The following is the email I just sent off to FC. It's a little late, but there should still be time before they start planning and designing. Feel free to make notes, additions, or corrections if I misunderstood one of your suggestions or you've come up with something since then.
Especially if you have a link to Tarryk's "Hell Leet" skit, please post it. Most of what took so long was trying to find that.
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I asked for Halloween ideas at GSP parties for two weeks at the end of the 10th Anniversary event and got 144 ideas. A lot of really good ones, too. I then asked the GSP DJs, Dancers, and Staff to pick their favorites for me to write up and mail in, and it was tough to choose. This list represents the preferences of GSP, but the full brainstorming list includes suggestions from a sizable segment of the social players, both paid and froob.
The full Halloween 2011 Brainstorming Thread is at
http://www.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18825
1) spiderweb bikini
I'm sure it comes as no surprise at all that GSP's number one favorite idea is something sexy and very skimpy. It's a spiderweb bikini that's only solid and opaque where necessary and mostly just transparent with sparse spiderweb-pattern white threads. Like shrinking the spiderweb nanosprays down and wearing three of them.
One interesting option that came up for this was to give it multiple forms, including the snowflake bikini that was suggested for Christmas, and red or black fishnet versions as a holiday-neutral form. Then give it away for both Halloween and Christmas before making it available in the item shop.
Several other bikini ideas were suggested and got a few individual or "Any of those bikinis" votes:
- palm leaf bikini (or whatever passes for a fig leaf on Rubi-Ka, for all the naturists out there, because obviously there are no nudists in a Teen-rated game)
- pumpkinhead bikini (top has ragged black cups that look like they're ripped from his robe with leather straps the color of the shaft of his scythe across the flat back and silver where it's curved over the shoulders and around the sides. Bottom has ragged black panels and silver string with little teddy bears hanging from hip ties. Matching ragged black boxers, also wearable by females, with a silver drawstring.)
- writhing tentacle bikini (color cycling textures apparently work, so how about cycling the edges between tentacle and transparent to make it wriggle just a bit?)
- invisible bikini (as in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, not actually a completely transparent bikini. Maybe make the bikini lime green, one off from the "transparent" color, and have it change the wearer's skin tone to "transparent", to turn them into ghosts in "almost" invisible bikinis... but only the outside of the bikini would be rendered, right?)
- Kyr'Ozch themed bikini (I'm not sure what that would look like, other than green, but it sounds creepy. Probably something kinky. Those aliumz are pervs. Mounting bracket for a biotech rod, sold separately.)
- Candy Corn bikini (shrink down four of those Candy Corn Nanosprays and tie them on with black string)
- Cherry Pie bikini (beige bikini, the color of pie crust, with a polkadot pattern of triple cherries and slices of pie, with red trim and ties, the color of cherry pie filling)
2) tail back item
This is something like the Catgirl Costume's tail, but preferably not temporary or part of a whole outfit. Just a costume tail that can be worn on the back slot. Bunny and kitty tails were the favorites, with fox and leet varieties getting fewer votes. Classic Halloween fare like demon tails are always good, and something more unique to AO, like translucent Silvertail tails would work, too. Preferably changing between the various options with a right-click.
3) broomstick skirts
They'd have to be full length for now, due to engine limitations, but even stuck with only two possible lengths, we could really use some more skirt options. Separate skirts, not whole dresses. The bottom half of the female "Play Costume - Third Edition" is the basic idea. Earthy colors are good, like browns and dark reds. Maroon. Plaid would be great. It was mentioned that pleated boyshorts would be an appropriate alternative for men and troxes, but I don't see anything wrong with having both available for anyone, male, female, or otherwise.
4) minikitty pet
A leet-sized pet sabertooth kitten. Hopefully you can manage to make them lie down, curl up, or at least sit and lick their paws when idle, like the wild sabertooths never do. Multiple colors and patterns would be nice, too. Grey and orange work well for the stripe pattern they already have, but completely black is better suited to Halloween. New colors and patterns, like solid silvery grey, calico, leopard spots, or even ocelot, would be a nice bonus. Or something more Rubi-Ka, like purple, green, and blue. Separately, of course. Purple green and blue on the same cat would look terrible.
5) Hellhound Cheerleet
There were lots of leet pets suggested, but only one got enough votes to make the short list: A Cheerleet with a spiky black collar and Gothic Lolita dress, saying "Girrr *giggle*" a lot. In two of Tarryk's more popular GridStream Conundrums skits, Yxxil bought a leet pet and got a Cheerleet, then he tried to teach it to be doomy and menacing anyway. He failed. I can't find a link to the first part, where Yxxil buys the nano, so I'll try to quote it from memory here:
Salesman: Welcome to Leets 'R' Us. How can I help you?
Yxxil: I want to buy a familiar.
Salesman: What are you, a druid? This isn't "Mazes and Trolls", *bleep*tard.
Yxxil: I am Yxxil, Lord of Hatred and Anger, and I wish to acquire a Hound of Hell, to represent that fact.
Salesman: Well, that's better, but we don't sell hellhounds.
Yxxil: What do you sell?
Salesman: Leets.
