Portals At Hubs

[Velea]

It has been suggested to us that the portals at the two main hubs in the world (Genevia and Bristugo) have no real means for distinguishing one from another, thus making it difficult to describe to someone which portal to take to get where. (As well as remembering which portal to take yourself without repeatedly stopping by every one, of course.)

We've heard this and have a proposed solution. But, before we do the work to implement, we thought we'd do a survey here on the forums to see what others thought.

The proposed solution would be to use different styles of gates so that players could easily distinguish between them. To get an idea of how this would look, I placed some temporary gates on the internal server and took a couple of screenshots.

Some short notes:
1) The old gates are still there, so the new ones are "superimposed" on the old. So things do look a bit crowded.
2) The gates are placed at the 4 edges of the "box" around the center pad, with the only side gate being the "Outlands" one. This is a change from the current setup, but it gives the space around the gates that's needed to place some of the larger ones in the current location.

Also, style notes.. The "Outlands" gate would still be the "Human" style. The "Tazoon" gate takes you to the main cities. The other two are somewhat random in which went where, but they use the models that seem to look best in the area. (The dragon gates, for example, are huge and just did not look as good.)

Please share your thoughts.

EDIT Jan 14th: Thank you all for the feedback. Closing the thread at this time. We'll refer anyone who has difficulty telling which portal is which to the Player Customization that was linked below. No changes will be made at this time to either Genevia or Bristugo.

[Marynah]

Still, how would you describe these new ones? The one that looks like a <whatever>?
When you select the portal it tells you city/settlement/guilds etc.
Maybe change the frame color. Then you could say the red one or the green one...

[Velea]

Sorry, forgot to say that new art work in any way is not an option. Our artists are overwhelmed right now as is. :)

[Spyrioyo]

I think having the portal colored might be easier for people to tell the difference like you mentioned Cega in an earlier post like Blue for City, Green for Guild, Orange for Settlements, and so on for the places but Ring-Colored is ok to but I am concerned it might be harder for people will be able to tell a difference or see with only a ring colored compared to the having the portal colored but only the places that have multiple portals like more than 2 in one place like you mentioned in Bristigo and Genevia that might be problem for other places that have like 2 or less the Portal Ring Colored would probably be fine as long as players can tell a difference.

[Cegaiel]

Ring Colored:

Alternative, swap rings with portal colors? Maybe?

Ring Colored:



To answer another question. This would be only for Genevia and Bristugo, no other locations. But if rings was decided, we could implement the ring color laout to other teleporters, only if you want.

[Cegaiel]

Noted that blue be a tad lighter. Those spark effects seems difficult if not impossible (but haven't given up) on the way the teleporter models are. But whilst looking at all the seperate parts, I did notice the inner trim strip is a unique piece. This would be more subtle than the other two:

[meepsa]

Noted that blue be a tad lighter. Those spark effects seems difficult if not impossible (but haven't given up) on the way the teleporter models are. But whilst looking at all the seperate parts, I did notice the inner trim strip is a unique piece. This would be more subtle than the other two:

Yes! I love this version! the colour difference is visible, but not too overpowering!

[Racktor]

That's definitely much better than what was suggested before. It was super overpowering before but now it's notable without being glaring. :)

[Sindala]

Would a floor tile in front of them not work,
ie, T = Towns, G = guilds, S = settlements ect...

I'm sure it wouldn't take to much effort to stamp a letter on a floor tile?

Oh I should say i'm not really keen of the different versions in the same place, i'd rather just take the extra few seconds to check as the alternative looks abit messy.

[Korchak Strongbone]

I agree with Sindala on this one. The floor tile is a good idea. I think after you play the game for a while though your not running around from portal to portal looking for your destination you just know.

I also prefer to keep different race style gates to their location ie. sslanis/sslik in sslanis ect..

It gives that town in which they are in a sense of individuality from the others.

[Velea]

Trust me when I say floor tiles look very, very bad.

