To Michizure and Whomsoever Else may be interested in ideas for Halloween goodies for Secret World Legends and/or Anarchy Online,
Here's GSP's annual brainstorming contribution of Halloween ideas. They were collected over the course of two weeks of GSP parties, plus whatever was set aside since last year. Not a peep from Facebook, Twitter, or Forums, but we got a pretty good list anyway. GSP DJs, Dancers, and staff helped put them in order so I could fill in extra details on our favorites, but the whole list is here.
1) [AO] remove gender restrictions from the holiday bikinis and boxers
This isn't anything new, just something that's always bugged us. It's only the holiday bikinis and boxers that are gender-locked, so we don't really see a reason for it. I mean, obviously there are those who would prefer that Atroxes didn't /want/ to rock a thong, but the consensus, at GSP at least, is that girls should be able to wear boxers and fair is fair. Besides, gender-locking is so 20th century.
2) [AO] dress up the ICC statue
I think this was originally a joke, but it turned out to be a popular one. There were several different ideas of what kind of Halloween costume would look good on that statue.
- skinless Titan (that's where it started, referring to Attack on Titan, obviously copyrighted, but it kept going...)
- lion tamer
- mankini
- lion tamer in a mankini holding a giant ball of yarn
- Captain Anarchy holding a broken pumpkin
- mummy
- pimp suit and coat and feather hat
- ghost sheet
- white tux with angel wings and halo
3) [AO] Use the in-game billboards for spooky ads for other FC games
Some of us remember the time when contextually disruptive ads played loudly, and very repetitively, on various in-game billboards. Games like Hide and Shriek or The Park or Secret World Legends, maybe even the Conan games, would all lend well to spooky ads that could be made thematically appropriate. Maybe Omni-Tek released a new VR adapter for historical 3rd millennium games from the dawn of computing. And that adapter will be available for Christmas, so pre-order your Halloween games now!
4) [both] bouquet of black roses covered with spiderwebs
Holdable, placeable, or both. Pretty self-explanatory. I'm undecided whether the roses should be withered, which is immediately creepier, or fresh, which would be really suspicious to have that much cobweb on it.
5) [both] leet mascot costume
Not a leet morph, but a big, bulky costume with a long tail and no arms, like a sports mascot. Could work like tank armor in AO, maybe? And if it has to have arms, maybe they just clip out from it and look like T-Rex arms? The tail wouldn't necessarily have to wag, but if it just swung back and forth while running, that would be good. Or it could just be a static "hologram" of a leet that anchors to your back and if your arms and legs clip out of it, that's probably still good enough to fool a reet.
It would probably be easier to do the body and head in SWL, but I suppose the lack of arms and inability to animate without clipping all over would be an issue.
6) [both] spiderweb teddy
We've been asking for this one, or something like it, almost every year for a while now. Teddy, minidress, and bikini have all been suggested, but the basic idea is a skimpy little number made of black or silver strategically interwoven threads, patterned like a spider web. And it has to be skimpy. Like the Korean MMO endgame version of an evil sorceress who feels that naked just isn't naughty enough. The kind of thing that would never stay within the games' ratings if it wasn't all glued in place.
I couldn’t find adequate reference images, so I drew some myself and posted them on the GridStream forums.
silver minidress - front view:
download/file.php?id=5181&mode=viewsilver minidress - back view:
download/file.php?id=5182&mode=viewblack teddy - front view:
download/file.php?id=6347&mode=viewblack teddy - back view:
download/file.php?id=6346&mode=viewThe bikini version would be just like the teddy, minus the middle. Not pictured: matching black pumps that come with a black widow ankle tattoo. Yeah, I know it's cliche, but it's Halloween.
7) [AO] orange, pink, and green laser swords / lightsticks
Like the Dusk/Dawn of the Xan swords or the Kyr'Ozch Energy Rapier, but in different colors. Or, if you don't feel like adding more actual weapons, just shrink them down and make them 1 damage light sticks. Still fine for dancing with. Or directing landing shuttles.
8) [AO] raven (black reet) pet
That one's pretty self-explanatory. Most of them would probably get named, "Quoth". They probably say, "Not again," when summoned, and "no more," when they depart.
9) [both] A raspberry beret and matching "not much more"
Secret World already has a beret, but only in black. The way the colors are named now, this one would be called "purple", but it could still lean a tint redder and we'd just know what it was. I'd really have a hard time choosing between my bunny ears and a raspberry beret.
