Trainer Customisation

[Wild Jr.]

Hey, I just came up with this idea, and thought I'd put it out here.

Trainer Customization! It came to X and Y, so Y not (heh, geddit?) bring it over to the Card Maker? In the trainers section, just make a tab called "custom". Pick a pose, throw on a few accessories, and add it to your card!

Whadya guys think?

K, bye!
-Wild Jr.

PS: Happy Hols, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
PPS: Also, on a side-note, after March (2014) I am gonna be free for a few months with absolutely nothing to do. I can help out with the TCMaker if you need another man. I have had a bit of previous experience with programming

 

[Teapot]

We've spoken about this before, actually, both in response to someone asking about it on the forums and in general with staff. To quote: @Doctor Oak:

The problem is that we couldn't just start cutting bits out and sticking them on top of the current sprites. We'd have to have a (quite a large) base 'doll' image and a buttonne of stuff to chop and change over it. It's by no means a technical impossibility, but we'd just never be able to get the material for it, as Petey says. That's why neither I nor Petey have done it before now - and why it's almost certainly never going to happen

Essentially, the problem is this: It is very much technically possible on my part as a programmer, but we'd need at least two base doll images, and four or five at least of: Hairstyles, facial features (preferably individual eyes, mouths, noses, etcetera), accessories (hats, necklaces, watches, bracelets, etcetera), top clothing, bottom clothng, full clothing (top/bottom), shoes... and let's not forget that most of these would need to be created seperately for each base due to different proportions and anatomy. So we're talking at least 80-100 images being created just to give a Trainer Maker minimal functionality, and deeply hope our community is generous enough to contribute more over time. And this number is only accurate if I can make some magic work to allow people to choose the colours of the clothes without needing separate images.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the Pokécharms community and staff before, but it's far too much work to expect someone to do, and I can't afford to commission someone properly It's something I'd really love to see implemented, but we don't have the assets - and even if we got the assets, is it sustainable and can we get new content over time? Would the community be at all interested in helping contribute new parts?

Either way, if anyone wants this, please like the first post or add your thoughts in this thread. We are listening and we care about what you want.

 

[baratron]

It is an amazing idea, and I would love it - but you have to remember that no one gets paid for working on Pokecharms. All of us are volunteers, and we're all fitting this in around our college/university or work commitments, as well as our family and relationship commitments. It would probably take one extremely dedicated spriter the entire summer holiday between school/university terms to come up with enough resources for a barebones trainer doll maker. If we had a team of five extremely dedicated spriters, it wouldn't actually decrease the amount of work, because each person would want to add clothes in the style that they prefer.

And that assumes that whoever we got to help out with spriting were people at school or university who get a long summer holiday. People who work get 2-4 weeks off in the entire year.

In short, it's a great idea, but it will only become practical if several talented spriters and a project manager all volunteer to give up serious amounts of time.