Image Designer Archive
Thread: If you were creating an interface for Image Designers to use what features would it have?
This isn't the first time I've said this. The interface we image designers use is just plain horrid. What's so frustrating, at least to me, is that it's not like it would take a huge number of changesto the existing interface for it to be spot on perfect. But then we can't even get that bloodyhair defaults to brown when you change hairstyles bug fixed after all this time. So I'm not sure why I'm bothering with this post.Buthere it is anyway...for better or worse...
After you've worked ID awhile you finally figure out that the best way to shine a light on a customer's face is to turn your back on them so that your personal light is also shining on them. Oddly enough face to face and close up leaves thecustomer in nothing but dark shadows.Thus making it impossible to seeany details of thecustomer's face.It'sawkward trying to get into thisposition where you turn your back on them. It'sof course the opposite of what the customer is expecting so as you're jockeying to get into position with your back to them their natural inclination is to keep moving to get in front of you again. So you have to say to most customers that they need to stand still while youmove to the right spot to shine the light on them. It's prettygoofy.
***We needlighting to be intuitive as it relates to theID interface. We needthe action of selecting Image Design from the radial menu to be tied in witha light being cast on thatcustomer's face.
No surprise here...everyone knows that using those slidebars in an effort to find the colors on ANYTHING is teh suck.
***We need the color charts that we're able to use at character creation applied to the ID interface.
Last but not least...A little insurance for us that we'll get paid for the job we're doing. All in all I'd have to say that players have been really great! They appreciate what you're doing for them. They're enjoying the options they have in changing their appearence. Either because something they did at creation wasn't quite right. Or they're just interested in having a change. These players will not only pay their tab but they'll throw in a nicetip. But there's always a flip side.
Anyone who's working ID as a serious profession is dealing with a segment of the player population that thinks ID isn't a profession at all. Oh, they want the services for sure. They want their avatars changed. In fact they'll take up a huge amount of an ID'ers timewhile they fuss and fuss and fuss trying to get their avatar just so.But they want whoever it is that's taken the time to master this profession towork on them foranywhere from 15 to 45 minutes trying different images over and over again for FREE. Image Designers get stiffed way more than they should. Even when the ID'er is very up front about the cost you'll get playerswho in the end will say they don't have any money to pay you but they'll go run some missions and get the money to you later. Surrrre they will. The worst are the players who think this is something that female players do cuz it's just soooo cute! Then there's the ones who refuse to see that your time is worth anything and since you don't burn up any resources it should all be some sort of public service. A proper ID interface could fix this.
***We need an interface that allows us to plug a fee into the ID window. The ID'er types in the cost of the proposed change.
I don't see muchroom here for ID'ers tounscrupulously prey on customersif something like this were done right. But there would need to be a couple offailsafedetails built in.
-There's no need for the box the fee is plugged into toallow for more than 4 digits to be used.
-The box thefee shows up in should be clearly labled with appropriate wording and also becolor coded. The phrase usedand thefee, if the ID'er has pluggeda feein, should appear in bright red.When no fee is plugged in the phrase andthespace for the feeshould remain green. This shouldeliminate problems of ID'ers surprising someone whothought the job was being done for free.And should keepsomeone who's practicing ID fromfooling the volunteer into paying for a change.
YourImage Design feefor this change is 2000
Your Image Design fee for this change is_ _ _ _
-The customer should be able to plainly see the look of the proposed change and the fee for acceptingthe changeat the same time.It's easy enough for players to look at the changes that are being proposed for their avatar. It would be just as easy for themto see the amount they'll be charged, shining red at them next to the accept button. If the customer doesn't want to pay the amount or accept the change then of course they refuse it. And if they don't havethe amount in the bank to cover the fee an appropriate message would pop up for both parties and the customer would be unable to accept the change. This would dramatically shorten the time that's sometimes taken up by players who really have no intention of paying an ID'er at the end of a long session.
And that's it from where I'm sittin'! Others might have additional ideas. ButI'd be thrilled to have just these three changes along with fixes to bugs.
Maybe someone looking at this will think it's a lot to ask. I sure don't. And I don't think I'm requesting anything that's a huge nightmare to code either. ID'ers are long past the point of deserving some much needed attention. It's very easy to feel as though we're the most neglected profession in the game.
