Three New Screenshots! (October 9, 2008)

[jsutich]

We've added three new screenshots to our gallery! Included is a detailed look at some of the character customization possibilities that will be available in Star Trek Online.

See them in our gallery! (http://www.startrekonline.com/gallery/screenshots)

[jasonadlai]

Wow. Those character models are incredible. If that's how they look in-game... then I will be very, very pleased. :)

[eNDIE]

yea they realy looks nice:) allthough 2 of them was from the wallpapers

[StarRiskLtd]

Wow, truly amazing shots and the character customization (which I wasn't too concerned with) is absolutely awesome! Another feature to be psyched about! THANK YOU!!!

[Starshelle]

I really loved the new character screenshot! I can tell I'm going to have an absolute blast creating new characters for STO. Thank you for sharing them. Can we get more soon pretty please? ;)

[LordDave]

Will I be able to have a purple haired human? Because that would be absolutely sweet, even though it breaks canon.

[Stu1701]

I love the character model shot. I can't wait to see more of what we can do with the character customization.

[Rgoodfel]

Thank you for something new. The character models look awesome. \o/

[njdss4]

Now it's settled. The first one is a Secluded Vulcan Monastery. Thanks for the screenies! The character customization one is very impressive!

[Arix]

Awesome! The planet, the Vulcan Monastary, and the custom Characters all look great!

I'm loving the custom race on the top right, I was concerned that new races would all look hideous. :p

Then again... the blue Romulan-esque character, with red hair, in the bottom right... I must say, if I see one of those in-games I would probably make fun of them for horrible colour coordination. :p

So while all of them might not be hideous... some of them already are. But they sure look great - even the hideous ones! :D

(To clarify - the design itself, is the hideous part. It seems your models themselves can make anything look good!)

[SAMEET]

2 screenshots already from the Wallpapers. The character customization looks were in the game informer article. So technically nothing new.

But the update appreciated. Keep them rollin'.

[ncc-2112]

I was an avid city of... gamer for over three years so I knew going in that the character generation software is the best in the business. The endless variations that people would come up with in those games never ceased to amaze me.

[Lizzio]

lol Sto is defintly a killer it kills:
Aoc
Wow
Eve

uh.. all mmorpgs (mmo's)
:cool:


Hmm.. to bad Sto devolpers are so mean..
let us do Beta! :p

[Jazzman]

If those are really shots of the same female what she would look like with different race, taken from the character generation, then i am really impressed.
What a great engine you guys created!! Looks really fantastic!! What abaout a short movie with character generator scences? We would love to see that :)

[Lizzio]

If those are really shots of the same female what she would look like with different race, taken from the character generation, then i am really impressed.
What a great engine you guys created!! Looks really fantastic!! What abaout a short movie with character generator scences? We would love to see that :)

ah you beated me just wanted to post that.. yes please put a video of creating a char and maybe the walking movements.. :) and maybe about 2months a captain that explorers hes ship or something :D

[The.Grand.Nagus]

Lets see: two of them are from the wallpapers that were released the other day, and the other is from the gameinformer article. Whoopie :o

[Varrangian]

Lets see: two of them are from the wallpapers that were released the other day, and the other is from the gameinformer article. Whoopie :o

Not entirely true. I'm looking at the GI article and the model in the bottom right corner is not in the GI article.

Why is this important you might ask?

If you look at that model it is a Romulan albeit with blue skin and red hair, but a Romulan nonetheless. Which means I can have a Romulan as one of my Crew members.

Now if they'd just show me some Canoids :p

[Lizzio]

noobie qeustion here..

So you can pick any spiecies.. and make that your charecter?
but aslong your in the federation or klingon empire... :confused:

[Varrangian]

noobie qeustion here..

So you can pick any spiecies.. and make that your charecter?
but aslong your in the federation or klingon empire... :confused:

I'm not sure I understand your question, but I'll try to answer it from what I think you're asking.

The Feds have Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Ferengi, Bajorans and Tellarites. The Klingons have Klingons, Orions, Gorn and Nausicaans. Either faction can customize and create and entirely new species.

What we don't know is if either faction will have certain assets they can and cannot work with in the customization process.

I hope this helps.

[shonsf]

Oh I can't wait to custimize my bridge crew!!!!!