Yxxil: Okay.... I'll take a very mean tempered leet, then.
Salesman: Well, they're random when you summon one, but the odds are good that you'll get one that's just right for you.
Yxxil: Fine. Here's your creds.
Salesman: And here's your leet!
*summoning effect*
Cheerleet: Hehe!
Yxxil: What the *bleep* is that?
Salesman: It's a leet... with tits.
Yxxil: Augh! The image! It stays when I close my eyes!
Cheerleet: Hehe!
The part where Yxxil tries to train Cheerleet to be doomy is in the middle of "GridStream Conundrums Episode 5 - The Catapult" which can be found on AcidPlanet, under the artist "Epicene", here:
http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=763617&t=7192
Several others got a vote or two each, enough that adding them together would have made #13 on this list "more leet pets", but there isn't much to say about them individually:
- Pirate Leet (black hat, eyepatch, peg leg)
- Ghost Leet (a leet tail sticking out from under a sheet with big eye holes in it)
- Skeleeton (either a skeletal leet or a leet wearing a skeleton suit like the one we got a couple years ago)
- Clown Leet (rainbow afro, big red nose, huge shoes)
- Female Devil Leet (either Cheerleet in a red devil costume with plastic horns and an arrow point on her tail or just a busty version of the current Devileet)
- Jack-o-Leetern / Nephew Pumpkinhead (black robed leet with a jack-o-lantern for a head, or just wearing a Pumpkin Helmet)
- Trolleet (a puff of blue or green hair like the "Troll" pencil topper toys, and extra annoying taunt phrases)
- Deathleet (black cloak with the hood pulled up and a scythe duct taped to his back)
6) GSP tattoos
I try not to encourage GSP-specific suggestions, but they always come up anyway, and I can't say I wouldn't like a tattoo of the GSP logo (not the letters, but those would be on the name and description) for the back, chest, or preferably shoulder. For females, the back or chest options would involve a string bikini top like the Back Stars tattoo (or less... skull nipple shields were mentioned, but oddly GSP logo pasties weren't... at the time.) The top of the shoulder might make more sense for everyone. A shoulder tat would actually be an arm item, so it would go with any top.
7) pimp hat
A color-changing, wide brimmed, fur trimmed felt fedora, with a feather. Not quite as wide-brimmed as the sombrero, but maybe half that. Definitely must include royal purple with a leopard band to go with that purple tuxedo. Matching all the tuxedoes wouldn't be a bad idea, but purple and green definitely. At least one of the other three, for those who didn't buy the tux and made do with the anniversary drops. An all black version would be an entirely different look, and appropriate for Halloween. A cane was also suggested to match this and the purple tux and the Crunk Goblet, completing the outfit.
8) pumpkin / jack-o-lantern backpack
I'm guessing the system wouldn't handle a hand-held backpack very well, so just adding container functionality to those Pumpkin Baskets from previous Halloweens wouldn't work. Maybe you could enlarge them a bit, add shoulder straps, and make them back items. Maybe have it start as a placeable pumpkin decoration, looking like it was freshly picked from that patch in Avalon, then use a knife on it to carve it into a jack-o-lantern, or use a screwdriver on either version to convert it into a backpack, which would no longer be carvable. Maybe use a low-QL treatment lab to revert the jack-o-lantern back to a whole pumpkin, before the backpack conversion, of course. Or add a piece of notum (any QL) to the jack-o-lantern to make it glow. You could even make a bunch of different faces to carve into it, perhaps by cycling a jack-o-lantern pattern object through "Scary" (like Uncle), "Happy" (less fang, more grin), "Funny" (crossed eyes), "Opi" (pointy ears), "Troxy" (little eyes, silly grin), "Soli" (average, pleasant, and normal), "Magey" (little circuit lines), "Leety" (huge eyes, no ears), etc, and then using the pattern on the pumpkin. Lots of fun details to throw in here.
9) black and purple clothing
Not separate black items and purple items, but new items that are black and purple. Stripes, swirls, plaid, polka-dots, washes, whatever the engine can handle that looks good. I'm guessing paisley fails on both counts. Specifically, we need boots, skirts, stockings, and low cut shirts, or better yet, corsets or bustiers. A polka-dot black and purple miniskirt with black and purple striped thigh-highs would be perfect. Something along the lines of
http://www.yandy.com/Dark-Dollie-Costume.php but that skirt obviously wouldn't work in this engine.
10) Rocky Horror Picture Show costumes
Is cosplay "Fair Use" in a game? R.H.P.S. has got to be one of the most common cosplay shows on Earth. You wouldn't even have to explicitly name the items after their respective characters. Calling them "Domestic", "Scientist", "Handyman", "Groupie", etc. would be fine. Just give us the parts to work with and we'll figure it out. Close enough will do and one costume per character would be plenty, but if you wanted to go all out and make the costumes change to match different scenes, that would be awesome. I don't have to include reference links for Rocky Horror, do I?
