Introduce Ability/ Framework to Make Custom Player Skins
With the current system of pre-made player skins in the game, it is difficult to make each player 'visually distinct' from further distances. This becomes difficult for players to create a unique identity outside of the generic 'space engineer' look., and may improve player experience, especially in roleplay scenarios (visually identifiable roles).
Currently there are community made player 'skins' on the workshop, however it is incredibly difficult to make without prior knowledge of navigation of config files, modeling, and rigging. They also suffer from being constantly broken in new updates and require frequent maintenance to keep them working as intended.
This might be quite helpful for content creators to be more visually iconic for their audiences, no matter how rudimentary the implementation would be. This could already help address the mess of unrecognizability of players in game with similar skins from farther distances present in larger multiplayers without the need for a nametag.
In terms of implementation, similar inspirations to the other games with character customization systems can be taken. Minecraft, for example uses basically an image/texture map to map onto a generic player model. Simplification of the current player model can greatly help with the creation process of a customized skins, whilst not compromising the exclusivity of the existing skins present in the game with their added detail.
In terms of parameters for the new 'custom' player model, I would say it should retain all the characteristics of the existing player model. This is in terms of hitboxes, general player- environment interactions, etc. as so not to provide an inherent advantage between players of using different skins.
I do acknowledge that within a game that focuses so much on engineering, physics, and realism this may lead to plenty of 'unrealistic skins' being made and breaking immersion, however extending that creativity a little further from the things we build to the player model that interacts with the world might help further that 'sandbox experience' a little. You may be surprised how much a small quality of life feature like this might appeal to the playerbase.
Even if none of these suggestions were adopted in part due to difficulty of implementation/ limited development resources to explore the full scope, I would appreciate if some progress can be made to improve the level of player customization can be achieved outside of the more restricted preset of skins available in the game.
Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to explore this idea a little further/ go into further detail.
Thanks in advance.
I like this feedback
Greetings. Skins do not affect the collisions, mesh or similar, the Skin system is a pure texture replacement and is a primary cosmetic monetization system tied to Steam Items.
Character Models is what you have described, and already have dedicated Mod support for, including creation, with the original assets available in the SDK.
The Discord also contains several links to the Steam Tutorials by Chipstx, and the Plugins for Blender to easily create your own Character models for Space Engineers.
Rebuilding the Character models into segmentation that are then merged together would require dramatic overhaul of the entire system, as either the cosmetic skin system becomes impractical and stripped of its function, or dramatically impacted by an influx of non-standard model sections with less stable rigging.
As well, please ensure to maintain the difference between what is a "Skin", and what is a Model, as the two are very different.
Greetings. Skins do not affect the collisions, mesh or similar, the Skin system is a pure texture replacement and is a primary cosmetic monetization system tied to Steam Items.
Character Models is what you have described, and already have dedicated Mod support for, including creation, with the original assets available in the SDK.
The Discord also contains several links to the Steam Tutorials by Chipstx, and the Plugins for Blender to easily create your own Character models for Space Engineers.
Rebuilding the Character models into segmentation that are then merged together would require dramatic overhaul of the entire system, as either the cosmetic skin system becomes impractical and stripped of its function, or dramatically impacted by an influx of non-standard model sections with less stable rigging.
As well, please ensure to maintain the difference between what is a "Skin", and what is a Model, as the two are very different.
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