[reiththestud]

Meh. The characters creator looks great, but nothing new here, move along folks(yeah, I'm being negative, wanna fight about it?)

[reiththestud]

Woot for Andorians!

[Trekkie]

These new screenshots are very nice! Thank you for posting them!

[Esquire]

Nice info!

[Stronin]

Seeing that screen of the character models at a larger res does them much better justice. they looked ok in the GI article but this really shows how realistic they're going to look!

Excellent work guys glad to see you've been studying your anatomy books :D Some other companys might not be so careful!

[TC65]

Dear STARTREKONLINE:

I am impressed with the screenshots...GREAT work! Also, thank you all for all you do!

Most Sincerely,

TC65

[Falin]

Funny all but one of hose characters looks like a 10-14 yr old boy, the other looks like a 10-14 yr old girl, are we seeing thegames targeted demographics here?

why so young? don't think we ever saw anyone but that weasly guy in uniform under the age of 25.

[Vicelance]

Nice pics I really want to see more of the character customization and maybe some ship customization inside and out.

[Captain_Intrepid]

Six females for the character creator example, could they be my crewmates?;) I wonder if we'll have as much customizability for our NPC/pet crew?

[Voyager24]

Looks great can't wait!:D

[Krolok]

I agree that the characters look awesome. The game graphics are blowing me away as well. If these screenshots are what the actual game will look like, this will be where I spend all my time. Well done!

[STO_NPG]

Hmmm....from the screenshots the characters seems to be all humanoids. Any chance for non-humanoid crews?

[Niorah_Aiya]

I agree the graphics shown here look awesome, but wonder if they'll end out looking more like an improved COH or Champions Online, if Cryptic is using a modified Hero's Engine.

Some of the earlier Ingame planet graphics remind me of the graphics in the Champions Trailer.

Champion Online Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL_biamHBRs)

[miqrogroove]

Why no facial hair? These are alien women afterall... :p

[Jonathan_Talon]

Why no facial hair? These are alien women afterall... :p

They probably bleach their mustaches, lol

Great screenshots, gonna be a awesome game!

[Ruthlessgravity]

I really love the character models, I cant wait to see how customization looks.

[amb]

I'm really keen on getting my hands on the alien creator... hopefully I can create non human races like species 8472. Nice char renders... Kastrel!

Will we also get full character renders in some weeks? Like we've seen close after the announcement of STO by Perpetual?

[Duckdee]

Wow. Just... wow.

Wasn't expecting the faces to be that good. :)

[Gen00b]

It looks amazing...

[Tandriin]

What would you say. is the Woman in the center of the second Line Orion? Im not really sure.

[boz75]

Not sure what to add, except that I'm happy with the look of those screenshots!
The character screenshot looks really good in particular for me personally.

[oxdub]

The models look fantastic already! Can't wait to see the finished product next year.

[Sorayn]

The models are sheer magic. If the ingame graphics look anything like it I'm more than thrilles already. The Planetside graphics of the MOnastary make me want to break in at cryptic and get my hands on an alpha copy of the game and the space pic just makes me more eager to take the hlm and warp to distant worlds.

Keep up the good work guys! The entire ST community is putting big hopes into the game!! :)

[Ossiren]

Love all three of them! Specially the characters one! This just gets me more anxious to play!

[talknerdy85]

Interesting. That first shot looks like somewhere a Wookie would live, IMHO.

Who would win in a fight, Worf or Chewbacca?

[Calvert]

Nice charakters but in my opinion the hair could be improved. Looks a bit like gum yet but if it'll not be improved, I can live with the current quality.

[Lt.Renak]

thx, nice looking characters. The planet surface with houses looks a little bit like a elve village in my opinion. But characters and space are looking great

[Drazon34]

All 3 of the new screen shots Look GREAT......Very impressed, Hope everything looks that good in game!!!

[mcfemtp]

Things are looking better and better..plz keep up the good work...:D

[HailingFrequencyZach]

IMHO - 5 out of 6 of these characters look a little.......young? Are these fairly early examples of the character models?

[Leecabs]

Very cool please post us some more planet side soon, we have all see lots of the space side of things would be good for a larger peek at some of the homeworlds... sorry feel like a kid waiting for Chirstmas!

