Well, with all the hullabaloo on these forums these days, I just wanted to ask ya'll why you did what you do? That is the only question I am asking, and would appreciate if that was the only question you answered. Now, You don't have to post here necessarily, but please ask yourself why. Is it for the challenge, or the skill? Or maybe to fulfill others dreams? Or is it to fulfill your own? Do you do it for praise,or is it for just to do it?
This is my very vain attempt to try to bring this community back together. I hope this will be able to give us all some common ground by going back to our roots and starting fresh.
If you would like to give me flack for this post, I would appreciate if it went through pm. I will not hold anything against you for your opinion.
You have all been a great community and I feel like were family here. Thank you all for your time.
I put the time and effort into VPMAX because I want to make :ffvstr: (as my voice collection is only for that version) as much of a fleshed out experience as possible. So many folks want to hear their favorite character quip lines in combat in a mod or rumble room battle... and I want to share that experience because while I started converting voices with Sledgehammer for ourselves we both wanted to share them with the community as well.
I'm still learning how to skin.. and it's not very pretty work even after a year or so of practice at it. And there is not a single chance that I'll ever mesh anything myself because I don't have the tools or talent for doing it.. simple enough.
- CQ
I download stuff because I enjoy looking at it. I still play FF sometimes, and that's always fun, but most of what I download is skins and meshes these days. I love mods, because I love the stories they tell, and if it's completely original, I love the new characters, powers and world that is created. We have an amazingly talented bunch here, and I love messing around with it. I don't contirubte much, but I have thrown together shooting scripts for LB, which I do because I love to tell stories as much as experience them, and I love to create compelling and interesting characters. I also try to hone my writing skills as much as possible.
When I started skinning I will admit I was looking for some praise. Nowadays praise is nice, but it is not my reason for continuing. I skin for myself. To make me happy. If I can help someone else out with a skin they would like or an avatar design, I am usually more than happy to oblige. Skinning relaxes me to be quite honest. It is a hobby that I enjoy and do not see myself stopping any time soon. I share them in hopes of others finding some kind of happiness with what I've created. Isn't that what this forum is all about?
...a long time ago someone wanted a male basic with a gun...i thought, i can do that. i couldn't actually. but i tried, and made many other things on the way. never did make that male basic with gun.
i will confess. other ppl got bigger than me. i felt i was a star for a while, but my meager skills were overcome. i never feel that i acted on it, but internally i was a diva, and became insanely jealous of ink, Beyonder, tommyboy, vertex. i hated their work. but that wasn't fair. i wanted them to be bad, and for ppl to hate them. i'm glad i never acted on such nasty negative emotions.
I was inspired by Johnny Patches when he first started doing skopes. I couldn't believe some of the stuff he created, like Spider-Woman with wings under her arms on a Vertex mesh or Monica Rambeau's Captain Marvel with an actual afro. So, I figured if he could do it just starting off, so could I... and boy was I wrong. My first skoping attempts were dreadful.
With that inspiration still there, I wanted to contribute to this community because I've received so much from it. So, I decided to turn to skinning. My first skin was Zero.. which I need to redo!.. and I posted it in Blobula's thread and I dug how supportive he was. So then I tried Ten and others from there, with some good support in the community (especially Unkoman, who I will always be grateful to) that led me to continue skinning.
So praise is nice, sure.. who wouldn't enjoy it?.. but I honestly don't skin for that. I like getting people's reactions more about the character being made than how good the skin looks, if that makes any sense. I love comments like, "Oh wow, I love the Suicide Squad too!", or "Holy crap, I always wanted a Fer-de-Lance!", or "Ultraverse was the best!". I'm here because of my love for comics.
Like Billdamn said, it's become a hobby. I just enjoy seeing what I can do and what I can create and it appeases my 12 year old nerdy self who would have loved that I could do this stuff 17 years later.
Well this may not be nice but I am inspired mostly by the epic fail of the forum. I mean seriously, dude. Like there is some major epic fail here.
There I said it.
I download this wonderful stuff then create herofiles and watch my imaginings in action. Either trying to retreat an existing character or more often an original one based on one of the fabulous original skins.. Balancing their powers and stats, getting the right voice it all great fun. I download stuff sometimes just because often I'm just in awe of how cool this stuff that people made.
I download the mods to experience what other people's visions are and add to my own imagination. This community has been an incredible inspiration to my pencil and paper role playing game ( HERO system /Champions) which I've run for over 20 years. Given my RPG game a real Renaissance of inspiration.
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
"Why do I create FF/FFVTR content"
A VERY easy to answer question. :D
Since I was old enough to pick up a pencil I've drawn the characters from comic books. When I was in elementary school I made comic books and sold them to other kids to make enough money to keep buying markers. There hasn't been a day in my life I haven't read a comic book or drawn someone from them. Once day I was surfing the net and discovered the Freedom Force site. There it was... a 3d character viewer, that let me be able to have all those characters move and perform any way I wanted. JOYGASM!!!
