Brawl Mod with Completely Original Characters

[NiTeShade]

I've been lurking these forums for a while now, and it's really nice to see how far Brawl hacking has advanced. That being said, I'm a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be any interest in a project replacing all characters with entirely original characters.

To clarify: I don't mean a fan-character - or a character from an existing universe. I mean a character someone came up with on their own.

Investing some time in a project like this seems like great practice. There's 3d-modeling, UV-mapping, texturing, and rigging involved. There's also the planning stages, like sketching a character and fleshing out their back-story. There could even be sound design or voice acting, as it's possible to replace sounds.

Anyway, it was just a thought I had. It'd be nice to see something like this.

[Dragoon Fighter]

Actually there is a PSA package floating somewhere around in the vault called cross generations, which is similar to what your talking about, but all the characters are not original like you to want as most of them are already from an existing universe. For example characters like Shadow, Zero, Goku, ect.

Personally given Phantom Wings clone engine I would love to see the cross generations concept revisited and have the PSA's replace not only the original characters, but fill out all 100 character slots with nothing, but PSA's. That is just me however.

[NiTeShade]

Yeah, I've seen a few of the packs replacing most characters with PSA's. Those are pretty interesting, but I've only come across a few PSA's in those packs that maybe seem like fun additions to the roster.

I'd sort of like to do something like this, if it were loosely organized - as in, anybody (or group) could work on their own characters and submit it to some sort of project lead (preferably, not myself) who would take care of the CSS and overall appearance of the project. I'm currently working on some other projects of my own, but it'd still be nice if there were a thread for something like that.

I'll maybe shelve this idea for a future thread in Project Concepts - unless someone else does it first 

[kanjaroo]

Well, you see, those were the first PSA's made rly. Ppl made personal renditions of brawl's characters when PSA first came out. Throwing together a bunch of elements, giving Ganon a sword and calling him some sort of dark knight, making certain characters gods with fancy names. The thing is, nobody really has the dexterity to expand on the complicated procedure of making a character they themselves just thought of out of thin air.

A lot of ppl make custom PSA's and custom vertexes to make unique characters. Take this guy for example: (WARNING THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY [censored]ING CREEPY)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA7aJyJ8ZN0

HOWEVER, a lot of the community wasn't interested in adding something random to their roster unless, of course, it was REALLY good (a good example is Raptor). Brawl hacking has been a strive for perfection since '09- ppl have wanted to play as legit brand new characters with their friends. Characters just like any other in the game and without repercussions to the game itself, which is why we sought out a clone engine. Anyone could've made their own swordsman with his own unique appearance. BUT, who would want this guy if it meant taking out Marth (the clone engine WAS just recently made anyway)? The hackers would only put so effort the best effort into something guaranteed worth the replacement of a character for a new character. It got to the point where we were like "if we're gonna have to replace characters for new ones, let's make some GOOD new ones!"

The character they made had to be more awesome and memorable than the character they'd be replacing. When they realized this is when they stopped working on individual scratch made characters and started working in groups for truly perfect worthwhile replacements like Shadow over Sonic and Roy over Marth as opposed to Yellow the Hedgehog over Sonic and Clemence the Water Knight over Marth. The concepts are for EVERYONE to expand on, get hyped on, and overall just enjoy to make the process of making something perfect- which, like I said, is what ppl want- a whole lot easier. Brawl hacking's complicated so it's always been best for us to work together to make the most of a template as a team that has similar video gaming interests. Besides, random things in the community are a lot less likely to be recognized and appreciated bcuz we lack a familiarity with them. There are plenty of custom characters on here, just search the vault with the PSA criteria and scroll for a while and you'll find them. Also, not everyone's interested in writing a backstory. Ppl like me just wanna see some badass moves.

Overall, if we had the clone engine a while back, then I'm sure personal characters would be a thing. Heck, if ppl stick to Brawl hacking and our tools get even better in the future, it might become a more expanded upon thing where new characters have backstories, reasons behind fighting style, characterizations, etc.

[NiTeShade]

*Snip* (WARNING THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY [censored]ING CREEPY)

The video was indeed disturbing. The warning was a good call.

Ah, I think those were good points. It's easier to work on something guaranteed to be well received, as opposed to something nobody would relate to. That being said, I still think an original character can be somewhat successful, like "Wisp" - who isn't necessarily from an existing game series. As for badass moves, I have to agree. 

Then again, I can also appreciate the dedication it takes to make a PSA with custom animations and such. Even if I don't find the character interesting, if it's done really well, I'll probably try it out. D:

[Mr.Misfortune]

That was such a beautiful PSA..so well done.. I'm going to totally agree with you. I would love to see something original come into play. I think it's been a long time coming and I personally could contribute something to this project. I have an OC that was made and I'm willing to do voices for and help write the backstories and such for him and everything else in this game. Back to that guy though..just..awesome..