[Highcommander]

not that I do not appreciate the images, which I do, but other than the screen shot of the characters the other two are older screenshots. I know I have seen them somewhere else before...

[IanD967]

Awesome!1 :d:d

[kaizoku]

I was suspecting that it was a Vulcan building too, but it looks like there are Klingons standing around in the distance, so i was confused. Great looking screenshots though

[Ensign.Ricky]

Wow, maybe its just because these are close shots but these look more crisp than the trailer characters. I love that you can add scars too! That builds character. Other things I like are the customizable skin tone, eye color and pupil. I hope the character also has options of how to carry themselves after they've chosen a model. Like if someone has long hair they can wear it tied up or down; Maybe be formal one day and then look over worked the next. Maybe even change facial features. I may want to pull a Riker and grow a beard.

P.S Are those burgundy Uniforms on the top row? :confused:

[fatesoasis]

AWWW another re-run. I've already seen this episode. =( I wish I hadn't ran out to buy the game informer since they're going to feed us the images from it as "new material". The character creation shots are the exact models used in the game informer article.

[ShiXin]

The level of detail in the character faces is amazing. Every strand of hair, the red, bloodshot eyes, the red-to-pink scar tissue, the alien-ness of the non-pupil eyes. . .huge kudos to the designers!

Only thing the new screenies give me pause about is the scale. . .I am really worried that planetary scale isn't going to be conveyed properly.

[Varrangian]

AWWW another re-run. I've already seen this episode. =( I wish I hadn't ran out to buy the game informer since they're going to feed us the images from it as "new material". The character creation shots are the exact models used in the game informer article.

Wrong the one in the lower right is not in the Game Informer Article.

[Adreu]

They look really great...well done! ;)

[ExAstris]

It should be noted that the AA (Anti-Aliasing) is turned way up on those screens so your results might not be quite as nice unless you have a horse of a graphics card. But still, I'd call them a nice mix of graphically impressive but not system heavy on demands. Mass Effect's characters for example look better, but will surely not play as well on as many systems as STO is likely aiming for.

... But the ships in Mass Effect looked fricken terrible :P

[Patrickc]

After seeing all that, i can not wait to play:)

[Barthburger]

Will I be able to have a purple haired human? Because that would be absolutely sweet, even though it breaks canon.

Would it have to break cannon? There are plenty of time's humans have married other races and their kids look different. Just have a back story for your toon to explain the purple hair ;)

[dmckey]

Will I be able to have a purple haired human?

they don't have hair dye in the future? :)

screen shots look awesome thanks, now what we all want eta on release date :D

[Acidrain]

I really like those character models, if those are in game shots iam impressed and i said it before that the others that we saw were only early creations. Though iam really impressed!

[frojoe2004]

they don't have hair dye in the future? :)

screen shots look awesome thanks, now what we all want eta on release date :D

They do, but as a star fleet officer, body modification is against star fleet policy.

ensen Roe Loren had to remove here bajorin ear piece on the enterprise wile in uniform. so I'm sure Star fleet would frown upon died hair.

[Demigod]

Will I be able to have a purple haired human? Because that would be absolutely sweet, even though it breaks canon.

Maybe pointy ears too... :)
/sarcasm_off

[Demigod]

See them in our gallery! (http://www.startrekonline.com/gallery/screenshots)

Very good looking! Almost makes me wish Champions had that look now :)
I remembered the Gorn to be much more "beast-like"... was there a cannon change or is that a creative/technical choice?

[Captain-Picard]

We've added three new screenshots to our gallery! Included is a detailed look at some of the character customization possibilities that will be available in Star Trek Online.

See them in our gallery! (http://www.startrekonline.com/gallery/screenshots)

Thank you.

[Irish-Fury]

Funny all but one of hose characters looks like a 10-14 yr old boy, the other looks like a 10-14 yr old girl, are we seeing the games targeted demographics here?


going by what you said, this would be the Demographic:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Herbert_(Family_Guy).JPG

Hello, Mike Wallace, Dateline NBC...

[Seare]

These are great. Now I would like to see the uniform customization that was talked about.

[player8765k]

Well, I'm impressed. Those character shots were better than I expected. Looking forward to seeing more.

[KirksOtherSon]

I like how the character models are all obvious variations on a baseline female face. It shows, to my eye, that there are a wide array of creation possibilities even for players who choose not to go too far off the default looks. Diversity, even at the "conservative" end of the spectrum, bodes well.

