>OE Weekly Update
http://www.infiniteodyssey.us/?p=4964
We are making changes based on your suggestions from yesterday.
>OE Beta
http://infiniteodyssey.us/games/index.php?title=Main_Page
Lets talk about our concept art. You guys didn't like the look too much yesterday. We want to keep everyone as a biped if possible. Keeping to that what would you guys do different with each species?
>>46505794
Same guy who replied last thread about this issue, saying the "diverse species" issue was mostly resolved in my own setting BECAUSE OF THIS SIMPLE PRINCIPLE!
>form is function
So more anatomically interesting aliens and races will naturally produce more different and interesting lore, species todbits and culture info, and most importantly how they interact with other species in the galaxy. Centauric crab people from a frozen methane world will move at about 1/10th the speed of humans and their culture will be just as slow paced. It comes down to extensive worldbuilding and truth be told, a knack for spec bio. We can discuss this further but yesterday you gave me your email, if you could post it again I will email you (regardless of this discussion) about possibly helping you design your species better. One of my trades is being a character/creature designer.
If you still want to do biped, I would suggest adding robots and other kinds of life besides therianthropes. I can't tell if the species in your "lineup" image are all cladistically from Earth or if these are the aliens in your lore sections? If it's the latter, these are really NON alien. If it's the first, the rendering and painting is fantastic but the actual sillouettes/designs are fairly bland.
>>46505794
>We are making changes based on your suggestions from yesterday.
Sorry my dude but until it's not d20+mod vs target number I'm just not interested in the system, it's a little too 3.5-like for me from what I saw.
You've also really, really got to get into the habit of proofreading. Everything I've read on your site, your wiki and even your threads is riddled with grammatical errors and a generally sloppy style.
All that said I'm still rooting for you.
>Keeping to that what would you guys do different with each species?
I read your wiki page on races and saw your race concept art last thread. The wiki was article was a slog to get through and I couldn't tell which paragraph referred to which species because there were no images, and those in the thread weren't labelled.
I like lizard stuff in general but something about the placement of their eyes relative to the horizontal length of the head throws me off. I wish they had some kind of "extra" adaptation to make them a little less boring though - maybe an extensible crest, extra senses, color-changing something. Even just a visually-interesting skin pattern.
I don't like ape stuff in general so I'll pass on that one. Looks alright for what it is I guess.
The human's proportions, especially her face just seem messed up. The eyes are too big.
Girl Hogger is a little too furfag for me, get rid of that five o' clock shadow around her mouth.
The robonoid is cool, gives me a geth vibe. I will say pay attention to the texturing, the shape looks more organic-tech (ala DXHR) but the texture looks like he has exposed pistons and stuff.
The toader, I thought he was looking to the left at first, his head is like an optical illusion.
We can be reached at [email protected].
Thank you for offering.
>>46506091
>Sorry my dude but until it's not d20+mod vs target number I'm just not interested in the system, it's a little too 3.5-like for me from what I saw.
Actually yesterday on 8ch's /tg/ someone suggested we delete the d20+mod concept and just do d20+SC where sc changes based on probability. How would you, keeping with a d20 do it differently?
>>46506091
I like lizard stuff in general but something about the placement of their eyes relative to the horizontal length of the head throws me off. I wish they had some kind of "extra" adaptation to make them a little less boring though - maybe an extensible crest, extra senses, color-changing something. Even just a visually-interesting skin pattern.
Our lizards, or aunko, actually have infrared vision. But I like the idea of doing something else with them. We talked about including feather plumage for them. But the gath, the ape species, have quills already and we are afraid of them being too similar. Do you have any other ideas on how to make them different while still appealing?
>>46506258
Sorry d20 vs SC not +SC
>>46506258
>>46506365
Frankly I've come to detest d20 because the highly variable results kind of cheapen character advancement. Read here:
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/2654/3d6-vs-a-d20-what-is-the-effect-of-a-different-probability-curve
Am I right to think SC is just another term for DC? If so I think purely d20 vs SC only exacerbates the problems of a d20 system.
>>46506325
>Do you have any other ideas on how to make them different while still appealing?
