor its going to havbe a breast plate in the armor no matter what gender you are, (in addition to running smaller so a “medium” build male would need to find a “large” size female plate armor to wear it out of the box without “fitting” it)

So any thoughts on what would be a good way of going about this? Primarly my concerns is the race variation aspects ATM and less the armor system so my main concern is right now figuring out the best way to reresent races with varies body shapes

[hopeful]

If you have programmers and artists in your group, you can use UMA’s framework however you wish. You can create a sizing bone for the ears, for example, if you don’t like the idea of simply swapping out one ear model for another.

You can also lengthen the legs in UMA, but presently there is no slider specifically for lengthening the torso. If you have a programmer, you can add this functionality in.

UMA is not a restrictive system. It’s a system to allow you take any character mesh (whether it is human, dragon, horse, whatever) and set it up with whatever rigging you like and whatever sizing options you like and whatever optional interchangeable meshes (slots) and textures (overlays) you want. You aren’t even restricted to humanoid mecanim. You can use generic mecanim.

It looks like what you’re evaluating UMA on is merely the demo. But you can create your own race(s) with your own mesh options, textures, shaders, and animations. You don’t have to use the supplied character art AT ALL.

Also, when it comes to equipment, whenever it makes sense to do so, armor, shields, swords, etc. can be attached to UMA models as slots. This way you can have swords, shields, helmets automatically resize to fit the character as a part of character customization.

Whenever you want to change the appearance of a particular UMA that you’ve created, you modify the recipe and regenerate it. On U5 it takes a fraction of a second to do this, and it can be done during play. If you have SimpleLOD (a separate store plugin), you can create LOD models of your new character on the fly.

Past UMA demos have shown characters with wings, sheep, giraffes, werewolves, and so on. You aren’t limited to the human rig that is provided as an example.

[Kiwasi]

I’m curious what market you are aiming for, that the biggest feature of your game is searching for equipment in the right sizes. You should start the players off as kids, and have them constantly grow out of their armor.

Anyway, back on topic, in general you are unlikely to find an asset that does everything you need. There will always be a need to tweak and adjust. That’s what programmers are for.

[nekollx]

well of couse that’s what programmers are four but with so many potions i’m more concerned with not redoubling work because we picked a bad system that just wasn’t even close to what we are planing.

And it’s less the search for equipment just just a new wrinkle on the rpg standard, as mentioned you could take any armor but if its outside your size you need to get it fitted by a blacksmith/tailor. In essence instead of just dropping your current gear in the middle of a dungon you have to get back to town and get it fitted first.

[darkhog]

Similar concern there as I’ll need such system eventually (maybe even as soon as next project) and let’s say that I need to be able to make both humanoid and non-humanoid characters (four legged and possibly with even more limbs).