Thank you!

KOS

[KirksOtherSon]

They do, but as a star fleet officer, body modification is against star fleet policy.

ensen Roe Loren had to remove here bajorin ear piece on the enterprise wile in uniform. so I'm sure Star fleet would frown upon died hair.

Respectfully, by 2409 I don't think purple-dyed hair would be considered "body modification" or even anything rebellious. Given all the races and looks out there in the galaxy, it would just be another acceptable variation.

Beverley Crusher "went blonde" in Star Trek: First Contact, after all. Purple hair, by this time, would probably be seen as "just another color".

I wouldn't be surprised if, by 2409, the Bajoran ear pieces are also allowed. Since they are unobtrusive, and also very important to Bajoran social/religious identity, I can see them being accomodated -- the same way Sikh turbans are accomodated by my local police force, here in North America. The earrings are hardly as noticeable as Riker's beard :D

But hey, I've been wrong before ... ;-)

KOS

[hinaito]

Gorgeous! Now I'm even more excited for this game. I loved the character customization screenshot. Very beautiful! SO EXCITED!

[Drugh]

Nice charakters but in my opinion the hair could be improved. Looks a bit like gum yet but if it'll not be improved, I can live with the current quality.

I have to join here. The face, color scheme and eyes are well done. The hair is not good enough. Especially the Vulcan woman in bottom left looks like she wears a Playmobil plastic hair bit. Please give the hair more attention, I really dislike engines which create a "plastic" look.

Apart from that, well done. Can we see animation studies in one of the next videos please? Do you plan to give different species different movements (NOT dances).

[Irish-Fury]

Respectfully, by 2409 I don't think purple-dyed hair would be considered "body modification" or even anything rebellious. Given all the races and looks out there in the galaxy, it would just be another acceptable variation.

Beverley Crusher "went blonde" in Star Trek: First Contact, after all. Purple hair, by this time, would probably be seen as "just another color".

I wouldn't be surprised if, by 2409, the Bajoran ear pieces are also allowed. Since they are unobtrusive, and also very important to Bajoran social/religious identity, I can see them being accomodated -- the same way Sikh turbans are accomodated by my local police force, here in North America. The earrings are hardly as noticeable as Riker's beard :D

But hey, I've been wrong before ... ;-)

KOS

So... Bajorans can't wear their ear-ring, but Worf gets his Baldric? *gasp* double standards!

[Nagilum]

Looks great. I play CoH so if the final version looks anything like the CC in that game I'll be very happy

[Tomkan]

Nice screenshots. Very good, keep the good working friends!

[Hseeker]

Cryptic please dont go to far with higher graphics.
Els your going to have the same mistake as EQ2 where people complain "omg we want uber graphics11one"
And end up with plastic hair barbie dolls that are bland and boring to play...

[Earjork]

very impressive. hope to beable to have facial hair. Riker was always my favorite! :)

[Earjork]

Oh I can't wait to custimize my bridge crew!!!!!

same here!! :D

[Centurian]

~S~

Good job to whoever made these. These are fantastic.

:)

[tehb0rg]

so flipping awesome!!!!!!!

[msbglarry]

I love each new screenshot! Every chance I get to see something from Star Trek Online is appreciated very much! I am awaitning the final release of Star Trek Online with great anticipation, and expectation! It has been so long since I have had a chance to play something like this.
Congrats to Kryptic for this creation, and thank you from all of us. Great work guys!:D

[Wilkie]

Awesome!!!!:D

[headlockman]

Ok the first two pictures look cool, but the pictures of the characters, there Hair looks like the same as from the old davey and goliath show from the 60's . cmon lol, we need a liitle more definition then that :p

[OrabIbo]

I absolutely love the character faces. they are superb. Can't wait to spend hours trying to make my character just right!

With that in mind.... um, we can make male characters right? Cuz, if any of those are men in that screenshot. You make a awful girly man! lol

At least I know Seven of Nine will look perfect!
I'd like to see some of the more exotic styles to. Like the Katarans. But these look great! I planed on making an Andorian anyway.

[OrabIbo]

*Edit!* bah, damn webpage errors!....