Pic related. I don't think I've ever seen sapient transitionary bird-dinosaurs in sci-fi. If that fails, look at all the crazy reptiles in the world. Hell, look at leopard geckos if you're going for a desert theme, they're more visually interesting than what you've got.
Also having the lizards be the brutes and the frogs be the nerds is kind of done to death - not that I'm a TV Tropes faggot but it's just kind of arbitrary 2bh fampaitachi.
>>46506460
>Pic related. I don't think I've ever seen sapient transitionary bird-dinosaurs in sci-fi. If that fails, look at all the crazy reptiles in the world. Hell, look at leopard geckos if you're going for a desert theme, they're more visually interesting than what you've got.
We were planning on giving the Aunko feathers, that was actually the first thing we talked about after yesterday's discussion.
That being said where did you get that the frogs were geeks? They are not supposed to be like that at all, rather they are very war like, even blood thirsty.
>>46506803
They look like the kid who used to get his lunch money stolen. I had to base everything off their appearance because, again, there are no pictures on the wiki.
>>46506956
Yea we will be working on that this week. By next Wednesday's update we will have all of that up for you guys to sift through.
>>46506091
>The human's proportions, especially her face just seem messed up. The eyes are too big.
The eyes are mechanical actually. They are cameras not eyes.
>>46506066
This anon speaks wisdom and truth. Don't go for aliens that look like earth life. They might resemble earth life in some general forms (ie: it's a big hairy predator that's kinda like a bear), but going 1:1 really makes the alien aspect pointless. Go with uplifts if you want to hew that close to earth life.
Even remaining with bipeds, you can do some crazy things. A sapient fungus that puppets around a conquered slave race. Blind subterranean race that live in the ducts of space stations. Silicon based life that walks around in high-pressure, high-temperature suits.
>>46513129
Yea, but if you have life like that you have to worry about the whole economics of everything. Look at it this way, on earth a single space suit costs how much? And you constantly have to refill them with air, if the suit is powered you have to recharge it, but from where? how frequently?
I like what the OP has, it keeps things simple, all the species breath oxygen, they all can exist in each other's worlds, they can interact cheaply. And parties can easily mix and match.
The way you are suggesting if one member of the party is this crazy life form, now the whole party has to sit around while they refill their tanks every 2 hours. And think of the finantial burden of constantly refilling tanks like that, I mean someone somewhere has to be filtering in the right mixture of gasses into pressured containers.
I think OP has the right idea when it comes to that. That being said these species are supposed to be sapient right? Name one predator that is even close. Sapient life is most likely going to be omnivorous. Think about it, you are a badass predator, why do you need smarts? you don't. And where do you get the nutrients from to get your amazing brain?
That being said I like these species, they look different than anything I have seen in a scifi game. No pointy eared faggots, no blue people, and no orcs in space. They made actual aliens, species that evolved to a state like ours.
I don't think a game has to have wild and crazy shit to be good or entertaining, besides how are your 4 legged 2 armed monstrosities going to ride in the same vehicle as a human? How will your tentacle monster cope with gravity out of water. I like what these guys are suggesting OP, totally make some wacky species for the game, but make them npc characters only. dont let someone be that one faggot that ruins everyone elses fun by trying to role play some insanely stupid alien trying to live on a planet that can't support them.
>>46514266
>>46513129
These. My only objection is that a race having to breath a different gas isn't that bad. Just make them have filters, extra canisters of air, or tanks that last a long time. Or you can just go with the Star Control 2 way of dealing with shit and make it work because it just does.
Another thing would be the designs of the species. Make them a little more unique. Right now they all just kinda seem like rat+human, toad+human, etc. They don't really stand out as their own unique species. And if the toad is meant to be violent and war-like, he should look like it. If they're so quick to have war and fight there should be something about their clothing, gear, etc., (culture basically) and biology like teeth, claws, limbs, etc., that would reflect this. Because if it's a big part of their species, natural selection would have pretty much selected for traits better suited for that. And amphibians as they generally are, aren't exactly a big conflict species because they're cold blooded and have no pressure to do such things unlike, say, rats, or even primates particularly.
