CONGRATS FOR REAL! Playable Females in Multiplayer!

[PsyKore]

It's not that hard. They just don't want to do it.

Why is it that simple modders can easily change something like this when given the tools, yet a professional development team can't? It's because they don't care to do it.

[AJL]

I am just curious, is it really that hard or time consuming to make a new skeleton? Females are like what , 2-3 inches shorter? That doesn't seem like much of a difference. Also why not just use the single player female skeletons?

Yes/No...

Taking the standard Male skeleton they are using in the multiplayer and binding it to the smaller and differently proportioned Female models where it simply don't fit and forcing it in there anyway, somehow without deforming anything (impossible), yea.. Making that impossibility happen could be difficult and timeconsuming... or simply impossible...

Taking the properly fitting female skeleton and binding it to the female models is propably a lot easier and faster, but because that skeleton is differently sized/shaped, using the existing animations made for the male models would likely be impossible... And making hundreds or thousands or ?? I don't know how many, but MANY, whole new animations for those models would be timeconsuming...

[DaddyYautja]

A human female is not an alien creature, shrinking down the male skeleton should not be that much of a problem. And with military gear on the women end up looking like men anyway.

Look at Star Wars the Old Republic MMO, that game uses one skeleton for ALL humanoid species. All they do is blow them up or down.

[SM]

I was thinking something similar in regards to Jedi Academy, which did have customisable different alien species - male and female.

[AJL]

A human female is not an alien creature, shrinking down the male skeleton should not be that much of a problem. And with military gear on the women end up looking like men anyway.

Perhaps... I don't know how this game is made, whats possible and whas not... But there are differences in the body proportions between sexes and however small they maybe, the differences would multiply as they propagate through the skeleton hierarchy.. And while human female may not be an alien creature, the deformed end result of trying to use male skeleton/anims with female model could look rather alien... unless the system is build to accomodate such differences from ground up -->

Look at Star Wars the Old Republic MMO, that game uses one skeleton for ALL humanoid species. All they do is blow them up or down.

--> But this game most likely isn't made with such easy customization in mind...

[Kimo]

So the are saying it is due to the male frame why they is no plans for a playable female.... Well just make a very butch female then.

[Predaker]

Here is a pic for comparison.

[WinterActual]

I am just curious, is it really that hard or time consuming to make a new skeleton? Females are like what , 2-3 inches shorter?

It's not just that. They have to make new hit boxes for that skeleton, to differ all the customization items, to rig the various alien grabs for that skeleton, recap new animations for it and other things that I am too lazy to write down. But its not that simple.

[Moosh89]

From Chemical Alia, a GBX Environmental Artist who made kick ass females for TF2. She said this before that wacky statement from GBX.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.379404-Aliens-Colonial-Marines-playable-female-marine-petition?page=1

Women soldiers don't necessarily need to look or act much different, especially in a setting like Aliens where they all act like stereotypical marines anyway

...

The hitbox excuse is usually a gigantic cop-out when you hear an artist use it. It's completely possible to design female characters that fit default male hitboxes if you plan their appearance accordingly, provided you're not trying to stretch a skinny 15-year-old in a miniskirt into them after the fact. And a setting like Aliens would be an ideal one for female characters to blend in nicely. Not sure how that would be shoving anything in the player's face.
(Note, I'm speaking hypothetically, not stating anything about Colonial Marines itself or what's actually in the game.)

I think she knows what she is talking about...

[Njm1983]

You are most likely correct, I think the hit box issue "could" create balance issues though.

I havent played gears 3 but is there a problem with females being harder to hit due to smaller frames and hit boxes? If thats the case then theoretically in this game the female models would have an advantage over male models - assuming theres a  marine vs marine mode, not sure if the alien player would have any trouble.

[Cap. Fitzgerald]

It's not so much a problem in being able to hit the female characters in Gears 3, it's just that they are smaller and can, with the right tactics, get away easier than a male, or of they're sniping and you try to take them out at long range, then it does become a problem to hit them.
I can see a lot of problems arising with the aliens tails missing them, due to the hit boxes being skinnier but I don't think it would cause all too many problems.

[DaddyYautja]

The problem with gears is that the men in that game all looks like the Steelers Defensive line. This problem should not exist in this game,  and im pretty sure it doesnt in any other game where women are included in MP.

[SM]

So the are saying it is due to the male frame why they is no plans for a playable female.... Well just make a very butch female then.

Nah... They're trying to stick as close to the film as possible - and the film had no butch females at all.

[Moosh89]

I was thinking on the way home today, I should push this again, it is losing steam right now.

I also want to push the Acid Damage petition as well.

I think I will write up an "update" letter to all the gaming sites that covered this, including the last letter we sent to Gearbox/SEGA, the excerpt from that article with the "reason" they are not included (as well as the reason for no acid damage in SP) and ask for support again for both petitions, the female petition, because it can be included later as a DLC patch, and the acid petition, because it needs to be in BEFORE release.

I'm off to start again, I'll post back with whatever I come up with and put it up for review

[shadowedge]

The issue with Gears of War is that the female soldier is like 5 foot 5 and the men are the Incredible Hulk. Seriously they are monsterous freaks of steroid nature. It is like trying to shoot a semi truck vs a human. One is way easier.