You know, I hope there are some serious LOD settings for this game. As I LOVE the detail in the characteres, but it's going to kill a computer that shows several ppl in one area! One can only hope it is as detailed and varied as EQ2 in video settings department. Characters already look far superior than EQ2 though, and this is just the faces!

Oh and Please, please! Let us have video presets that we can change by macro/hot keys. Or make it dynamic so that there are specific video settings for. Interiors, Exteriors, and part/raids. So the graphics will adjust depending on the presets we save! For STO it would be nice to have a Space video setting to.

I ask this, because I tinker far to much with the detail settings so that I can get the maximum amount of graphics my computer can handle in any setting. And as detailed as STO looks, it would be nice to have this feature.

[sniperct]

Awesome, I really like the models, just awesome.

I have but one complaint - the hair sucks. It looks way too plastic and fake, compared to the rest of the model. It's really noticeable on the Andorian and the Vulcan in particular, and it's not as bad on the human. The Klingon-like..thing...also looks really plasticish, hairwise.

Can't wait for beta - my wife and I excel at art-related feedback :D She'd probably be able write a three page post about just what's wrong with that hair(I think that was the size of her critique on hair color and texture saturation in lotro), but would need to have the chargen available to consult :D

Just from what I see there, the hair just looks like plastic, or putty, that just got slapped onto their heads. I'm not sure what needs to be done to fix it. Perhaps more robust textures, and cutting back on specular lighting in the hair.

I really hope it moves, too. Doesn't have to sway or whip around or be all Physics, but a bit of bouncing when moving adds a TON to immersion. A dozen little things like that add up to making the game better - trust me, you notice when stuff like that is missing(especially when you come from another game), because it makes the characters feel less developed and polished.

Same goes for the game world itself, in terms of little fluff and details that flesh it out.

Wonder if the eyes move around in the sockets. Looking around and stuff...that's always awesome in games.

[mirkrim]

Looks great. Only nitpick would be the size of the collars on the character screenshot. The "V" cut seems to reach down to the collarbone instead of connecting at the throat; it has the effect of making the collars look oversized, like dress shirt collars with too much starch.

[OrabIbo]

Awesome, I really like the models, just awesome.

I have but one complaint - the hair sucks. It looks way too plastic and fake, compared to the rest of the model. It's really noticeable on the Andorian and the Vulcan in particular, and it's not as bad on the human. The Klingon-like..thing...also looks really plasticish, hairwise.

Can't wait for beta - my wife and I excel at art-related feedback :D She'd probably be able write a three page post about just what's wrong with that hair(I think that was the size of her critique on hair color and texture saturation in lotro), but would need to have the chargen available to consult :D

Just from what I see there, the hair just looks like plastic, or putty, that just got slapped onto their heads. I'm not sure what needs to be done to fix it. Perhaps more robust textures, and cutting back on specular lighting in the hair.

I really hope it moves, too. Doesn't have to sway or whip around or be all Physics, but a bit of bouncing when moving adds a TON to immersion. A dozen little things like that add up to making the game better - trust me, you notice when stuff like that is missing(especially when you come from another game), because it makes the characters feel less developed and polished.

Same goes for the game world itself, in terms of little fluff and details that flesh it out.

Wonder if the eyes move around in the sockets. Looking around and stuff...that's always awesome in games.

Have to agree with SniperCT, the hair does need an overhaul. Guess I was so smitten by the detail in the face that I overlooked it.

I can see that the edges of the hair needs better alpha blending, and the specular lighting is a bit much. But shiny is how hair is, but the specular highlight is to large. It needs to be smaller and toned down. And using texture layers do wonders for hair. Hair almost need 2 layers of well alpha blended textures to give a soft feel. But what I think would do the most good is a increase in texture resolution, where finer hair strands. Right now they look like greased clumps of hair. And a higher res lightmap/bumpmap would be good.

But I think games could start benefiting from pixel shaded hair.

[landerx74]

Come on guys! They all look alike! Their mouths all make the same expression. Whats up with that? :eek:

[ddgrfn11]

Will I be able to have a purple haired human? Because that would be absolutely sweet, even though it breaks canon.

They dont have hair dye in the future? :eek: hehe

[Greyhawke]

The character creation examples are very nice. I am quite impressed!

