Unique stylized frontal representation for mechs in mechlab/game?

[Ursinix]

I recently viewed the mech lab stream and I truly wonder why the mechs in mechlab don't have their unique stylized frontal representation like in the picture below? That picture was compiled from the official HBS pictures describing mechs in the game.

They all had this representation

I think that introducing them would be a nice touch of flavor and great way to make them distinguishable and easily spot the desired model at a glance.

I didn't watched any gameplay streams. Are these unique stylized frontal representations anywhere in the game?

 

[mjbroekman]

The representation you see is for hitbox representation (simplification). The stylized representations would be hell to keep updated with damage information, especially in cases were a single 'block' in the stylized paper doll is actually 3 different hitboxes.

 

[Ursinix]

The representation you see is for hitbox representation (simplification). The stylized representations would be hell to keep updated with damage information, especially in cases were a single 'block' in the stylized paper doll is actually 3 different hitboxes.

I don't know/understand what you're talking about.

Every one of those ten unique pictograms can be easily divided into a head, central torso, left torso, right torso, legs and arms.
And those who do not represent left and right torso can be easily changed

 

[kvetcha]

A single damage pictogram arrangement is easier to read at a glance.

 

[Deaghaidh]

Probably just standardization to allow for new mechs to be added faster and more easily. One less task for designers.

It'd be nice, and maybe something someone would mod. But you have to ration your labor hours and this is the sort of thing that's an easy, painless cut. But also an easy thing to add later.

 

[dyl4ns]

Making each Pictogram unique brings a whole host of issues, and makes for more work on the back end when all you need is to see what got damaged.

 

[Tnarien]

I don't know/understand what you're talking about.

Every one of those ten unique pictograms can be easily divided into a head, central torso, left torso, right torso, legs and arms.
And those who do not represent left and right torso can be easily changed

Which is something that takes time and programming resources they don't have to spare at the moment. Not to mention potential accessibility issues.

 

[Ursinix]

host of issues, and makes for more work on the back end when all you need is to see what got damaged.

I guess these issues, that I see are very quick to be invoked, were not present in a remarkable game from 20 years ago.

If someone wants to find issues with something, it will sure find some if they try hard enough instead of coming up with solutions.

Besides the old reason of "it needs to be implemented" there are none. That I can understand.
But if this game was crafted on a shoestring budget, having these unique pictograms for mechs was more important than crafting npc characters in stellar 3D.

When I saw these unique pictograms in those official photos I was thinking "Oh! They are starting to polish up the game real nice" because it felt really dissonant to represent King Crab (for example) with the present standard stock pictogram.

I wonder why they even felt the need to show them if not intended to be used.
Someone already spent time thinking their shape and drawing them.

 

[Tnarien]

I guess these issues, that I see are very quick to be invoked, were not present in a remarkable game from 20 years ago.

You guess incorrectly.

 

[GenTask]

The representation you see is for hitbox representation (simplification). The stylized representations would be hell to keep updated with damage information, especially in cases were a single 'block' in the stylized paper doll is actually 3 different hitboxes.

Maybe for the paper doll it would be, but I think those pictograms @Ursinix is referring to would also look great as alternative for the picture representing the 'Mech on the selection screens in SP and MP. They would also be really easy to color.

The picture below is how they appear in the selection screens. I will say though the way they are shown now in the selection screen is waaay better than how it was in Beta, since the image was way too big just showing a headshot of each 'Mech.

 

[ulziel]

I guess these issues, that I see are very quick to be invoked, were not present in a remarkable game from 20 years ago.

If someone wants to find issues with something, it will sure find some if they try hard enough instead of coming up with solutions.

Besides the old reason of "it needs to be implemented" there are none. That I can understand.
But if this game was crafted on a shoestring budget, having these unique pictograms for mechs was more important than crafting npc characters in stellar 3D.

When I saw these unique pictograms in those official photos I was thinking "Oh! They are starting to polish up the game real nice" because it felt really dissonant to represent King Crab (for example) with the present standard stock pictogram.

I wonder why they even felt the need to show them if not intended to be used.
Someone already spent time thinking their shape and drawing them.

Guys guys..... They are probably on the last beta before launch. Hell streamers have missing image icons for the game still/ Lets wait and see what the release will give us. The backers gave tons of support to HBS to bring us a skirmish game. Not getting wire frames for each mech will not kill the game for me. I personally cant wait to see what we get then to see what the community mods in to support later on

 

[TaurianMerc]

You guess incorrectly.

Exactly.
Those ones were annoying, and confusing if all you can spare is a quick glance.

 

[Holy.Death]

If someone wants to find issues with something, it will sure find some if they try hard enough instead of coming up with solutions.

There is no need for "coming up with solutions" if there is no problem to begin with. The standardized pictogram is very clear when it comes to showing what needs to be shown. Putting extra effort just to get unique pictograms (looking like puzzles) is a waste of time and resources, which can be better spent elsewhere. This isn't Mech Warrior, where landing hits manually on hitboxes actually matter.