[Tilithia]

Put a small version of different colored azulyte (that would not be harvestable) next to portal. Like viridian next to guilds (or on top,or at the bottom of the portal),crimson-cities, violet-outlands, etc.... or a different element that comes in same shape but different colors. thn you can say...portal by the blue/purple/red crystal etc etc.
Different kinds of portals look a bit awkward.

I wanted to say colored torches or flames hanging in air next to portal would look very cool but I don't think game has differently colored flames...

[Dracillion]

Signs. You already have the asset in game and you never see them outside of tutorial areas aside from road forks.

No need to go all fancy. If someone can't select the portal, use map markers, or learn direction from pad, they cannot be helped.

[Guaran]

Put a small version of different colored azulyte (that would not be harvestable) next to portal. Like viridian next to guilds (or on top,or at the bottom of the portal),crimson-cities, violet-outlands, etc.... or a different element that comes in same shape but different colors. thn you can say...portal by the blue/purple/red crystal etc etc.
Different kinds of portals look a bit awkward...

This isn't a bad idea.

I don't like the "out of place" portals, like the sslisk, Tazoon, etc, being placed in Bristugo or Genevia's hub. They just don't fit the look.

The idea of maybe a light light tint to the ring might be ok, would want a preview first. I don't like the idea of the swirly being recolored, unless it was much much lighter recoloring than in the thread linked by Racktor. (The Lava Orange should be used only on gate of Embers:)

Something sitting next to the rings, such as a sign or colored crystal as others have suggested, seems best. Or just leave well enough alone.

[Teto Frum]

I voted ring but I'd leave it alone and keep it as is if it was up to me.

[meepsa]

definately prefer the coloured portals, but they look a bit too saturated to fit in with the current portal colour, perhaps tone it down a bit/lighten the colour a bit?
the main difference is that the normal portal colour has the white/bright portion in the center, these recolours don't.

[TheRock]

I like the idea of the outer ring coloured. That is very easy to look at and not a overkill of color at the portals. The inner part of the portal looks great like always.

[Cegaiel]

Ok, the "Star Gate" doesn't seem possible. I've tried several effects for randomness. Here's what I came up with. I think I'm done and these are the final possibilities. These are all animated gifs so you can see how it truly looks like.

http://istariareference.com/portals.asp

Portal 1 was the original idea.
Portal 2 is the same as Portal 1, except effects are on the outter ring.
Portal 3 is the same effects as 1 and 2, except applied to the trim.
Portal 4-9 are random effects, applied to trim.

I used orange in the all the examples, but different colors will be applied to each of the 5 portals.

It seems I can't redo/edit the poll on this page. Well I can, but it seems it will still remember everyone who voted. Even if I change the poll, those who've voted would not be able to again. I will likely put another poll on a different page for these later on.

[Racktor]

Ok, the "Star Gate" doesn't seem possible. I've tried several effects for randomness. Here's what I came up with. I think I'm done and these are the final possibilities. These are all animated gifs so you can see how it truly looks like.

http://istariareference.com/portals.asp

Portal 1 was the original idea.
Portal 2 is the same as Portal 1, except effects are on the outter ring.
Portal 3 is the same effects as 1 and 2, except applied to the trim.
Portal 4-9 are random effects, applied to trim.

I used orange in the all the examples, but different colors will be applied to each of the 5 portals.

It seems I can't redo/edit the poll on this page. Well I can, but it seems it will still remember everyone who voted. Even if I change the poll, those who've voted would not be able to again. I will likely put another poll on a different page for these later on.

I have to say I really like either portal 1, portal 6, or portal 9. #6 because it stands out even with brown-on-brown, #9 because you can still tell it's brown but it's a bit more fancy lookin'. :D

Edit: While staring at portal 8 I've come to appreciate it's fancy beauty, too... even if it's sort of more black than color.

[Tilithia]

I cant decide yet. Perhaps if portal colors were brighter with that white inside. Also the old light blue is the coolest. leave that one hehe. there should be 3rd option,leave as is in this poll.

Spider: >_> ....im not sure either







...And what if you did both rings and portals?