Character customization is an extremely important part of RPG’s like A Township Tale. From day one, we’ve wanted to allow everyone to create characters that reflect themselves, or forge an entirely new appearance. We’ve learnt a lot from the first version of character customization, and are super excited to release the next version into the wild.

In this post, I’m going to go over some of the features available today, what’s happening with armor, features coming soon, and the long term goals of customization.

AVAILABLE TODAY!

Today we’re releasing the customization system. This system involved a huge overhaul of how we did characters. This gives us the benefits of a lotmore flexibility, and significant optimizations, but also means that almost all the assets/options in this new system had to be recreated from scratch. A fair few of them were made to resemble options in the previous system, but a fair few of them are also unique. This means that you may not necessarily find the ‘same’ hair that you had in the old system, but at the same time, you might find a new style that you prefer!

Along with new assets, the customization interface and mechanics have been revamped. We’ve turned that pesky bumpable random button into a lever, and made various other interface changes, such as how you change category, cycle through pages of options, and how you leave customization. Coloring has also been redone! Instead of dipping parts in a bucket of paint, we’ve got a huge pallete of colors, which you can apply to the parts of your character with the primary or secondary brush. Yes! That means most pieces of customization actually have a primary and a secondary color you can modify. And importantly, you can actually paint shirts now… We’ve also upped the number of body types from 2 to 8, including some stockier builds. Categories will only appear in customization once you have at least one item from that category.

You will now be able to freely recustomize your character, rather than being locked in permanently on a server. This is to support players who want to change their style over time, or make use of new options they’ve unlocked since joining the server. It also means you’ll have plenty of opportunities to show off your character creation skills to others!

An exclusive belt is also available today, for anyone who is, has been, or becomes a supporter before the store is released!

WHATS’S HAPPENING WITH ARMOR?

As mentioned above, the new customization required a significant overhaul to how we did characters. It made it so that all previous customization assets, and equipment/armor assets were no longer usable. The armor in the game up until this point has always been semi-placeholder, in anticipation for a thorough armor crafting system. As it’s only been temporary, and we plan on evaluating armor crafting in the near future, we felt it was not worth the time migrating it all to the new system, only to remove it again later.

The big concern that arises from this: how will you survive?!? We’re bringing forwards some plans that will help players survive through permanent stat changes. I won’t go into any more detail soon, but hopefully we’ll see this in the next update or two. In the meantime… Watch those wyrms.

COMING SOON

As many of you know, A Township Tale is completely free, and that’s how we plan to keep it. It is through non-gameplay affecting systems such as character customization that we plan on sustaining the company, to develop A Township Tale into the future. We’ll be releasing a store within the launcher, in which you’ll be able to buy all sorts of cosmetics, including shirts, gloves, belts, jackets, earrings, hats, glasses, necklaces, corsets, vests, aprons, and more! Some of these will be individual items, others in bundles (eg. a bundle of hats), and others in outfits. Of course regardless of the item, you’ll always be able to mix and match, and recolor to your will.

This also is our entry point for more Supporter rewards! Supporters will have discounts in the store, as well as a monthly income of credit to spend!

We’ve also got some planned changes for the customization room. There’s no exact ETA on any of these features, but they’re in the works.

That being said, here are some things currently in the works!

Assymetrical options: Items like gloves that could be place on the left and/or right hand. This could also include support for flipping hairstyles/eyebrows etc, in case you want your fringe to go the other way!

Undo/Redo: Imagine that! Being able to undo that dumb move you just made. Or go back a couple steps while you’ve been spamming that random lever!

Search/Filters: Definitely a fair bit further down the line (probably not appropriate for the ‘coming soon’ section), but ways for you to quickly track down options that you’re after while customizing.

Painting in hand: The ability to paint items that you’re holding, not just ones on the character.

Presets: The ability to save presets, so you can quickly apply them later. These could be cross server, or local to that server. (I’d love your opinions!)

LONG TERM GOALS

We’ve got some big plans for customization. We hope to continually increase the number of customization options out there, so that you can look exactly like your dream character (or real life self!). Here’s some other things we’ve got planned:

In game store: The ability to view, try on, and purchase cosmetics from within the game.

Clothing dummies: Once houses are out, imagine being about to have a wardrobe with some of your presets. Get dressed for the perfect occasion, without leaving your house!

Mobile companion app!? Customization on the go? Definitely a possibility.

Sash customization We plan on going crazy with sash customization. What’s a sash you ask? That bit of cloth hanging off the front of your belt. Colors, trims, emblems, patterns, etc. We then hope to take this further into the game, allowing for the creation of banners, flags, etc. Faction pride!

IN CLOSING

We’d love to hear your feedback, not only about the new customization systems, but our plans for the future! We really hope you all enjoy the new customization, and look forward to seeing what awesome creations you come up with.

If you’d like to support us (and get your hands on that exclusive belt I mentioned above, along with other supporter perks!) head to SUPPORTERS PAGE or click the ‘Become a Supporter’ button in the launcher. Thank you so much to those who already support us!