Avatar System/Mod

[RaXavier]

Hey all, this post is more for the old dogs in the house

Im trying to restart an old project which was never really finish; an avatar doll maker. Some of us here were part of the original group which help TechnoDragon make the avatar maker.. but he has been gone for a while, cant seem him on his messengers (old ones), his domain is down, and i dont have the old files. SO im wondering if either someone has his new info, has a copy of the mod, or would like to give this mod another go?

thanks for your time guys, and sorry want 100% sure where to post this.

[RaXavier]

thanks to vbgamer i was able to find an old copy of the avatarmaker !!!!
so were not starting off from scratch... thats at least something

[RaXavier]

so i guess no one is available ;/ kk 

[ZarPrime]

RaXavier,

It's not that nobody is available, or even interested, but we are in the process of squashing bugs right now, among other things, so that we can get the next release of TinyPortal out the door.

I seem to recall something about this avatar maker that you are referring to, and I think I remember even playing with it briefly, but because it had nothing to do with what we do here (at least I don't think it did), I can't recall ever following up on it or worrying about it so much.  Maybe you could enlighten us on just exactly what this was supposed to do and, if it is appropriate for use with TP, one of us could take a look at it.

ZarPrime

[RaXavier]

heya zar and all. i know you guys are busy hence the available thing . i know ppl are interested due to the hype back in the day; technodragon with others such as yourself and me for items semi made such an avatar system.

here is what i posted  on smf forums

Okay this might be a little daring, or at foolish BUT here goes anyway


Okay realistically this is a big project which will require the help of a few people. Year’s back one person tried to do this but never really finished this, but if you know who I’m talking about he was able to provide a proof of concept.

I do believe it is impossible for any one person to take this challenge on their own, so what I am asking here is for those eager enough to try to take this on to contact me and together with others we can get this DONE! It’s redundant to state anything code wise or operational wise currently. Once the group has a reasonable amount of people to get the ball rolling, we will all meet on a voice chat server and breakdown this project together.

Why this mod?
It’s like the holy grail for certain types of communities really. First, Gaia is the only place I know of which has a working type of this system! There are sites which offer creation of an avatar which is then saved to an image, but no forum based or integrated version! This could attract many more users to the happy SMF family, increase forum activity, and inspire members to achieve ranks or medals, and much more! If anyone has a shop system, achievement or medal system, member based features, or any kind of point or karma based system at all on their site, they are ultimately looking or think of this!


Thank you all for your time and support!

•    What is, or what do you mean by Avatar System/Mod?
  The simplest way to explain this and show an example at the same time is Gaia. It is an avatar which is created through a collection of items and if available effects, not unlike a character sheet in your typical game.
•    What will avatar creation be like?
  The avatar is created through multiple layers of images ranked and pre-positioned.
  First a bare figure model will be selected by a user form a selection of colors or whatever other options we can provide. Then other images will be placed in ranked or rather pre-ordered positions in the foreground or background. These images will include eyes, mouth, lips, and so on. The result will be a unique character for each user reflection themselves as they wish.
•    Unique with advantages?
  Not unlike games, admins some times what to inspire their members to reach certain ranks or achievements. This system will hopefully do this, and in turn reward such users! Each item will have a unique options and identification. Items may have preconditions which have to be met before they are available; that is, Admins will be able to preset which users can see this item in the creation/shop screen based on rank, achievements, or even special days.
•    Interaction with other mods?
  If possible, this mod/system should either come or interact with a shop/credit system. This will allow users to buy the avatars items instead of simply picking them at random without limitations. Increasing in site activity!
  Additionally, I have noticed most forums are using medal, achievement mods. So, if possible, items would have an option to reflect such a mod to be visible on such a precondition.

Any and all comments, questions, or ideas are more then welcome!


If you believe you can help get this done, please contact me with your contact, background (coding), and availability information.


Need, but not limited to; PHP, AJAX, MYSQL, GD/imagemagick

to better show what i mean you might want to check out avatar communities such as gaia or soliaonline.com.

Now there Are mods like this but they are made only to be used by the site which makes them. So their are no open mods for any forum whihc can be used by all users.
I believe this will increase the usage of the forum system, or portal, system which will offer this by a great amount. this is best shown by the massive growth by avatar communities; most users only use it, like a mmorpg, to create a unique character.

This concept would increase user activity for the hope of new items, not unlike gaining forum awards or ranks. This would motivate users to do things to gain access to new items such as events and ranks. Admins can limit items based on points, like a shop system, ranks, event only stuff, and so on... its really limitless!
dont think smf has enough artist? what would motivate them more then the need for item design? they can sell them like themes, or just show off their own stuff. Gamers/clan and media sites would like this for sure. also once the basics are laid out their is so much whihc can be added or modded to such a system i cant dont even know where to start.

We have a semi working version of this from dragon's mod. But it wasnt fully done back then, but its something.

[ZarPrime]

You know what?  It's starting to come back to me a little bit now that you posted about it.  Do you have a link to a topic on SMF where you posted about this recently so that I could keep up with it?

ZarPrime

[RaXavier]

ya http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=435015.0
but no luck thus far :9
i keep on looking at all the private mods of this nature to find out all the best features, so i have a plan. also trying to build contacts with the devs to find out if they would advice us if we ever get this on the way.
Thus far i only have my dept mostly read- graphics and concept. but coders ..... :/ 

[lurkalot]

I remember this Avatar maker thingy from back in 2006 lol..   http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php?topic=11712.0

[RaXavier]

I remember this Avatar maker thingy from back in 2006 lol..   http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php?topic=11712.0

ya we were almost done too :/, i lost the 200+ items i made for it ><

[RaXavier]

well 2.0 is out and i finally made the forum for the project! if anyone is interested in joining the team please let me know.