11 (tie) glowsticks
Something like the Kyr'Ozch Rapiers we're currently using for glowsticks, but smaller, hiltless, usable by anyone, and with more color options. Maybe even cycling through the rainbow as you wave them around. There is some nano effect that kind of looks like a gymnastics ribbon. I don't know what nano it goes with in-game but some ARKs can invoke it socially. Having the glowsticks cast that on their user once in a while would be cool. Just the visual effect, of course, not the nano.
11 (tie) fairy costume
Something really cute to wear while flying around with fairy wings and a jetpack. There are different opinions on how much fairies should wear. Some insist that nature spirits wear just a couple leaves and vines at most, but the "Leaves" outfits have that "covered" already. (See also "Palm Leaf Bikini" above.) Others would have them dress like pretty little princesses, which would be another good costume option by itself. And of course, the classic Disney example wears a simple, short, brightly colored dress and leaves a trail of sparkles everywhere. Sparkly clothing might have to wait for the new engine, but contrast works in this one. Maybe something like
http://www.yandy.com/Sweet-Butterfly-Costume.php would work. Or
http://www.buyfairycostumes.com/womens- ... stume.html
13) tradable Trick-or-Treat bags
Put Uncle Pumpkinhead's drops in Halloween versions of the Christmas Gift so we can trade them later to friends who missed the event or give them away at parties. Of course, this could encourage farming pumpkins with higher level alts to give the lowbies their phats later, but no more so than the Christmas Gifts do, and Christmas doesn't have Lya's Sangi armor to encourage hunting for you own stuff. Christmas is traditionally more about giving and Halloween more about greed, but I think the AO player base is trending closer to the handing out candy or chaperoning the kids age than the trick-or-treating age, and part of the fun was always trading the licorice for peanut butter cups back home anyway.
14 (tie) GSP trenchskirt
Yeah, a third GSP-themed item, but that part of this is optional. The "trenchskirt" that's already in game is a whole one-piece outfit that doesn't mix or match with anything else. This suggestion is like the bottom half of that trenchskirt, but black with a blue GSP logo on front, blue designs starting at bottom in a light blue matching the Blue Boots, then “GSP†on back, darker blue toward the top. Just black and blue without the logo would be fine, too, as long as it's a separate skirt and not too much like the Aquaan trenchcoat.
14 (tie) dancing devil opi girl toy
Similar to the Dancing Mrs. Claus, but a little Opifex girl in a sexy red devil outfit with horns, tail, and pitchfork. That should be an easy one. All that's missing is the tail, and if you're going to make a tail for the doll, you may as well make it wearable for us, too. A new devil costume instead of just using something red we already have would be nice. Maybe something like a red version of the Bunny suit.
14 (tie) cybergoth looking respirator/gas mask
Black and green stylish technological solution for adventures in places where breathing is an unpleasant necessity, like those filthy sewers under the abandoned subways and the caverns under BioMaRe. Google images of "Cyber Goth Respirator" and you'll get a whole lot of different examples. DJ Synnthetik suggested it and is wearing one in his forum avatar, so this is probably what he meant:
http://www.gridstream.org/forums/profil ... ile&u=4829
14 (tie) tavern wench costume
Something for us landlubbers to wear when everyone else is dressing up as pirates. Something like these:
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http://www.costumeexpress.com/Tavern-We ... etail.aspx
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http://www.buypiratecostumes.com/tortug ... stume.html
Anything like that would be good, but it's got to be showy or it's missing the point. These are the renaissance equivalent of the Hooters outfit, designed to keep everyone buying more beer, just to watch you pour it. The advantage of having all your clothes painted on is not worrying about anything popping out when you jump around, so there's no actual risk to making a dress look like it's just about to fall off.
18 (tie) black rose
Now that we know figurines can be both decorations and hand-held props, how about doing the same with black roses? Maybe right-click to switch them between lying flat on a surface and standing up in a vase. Or make the vase a separate item to combine with. I think the last time I suggested this, I included something about picking them like Carbon-rich Rocks in the dark, foggy fields where the pumpkins roam. I still think that would be neat, but it's not a requirement. What is important is making them tradable, but apparently that's a given for decorations anyway.
18 (tie) scary bunny costume
The first example that comes to mind for me is "Frank" from Donnie Darkko (
http://www.bunspace.com/groups/group_index?gid=160 ), but DJ AndyZ pointed out another example in this music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzkJYoyHqdI The basic idea is a cross between the Easter Bunny, a werewolf, and a generic slasher from some cheesy B-movie. It could even have a changeable head like the panda to switch from happy bunny to scary bunny. It's not just the face that's scary on Frank, though.
20) goggles
We have visors, and sunglasses, and monocles, even a funny hat with built-in goggles, but no separate goggles yet. Is it the headband that's the problem? Throw some nanos at it. Affix them to the temples with dermatologically safe quantum polarized nano-adhesive. A couple different styles would be nice, like spooky glowing red lenses, steampunk chrome with gears, angular black plastic with blinking LEDs, or whatever you guys can come up with that looks like protective and/or useful eyewear.
And there are over 100 more ideas already on the brainstorming thread. Not much more has come in since the voting, but the thread is still open, so they might.
That URL again:
http://www.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18825
I hope you like something on this list, and we're all looking forward to seeing what Uncle Pumpkinhead brings us this year.
- Jezebelle