Over in AO, we know hats aren't really something it's good at, but even if there are clipping issues, it's worth a try. Just please don't make it as big as a sombrero to get around the clipping and scaling.
As for the "not much more", the video from the song doesn't show it. We only have his sly smirk and sultry tone to judge by. And the insinuation of a blue sky and clouds tuxedo. There was a suggestion for a bikini that matches the Mysterious Cloak elsewhere on this list. That would work. Or Miiir straps. Or a low-cut backless negligee.
Or maybe a bodysuit that's a little bit of purple and a whole lot of sheer, something like
https://wickedweasel.com/en-us/product/ ... lour=41033I'm sure you can imagine something Prince would sing about but just barely fits the ratings.
10) [AO] Hopefully Not the Bikini of Neleb
A red eye for each cup, like the Secret World "Sight for Sore Eyes" top, but more black and purple nightmare styled. The description could have "Hey, my eyes are up... oh wait." Or "The cleavage also gazes."
- Chest Implant of Perception not included.
11) [both] X-ray swimsuit
A skimpy version of the skeleton costume. One-piece would probably work better. A bikini would only have room for a couple inches of rib and a bit of pelvic bone.
12) [AO] pet hovershark
No lasers, just a shark that follows you around, hovering above the ground. Great for running screaming naked down the beach.
13) [AO] Eldritch Minor Fright shoulder lantern
It's just a little eldritch horror, just a minor fright, like the "Not Really The Eye of Neleb" backpack, with tentacles, hovering over your shoulder and helping you see in the dark.
Or it could be a "hovering" pet, like the balloons. It could even use Metaphysicist pet meshes and animations, with the front texture changed to Neleb's eye.
14) [both] Dreamcatcher bikini
The first image that came to mind was mostly just string with a couple circular frames and a feather or two. On the bottom, a matching beaded leather thong belt with a few feathers hanging from it and a tiny breechcloth.
But maybe that's a little too culturally insensitive. There was some backlash about cultural appropriation along those same lines not long ago. I'm not an expert on those cultures or where the politically correct line is. Crocheted string bikinis with a vaguely dreamcatcher-shaped pattern on the chest are still plentiful on Etsy, though. I suppose something vaguely reminiscent must be safer than stealing stylistic elements.
How about crocheted halter bikini top with diamond spiral cups, like a dreamcatcher, in earth tones, with an opaque sunburst in each center, and a tan thong with beads and tassels in matching colors on the side ties? No feathers. Feathers are no good for swimwear anyway. That ought to vaguely convey the style without actually mimicing any traditional dress that I know of.
I can't find any reference images of exactly what I'm describing, and I don't really have time to draw it and send this in in time, but hopefully one of your artist types has an idea what I mean or has their own suitable ideas.
15) [AO] respirator face masks
Cybergoth style, with glowing/blinking neon green, pink, and yellow lights. Perhaps it actually counts as a helmet, but the AC is terrible except for Disease and Chemical. Just Googling "cybergoth respirator" comes up with too many images to pick one.
16) [both] bikini that matches the inside of the Mysterious Cloak
There's a surprising lack of purple bikini in AO and SWL. AO has a purple thong, but it's a rare paid item from the shop and there's no matching top. TSW and SWL have the bikini top, but the matching "bikini shorts" are from Betty Page's era, and most of hers were way skimpier than that. Not that there's anything wrong with retro bikinis, but while the basic triangle tops are classic and timeless, the shorts with ruffles are cute, but old-fashioned.
Just giving AO a bikini the same style as the other holiday bikinis, in the same color as the Mysterious Cloak, would be great. Or make it a few pixels skimpier, for the raspberry beret's "not much more." I've been suggesting an animated version of this, with a phantom grin that fades in and out, for years, but a plain purple bikini would definitely be better than none. And boxers. No gender restrictions, please.
And SWL just needs bikini bottoms more like the ones in AO, but all the same colors as the bikini tops they already have.
17) [both] haunted rags bikini
Like a cross between the tentacle bikini and Uncle Pumpkinhead's rags. Ragged black cloth cups with a couple holes, held up by dark brown straps that go silver at the shoulders, so it looks like crossed scythes from certain angles. Tattered cheeky bottoms, since they'd need to have a little more fabric than the other Halloween thongs to be tattered, with tiny undead teddy bears hanging (by the neck) from side ties.
18) [AO] hovering shark shoulder lantern
Like the shoulder angel and devil lanterns, but it's a tiny shark.