[Wulfbang Meow]

Man as much as id love my OC to be in brawl, there are A LOT of things you have to do to make this dream come true.. and i mean if you REALLY want a complete character, you gotta do more than just what your talking about..

Concept Work - coming up with the ideas is easy, putting them to paper is not so easy..

Modeling - making a brawl quality model that fits in with the other characters..

Textures - not just one, usually a character has at least 5 different colors, one for his original texture, then 4 more for team colors.. then if you have alternate costumes for your character that you've modeled, you have to texture those too.

Rigging - rigging your model as close to a brawl character will probably make your life easier.. but harder at the same time..

Rough Animations and PSA - where you get the character to play the way you want to and actually be fun, the animations dont have to be stellar at this point as some of your attack ideas might work and some might not.

Final Smash work and detailed PSA - were talkin graphic effects here, lucario's aura, fox's lazer beam, mario's fireball, etc. etc. The final smash shouldnt be a lame clone of someone else's FS (three landmasters.. really?)

Animation Details and Voice-over - now that your attacks are finalized, you can begin animating those moves to fit in with the rest of the crew. strong, fluent, natural animation is key. then comes the voice for said moves.. all those "KYAH!" , "TOH"'s , and "GUAH"'s.. not just "IM THE GREATEST CHAMPION EVER!" and "GUN FLAME!"..

Working out the bugs - Metal materials, final smash eyes, does your character blink? hurt eyes, all the stuff that makes good quality imports.

Great, you have your complete character that feels good to have in smash brothers and feels like he was made in the game.. or do you?

full Ex Roster Slot - CSS portraits for all of your color palletes and alt costumes, CSS icon, franchise icon, name plate, etc.

Custom Stage - pretty much all the work listed above with the exception of PSA work.. including an original song for the stage..

the stuff we havent even touched yet - classic mode integration (his portrait for "VS GIANT METAL OC") Unlockable Trophies, a congratulations animation and image, integration into subspace, event matches, its practically endless..

when people realize how much work goes into just to get the character in the game, they give up.. sure you could gather a team to help you.. but unless that team is dedicated to your original character and wants it in brawl as much as you do, its probably not going to work out.

i think its nuts that we have so many characters that make it all the way to the end, past the voice and animation step.. like cloud strife, mewtwo, roy, all those characters are pretty much made from scratch and some are imported which also takes some doing.

whats even crazier.. is that we do it all for free..

[Archer(AkenoS3)]

I've been lurking these forums for a while now, and it's really nice to see how far Brawl hacking has advanced. That being said, I'm a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be any interest in a project replacing all characters with entirely original characters.

To clarify: I don't mean a fan-character - or a character from an existing universe. I mean a character someone came up with on their own.

Investing some time in a project like this seems like great practice. There's 3d-modeling, UV-mapping, texturing, and rigging involved. There's also the planning stages, like sketching a character and fleshing out their back-story. There could even be sound design or voice acting, as it's possible to replace sounds.

Anyway, it was just a thought I had. It'd be nice to see something like this.

3 letters: K.A.I.
Look around the forums to get what I mean.

[Mr.Misfortune]

K.A.I has original characters? I looked through that thread once and I didn't see anything about that. Just a lot of touhou.

[Archer(AkenoS3)]

K.A.I has original characters? I looked through that thread once and I didn't see anything about that. Just a lot of touhou.

Ah. I see what you mean. Well, it'll be VERY hard to do this. Well, there are OCs on the Vault (over Link, over Peach, over Zelda, over Ike etc...), you can take them and make your own pack. But... You'd have todo those who doesn't have any OCs (G&W, IC, and others...)

[Mr.Misfortune]

Zig and Kura are currently making their own OC smash if you wanna go check that out.

[Archer(AkenoS3)]

Zig and Kura are currently making their own OC smash if you wanna go check that out.

Coming from the RPG Perfect World, isn't it?

[Mr.Misfortune]

Yeah, though I've seen a new model that I don't think is in any of those games. Anyway, I am 100% down with an idea like this. I will offer my assistance in anyway possible should you or anyone else ever want to do something like this.

[Sirkura]

actually... http://forums.kc-mm.com/index.php?topic=42073.0 its been around for a while but we don't get much feed back as it started off with a texture hack. we plan on replacing everything with original idea's, custom music, special modes, psa's, menus, stages, and even thinking of custom cut scenes and subspace (brawl hacking hasn't expanded enough in that department yet) the project is still in the early development stages since none of us have very much free time.