NPC to PC

Tycleton

Let me preface this by saying this is not a criticism, and its not another "what I would like to see in ESO" thread. It's a technical question born out of my own ignorance of how to build a game like ESO.

If a non player character exists, so the art and movement is in place, what are the challenges of making that 'skin' available as a new race? So if (just making this up) a blue skinned 3 eyed being was standing by a dungeon entrance giving out quests as an npc, what gets in the way of making the 'race' of that being available as a race of player use?

Thank you for tolerating and educating the unknowing.

Tyc

Royaji

Ehm... You see, ESO kinda has this massive franchise with (mostly) well established lore behind it. You can't just make everything playable because it will make no sense lore-wise.

essi2

I doubt ZOS would be allowed to add playable races that are not playable in the main TES games.

If BGS ever adds more playable races, ZOS might add those I guess.


EDIT:

There are few technical reasons not to.

You would need to make a set of customization that work with the basic body and presumably make a feminine or masculine body variant depending on which one is already in the game.

You would need to define the racial characteristics of the race both in lore and the racial skills. And provide a reason for why they are a non-aligned race in the Alliance War.

EDIT2:

Animations, you would need a complete set of animations for every available action/interaction.

Easy for a humanoid character, less so for a non-humanoid. Goblin f.ex.


EDIT3:

Gear, this is were non-humanoids probably become a 0% chance of ever happening.

They would need to make all gear fit the body of the non-humanoids. And all new gear afterwards.

Tycleton

Royaji wrote: »

Ehm... You see, ESO kinda has this massive franchise with (mostly) well established lore behind it. You can't just make everything playable because it will make no sense lore-wise.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I don't want to get off point here. I am not questioning ESO. I get it. I don't disagree with you.

My question is not ESO-centric. It's "How to build a MMORPG"-centric. What's involved with creating a race from a tech perspective? And then on top of that, what needs to happen to make the race "playable"? I realize we don't have space here for a 'how to' seminar. I just want a sense of how much additional effort is involved if a race already exists in a game but is not yet available as a playable, to make it playable. Hope that makes sense.

As an example, goblins exist in ESO. What's standing in the way of making them fully available as a player race? From a tech perspective. Is this difficult? If so, is it making additional movements? Is it having to make armor modeling so they can wear existing sets? etc...

Thanks again,
Tyc

eklhaftb16_ESO

It's not just all-new animations and all-new models for every existing piece of wearable gear. It's also rewriting many quests and NPC dialogues to make them properly reflect the fact that you're a goblin. Many NPC races - not just in ESO, but in any well-built world - tend to have some kind of background that makes them not viable for player character.

For example - goblins in ESO are not only former slaves of High Elves, but also a general nuisance for the most of Tamriel. When you have a quest to eradicate a hostile goblin tribe, or to save something from goblin thieves... how would such questgiver react to a goblin player character? How would people living in a goblin-plagued area react to playable goblins wandering around? That would all have to be implemented into an already existing game. It is certainly possible to do, but is it really worth it?