So, I bought Minecraft a few months ago. Solid game, but I just can't get into it; I find myself simply restarting playthroughs again and again, regardless of progress made, both in vanilla and the RLCraft modpack. After giving it some thought, I determined that I'm simply having "avatar" issues- I keep making/modifying skins for the player character, but I end up deciding that the look is "off" or "wrong", and scrap the whole thing.
In other words, I'm using the player character as an "anchor" of sorts to help me keep playing Minecraft, but the designs I've done thus far aren't working out.
So, I figure that if I can get a "good enough" player skin concept/idea down, my issues will disappear.
Ideally, what I'm looking for is a concept or skin that is somehow rooted to the Minecraft world, but isn't basically a fantasy race transplant or "turn a mob into a player skin!" So, does anyone have any thoughts?
Without knowing what you're interested in it's hard to come with any concrete suggestions so I'll just suggest browsing the online skin depositories like Skindex https://www.minecraftskins.com/ or just Google <minecraft skins>
You'll find a LOT of very samey teenage boy/girl or superhero skins so if you have some idea what you may be interested in it would help to put something in the search box to cut down on the sheer numbers of uninteresting skins, or you could just settle down and start clicking through the pages, stopping when you see something interesting.
I'd suggest using that for ideas and making your own, or at least modifying a found skin a bit to make it yours rather than just a copy.
Agree with the above. Originally I used something I found online, and later and over time, made enough changes/edits to where pretty much every pixel was redone so now it's essentially something mostly original, but I still used some of the what was there as a base at least in concept for, say, the hair.
I'm happy enough with it and stayed with it for years now and yeah it helps a bit with immersion, but I change to third person rarely and when I do it's not during actual play, so most of the time you only see your hand. So, I have to wonder, If you're having issues staying with the game, are you sure the skin is entirely why?
So, I have to wonder, If you're having issues staying with the game, are you sure the skin is entirely why?
If it's not the entire reason, then I believe it to be a major reason. I do tend to switch into 3rd person at random on games that (freely) allow it, so I see the character more often in my case than you do. I tend to have similar issues in games that allows significant player race/gender customization, but I'd normally have settled on a combination that I like by now, so it's not like this is a one-off thing that's specific to Minecraft only.
Without knowing what you're interested in it's hard to come with any concrete suggestions [...]
And that's the heck of it, yeah? This is one of those cases of "I'm not sure what I want, but I'll know it when I see it". But, I get ya, I need to narrow down the field a bit. So, here's of list of things that either didn't work out or things I'm not interested in.
Things that didn't work (Note, all attempts were using custom-made skins working off of a base or another skin):
* Attempt with a human skin. Felt it was too "generic".
* Ninja skin. Didn't make much sense when comparing it to some of the implications regarding the Minecraft 'verse, so it got scrapped.
* Attempt at robot-style skin. I actually liked the idea/skin, but I ultimately found the hunger (and thirst under RLCraft) mechanics to be too disruptive to immersion using that skin. (Note: It actually fit well in the Lost Cities world type under RLCraft...)
* Attempted some basic fantasy races. Disliked the idea of dwarves or orcs, elves I couldn't successfully mentally fit into Minecraft as a PC, either because mental perceptions have them as too above-ground for mining (wood elf, "generic" elf) or they're *too* underground-specific to start and travel on the overland (drow).
* Attempted at some beastman-style skins (both using normal and unusual colors). Neither attempt really spoke to me in the end.
Things I'm not really interested in:
* Player-ized mob skins
* Elementals
* Golems/similar entities (mostly due to that hunger mechanic)
* Modern/Future Soldiers/Aliens (Pretty much a hard clash against Minecraft's "medieval" aesthetic, even with the Lost Cities mod. "Robot" got an easy pass under Lost Cities due to the "post-apocalypse" implications of the mod).
There's probably a bunch of things I'm not seeing that may fit. Anyone have any thoughts?
It's kind of hard to determine what you would like for a skin. Can you try to give an idea of what kind of skin you would like? Maybe a certain theme?
Like I said above, I'm not exactly sure *what it is* that I'm looking for, beyond the fact that I am looking for something that can/should be compatible with Minecraft's (minimal) lore and setting.
Sorry for late-ish reply. I don't want those generic-ish headphones-and-hoodies stuff, but I'm not opposed to humans in general.
