Hey 'Scapers,
It's been a few weeks now since our previous Player Avatar introduction and it's time for another check-in!
As a quick reminder:
- The Player Avatar is the character model and its foundational customizations (gender, hair style, top, legs, shoes and facial hair as well as the colour variations that are available to each of these aspects) that you chose when you first created your character. It's quite likely that you have changed a few aspects, such as your hair style or your base shirt and trousers since then.
- The Player Avatar is what is beneath all that armour that you wear after you spent hours agonizing over its details. It is the chathead you see every time you speak to an NPC in game.
Since our last update we've been busy with the work of ungrafting heads and skins from their old components and preparing them for use with the new Player Avatar....
for which we're delighted to be able to share a first preview of the new Avatars in-game head!
And just in case you were wondering, here's how it compares to the current avatar!
A few caveats on the above: We're still working on refining some aspects of the skin and eyes and adding texture to the hair, especially on the female avatar (which we're now turning our attention to more fully). You'll already be able to see these improvements in our upcoming beta, but we wanted to show you these work-in-progress shots today already!
As mentioned above: to test out these changes, we're planning to run a beta of the Avatars official launch!
The Player Avatar Beta will commence on Tuesday May 5th (the Monday of that week being a public holiday).
Beta Details:
- The Point of the Beta:
- The Beta is your first opportunity to see the new Avatar for yourself, before it launches.
- You will be able to provide (in-game) feedback on your experience in the beta. We'll be keen to hear your thoughts online too of course.
- We'd love to hear whether you encounter any glaring technical issues or spot any inconsistencies with the new avatar when it is applied to your character.
- The Beta Format:
- The Beta will be in a dedicated environment in the Wendlewick Town Square.
- A host NPC will be present, which will give you the opportunity to provide feedback.
- A legion of NPCs will be standing in the town square, dressed in the various character creation base customizations (one of us. one of us. one of us).
- Thessallia will be present, allowing you to change your personal base outfit.
- The Makeover Mage will be present, allowing you to change your body type and skin tone.
- The Beta and You:
- You will be able to log into the Beta environment using your own character, which will be wearing its new base kit. We strongly recommend unequipping any items and cosmetic overrides at this stage of the project so that you can focus on the base avatar itself.
- This will be your chance to see what your character will look like in the new system!
- As a reminder, our intent is that players should notice a sensible transition from their old avatar onto the new one when we launch the first Avatar update. Relaunched model aspects should either be the same (if upgraded models exist) or roughly similar (if a choice has been removed and a suitable alternative can be identified). As not all aspects of the old avatar are being carried over, you may find that certain parts look different.
- What's included in the Beta:
- Both the Male and Female Avatar will be included.
- All Clothing and Hairstyles that the Avatar project will launch with will be included, though some of their animations may still be improved upon between the beta and launch.
- The vast majority of items overrides will look as they will once the update is released, but there may be a few that are still work in progress.
That's it for now - do join in today's discussions over on Reddit and Discord!