Will there be any variations in costume design? I understand there will be fleet uniforms that are likely required, but will there be 'off-duty' outfit possibilities?

[Captain_Intrepid]

The screenshots may not be new (considering the faces, as I understand it, was in the magazine), it's new in terms of being officially posted for the forums.

That way those who don't/can't/unable to get the magazine could still see them.

I'm sure that there will be some screenshots coming our way that'll have their public debut on the forums.

[Captain_Intrepid]

They dont have hair dye in the future? :eek: hehe

For a while, hair dye was considered to be taboo. So people rebelled and thus started the Hair Wars!:eek:

[mach789]

I've got to say, the screens really impressed me. I hope they look just like that at release!

[Collossus]

they look real good but I would like to see some more screens soon, maybe some ship interiors or something.

[Varrangian]

Looking at the character model shot again, I noticed that the Red haired blue skinned Romulan has a teal shirt, not blue like the Vulcan pictured in my avatar. Could this possibly mean we have a choice as to colors for the shirts?

[RockyM]

Wooh yeah baby keep em coming !

[KO_Gilligan]

Woot for Andorians!
QFT = compliments from teh Captains... The Andorian is pure W!N



Funny all but one of hose characters looks like a 10-14 yr old boy, the other looks like a 10-14 yr old girl, are we seeing thegames targeted demographics here?
why so young? don't think we ever saw anyone but that weasly guy in uniform under the age of 25.
IMHO - 5 out of 6 of these characters look a little.......young? Are these fairly early examples of the character models?

^ The Vocal Minority.
If this is all these guys came up with, it's quite possibly the best compliment of all.

Great Job Cryptic

[boshimanu]

nice, but i want to see more trailers from the game, not photos.something to keep me interested in this release.i.m a patient man...but..till when?

[iammacgyver]

Cool characters models. Pitty the other two where in the wallpapers :( All good though, thanks!

[zigzig]

Those screen shot's were the same one we saw in last months game informer

[MrSock]

Nice screens!
The planetary environment is not been compromised for simplicity and fast rendering, the character models are quite simple yet elegant (all have exactly the same ears though, xcept the top left figure, anybody else noticed this?)
The 3D space...
I want a CLOSE UP view on that big asteroid on the left to an angle looking through it towards the planet (sunlight lit asteroid) and a close up view of near the atmosphere of the planet in a few months so I can say that 3D space environment is progressing nicely.

The biggest problem an MMO game project faces is how to find an ingenious base design thus everything that will later emerge as a necessity in the project can fit nicely in the grand scheme.
That's almost impossible depending of circumstances but lets cross fingers that this is not the case with Cryptic's STO project. :)

[MrSock]

QFT = compliments from teh Captains... The Andorian is pure W!N


Quote:
Originally Posted by Falin View Post
Funny all but one of hose characters looks like a 10-14 yr old boy, the other looks like a 10-14 yr old girl, are we seeing thegames targeted demographics here?
why so young? don't think we ever saw anyone but that weasly guy in uniform under the age of 25.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hailing Frequency Zach
IMHO - 5 out of 6 of these characters look a little.......young? Are these fairly early examples of the character models?
^ The Vocal Minority.
If this is all these guys came up with, it's quite possibly the best compliment of all.



^ The Vocal Minority.
If this is all these guys came up with, it's quite possibly the best compliment of all.

Great Job Cryptic

I will give them an educated answer.

If I took both their real life faces and turn them in to 3D CGI, in the first stages of the creation and rendering both would look young. Extremely young. That is how the procedure works.
Now I understand these are early models, and they probably need just that, early non detailed models to test against the base project concept to see what does the trick and what doesn't, what blends nicely etc.
They need not to waste time building full functional, at all ages and stages models for just simple tests, that can always come later after they have decided for a solid project base for everything to connect to.

[MrSock]

Have to agree with SniperCT, the hair does need an overhaul. Guess I was so smitten by the detail in the face that I overlooked it.

I can see that the edges of the hair needs better alpha blending, and the specular lighting is a bit much. But shiny is how hair is, but the specular highlight is to large. It needs to be smaller and toned down. And using texture layers do wonders for hair. Hair almost need 2 layers of well alpha blended textures to give a soft feel. But what I think would do the most good is a increase in texture resolution, where finer hair strands. Right now they look like greased clumps of hair. And a higher res lightmap/bumpmap would be good.

