Unathi Male/Female Face Distinction

[BurgerBB]

It always bothered me that males and females use the exact same facial sprites. It seems like almost always females would get confused for males, and vice versa. I propose a change to the male sprite to look more fuckable masculine so that there are actual differences people can spot.

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Top one is male, bottom one is female. Males look more fuller, and masculine, while females are the original sprite and look lithe and feminine.

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There will be drawbacks, however. Facial sprites will need to be redone; facial spikes will need to be limited to males only and re-sprited to fit the new facial structure. If the loredevs don't like this, then I could always convert it into a cosmetic option.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The lack of facial dimorphism and the ease at which male and female unathi can be confused for one another was turned into an intentional design choice. Humans confusing unathi genders without close examination (shift clicking) is a nice, small use of culture shock. >

What does it look like on the sprites for front and back

[BurgerBB]

The lack of facial dimorphism and the ease at which male and female unathi can be confused for one another was turned into an intentional design choice. Humans confusing unathi genders without close examination (shift clicking) is a nice, small use of culture shock. >

What does it look like on the sprites for front and back

 

I have not designed the sprites for front and back yet. I just want approval first because I had a filly you'd be iffy on facial dimorphism.

Edit: here is a rough design.

 

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

idk id need some time to think on it. unathi's lack of dimorphism gives them a good reason to not have our same concepts about it. a lot of unathi try to show their gender through their horn styles, clothing, and color schemes, and even then people can refer to them wrong. unathi having their different outlook on gender also makes it easier for them to shift their gender identity to the other side without having to really do a lot outside taking on the responsibilities and expectations of their new role within society.

Thats a whole lot of baggage over head sprites and I might just be delirious, but a long time ago I noticed their really similar sprites and that's where we ended up.

lets see where my unathi fams are at. if no one else agrees then sure make the boys more macho macho man

[SleepyWolf]

can we see this head in action? on a body?

[Bauser]

I foresee this causing some problems with sprite inconsistencies for headwear/masks, as well. At a distance (e.g. native 32x32 game resolution), the visual distinction will still be near-zero, such that it would still be easier to tell gender by examining the person. Finally, it assumes every male Unathi will look like a typical male Unathi, and that every female Unathi will look like a typical female Unathi, instead of leaving those choices up to flavor text (read: no lizard traps???).

-1

[BurgerBB]

>someome giving a -1 because it respects the loredev's wishes of still being hard to determine gender at a glance, as well as making it harder to create unathi traps

absolute state of aurora

[BurgerBB]

https://imgur.com/a/OPNvjkc

What it looks like in game. I thinbk it looks a little derpy but the shading can be tweaked to make it look more fearsome.

[Doxxmedearly]

Facial sprites will need to be redone; facial spikes will need to be limited to males only

Do you mean the spikes in the "Facial" menu? There are already zero options for female Unathi here besides "Shaved," so unless I'm mistaken, this is already limited.

I see JB's points and definitely can agree, but also this is a pretty subtle change, and I'm positive like 80% of the people who speak before shift-clicking will still confuse the genders of weird lizard aliens. I think a subtle shift in male faces is a neat move.

[Kaed]

Yeah sorry, I don't really care for it. I don't really have a strong opinion on gender dimorphism, but I think the sprite you came up with looks really freaking ugly.

I also don't think it's a good idea to lock certain face or horn designs behind a gender because that restricts player options. This sort of thing should be moderated not mechanically enforced.

[BurgerBB]

Yeah sorry, I don't really care for it. I don't really have a strong opinion on gender dimorphism, but I think the sprite you came up with looks really freaking ugly.

I also don't think it's a good idea to lock certain face or horn designs behind a gender because that restricts player options. This sort of thing should be moderated not mechanically enforced.

 

It's a WIP sprite to prove concept. Do you have an issue with the concept or not?

[SleepyWolf]

i actually REALLY enjoy the facial sprite concept! And on thinking about it, Unathi having actual defined differences with gender dimorphism makes sense. i would endorse this because i want to endorse this because - almost all characters in our setting fit to the different genders. a girl SHOULD try hard to be buffer looking, but she's still not AS buff as her awesome Square Faced Monster Dad. if you look at fanart people have, the girls always have the beautiful snakey faces while the guys all have alligator vore mouths. i think that the sprites make sense in our setting and we shouldn't be afraid of this change.

i DO have a question though, will we have to change gas masks and shit to fit the masculine face properly? Also, is it possible we can just ... add this to the 'Body Colouring' area, whatever it is - the area where you just slap on the stripped shit. maybe even restrict it to just males.

[Kaed]

while the guys all have alligator vore mouths.

 

Sleepy plz

You're killing me RN

I guess it would make a bit more sense for the different face shapes to be an optional addition to the character if they're male. Otherwise he would be like giving every male character a chiseled Jaw. Unnecessary.

[BurgerBB]

i actually REALLY enjoy the facial sprite concept! And on thinking about it, Unathi having actual defined differences with gender dimorphism makes sense. i would endorse this because i want to endorse this because - almost all characters in our setting fit to the different genders. a girl SHOULD try hard to be buffer looking, but she's still not AS buff as her awesome Square Faced Monster Dad. if you look at fanart people have, the girls always have the beautiful snakey faces while the guys all have alligator vore mouths. i think that the sprites make sense in our setting and we shouldn't be afraid of this change.

i DO have a question though, will we have to change gas masks and shit to fit the masculine face properly? Also, is it possible we can just ... add this to the 'Body Colouring' area, whatever it is - the area where you just slap on the stripped shit. maybe even restrict it to just males.