19) [both] Whompah Technician and Spaceship Janitor uniforms from NotAtAllSuspicious, Co.
There was a whompah technician back in the old ICC Shuttleport, a.k.a. "Newbie Island," but he didn't have much of a uniform. Funny costumes should be more identifiable than that without having to read the label. I'm thinking this is more a reference to some unnamed series of old adventure games than anything canonical for AO or TSW, anyway. Some local equivalent of such a parody. Kind of like the Captain Anarchy uniform, but for someone who's totally not a hero, nor a villain, nor an anti-hero, not even a street urchin. A zero. Absolutely necessary for the world to work, but never even noticed by anyone in the story.
20) [both] Cowbell of Antidote
Hammer / 1HB weapon with a chance to proc a DoT removal on your team.
21) [both] frozen trout cold-damage blunt melee weapon
22) [AO] a wizard's tower
- Some ancient mad nanomage died in his hidden tower a hundred years ago (time travel is dangerous and lonely) and left behind monsters, traps, spiders, rotting tomes, spider webs, crazy experiments, spiders, and high tech gear designed to look wizardy, like that stave of inferno, and then the nanos that kept it undetected all these years finally expired. And the spiders have taken over since he's been gone.
23) [AO] Halloween colored versions of the Christmas holiday holograms
24) [both] Eldritch Zoidberg mask
25) [both] Upside-down mask and/or backwards head
26) [AO] pumpkin chalice
- like a small pumpkin held by the stem, with the bottom cut off so you can drink pumpkin wine out of it
27) [AO] QL1-200 pirate pistol
- comparable to an decent froob pistol, but uses multi-melee so you can duel-wield it with a sword
- (like the updated Solar-Powered Pistol did by accident after the aborted attempt to make it use ammo when Arete was introduced)
28) [both] blue moons bikini
29) [AO] witchy cauldron
30) [both] serrated herring for cutting down large trees to make a nice path between the shrubberies
31) [AO] hunt escaped rollerpumpkins or something, maybe someone sabotaged the pet crystal factory and let them all loose, just to have somewhere else to spread out the loot tables
32) [AO] prototype candy corn popper
- randomly either throws white popcorn-looking sparks or spawns an orange, white, and yellow marshmallow
33) [AO] masquerade ball / Venetian carnival / domino / lorgnette masks
34) [AO] Social recall beacon adjustable via screwdriver to teleport to the different social destinations city whompahs used to go to
35) [AO] placeable jack-o-lanterns (preferably with flames inside)
36) [AO] new candy item that randomly morphs you into one of the Halloween social pets
37) [both] crime scene tape / police evidence bikinis
38) [AO] devileet in a cage
39) [AO] tombstone backpacks
40) [both] werewolf paw mittens, head mask
41) [SW] a text adventure version of Conan Chop Chop for the text game terminals in Seoul
42) [both] crime scene tape / police evidence bikinis
43) [both] flamenco dresses
44) [AO] pie crust recipe to make pumpkinhead pies
45) [both] spice pumpkins
- (that spice has to come from somewhere, right?)
46) [AO] closet skeleton nanospray
- or placeable closet with skeleton in it
47) [AO] surgical masks in different colors, like TSW has
48) [both] TAFKAP costume
- purple assless chaps, wetlook thong, platform shoes and ruffle shirt open down to the belt
49) [both] pumpkin spice latte
- (should be available starting at the anniversary, then maybe back it up to Valentine's day, then Christmas...)
50) [both] dusty demon chair vehicle
51) [both] pumpkin, apple, and pumpkin with apple cookies
52) [both] holdable hourglass item that matches the Scythe of the Harvester
- usable, like a Time/Space Enhanced Notum Crystal or Elemental Focus weapon
53) [both] an even bigger coffee mug
- like the size of the New Year's Crunk Goblet, with "DON'T SLEEP" on the side, in big, jittery letters
54) [AO] spooky spider-y bookcase
55) [SW] pumpkin shaped boots
56) [AO] hand-held TP rolls
57) [AO] Cerubin mask
58) [AO] body pillows with a variety of different character pictures
59) [AO] Ill-tempered laser bass decoration
- deep voiced dancing mounted fish with laser eyes
60) [AO] even more fish-shaped ranged energy pistol
- or just re-skin one that already looks kinda fishy
Thanks again for reading and letting us participate in the making of festivities, and thanks for continuing to bring more festivites to our favorite worlds. I hope you found something useful, interesting, or at least amusing here and we're all looking forward to seeing whatever our old pumpkin friend brings!