But I think games could start benefiting from pixel shaded hair.

Yes but the general gaming population is not benefiting from what M$ has done with the directx. We have to understand there is a monopoly out there and we cannot have the best outcome at all times.
There could be better solutions and the game design could have picked up tremendously if alternative philosophies existed didn't require all those resources. For the time everyone is happy with this Nvidia is ATI is M$ is, but except us the players, us that we keep all those alive, all of them exist because of us, yet we get very little back. Modelers can't do wonders, they can only work with what tools they have been provided. Also about OpenGL, sadly it has been left behind.

The hair part is a tricky thing in a human model, it can take a lot of resources or it may not regarding the overall background everything is used against. I would prefer less hair detail if it is going to give me a nice rendered full battle scene of epic proportions, any time anywhere in the game engine. I mean the depth and story line is what drives the theme here, not the hair and how they look, or if you can see time displayed accurately in your avatars wrist watch.

[MrSock]

There is one thing they could pay a bit more attention though...

This is a test character, the same girly boy or boyish girl avatar in different races.
They could make the faces follow the faces of original star trek actors. Not in detail, but in a general way they could be made to draw some resemblance to them. This is not difficult and would not require additional time or resources, just you make the model face look a bit different than the generic prototype, instead of the random face model someone intented to make.

For example that girl could be made a bit to look more like the ships female doctor from "The Next Generation" series, at a younger age for example.

That could give a lot of Star Trek character and feeling to these avatars! :)

[blackfx]

Screenshots look great. I really like the red head! (wink wink) Hey, maybe you guys could give me a tour of your studio!

[EternalSoul]

Amazing, loving the character creation. I look forward to one day playing around and making my own species, but I do hope Trill are in there somewhere.

[Quigley]

simply amazing. moar please!

[Starsmoker]

I think the terra shot looked pretty good. I also think the charicters are headed in the right direction, but not quite there yet. Example: look at the chacters in Guild Wars. If we're gonna have 'Mini-Skirts' (go Kirk!) the should look good.

[Minty]

Great pics :D These should put a stop to people complaining about the graphics, and fi they still complain, they should sod right off :)

[serflaten]

It may seem strange, but the first thing I noticed about the character portraits is that all of their lips had a red tint. Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that lips are red because they have more (red) blood near the surface of the skin. But if a character's blood is suposedly green, or blue, or some other color, then that is the color the lips should expose. Having lips tinted red while the charcter has blood of another color is incongruent with the laws of nature....

[Stronin]

Your name is disturbingly close to mine!

*random comment*

[Traynor94]

Wow. Those character models are incredible. If that's how they look in-game... then I will be very, very pleased. :)
Agreed. Those are all incredible screen shots... now I just want to make sure that they release this game for either 360 or PS3 so I don't have to go buy a top of the line Alienware to make it look that good on my screen, lol.

[Vlademir]

I really really like the customization feature...awesome! I also love the screen shots...but if there is something I really want to see is a starship grave yard! That would be awesome! :D

[Eryxx]

Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm certain someone inevitably will,) but aren't the red & green navigation lights on the starships on the wrong sides? Isn't the old saying "red, right passing," meaning the red light is on the RIGHT side (from your perspective) if another ship is passing you? i.e., 2 ships travelling in the same direction should be lit red/green, and passing should be lit green/red.

I thought perhaps the image was just flipped, but the registration markings seem to be correct.

Anyone else notice this? :confused:

[Conman]

i like the eye candy, and i hope they don't break canon. which as much research as they doing they proly wont :D

[Eryxx]

Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm certain someone inevitably will,) but aren't the red & green navigation lights on the starships on the wrong sides? Isn't the old saying "red, right passing," meaning the red light is on the RIGHT side (from your perspective) if another ship is passing you? i.e., 2 ships travelling in the same direction should be lit red/green, and passing should be lit green/red.

I thought perhaps the image was just flipped, but the registration markings seem to be correct.

Anyone else notice this? :confused:

Gah! My apologies, the ships I was referring to are in the Wallpaper section, not the Screenshots. So, though my source was a bit off, my observation still stands.

[CherryTerri]

Cannot wait to see what the Gorn come out as ... (that's my fav race of the Trek series)