 

[hewhoispale]

I don't know/understand what you're talking about.

Every one of those ten unique pictograms can be easily divided into a head, central torso, left torso, right torso, legs and arms.
And those who do not represent left and right torso can be easily changed

I guess these issues, that I see are very quick to be invoked, were not present in a remarkable game from 20 years ago.

If someone wants to find issues with something, it will sure find some if they try hard enough instead of coming up with solutions.

Besides the old reason of "it needs to be implemented" there are none. That I can understand.
But if this game was crafted on a shoestring budget, having these unique pictograms for mechs was more important than crafting npc characters in stellar 3D.

When I saw these unique pictograms in those official photos I was thinking "Oh! They are starting to polish up the game real nice" because it felt really dissonant to represent King Crab (for example) with the present standard stock pictogram.

I wonder why they even felt the need to show them if not intended to be used.
Someone already spent time thinking their shape and drawing them.

Might have something to do with mechs in game having standardized hitbox locations, as per the TT, and neither those paper dolls nor this MW screen shot representing those at all.

Please indicate to me where right torso and left torso pieces are on the commando paperdoll, or the centurion, or the firestarter.

 

[Ursinix]

You guess incorrectly.

Some people when have no rebuttal, resort to hollow one liners.
It's fine.

As seen in the screenshot, MechCommander had unique mech pictograms that became color coded to convey the degree of damage of a certain section.
The granularity of the damage shown was very fine (as can be seen in the screenshot for the left/right torso on that Vulture)

I have the game fresh in my mind and there was no ambiguity on what was damaged and to what degree.
On the contrary

 

[Ursinix]

Please indicate to me where right torso and left torso pieces are on the commando paperdoll, or the centurion, or the firestarter.

I already responded to that in one of my previous posts

 

[hewhoispale]

I already responded to that in one of my previous posts

No. Whatever MW that is clearly has special snowflake hit locations for every mech. TT, and this BT by extension, has standardized hit locations. You in fact, have not addressed my question of "where is the left and right torso sections on that centurion paperdoll?"

 

[MotoPsycho]

I think that introducing them would be a nice touch of flavor and great way to make them distinguishable and easily spot the desired model at a glance.

I didn't watched any gameplay streams. Are these unique stylized frontal representations anywhere in the game?

I do like the unique mech representations as well.... but I'm going to venture a guess and suspect you're most familiar with BATTLETECH from the PC games. [Mode Edit: Please avoid dismissiveness]

The current "paper doll" in use was probably selected because it more closely represents the mech sheets from Table Top BATTLETECH.

Afterall, this title is an attempt to closely recreate the "feel" of classic table top Battletech.

Just my .02 cents.

 

[Ursinix]

gibberish for anyone with a degree of visual impairment.

you're really scraping the barrel here


I also wonder why MechCommander didn't had just one stock pictogram in the GUI for all mechs?

Oh, because it's a game, a medium where flavor and how you convey artistic design and sensibilities actually matters and it's not just a number crunching machine how many see.


[Mod edit: Please do not reply to disrespect, please report it.]

Perhaps that was your introduction...

yes

 

[mjbroekman]

I don't know/understand what you're talking about.
Every one of those ten unique pictograms can be easily divided into a head, central torso, left torso, right torso, legs and arms.
And those who do not represent left and right torso can be easily changed

See, there's the disconnect. I don't see those unique paperdolls as being "easily divided" in their current form. The MechCommander 'paperdolls' are, in my opinion, HORRIBLE. Blowing them up to double their size makes them marginally less bad. Sometimes it's incredibly hard to see what is happening.

On the other hand, the standardized paperdoll is pre-cut into easily visible, almost equally sized, hit boxes. Tabletop has used a standardized armor / structure diagram since its inception. MWO uses a standard paperdoll as well (which may even be where the asset that HBS is using came from). Using a standardized asset also means you don't need to customize for loadouts. Unless we don't need a custom paperdoll based on the mech loadout...in which case I'm not sure where you want to draw the line on the unique paperdolls. There are more than 10 mechs in the game (given all the variants) and they have different loadouts. In some cases, the paperdoll you use in the examples is not an accurate representation of the mech (like when you don't have a missile launcher on the Orion or King Crab or Trebuchet).

I think that introducing them would be a nice touch of flavor and great way to make them distinguishable and easily spot the desired model at a glance.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'easily spot the desired model at a glance'. In what context? In the mech lab? In combat? When would you be using the paperdoll is 'easily identify' a mech?

In the mechlab, the mechs all have filled out portraits and variant IDs on them. In combat, you get the paper doll when you are moving a specific mech/pilot. When you're targeting an enemy, you see the 3D model in addition to the paperdoll and you can tab between targets or right-click on them to see damage states. So I'm not sure when you would use the paperdoll is 'identify' a mech.