At least if you're going for realistic. If this is mainly just meant to be a space opera along the lines of Star Wars, SC2, etc., then it doesn't matter and just make them however you want. But if it's meant to be a "realistic" setting, then the creatures should generally exhibit cultural and biological traits that reflect the conditions they evolved in and what drives them, not just look like humanoid animals.
>>46514510
You missed what I said. How does a non humanoid ride in the same vehicle as one?
Have it work because it does, but only if it is realistic wtf are you talking about?
If it is going to work it should make sense, period. And if you are are going to get that hung up on how they look, but not care about the logistics of it, then claim in the same statement that they have to have characteristics that reflect their environment.
Pick a side man, realistic or not, pick a side.
>>46514510
I am not asking this to be mean, or to dissuade you from arguing your point. I want this to be the best game possible. But if we are going to make sense we have to pick a point of view. Are we realistic or not. I choose realism. But that being said if we are going to have crazy shit, lets explain it.
>>46514777
>>46514737
>Have it work because it does, but only if it is realistic wtf are you talking about?
They're two different ideas and possibilities. I didn't say to do both at once.
>>46514822
Okay. So let us go the realistic route.
The following rules apply;
Must be humanoid for playability reasons. Flying the same ships, riding in the same cars, using the same guns.
Must breath oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere.
Must be relatively human sized, to ride in same ships and vehicles, and use the same guns.
Must come from a planet with close to earth gravity, otherwise need suits like our ladhi.
What do you think we can do in those contexts to make the characters more appealing?
>>46514885
What if your parasites had an effect on them. You said they ruled 3 of these races right? What if some Hutu tootsie shit went down and they separated them. So parts of each species look different from other parts.
>What do you think we can do in those contexts to make the characters more appealing?
For starters: look like something other than Earth animals made into an alien species. If you want "realistic" then they'd have taken very different courses in their evolution and would look very different aesthetically. One looks like a primate in a business suit, one looks like a humanoid toad, a bird person, etc. They can be humanoid and still be alien. Look at greys for example. They're humanoid, yet they don't just look like "X animal made into a person".
>Must breath oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere.
Getting rid of this rule. Our sort of atmosphere is rare in the universe as far as we know. And is mostly corrosive/harmful to life because of the oxygen. And it's fairly inefficient as well. Oxygen actually fucked the shit out of most life on the planet when it first started forming. This can be worked around with just getting air canisters, which would be fairly common since these species all interact.
>Must be relatively human sized, to ride in same ships and vehicles, and use the same guns.
Modifying this a bit, because most species would have various different kinds of technology that suit them and their environments. They likely wouldn't use all the same shit, but could probably use things from other species given their humanoid form. Like how in America and Japan we may drive a different car, but we can still USE the other car, it's just different. Or how houses in different areas of the world vary. They'd look different, though. Technology wouldn't just merge into one homogenous blob.
>Must come from a planet with close to earth gravity, otherwise need suits like our ladhi.
That would only really apply if species X came from a low gravity environment and then went to a higher gravity world. Species from higher gravity worlds would have no real issue on lower gravity worlds.
Pic related. A non-humanoid alien who can easily use/be in humanoid ships and places.
>>46515136
Forgot the pic. Anyway, this is a Tholian. A non-humanoid alien from Star Trek who was easily able to use and interact with humanoid things. For a sci-fi game guy you sure aren't very imaginative when it comes to theories of alien life or how they'd interact and just went "fuck it, make aliens a bunch of anthro animals in humanoid form".
>>46505794
Your banner was interesting enough for me to click, which was like... the 2nd time in years of 4chan.
Unfortunately your sites have no meaningful or useful information at all. Nothing there to retain interest. You need a hook. Several hooks.
>>46515161
Okay good suggestion, and the first we have had, but how does it sit down? How doe sit lay down. Those legs are thin, how do they support weight? Those toes look like they don't give much traction how do they stay upright on smooth surfaces.
As for the our atmosphere being rare thing. In our universe nearly every planet near earth gravity is terraformed with our type of atmosphere.
>>46515198
Suggestions? We are taking any of them.