I tried desperately to learn to skin, I thought it would be amazingly simple considering my life long hobby. No such luck my brain was far too trained to draw by touch and pressure of a pencil. Couldn't wrap my brain around working through an intermediary instead of directly drawing. Desperate to be able to get in on this I went to meshing, and :thumbup: my very limited experience in pottery and modeling in clay came in handy .. this I could do. :lol:
As far as why I release material, I do it because I couldn't imagine not sharing these meshes with others who can't make them for whatever reason. I can see myself sitting at a computer seeing all the great "preview" posts and thinking oh my gawd I want that... and then seeing the guy say.. sorry I don't release this material because of all the copyright laws and possible ways this could come back on me. I do it not only for my own love of the comic book world genre.. but because I know other people are just as devoted to it as I was as a small child.. and still am.
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 01:40:40 AM
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
So meshes, fxs, and skin are 1%?
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:16:11 AM
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 01:40:40 AM
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
So meshes, fxs, and skin are 1%?
now now AA the guy had an agenda to push so let him be.
i can't speak for him, but i like to think he meant modifications to the game. which is all inclusive. i don't think there was an agenda.
that being said, being a washed up mesher consider the modmakers important.
and following the topic, i also made meshes because it was a thrill to see them in other ppl's mods, rare as it was.
geese im touched, i inspired somebody ;) i been a member for along time.. forgot my orignal name password then my email was changed that didnt help much.. and skopes i know isnt really the creator, the real creators are the meshers. like Tommyboy, Vertex, ren,gren,ink,gni,ips,ect,ect.sorry a big list man
nifskope to me is like a generic version of max with out animations,me as a skoper i do keep in mind this is not my work it is somebody else's im just adding & updated to my version make it what i want it too look like. plus is the peeps i have around when i work on things, the love of the game..maken it come alive and true. ive collected every skin i could find.. and every mod i cold get my grubby hands on.. :thumbup: i had my try at skinning.. i can skin but not fantastic.. i try to give back what was give to me.. i know corny guys
Quote from: bearded on January 24, 2009, 02:26:35 AM
i can't speak for him, but i like to think he meant modifications to the game. which is all inclusive. i don't think there was an agenda.
that being said, being a washed up mesher consider the modmakers important.
and following the topic, i also made meshes because it was a thrill to see them in other ppl's mods, rare as it was.
ack I think you might be correct on that one.. sadly I retract that comment although I actually meant stop hassling about it honestly.
I love superhero comics. I have since I could first read. There were no computer games when I was growing up (in the age of Dinosaurs), and no superhero ones even when I had "grown up". Then there were a few, but mostly pretty poor, or very limited in scope.
Then I found FF, a computer game that allowed any superhero character to be faithfully created and played, and I wanted every character I had ever read about, to play with, and make my own little stories with, within the game. I wanted what I'd wanted since I was six. So I downloaded everything I could.
Then I wanted to make the stuff nobody else had yet made, and then to make my own take on what others had already made, then just to make stuff. I had re-connected with my creative impulse, and still enjoy that on it's own terms.
I download less stuff now, and make less stuff, and play FF less. But I value all three still. All three are little gems within my life, and have been for quite a long time now.
I'll still do all three, I think, even if only a little, because of the great pleasure I've been given by all three.
I do it because I like it.
I create for the challenge and to make something to play with. I share it 'cause I have this crazy thought in my head that a couple others might actually want to play with it too. Like my mother always said, "Sharing is caring." :D
Quote from: murs47 on January 24, 2009, 02:57:23 AM
I create for the challenge and to make something to play with. I share it 'cause I have this crazy thought in my head that a couple others might actually want to play with it too. Like my mother always said, "Sharing is caring." :D
...who are you? Who. Are. You?
Quote from: bearded on January 24, 2009, 12:02:30 AM
...a long time ago someone wanted a male basic with a gun...i thought, i can do that. i couldn't actually. but i tried, and made many other things on the way. never did make that male basic with gun.
i will confess. other ppl got bigger than me. i felt i was a star for a while, but my meager skills were overcome. i never feel that i acted on it, but internally i was a diva, and became insanely jealous of ink, Beyonder, tommyboy, vertex. i hated their work. but that wasn't fair. i wanted them to be bad, and for ppl to hate them. i'm glad i never acted on such nasty negative emotions.
i have been told that i have been misunderstood on these remarks. please, i will try to clarify. i don't speak as well as some. forgive me.
the negative emotions i felt were my own hubris, and i overcame them. i did not stop meshing because of this. i made a few meshes of higher quality due to the higher standard. but my time is not my own now, and have less time to work.
and i no longer feel that way toward these ppl, they are great ppl. i was simply trying to reveal some of my own internal nastiness which i overcame. it was a maturity journey i made, all on my own, that i was trying to share here. i'm sorry it was misunderstood.