 

The gas masks I tested fit perfectly. Masks weren't meant to be skin-tight, so most of the gas masks actually cover up the new design. And I was actually going to do the optional body coloring thing as a backup if Jackboot wasn't comfortable with this change.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

i actually REALLY enjoy the facial sprite concept! And on thinking about it, Unathi having actual defined differences with gender dimorphism makes sense. i would endorse this because i want to endorse this because - almost all characters in our setting fit to the different genders. a girl SHOULD try hard to be buffer looking, but she's still not AS buff as her awesome Square Faced Monster Dad. if you look at fanart people have, the girls always have the beautiful snakey faces while the guys all have alligator vore mouths. i think that the sprites make sense in our setting and we shouldn't be afraid of this change.

i DO have a question though, will we have to change gas masks and shit to fit the masculine face properly? Also, is it possible we can just ... add this to the 'Body Colouring' area, whatever it is - the area where you just slap on the stripped shit. maybe even restrict it to just males.

 

The gas masks I tested fit perfectly. Masks weren't meant to be skin-tight, so most of the gas masks actually cover up the new design. And I was actually going to do the optional body coloring thing as a backup if Jackboot wasn't comfortable with this change.

 

how about we make it an option in character creation so you can choose whether or not to have the chiselled chin of Adonis?

[Bauser]

>someome giving a -1 because it respects the loredev's wishes of still being hard to determine gender at a glance, as well as making it harder to create unathi traps

absolute state of aurora

 

Yeah well I don't answer to lore devs. So if you're going to try enforcing a specific flavor onto everyone's characters, I'm gonna say you're full of it. Variations in character sprites should remain under the control of players so that players can define their characters. Should we go ahead and give male human sprites wider shoulders, so you can tell "at a glance?" Because shift-clicking on someone is apparently hard?

Blue Unathi are supposed to be really rare, too, but we've already got multiple of those. But a man lizard who doesn't look like a manly man lizard should - that's where we're drawing the line?

EDIT: I like Jackboot's suggestion of making it an option, for the above reasons.

[BurgerBB]

i love this new shift clicking meme, that's not the actual point of why I think this is needed but memes are impossible to stop no matter how wrong they are

[Scheveningen]

not quite my fault that people take memes too seriously.

I don't mind the attempt for at least a bit of sexual dimorphism. It is a subtle change, if anything (which makes it less justifiable to be particularly bothered by it), and I would expect the males of the Unathi species to be a bit more gaunt and wider-looking than the females of their race. So this is a fine change.

[Bauser]

Burger, one person making a critique of your change is not a meme. And calling that critique a meme does not affect its validity as a critique. Your stated purpose for this change is "to respect the lore devs' wishes," but even the lore master isn't onboard with it (unless you make it optional, in which case I'd also support it).

Furthermore (RE: Kaed finding the sprite ugly), getting approval for the concept alone is no good if the actual sprites you end up making aren't liked. Because if this is implemented, it's not just the concept we'll be forced to look at.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, you calling my observation a meme is especially stupid considering your response to my first comment was a greentext attempt followed by just the phrase "the absolute state of Aurora"

Literally a meme

Grow up

Edited June 5, 2018 by Guest

[geeves]

implying the unathi devs aren't meming themselves, the plot is thick, young human

[Doxxmedearly]

how about we make it an option in character creation so you can choose whether or not to have the chiselled chin of Adonis?

 

I think this is the best approach. More options for character creation are always welcome.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

implying the unathi devs aren't meming themselves, the plot is thick, young human

 

This is probably number 4 on the top 10 list of ways to have everything you say thrown out. Please come to suggestions with good faith arguments.

[BurgerBB]

Burger, one person making a critique of your change is not a meme. And calling that critique a meme does not affect its validity as a critique. Your stated purpose for this change is "to respect the lore devs' wishes," but even the lore master isn't onboard with it (unless you make it optional, in which case I'd also support it).

Furthermore (RE: Kaed finding the sprite ugly), getting approval for the concept alone is no good if the actual sprites you end up making aren't liked. Because if this is implemented, it's not just the concept we'll be forced to look at.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, you calling my observation a meme is especially stupid considering your response to my first comment was a greentext attempt followed by just the phrase "the absolute state of Aurora"

Literally a meme

Grow up

 

there are good memes and bad memes

saying that we shouldn't add differing features for unathi because it would allow for less traps is a good meme

saying that we shouldn't add differing features for unathi because people could just shift click them anyway is a bad meme

ignoring a shitty oversight just because it can be fixed by a simple mechanic isn't good game design and also a bad meme

when making a suggestion in the suggestions forum, you can either choose between submitting a full product, everything coded, and risking you ending up wasting your time because it's rejected by the community for mostly arbitrary reasons, or choosing to submit a partial product that's incomplete, but still rejected by the community because they don't understand the concept of what a WIP is.

[Bauser]

As indicated by the fact that I welcome its addition as an option, it's obviously not just "adding differing features" that I'm opposed to. And saying otherwise shows either a misunderstanding or a willful ignorance of that. Choosing those features for players instead of allowing them to choose - now that's a bad meme.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Application denied. I dont want a developer with your behavior touching anything in my lane. Not having my species associated with your behavior.

Context provided in attachments.