>>46514885
New guy to the thread, but consider: Nothing in what you've stated precludes their hands, feet, or faces from being RADICALLY different in arrangement to people as long as they HAVE them.
Consider that something like say, possessing crab claws with fingers on the inside would still leave them able to interact with most finger based interfaces while having very distinct manipulators.
You could even have a race who have say, two limbs with manipulators sprouting from where their humanoid 'neck' would be and having shorter arms which contain duplicates of their sensory organs. And then having mouths on all four arms.
You could have a race of humanoid burrowing creatures where their 'head' is just a huge, chitinous burrowing drill object, their limbs are adapted for worming around and pushing them through things and I dunno, carrying tools while they do this, and they have eyes distributed over a couple different places on their body (IE both inside the 'head' and on the 'crotch' for a rear view while tunnelling. They still do the biped thing because its way faster than tunnelling over open ground.
>>46515261
>Do my job for me pls anon
Nah
>>46515239
>but how does it sit down? How doe sit lay down. Those legs are thin, how do they support weight? Those toes look like they don't give much traction how do they stay upright on smooth surfaces.
You know we actually have animals with similar legs and setups on Earth and that they work just fine, right? Pic related.
>As for the our atmosphere being rare thing. In our universe nearly every planet near earth gravity is terraformed with our type of atmosphere.
Then you basically kill off any hope of having various different species. And doesn't change the fact that your aliens just look like earth animals put into space suits. As I said, a basic Google search of "humanoid aliens" brings up more diverse creatures than what you've come up with.
And another non-humanoid creature from Star Trek. Species 8472 (Undine), again, easily capable of interfacing with humanoid objects, tools, etc.
>>46515347
Spiders that have skinny as legs only work at the small level. Tarantulas got big ass legs.
Think about elephants. They have ginormous legs. The bigger a creature, the stronger its legs need to be.
>>46515313
I like these ideas, we might use several in future expansions of the game. The claw with manipulators inside is actually genius.
>>46515429
Tripods cant sit. I am fine with multipedal aliens, our setting has several of them, but they are not playable species. You guys are more than welcome to make them playable I your own games though. I just don't see how they would work on a mechanical level in game. I am still asking how a multiped rides in a car. Those that exist in the game do not use cars or anything like human tech, but can't they are not playable so that doesn't matter.
>>46515439
OK so your alien would have thicker legs. Are we arguing about non humanoid body shapes or startrek physics?
>>46515439
We're also talking about a non-humanoid species here, not just a spider. He's asking questions as to how its physiology would work when we have beings like that ON Earth currently. It doesn't have to be humanoid to be able to live amongst humanoids.
I just think he put nearly no thought into the species here and that's why he has shitty rules for them like having to be humanoid (when in reality, you don't have to be humanoid to use humanoid shit), made them anthro animals, etc. He's got no imagination and an even smaller idea of what life may be possible and how these things would interact. A basic google search would turn up a cornucopia of different humanoid aliens that aren't just animal people, on top of various possible non-humanoid beings that would fit in easily amongst humanoids.
It's so simple that it really just seems like what >>46515332 said and he just wants us to do all the work for him, and then he can turn around and sell it. "Open source" gaming seems to be his way of getting people to design the game for him and then buy it from him. Because, honestly, this shit is so easy to do that it's got to be just laziness on his part. Not to mention it's basically homebrewed stuff. And this seems like homebrew quality, not the kinda quality I'd expect from professional game developers. Professional game developers don't expect you to do it all for them. And he's making a kickstarter for it, rather than just making the game and then selling it. So, he wants us to make up the rules, races, etc., all for him. He wants us to pay him so he can make the game, and then pay him again to purchase it. He's putting so little effort into it that it's not even funny.
>>46515530
There are certain complications with multipedal and centaur like body shapes for sitting in vehicles or climbing but consider this. This is a lovecraftian elder thing. Decidedly nonhumanoid but it has a head with sense organs, torso, arms with fine manipulators and legs. It can climb ladders with its limbs and it's non ridged legs will bend and rest comfortably in a chair. It could even ride and operate a motorcycle.
