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Dev blog: Ship Painting Pilot Program

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Grymmstorm
Kings of Groth
#461 - 2014-03-07 14:38:33 UTC
Prices are right, but I honestly think that this "experiment" will not have the results you guys are looking for. I for one am not buying any of those skins (Maybe the Rifter, but I don't fly one often at all). If you had skins for Mach, Navy Mega (Or regular Mega), Navy (Or Regular) Domi, etc...Then I would buy a skin. Or if the skins were not pre-made crap like they are in the announcement. Or if I could paint the ship without finding a goddamn manufacturing slot. Seriously, I know this is a pilot (Pun intended) program, but 95% of the people who want custom skins are not going to bother with the crap that is being offered.

Give me the ability to paint my own damn Mach/Mega/Thanny/whatever, and I will gladly throw some money your way. Or even just give each ship a few "basic" paint jobs. Limiting it to only 9 ships is ridiculous. A lot of people don't fly those ships, so why would they spend money getting them painted?
Caelo Agalder
Pator Tech School
Minmatar Republic
#462 - 2014-03-07 14:47:43 UTC
It seems there is a lot of interest in the system of being able to customise a ships exterior paint colour! Which is a good thing.

The system that is being proposed and implemented in 1.3 however... May end up giving INCORRECT feedback. I do not think there are too many people who actively oppose the idea of a little ship customisation. But, while many people would love to paint their ship... Do we really want to sink real money into it? Do we want to sacrifice a PLEX (30 days of gaming) to experiment a little with painting? And for single use blueprints that give us ANOTHER ship to clog up our station bays?

The market already has massive trees. Ship -> Frigates -> Standard Frigates -> Rifter -> 3 Paint variants... ?

I say, make a way to implement colours through fittings similar to rigs. Anything sold on the market already has to have rigs removed, so now it removes the paint job too. No need for overly complicated ship hunting.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=4288187

Ok, so some more interesting colours may be available via the AUR or LP store. Or perhaps patterns in there. But some basic colours should be available to everyone.

Want to find out if pilots are going to paint their ships? Don't make it difficult to get into the program. Especially for relatively young players to do so without spending real money. Entry should be easy, expanded functionality and additional options should be for the people who have the money and time, or both.

I don't think dumping it all into the AUR store for the test run is such a smart idea because it reduces the number of people who would test the system. I am pulling figures out a hat but:

If 500 000 are regular players
Lets say 150 000 have the AUR to spend but only 100 000 are willing to spend it on this.
Lets say another 50 000 are willing to go out and buy more AUR to get the functionality.

That is a total of 150 000 of 500 000, so 30%. If 40% of the people like the concept AND the implementation... CCP is going to look at 60 000 people of 500 000 are regular players and say... "Oh there was only a 12% interest... We are not going to further develop this."

Despite the number of people interested in painting there ships appears to be MUCH higher than that if the implementation was different.
Tlat Ij
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#463 - 2014-03-07 15:16:07 UTC
NeX store is ******** yo. Just put them in the LP stores, especially since a lot of LP stores are pretty useless but the corps they represent have nice paint schemes, it would also get you much better feedback since I assume many people don't want to spend real life cash on something that is a pilot program. Also, I want a Kaalakiota paintjob on all the the ships. :3
CCP Phantom wrote:
Chirjo Durruti wrote:
Quote:
for Aurum
Stopped reading there. Srsly, WTF? I already pay you for content on a monthly basis. Evil
You can get AUR for ISK. You don't need to spend any real money there. Smile
I may not need to spend any real life cash but someone else does.
Daerrol
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#464 - 2014-03-07 15:20:05 UTC
Omg I can finally be the geek in the police comet "arresting" people in Low-Sec.
Wolf Kruol
1st Tikiona Lancers
Citizen's Star Republic
#465 - 2014-03-07 15:22:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Wolf Kruol
I am happy that the painting ship project is slowing advancing. What I'm sad to see that there are preset paint "skinned" Ship choices rather than having the player being able to custom paint there own ship.

I doubt its all code as an excuse for the problem or bandwidth. I believe your more concerned about players making unique looking ships that might offend racial / religious groups and that may cause legal issues. Solution is allow players to have custom painted ships within there own PC.

In the players computer they can paint there ships and spin it or fly it.. Only they can see it. Others players see the default hull skins. Only way they can share the look is via screen shots or recordings. This washes your hands of legal issues for fanatical p3n1s painted ships etc and the players can have there fancy painted looking ships. Something for you to consider as an option?

Preset paints are nice but for me pointless. I'm not interested in someone elses concept of how the ships should look I like to use my own artistic look to my own ships. This was what I was expecting to see about the custom painted ships.

Still CCP your direction is good.. I'm patient for the day I can paint my own cool looking ship. Big smile

Keep up the good work CCP.

Wolf

“If you're very very stupid? How can you possibly realize you're very very stupid?

