Finally, a Design I'm Proud Of

maatmons

I've made many costumes. Most of them were junked shortly thereafter. Even the ones I was ultimately satisfied with were nothing I felt like showing off. I'm pretty happy with this one though. (Now I've probably guilted everyone into saying nice things. Excellent.)





I like this patchwork approach to artificial limbs much better than the options that are built in.

It's too bad the back of the right boot is bump-mapped that way. When set to metal, it looks like it's been dinged up very badly. That's the only boot I've found that does a passable job of looking like it conjoins to the thigh piece too. Almost everything else is too short.

I don't think the tubing on the arms actually has a metallic sheen to it. I tried to color it like rubber tubing, but some of it's linked directly to a part of the bracer I really don't want to make black.

Those limbs ruled out a lot of costume options. As I'm imagining her, she likes to show off her cybernetics whenever possible. (She made them herself.) Really, she should be wearing a jacket with one sleeve removed and pants with one leg cropped down to shorts length. The game doesn't have anything even remotely like that though. I did eventually manage to find something that shows off her handiwork and also captures the punk aesthetic I wanted. (Cyber and punk? Surely that's a completely original medley and not an entire genera.)




Here she is with her weapon out. I like to imagine it's generated by a mechanism inside the arm. None of that power-of-the-mind nonsense on this technologically-enhanced character.

I just can't quite get the glow of the sword to match the glow on the costume. I wish it didn't get so white.




Why is this power called Jet Boots when those are clearly rocket boots? Rockets and jets are nothing alike.

At least it matches the sword fairly well.

carrionbaggage

Looks good! The tech works very well with the ego blade, and I like how you limited the cybernetics to a few select pieces.

maatmons wrote: »

Really, she should be wearing a jacket with one sleeve removed and pants with one leg cropped down to shorts length. The game doesn't have anything even remotely like that though.

I took a crack at using some "fake skin" tricks to simulate what you mentioned. I don't want to clog up your thread with unapproved pictures, so here's some links:

TURNAROUND LINK
COSTUME FILE LINK

Is that close to what you imagined? If you have any questions, let me know.


*EDITED NOTE: I used the Stars 10 pattern on the legs, but Halves accomplishes the same effect without involving a purchased pack. The Jester chest pattern can be set to either Tight (fake skin) or Skin (actual skin).*

maatmons

carrionbaggage wrote: »

Looks good! The tech works very well with the ego blade, and I like how you limited the cybernetics to a few select pieces.

Thanks. I have a rough idea of a backstory where she gets injured and has regular prostetics installed. I figure she eventually took to tinkering with them and then to designing her own. It's a hobby and form of self-expression for her. Sort of a cross between how some people modify cars and how others get tattoos and piercings.

I've considered making the accident that cost her an arm and a leg automotive in nature. Then she could use her fame from superhero-ing to campaign for improved road safety. “Remember not to run out into the street kids. Otherwise you could wind up with awesome robo-limbs like me. Did I mention this one has a laser-sword built in?”

I originally wasn't going to have any cybernetics on the left leg. I added the foot because I wanted to take the jet boots power. It bothered me a little at first that the boot I liked for the left leg was bulkier than the boot I liked for the right leg. I eventually decided it had to be wider because it had a lot less height and had to fit in the same propulsion system.

I'm not entirely happy with jet boots though. If you don't have the “always face forward” option checked, flying up looks goofy until you hit full speed. That's the same with any flight power, actually. If I drop jet boots, she'll miraculously regrow her foot. Or rather, experience a retcon.

carrionbaggage wrote: »

I took a crack at using some "fake skin" tricks to simulate what you mentioned.

Thanks, but I think I'll just give up on the modified street clothes angle. I'll keep those options in mind if I try to work up a tights-based costume though.

It looks like you fell victim to something that plagued me while constructing this. The glow slider keep resetting to zero if you so much as bring up the color options.

I see you used the other pattern option on the right boot. I might not have actually looked at that when designing this costume. The calf does look better. I might change to that.

Clever use of the cosmic knight foot accessory. It does clip ever-so-slightly through the front of the ankle when she stands certain ways though.

maatmons

So, just an update. I decided to incorporate Laser Knight into my build. I modified the costume to suit this.





The Tesla bracer got changed to be the mechanism that projects the shield. I used this costume for awhile, but I just think it has too many cybernetic parts. Each part doesn't seem as special when there are so many of them. I decided to dial the prosthetics back down.





Here's the current version. I decided to make do with Elusive Monk. It doesn't demand anything in particular of the outfit. Though I do hate the glowy thing that appears when I actually block with Parry.

You may also notice that the left foot is now flesh and blood. I had to ditch Jet Boots as a travel power for this to make sense, but I find flight powers slow anyway. It was really hard to get the one boot to be metal and the other one to be leather. I don't know if this used to be the case, but the game really doesn't want to let a character's boots be two different materials. The only way I managed it was to pick boots that don't have any of the same options for materials. I couldn't use the old costume piece on the right leg, but I think I like the new one better. I didn't have it unlocked back when I made the original version, and I probably wouldn't have looked into different boots if the material issue hadn't forced me to.

I'm experimenting with having Bountiful Chi Resurgence bound to the same button as Ego Weaponry, which I use constantly. I wind up refreshing BCR every 10 seconds while I spam EW. I wind up getting lots of energy from Ego Reverberation and Form of the Tempest. I can keep both powers going constantly without even having my energy builder active. I just wish I didn't have to look at the glowy thing overlaying my torso.

It would be nice if more powers had different options for the visuals. An "off" option would be especially welcome for some powers. I once had a character who briefly had Inertial Dampening Field. I just couldn't stand the blinking.

maatmons

I decided to try my hand at drawing her.



I picked this pose so I could draw the zipper on her outfit. I had been trying to figure out how that weird bikini-thing would actually work. Eventually, I realized it could be completely straightforward.