>>46515672
>It could even ride and operate a motorcycle.
Now that's something I'd play.
>>46515657
>A basic google search would turn up a cornucopia of different humanoid aliens that aren't just animal people, on top of various possible non-humanoid beings that would fit in easily amongst humanoids.
I just did that, and my god were the results shitty, just people with different colored skin and a bunch of things that couldn't stand up in earth gravity, or any gravity for that matter.
>I just think he put nearly no thought into the species here and that's why he has shitty rules for them like having to be humanoid (when in reality, you don't have to be humanoid to use humanoid shit), made them anthro animals, etc.
Name one setting that uses races like these. I like them, they look cool imho. You don't have to play his game if you don't like it. But then he is saying he will include your idea of a species if you want. He even asked you what you want so he could do that for you.
>"Open source" gaming seems to be his way of getting people to design the game for him and then buy it from him.
Name one company that has ever done this before. A company that cares about what you think and even says they will change for you? Imagine if GW did that shit. People shit all over them constantly for not caring about their fans or listening.
>He's putting so little effort into it that it's not even funny.
Says the guy that wants 4 legged creatures that defy gravity and reason. He asked you to explain why you think a creature with 4 legs would work and you attacked him for it. You want him to explain himself, but you can't explain your self. What are you 5?
You have yet to explain why or how a creature with more than 2 legs would work from a game mechanics stand point. Or answer any of the concerns. You say it is easy, but even you can't do it. How about you gtfo and let those of us actually trying to help help. Go troll some other thread.
>>46515878
"He" said? You forgot to take your name off before you defended yourself pretending to be someone else, OP.
>>46515970
Sorry we are a company, there are several of us.
>>46515878
Besides you faking to be someone else OP, and stop denying it, if you were from the company you wouldn't be referring to it as "his" game, but 'our' game.
>I just did that, and my god were the results shitty, just people with different colored skin and a bunch of things that couldn't stand up in earth gravity, or any gravity for that matter.
Which is downright false.
>Name one setting that uses races like these. I like them, they look cool imho. You don't have to play his game if you don't like it. But then he is saying he will include your idea of a species if you want. He even asked you what you want so he could do that for you.
Pretty much any sci-fi game. Except they actually have a wide variety of creatures besides "animals in human form in space suits". So, other games are more original. You got me there.
>Name one company that has ever done this before. A company that cares about what you think and even says they will change for you? Imagine if GW did that shit. People shit all over them constantly for not caring about their fans or listening.
That was not my only concern. I even said that you expected people to not only build the game for you, but to pay you on kickstarter to MAKE the game and publish it, and then pay you again to buy it. It's like you're having us pay for a homebrew we collectively just made. There's tons of them for free on 1d4chan and nothing about this game seems professional grade and seems like a homebrew. Half your site doesn't even use basic grammar.
>Says the guy that wants 4 legged creatures that defy gravity and reason. He asked you to explain why you think a creature with 4 legs would work and you attacked him for it. You want him to explain himself, but you can't explain your self. What are you 5?
1. 4 legged creatures don't defy gravity or reason. Are you saying four legged animals don't exist?
2. And I did explain it nor did I attack anyone.
(cont)
>>46516105
>You have yet to explain why or how a creature with more than 2 legs would work from a game mechanics stand point. Or answer any of the concerns. You say it is easy, but even you can't do it. How about you gtfo and let those of us actually trying to help help. Go troll some other thread.
You realize that a lot of games here have game mechanics for such things? DnD, CoC, Shadowrunners, homebrew systems, Pathfinder, etc., have game mechanics that allow for beings with more than 2 legs. Call of Cthulhu has rules for fucking eldritch horrors and you're saying that over 2 legs and there's no game mechanics for it? Despite the fact that such things already exist in plenty of games that are also based on D20?
I guess I was right. You really did put very, very little thought or effort into things. Have you even played a tabletop game before or are you just desperately flailing around and making excuses?
You need to make your link to the wiki the first or second thing we see. I had to dig around a bit to get to it.
Make a PDF that you can post here. Make sure to use the 'Beta' and 'Still in Development' watermarks plastered everywhere.