You have to be relatively intelligent to realize how stupid you really are!”
Warde Guildencrantz
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#466 - 2014-03-07 15:26:20 UTC
Vincent Athena wrote:
Warde Guildencrantz wrote:
I like these new skins, but I would like to be able to make my own skins.

If there would be an issue with load, have another user's ship only load their pattern if you click "look at". Alternatively you could load the whole field by an option (similar to remove all tags from overview).

Methods of dealing with vulgar/copyrighted skins would be something else, however, and it's understandable to start small.

There is a way to deal with that.
1) Player, using CCP supplied tools, designs a custom item (Ship skin, clothing, furniture, etc.)
2) Player submits the design to CCP for approval, along with Aurum to pay for their time.
3) If CCP approves it, the player can purchase BPO's for said item for additional Aurum. The player then become an exclusive supplier of the item to the game (Unless they transfer the BPO.)



Yes, but this is fairly hindering to slapping a new set of paint on your ship. I don't think it should be that extraneous of a process. Should be quicker for at least minimal customization, like choosing from a set of base colors (gray, lighter gray, bluish gray, gray with light gray trim..... for caldari :P )

Also, should be able to change a ship's color without re-rigging or repackaging. It would make sense to be able to do that.

TunDraGon ~ Low sec piracy since 2003 ~ Youtube ~ Join Us
Castelo Selva
Forcas armadas
Brave Collective
#467 - 2014-03-07 15:33:07 UTC
My personal opinion:

1) Thank you for the initiative, +1 for trying.
2) Although I think that are only a few option now, I really hope CCP take that in account when you run your statistic. Have in mind the real percentage of players who currently fly that ships, and then the percentage of that players who did the paint job.
3) I disagree with the implement of a new ship / type ID, and, as your already said, I really appreciate some kind of work with the code to be possible maintain the same ship / type ID
4) I inclined to agree with the solution of a new type of “colour slot”, like the rig slot. And then the colour will be displayed by the client / info receive by server. I do agree that are a new info to be delivered by the server, and a new type of load, but I think the player happiness will surpass that down side.
5) I think a new tread discussion at “feature & Ideas” forum will be good feedback for the implementation, where you can harvest players opinion and interest. I think some kind of survey must be done, to determine the real percentage of importance.
6) I will try it, even not flying the current selection of ships, just to be +1 at your statistic. This is because I think “paint job” are an important feature and that should be delivered.
7) Even I not much inclined to agree with the aurum part, I think the current price range still a bit higher. If you want that feature to be popular, I think of 15 aurun for a frigate and 150 for a battleship. That are because players want not only one ship customised, but also most of the ships, even all ships customised. Moreover, players have, in an average, around 50 / 70 ships. Some players have hundreds. If we paint everyone (as I want), that are a big cost.

Castelo

Best post ever!
Steph Livingston
Neko's Blanket
#468 - 2014-03-07 15:35:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Steph Livingston
I'm really looking forward to these changes to go live. I don't plan to spend AUR to pimp out my ships if resources are devoted to the system after the trial period, but I'm willing to drop an ETC on it early on to show my support. For long term support I would have to see common paint jobs available for LP, with a few 'unique' designs available for AUR.

Honestly, I don't think full player customization would be possible, but in the long run I'd really like to see each major/pirate faction have distinct colors which you could apply to ANY ship. It would be a lot of work, probably a recolored model for every ship/faction combination, but awesome if a corp could coordinate.
GavinGoodrich
Perkone
Caldari State
#469 - 2014-03-07 15:36:23 UTC
I'm no programmer, but i'd assume like someone suggested early in the thread, that a "paint job" slot would be much easier to work into the ship, rather than rewrite all that other stuff you were talking about.

Haaaaaalp my head's on fire
Steph Livingston
Neko's Blanket
#470 - 2014-03-07 15:41:14 UTC
GavinGoodrich wrote:
I'm no programmer, but i'd assume like someone suggested early in the thread, that a "paint job" slot would be much easier to work into the ship, rather than rewrite all that other stuff you were talking about.


Although it seems simpler from a player perspective, it's probably about the same amount of work on the back end. It does the same thing, replace one model with another, it's just more visual.

The BPC solution is a decent temporary solution, it allows CCP to implement the changes and see how players react, but also control how the system is implemented without changing the UI for now.

-- I am a programmer ;P
Steve Ronuken
Fuzzwork Enterprises
Vote Steve Ronuken for CSM
#471 - 2014-03-07 15:47:54 UTC
The paint slot option requires a whole bunch of backend work, to get the infrastructure in place for it. And client side work, to allow for it to be set. And some game design decisions (does it lock onto a ship? can it be removed? replaced?) and so on, and so on.




Woo! CSM XI!

Fuzzwork Enterprises

Twitter: @fuzzysteve on Twitter
Syndi Alleile
#472 - 2014-03-07 15:52:13 UTC
Wish paint was closer to module price (even meta gun price).

But I'm very excited to see iterations on this idea.
Mors Magne
Terra Incognita
#473 - 2014-03-07 15:53:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Mors Magne
I think CCP have got the wrong idea entirely - special paint jobs should be tied in with gameplay. For example, having standings with factions.