Come on, Dev's! I don't think ID'ers even dare think about the really cool wish lists that we used to talk about, in hopes that additional game content would be developed for us. At this point we're just hoping for a single word from any of you on when you'll fix the bugs and offer some much needed improvments to our poorly designed andimplemented interface.
Very well thought out and REASONABLE post, Moonlilly. I'd love to see something like this implemented. I personally don't have set prices and normally get more than I have seen others get when they charge a set fee, but I can feel your pain there. I've been stiffed a few times myself, I'm sure we all have. We have a list on Bria of people that are bad ID customers, either they were rude and nasty, or didn't pay or are just totally freaking retarded and couldn't be worked with, on the list they go and we manage to be rather busy next time they roll in looking for a change.
Entertainers get treated like doormats, we finally got /denyservice for the 'active' professions, it'd be great to see some implementations for ID as well.
Now if i'm working on someone's face, I have them sit down and then maximize the exa window to get the best view.
The Image Designer interface issue was the number one thing I have on my Art Team: What Women Want thread. As requested by Ood_Bnar (swg art director) I've also compiled a document listing women's wish list items for the art team in bullet form.Ood_Bnar still hasn't contacted me about where to mail the info to but hopefully I'll hear from him soon 
Anyway here's the part on the interface I included...
- User Interface – Issues: Difficult to find good lighting to view customer; Person’s head wiggles all over while you try to customize face; Hard to keep track of what a customer has seen in the past using slider bars; difficult to find graphical entities such as tattoo patterns and eyebrows. Proposed solutions: Give ID’s the character creation GUI in a window. Shade out boxes the ID’er does not yet have. Assign visible numbers to each tick of sliders that represent measurements, such as nose length, weight, and eye shape. Add more little pictures like those provided for hairstyles…for tattoo patterns, eyebrow shapes, etc. Add a box to the character window (ctrl-j) that has current settings written down (nose length #15 of 30, hairstyle #22 of 40, etc).
I like your ideas except for the way the pricing would be implemented. What about people that want to see multiple variations of a particular change? I suppose we could charge say 2000 the first time, and 1 credit for each additional showing. Perhaps if the 1 credit stayed in the window by default it would save us some typing/clicking. Another idea I've read is having the customer be able to see what you're doing on a character creation like window both customer and ID'er could see (but only ID'er could customize) and then having the changes go through only after a price has been entered and the client has accepted all changes. But many ID'ers don't like the idea of having the client see what they're doing because of the fun factor of being in full control Also, a four figure limit might not work for those of us that do package deals. For example I have a 10,000 credit full body makeover charge.
Hiya, Kwee. God bless ya if you're able to evoke a dev' team member's response to anything having to do with ID! Thanks for all you're effort.
Have no clue why I can't quote from your post here but I'm getting an error when I try. But I'm sure you'll understand what I'm repsonding to.
***
Well, players can see multiple variations of a particular change even if they don't accept and pay for the changes. You get a pretty good length of time to look at a proposed changed before the offer times out. And sure, I figured for those who want to actually accept a number of changes for the same particular type of change, like actually accepting a number of hairstyles for instance, they have the fee typed in for the first change they accpet and then the ID'er leaves the price at zero the rest of the time. I can't see too many customers being left with a look they hate because it's a pretty bad idea to be accepting any ID changes that you hate. Right? hehe
I don't see something like your package deal being negatively effected by a pricing system that only allows for four digits to be plugged in at a time. The reason being that if you've worked it out with a client that they're going to pay 10k for a full body makeover then just break up the payment in whatever way you please that's fair to both parties. Charge the client 9999 credits at the beginning of a session if the client is to fully trust the IDer. Or charge 9999 the end of the session if the IDer is fully trusting the client. Or charge 2k credits for the first five changes and the rest of the changes are free. Whatever works. I don't think that would mess anything up. Unless there's something you're saying here that I'm not understanding.
I'd rather have the interface have room for only four digits and lessen the chance that someone with no scruples pull a fast one on someone who's not paying enough attention (even tho' they should be paying attention). Seem like anything that was going to cost upward of 9999 credits would be done in enough stages that no one would have to worry about fairness as fees are plugged in throughout a few stages of the process.