-EDIT-
After taking some advice upthread and doing a search on Planet Minecraft, I came across an "Enderfication" skin. Now, I didn't really like the skin itself, but the idea that the End can corrupt or alter things... I think I found a character concept that can help anchor me to Minecraft!
Ehh, the skin I'm working on isn't really much to look at, pretty much a rehash of this skin. However, throwing in the "enderfication" concept, it turns the skin from "Enderman, but female" to "female partially/mostly corrupted by the End". That way, it puts a semi-unique spin on the character, which definitely has roots in Minecraft.
Which was, more-or-less, exactly what I was looking for in a skin.
Don't worry, I'll show it. Overall Simple design means that what detail there is (or, at least visibly noticable) needs to go *well*. Which means that, ATM, I'm trying out different hairs.
Wellp, here's the Edner-corrupted skin I made. Went heavier on the physical corruption side, rather than mental (should be reflected with the non-enderman style eyes), calling the skin/character "Endaria". And, yes, several tests using the skin have pushed me towards endgame (hence, lateness in showing off).
Like I said, nothing special- took the base idea of the "endergirl", used a female base I found for the skin, and then custom-made a hair using a hairbase and calculator to get the color fading right. Hair is using the "extra character models" so it's a proper 3d object attached to the body rather than a painted-on 2d skin. I had to re-tint the skin after I realized the initial one was nearly too dark for good screenshots; The original version went from RGB values of 12,12,12 to 0, 0, 0 for skin (so, little over a 1 RGB value difference between the 9 skin shades). THe current one uses RGB values from 22, 22, 22 to 5, 5, 5 (almost a 2 RGB value difference between the 9 skin shades). Even then, detail can only really be seen when facing bright light.
Yep, one of THOSE threads.
So, I bought Minecraft a few months ago. Solid game, but I just can't get into it; I find myself simply restarting playthroughs again and again, regardless of progress made, both in vanilla and the RLCraft modpack. After giving it some thought, I determined that I'm simply having "avatar" issues- I keep making/modifying skins for the player character, but I end up deciding that the look is "off" or "wrong", and scrap the whole thing.
In other words, I'm using the player character as an "anchor" of sorts to help me keep playing Minecraft, but the designs I've done thus far aren't working out.
So, I figure that if I can get a "good enough" player skin concept/idea down, my issues will disappear.
Ideally, what I'm looking for is a concept or skin that is somehow rooted to the Minecraft world, but isn't basically a fantasy race transplant or "turn a mob into a player skin!" So, does anyone have any thoughts?
Without knowing what you're interested in it's hard to come with any concrete suggestions so I'll just suggest browsing the online skin depositories like Skindex https://www.minecraftskins.com/ or just Google <minecraft skins>
You'll find a LOT of very samey teenage boy/girl or superhero skins so if you have some idea what you may be interested in it would help to put something in the search box to cut down on the sheer numbers of uninteresting skins, or you could just settle down and start clicking through the pages, stopping when you see something interesting.
I'd suggest using that for ideas and making your own, or at least modifying a found skin a bit to make it yours rather than just a copy.
Just testing.
Agree with the above. Originally I used something I found online, and later and over time, made enough changes/edits to where pretty much every pixel was redone so now it's essentially something mostly original, but I still used some of the what was there as a base at least in concept for, say, the hair.
I'm happy enough with it and stayed with it for years now and yeah it helps a bit with immersion, but I change to third person rarely and when I do it's not during actual play, so most of the time you only see your hand. So, I have to wonder, If you're having issues staying with the game, are you sure the skin is entirely why?
If it's not the entire reason, then I believe it to be a major reason. I do tend to switch into 3rd person at random on games that (freely) allow it, so I see the character more often in my case than you do. I tend to have similar issues in games that allows significant player race/gender customization, but I'd normally have settled on a combination that I like by now, so it's not like this is a one-off thing that's specific to Minecraft only.
And that's the heck of it, yeah? This is one of those cases of "I'm not sure what I want, but I'll know it when I see it". But, I get ya, I need to narrow down the field a bit. So, here's of list of things that either didn't work out or things I'm not interested in.
Things that didn't work (Note, all attempts were using custom-made skins working off of a base or another skin):
* Attempt with a human skin. Felt it was too "generic".
* Ninja skin. Didn't make much sense when comparing it to some of the implications regarding the Minecraft 'verse, so it got scrapped.