1. To get some of my favorite obscure/goofy characters into the game. If I don't make 'em, who will?
2. The challenge of seeing how close I can get to 100% authenticity with the tools we have available.
3. And yes, it's fun to show off the finished product and have someone say "Nice job!".
well, i'm gonna age myself here.
i'm going to be 40 years old in a few months, and i've read comic books for 30-plus years of my life.
i enjoy good guys vs. bad guys, with the good guys winning. so when i found the original game and then the FR community, and then folks started actually making characters...well, i was set.
i've been around this community for a long time, had a few requests filled for which i've always been grateful, been amazed at the early work of the people who got started, then watched in awe as their skills, the game itself, and the tools to even modify the game got more advanced -- i'll tell you, some of those old-school hexxers would've absolutely went to town with NifSkope. what they did without it was unbelievable to begin with.
but i digress.
i stay here now because of all the talented people here who create things. i download them and view them in CTool, maybe take them for a spin in the Rumble Room if i have a minute and can get the hero files/AI relatively right -- trust me, if you've collected for as long as i have, you have to be anal about the characters, so there's nothing quite like getting an AI to match what you think.
over the last couple of days, i've been a little saddened to see all of the fighting going on. as a fan of everybody who's ever released anything here, it's tough to see.
i've thought this community was going to fade away a couple of times, but still, it remains. somehow, someway, someone learns how to skin or hex, and they try to produce new/updated content. or sometimes, the old-schoolers will return, guns blazing, with a ton of new stuff.
so, i'm hopeful that this stretch of negativity passes, and we find ourselves in an age of releases and creator satisfaction again. because everybody here is talented, who's ever released anything. hopefully, you guys will find the energy to do so again.
I like action figures and comics, and Freedom Force is the closest thing to bringing both to life.
Quote from: The Hitman on January 24, 2009, 02:13:28 PM
I like action figures and comics, and Freedom Force is the closest thing to bringing both to life.
Do you mind if I use this instead of the whole "this forum is full of epic fail" comment? It sounds nicer and it is who I actually feel.
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:25:46 PM
Quote from: The Hitman on January 24, 2009, 02:13:28 PM
I like action figures and comics, and Freedom Force is the closest thing to bringing both to life.
Do you mind if I use this instead of the whole "this forum is full of epic fail" comment? It sounds nicer and it is who I actually feel.
.... who are you running around feeling??? :blink:
Quote from: Vertex on January 24, 2009, 02:29:04 PM
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:25:46 PM
Quote from: The Hitman on January 24, 2009, 02:13:28 PM
I like action figures and comics, and Freedom Force is the closest thing to bringing both to life.
Do you mind if I use this instead of the whole "this forum is full of epic fail" comment? It sounds nicer and it is who I actually feel.
.... who are you running around feeling??? :blink:
Superman...mostly but I'd settle for Wolverine when I'm drunk.
I make stuff I want to use or at least see.
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:16:11 AM
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 01:40:40 AM
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
So meshes, fxs, and skin are 1%?
No silly I'm including all that in modding.
Quote from: Vertex on January 24, 2009, 02:17:23 AM
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:16:11 AM
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 01:40:40 AM
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
So meshes, fxs, and skin are 1%?
now now AA the guy had an agenda to push so let him be.
Sorry , I thought it was understood modding including all of the rest under its umbrella. If my agenda is this community has give the most pleasure , I'm guilty. Other wise ,??????
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 03:04:16 PM
Quote from: Vertex on January 24, 2009, 02:17:23 AM
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 24, 2009, 02:16:11 AM
Quote from: steamteck on January 24, 2009, 01:40:40 AM
No other PC game ( even Oblivion/Morrowind with it s modding community) has given a 10th as much enjoyment as freedom Force. 99% because of the mods.
So meshes, fxs, and skin are 1%?
now now AA the guy had an agenda to push so let him be.
Sorry , I thought it was understood modding including all of the rest under its umbrella. If my agenda is this community has give the most pleasure , I'm guilty. Other wise ,??????
lol sorry at the time it wasn't a nice place and I was actually trying to say (in a completely horrible way) it was better to let it all drop with such a comment. I later corrected myself and awkwardly tried to bow out gracefully but karma has a way of catching up to a person :rolleyes:
I knew what you meant Steamteck, I was just being a smart arse.
I make mods to see my stories told and the reactions to said stories. I've also made them as gifts and, back when FFVTTR came out, to help fill the void since FFVTTR had nothing back then.
