Character design programs like in Rock Band?

January 19, 2009 6:35 PM

My favorite part of Rock Band is creating different characters and choosing crazy outfits, face paint, and tattoos. Are there any games that have very detailed character creation? How about any that focus solely on the character creation?

HeroMachine is great too, and I'd enjoy seeing other tools like that But
I really want to find something with the animation and 3d graphics of Rock Band.

Also, I prefer things that run on Windows XP.

Thanks!

posted by agropyron to computers & internet (27 answers total)

I don't play, but a group did a presentation in my marketing class about Second Life, and this seemed to be a very big part of the game.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 6:46 PM on January 19, 2009

City of Heroes.
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:46 PM on January 19, 2009

You can design Mii Characters if you have a Wii. Sims is pretty much about creating characters, and it's really customizable (and also for PCs). There's also Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2--it's a pretty old game, but I remember creating characters in it. The newer editions of the game also have custom characters.
posted by asras at 6:47 PM on January 19, 2009

Saints Row 2 lets you customise your character pretty extensively. And the Sims games, obviously. Both run on PC.
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:51 PM on January 19, 2009

Saints Row 2 has a very good character customization feature. It's a wackier Grand Theft Auto, and two be honest, although GTA4 was an amazing technical achievement, I had more fun with SR2. I think it just came out on PC.

Sports games also generally have good character creators. In particular I'm thinking of Tiger Woods and Top Spin 3. I'm sure there are others, but I don't play many sports games.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:54 PM on January 19, 2009

To be honest... where's that edit window already! ;)
posted by yellowbinder at 6:54 PM on January 19, 2009

IMVU is an online 3D chat and dressup thingy with very customizable characters.
posted by moonmilk at 6:56 PM on January 19, 2009

Spore?
posted by saladin at 6:59 PM on January 19, 2009

Sims 2.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:00 PM on January 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

I had fun creating characters in Soul Calibur IV...it seemed fairly detailed to me, but I've never done it in Rock Band so can't compare. It's on XBox 360 and PS3.
posted by wsquared at 7:06 PM on January 19, 2009

You could tweak and tune the face creator in Oblivion for hours.
posted by JaredSeth at 7:22 PM on January 19, 2009

You're totally looking for The Sims 2. This is essentially one big character creation simulation. There are about a dozen add-ons or stuff packs too. The former change the game dynamic in significant ways, the latter are simply more options for going shopping. But unlike Rock Band, you actually get to have your characters do meaningful things rather than simply be an avatar for a game which could do just fine absent any characters, let alone detailed character creation.

The odd thing about the Sims games is that you'll find yourself spending hours virtually doing things you'd do anything to avoid in real life.

The game does run in XP, but you'
posted by valkyryn at 7:26 PM on January 19, 2009

Oblivion is awesome, and the character creator is robust, but it's also a little wonky. For example, for some reason adjusting your complexion will throw all the other variables you've spent a long time fine tuning completely out of whack.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:29 PM on January 19, 2009

The SSX games had a pretty high degree of character customization, with the "buy new outfits and crap with your money" method.
posted by that girl at 7:34 PM on January 19, 2009

Second Life
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2009

Oblivion's character creator is indeed tons of fun to use. Of course, you can spend 45 minutes tweaking your eyebrow darkness, nose sharpness, forehead broadness, etc., and then throw on a helmet a few minutes into the game and never see your characters' head again. :-)
posted by danb at 8:14 PM on January 19, 2009

Nthing Second Life and City of Heroes. I'm consistently amazed at how many different heroes and villains there are in CoH, given the options available.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 8:59 PM on January 19, 2009

nthing Sims 2.

Stardoll is a web-based version of paper dolls, which is a similar (and equally enjoyable) idea.
posted by messylissa at 9:30 PM on January 19, 2009

Nthing Second Life...given the amount of clothing/skins(makeup)/tattoos found in world, it's impossible to grow bored with your options (especially if you're willing to drop a few bucks a month into the Second Life currency).

And if you do get bored, then if you have any skill in Photoshop or Gimp (or are willing to learn), you can hop into one of those programs and work on creating your own content. It becomes addictive, though...
posted by Evil Chicken of Doom at 10:02 PM on January 19, 2009

Seconding the Tiger Woods games. They have extremely detailed character creators, allowing you to manipulate many aspects of the face.

Facebreaker seems to be staking its claim primarily on the basis that you and your friends can beat the crap out of avatars of each other, even allowing you to upload photos that can be mapped onto your characters.

Spore is almost entirely about creation, though the creature creator is more of a species creator than a creator tuned for a particular character.

Some RPGs have taken to allowing you to create a wide variety of characters, both by conscious choice (clothing, grooming, tattoos, etc.) and as consequence of action. Two recent notables are Fable 2 and Fallout 3. You can create very strange looking characters, but you are limited to what you can find/buy/steal, and sometimes looking weird may actually have an effect on gameplay.
posted by ErWenn at 10:31 PM on January 19, 2009

City of Heroes, definitely.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:03 PM on January 19, 2009

EVE Online.
posted by ZaneJ. at 2:40 AM on January 20, 2009

Most pro wrestling games have extensive character costuming options.
posted by valadil at 6:42 AM on January 20, 2009

Seconding City of Heroes/Villains. The amount of customization is pretty crazy.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:54 AM on January 20, 2009

A friend of mine who played Guild Wars posted screenshots of his character's new bikini armor/hair color/bat wings constantly.
posted by mkb at 8:24 AM on January 20, 2009

Again, Sims 2, or alternately Sims 3 (due to be released next month).
posted by geeky at 10:16 AM on January 20, 2009

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. These look really fun. I'll be trying a bunch of them.
posted by agropyron at 8:12 AM on January 21, 2009