In other words, the different paint jobs should be used to tell everyone about the sort of things you have done.




I'm concerned that CCP are still getting things like this wrong, because at some point there will be real competition in the form of Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen.


I think CCP are greedy to have both a subscription and a cash shop.
Mors Magne
Terra Incognita
#474 - 2014-03-07 15:57:42 UTC  |  Edited by: Mors Magne
*Deleted* - repeat
Steph Livingston
Neko's Blanket
#475 - 2014-03-07 16:01:06 UTC
Mors Magne wrote:
I think CCP have got the wrong idea entirely - special paint jobs should be tied in with gameplay. For example, having standings with factions.

In other words, the different paint jobs should be used to tell everyone about the sort of things you have done.

I'm concerned that CCP are still getting thing like this wrong, because at some point there will be real competition in the form of Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen.


I think that's the long term goal, like the Police Comet, but right now they just need to make sure enough people are interested to devote the resources. Keep in mind, if they decide to push forward with ship customization some other project has to be pushed back.

If people are willing to spend AUR to show their support now, it shows CCP that there's enough interest to flesh out the system properly. That's all.
Rivr Luzade
Coreli Corporation
Pandemic Legion
#476 - 2014-03-07 16:08:57 UTC
In which world do you live? Roll If we show them that a large part of the player base is willing to pay a lot of money to get their ships painted, it only demonstrates that they have found a cash cow, and who would voluntarily kill a cash cow?

UI Improvement Collective

My ridicule, heavy criticism and general pale outlook about your or CCP's ideas is nothing but an encouragement to prove me wrong. Give it a try.
Carmen Electra
AlcoDOTTE
Test Alliance Please Ignore
#477 - 2014-03-07 16:15:26 UTC
I am thrilled to hear that CCP wants us to be able to customize our ships. I understand that this is something of a first-step, and not representative of what the final product will look like.

That said, I thought we all agreed that AUR need to be given a swift death? Why are they being dredged up for use in painting ships?

Why does ship painting need to have a cost associated with it? I really like how we can customize our characters at will, for me it is one of the best features in EVE. I thought it was a foregone conclusion that painting our ships would be the exact same deal. Please don't introduce microtransactions here, just let us paint our ships as much and as often as we would like without charging for a paint job.

Bacon makes us stronger
Steph Livingston
Neko's Blanket
#478 - 2014-03-07 16:18:37 UTC
Rivr Luzade wrote:
In which world do you live? Roll If we show them that a large part of the player base is willing to pay a lot of money to get their ships painted, it only demonstrates that they have found a cash cow, and who would voluntarily kill a cash cow?


You remember when they introduced the monocle? Yeah, they're probably not eager to revisit something like that.

I don't expect all the skins to be available through in-game sources, there will probably be a mix of fairly unique skins only available with AUR, but I really doubt they'd leave out LP or faction options.
Rivr Luzade
Coreli Corporation
Pandemic Legion
#479 - 2014-03-07 16:24:49 UTC
Steph Livingston wrote:
Rivr Luzade wrote:
In which world do you live? Roll If we show them that a large part of the player base is willing to pay a lot of money to get their ships painted, it only demonstrates that they have found a cash cow, and who would voluntarily kill a cash cow?


You remember when they introduced the monocle? Yeah, they're probably not eager to revisit something like that.

I don't expect all the skins to be available through in-game sources, there will probably be a mix of fairly unique skins only available with AUR, but I really doubt they'd leave out LP or faction options.


I very much hope that you are proved right; however, with people around who constantly want to make us believe that subscription is dead (both in the community and external forces), I remain skeptical.

UI Improvement Collective

My ridicule, heavy criticism and general pale outlook about your or CCP's ideas is nothing but an encouragement to prove me wrong. Give it a try.
Durzo Prass
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#480 - 2014-03-07 16:36:44 UTC
Two words, CCP: Contact T'amber

I'm surprised no one seems to have mentioned T'amber's input in the realm of ship painting. Their ideas for implementation as well as structure and content for ship painting was VERY well done. Also they even went as far as to create a survey for players to take to gather the information on the demand for such a feature as well as what should be included, how should it be included, what price options, etc.

I know that this is not a final method of how you may be delivering this, and I agree with the players who hate the AURUM thing but I also understand. I just hope that your final approach to this will be something along the lines of what T'amber had in mind as I can't see it being successful any other way.

Also, and I say this with all the love and respect I have for CCP:
If this is just a test to see the demand for ship painting, why charge for it in a method that alot of people are staying away from? If you want to see how popular an idea is, why not just put out a survey? I see these possible reasons:

-CCP is just trying a sneaky plot to get some extra cash.
-CCP is scheming to see how much money they can suck with this.
-CCP doesn't want this to succeed so they handicapped it

I hope all of those ideas are wrong. I have been very pleased with CCP and what they have given us, there's been a few speedbumps here and there but overall they have done us good. I just would like to see one blunder avoided before it wreaks havok.

[DOT]warpunk