I make FX to help fill other voids. They also challenge me a bit and are pretty quick to do several in succession. They usually come in random patches and usually correlate with whatever mod I'm working on at the time...if you haven't caught onto the pattern yet.
Ultimately, everything I do for this game is to improve myself in some way. It's probably more noticeable in the mod/story area, but I typically refuse to do a project if I don't see myself improving from it (mod-wise)...unless I'm having random bouts of niceness. And by random, I mean rare...and by rare, I mean almost never. ^^
Like many who are still here, I create content because it is an enjoyable hobby. I tend to only get feedback, some of it downright hostile, when someone is having problems with one of my tools, but I'm not bothered by it and I do my best to help out.
I did the AI, the rumble room mods, EZ script, the tools and all the rest because when I get a custom character's AI working the way I want, or can fire off a story and see it come to life in the game, it's damned cool.
I want others to be able to experience that.
When I was working on the AI, amidst all the endless coding I created a speedster character. After a few AI tweaks I pitted myself against it in the game. It kicked my arse. And it was damned cool.
After some time away, I can still write up a quick mission in EZ Script, generate the captions and load it up. Even though I can practically see the code running, and every flaw and problem is painfully obvious to me, when the cutscene kicks in, the talking heads show up, kuertee's camera does its voodoo and then the action starts... the magic is still there.
And, you guessed it, it's damned cool.
I create stuff and download it for fun. If it ain't fun, why do it?
That, and nobody would do a Popeye mesh, so I did my own.
simply put i'm a selfish git, i knew other wouldn't do the characters i wanted so i might as well do them myself
Sounds exactly like what a lot of us are saying about ourselves, TUE. ;)
well in my case don't care if anybody has done them or not.. heck I don't care if I've done them already .. I feel compelled, driven, obsessed to get them all a done by me as well as I possibly can.
Quote from: Vertex on January 25, 2009, 12:11:07 AM
well in my case don't care if anybody has done them or not.. heck I don't care if I've done them already .. I feel compelled, driven, obsessed to get them all a done by me as well as I possibly can.
AMEN.
I stated this somewhere before but I mostly skin to express my enjoyment of comics I'm enjoying. That's why you tend to see mostly newer characters/costumes from me.
Quote from: Vertex on January 25, 2009, 12:11:07 AM
well in my case don't care if anybody has done them or not.. heck I don't care if I've done them already .. I feel compelled, driven, obsessed to get them all a done by me as well as I possibly can.
Ha, I'm just the opposite... I consider my skins "placeholders" until something better comes along. As soon as AA released his NextWave skins, mine went right into the Recycle Bin. :lol:
I do what I do here for two reasons. The easiest way to say it is to steal Vamp's own words.
"You have all been a great community and I feel like were family here."
And to Vamp.......flak, flak, flak. Too lazy to PM ya. :lol:
~Z23~
I started because I wanted to learn something new, I continued because I wanted to at least give a little back to all the people that have been so patient with me. I would like to continue, but that's assuming I'm allowed to start over.
Quote from: Cyber Burn on January 28, 2009, 02:14:54 AM
I started because I wanted to learn something new, I continued because I wanted to at least give a little back to all the people that have been so patient with me. I would like to continue, but that's assuming I'm allowed to start over.
I hereby give you permission.. begin!
Well, I'm here cause I lost a bet... ;)
Before all the stuff that went down on this forum, I would have said I skin for myself (because that is what I felt) but I think I might actually skin for everyone here. I create in the hope people will enjoy what I made and honestly I don't think that is such a bad thing.
Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 28, 2009, 04:07:22 AM
Before all the stuff that went down on this forum, I would have said I skin for myself (because that is what I felt) but I think I might actually skin for everyone here. I create in the hope people will enjoy what I made and honestly I don't think that is such a bad thing.
Sounds like a good reason to me.
I have made content (maps, skins, hexes, etc...) for both :ff: and :ffvstr:, now I just make content (including mods) for :ffvstr: I'd like to move forward as much as can be done with a game that hasn't much chance of a continuance (we are the only future this game may ever have).
I do it to see things I want to see in FF...Like characters I enjoy being brought to "life" and places that I can imagine or throw together to be used as battlefields...I also do it to give back to the community that has given me so many hours of fun and adventure. This is the only game I play, as I'm not much of a gamer...I really love this community and even when I don't get feedback for my maps, skins, etc...I still make them, because they make me happy. That was probably mushy, but I really don't give a crap.
Dana
I used to do it because there were offbeat characters that I wanted to see skinned, as JKC said "if I don't who will."
I got about a third of the way through my to-do list.
My skinning style fell out of vogue. FFv3R left me cold.
Now I skin for myself, and only rarely do I download anything.