* Attempt at robot-style skin. I actually liked the idea/skin, but I ultimately found the hunger (and thirst under RLCraft) mechanics to be too disruptive to immersion using that skin. (Note: It actually fit well in the Lost Cities world type under RLCraft...)
* Attempted some basic fantasy races. Disliked the idea of dwarves or orcs, elves I couldn't successfully mentally fit into Minecraft as a PC, either because mental perceptions have them as too above-ground for mining (wood elf, "generic" elf) or they're *too* underground-specific to start and travel on the overland (drow).
* Attempted at some beastman-style skins (both using normal and unusual colors). Neither attempt really spoke to me in the end.
Things I'm not really interested in:
* Player-ized mob skins
* Elementals
* Golems/similar entities (mostly due to that hunger mechanic)
* Fictional characters transplanted into Minecraft (Superheroes, Anime characters, Herobrine, etc.)
* Generic fictional monsters/spirits (werewolf, vampire, fair folk, etc.)
* Modern/Future Soldiers/Aliens (Pretty much a hard clash against Minecraft's "medieval" aesthetic, even with the Lost Cities mod. "Robot" got an easy pass under Lost Cities due to the "post-apocalypse" implications of the mod).
There's probably a bunch of things I'm not seeing that may fit. Anyone have any thoughts?
It's kind of hard to determine what you would like for a skin. Can you try to give an idea of what kind of skin you would like? Maybe a certain theme?
Like I said above, I'm not exactly sure *what it is* that I'm looking for, beyond the fact that I am looking for something that can/should be compatible with Minecraft's (minimal) lore and setting.
So you don't want anything human or do you not want anything that looks really generic like those skins with hoodies and headphones?
Sorry for late-ish reply. I don't want those generic-ish headphones-and-hoodies stuff, but I'm not opposed to humans in general.
-EDIT-
After taking some advice upthread and doing a search on Planet Minecraft, I came across an "Enderfication" skin. Now, I didn't really like the skin itself, but the idea that the End can corrupt or alter things... I think I found a character concept that can help anchor me to Minecraft!
Good luck.
I'd be curious to see what you finally come up with.
(Unless you don't want to spread it around.)
Just testing.
Ehh, the skin I'm working on isn't really much to look at, pretty much a rehash of this skin. However, throwing in the "enderfication" concept, it turns the skin from "Enderman, but female" to "female partially/mostly corrupted by the End". That way, it puts a semi-unique spin on the character, which definitely has roots in Minecraft.
Which was, more-or-less, exactly what I was looking for in a skin.
So you found a skin you like?
Yep. Still working on it, getting some of the details right, but I'm overall happy with the choice.
You should post the finished product when you are done.
Hah, won't be anything special!
I'm too invested in this emotionally now. You have to show it, no backing out.
Glad to hear you found something and that it might help you enjoy the game though.
Don't worry, I'll show it. Overall Simple design means that what detail there is (or, at least visibly noticable) needs to go *well*. Which means that, ATM, I'm trying out different hairs.
Alright, I think I've got everything down for it. How should I show off the skin, exactly? Not too interested in uploading said skin, FYI.
All I can say is do what you want or what you think is good, my old one was a orange and purple person for 4 years.
Look at skins you like and take insparation.
Thats all I can really say!
“Bees are the best addition to the game”
- TotallyNotThomas, 2021
Take screenshots! Press F5 to go to third person, press F2 to take the screenshot, and upload that (they are saved in the Minecraft folder).
I like llamas.
Wellp, here's the Edner-corrupted skin I made. Went heavier on the physical corruption side, rather than mental (should be reflected with the non-enderman style eyes), calling the skin/character "Endaria". And, yes, several tests using the skin have pushed me towards endgame (hence, lateness in showing off).
Like I said, nothing special- took the base idea of the "endergirl", used a female base I found for the skin, and then custom-made a hair using a hairbase and calculator to get the color fading right. Hair is using the "extra character models" so it's a proper 3d object attached to the body rather than a painted-on 2d skin. I had to re-tint the skin after I realized the initial one was nearly too dark for good screenshots; The original version went from RGB values of 12,12,12 to 0, 0, 0 for skin (so, little over a 1 RGB value difference between the 9 skin shades). THe current one uses RGB values from 22, 22, 22 to 5, 5, 5 (almost a 2 RGB value difference between the 9 skin shades). Even then, detail can only really be seen when facing bright light.