[RANT=LONG]

Body:

I mainly hang out in the art/textures marketplace.
I've been doing texture sets for a while now, and I've seen some good artists.
However, the ratio of good:bad textures is appalling! I see about 3/4 active artists who have any idea how to make a good head texture.

The current trends at the moment seem to be limited and the standard at which people think a good texture is, is far too low IMO. Such huge amounts of money being traded for something that can be done in minutes.

I really think something has to change about this. If we let the texture community fall into this pit of no standards, there is no telling what effect it will have on the newcomers and the in-game visuals that look so amazing, crumble on the multiplayer side.

I think maybe some sort of control should be had over the prices of the textures? Communally controlled prices always leads to an endless inflation and i see a lot of threads with bad pricing.

A great feature of toribash is the customization - i know this has brought a lot of attention - but something should be done before it turns sour, or similar. I stayed in the forums and art without playing the game for ages.

I've always liked the idea of uploading textures into items that can be traded. it would be a lot smoother if the right system would come into place. Also, it would be a lot easier to moderate who has what texture. Though, i will leave that rant for another day.

The current trends on toribash are varied, but simple and easy to do. There isnt much quality being thrown around, only lines and color. Its not often i meet someone who knows how to shade. Either people should lower their prices or some great tutorials should be released. I would be happy to make one, but i doubt people would listen.
Emo, Tori, Robot, Tribal, Simple. Its hard to think of any other trends, but its also hard to make something of great quality to match them. Either transparency is overused or again nobody knows how to shade.

Summary:

-Transparency.
This fools so many people into thinking a texture set is great. Since the inside of the head cannot be seen, transparency is a grey area. People think "transparency" and come out with "invisibility". People need to learn that seeing all the way through isnt always helpful.
-Mapping.
People need to know how to map. I know some lovely people have made templates that work, but it just doesnt seem many people know what goes where. This really annoys me, especially with the emo-headphones trend. They bend the headphones over the top, instead of mapping the headphones over the top seam.
-Trend humping.
Its hard to find head textures that break trends. I try my hardest to avoid them. A few people have the idea, but the rest of the market place seems to be packed full of them.
-Shading.
Even tho the shading is done in game, that does not meant that it should be left to its own devices. Good shading compliments the head, adding more depth and detail to the texture. I don't get why either a head has too much shading, making it look blurred, or the heads have none at all. The bit inbetween is so simple, so how is it so hard?
-Pricing.
Bad detail = Highly priced. High detail = unpricable. Something needs to be done!

~monobi

[/RANT]


ITT:
What would you do to solve the inflation?

1. Take money out of circulation to make it worth more
2. Roll with it and keep charging insane amounts
3. Sell for less in an attempt to slowly decrease it

Ummm.. I will have to agree with you on some aspects. I have been thinking the texture standards on toribash have been falling (Besides a few artists). I mean I don't claim to be one of the good artists of toribash for a second but I do make textures and try to sell them for a reasonable price. If others would do this and some of the more epic artists would become more active such as Mrama or Pate5 who I never see making textures anymnore, there would be no problem...right?

No.

Trust me, the quality goes up when I hunt them to their grave, I've done it for the past years, but not recently , that's why all the noobs are peeking out! Go rant on them.

You sir have pretty much defined all my rambling incoherent thoughts in one post...

But then the high prices of items drive these textures to match...

Also who could put a price on art these days

I would, but i would then run the risk of my first infraction due to either harassment or useless comment.


I'm sure there are a few of us who would easily be able to set the standard and put a price forcefully.
I for one would be willing.


I think this would really help... nothing can beat a good showing of skill and destruction of how bad the noobs really are!

This is all due to the fact that every brown belt has a full texture set now. I remember when it was an achievement to get full texts. I didn't get my last text until I was 6th Dan, and I was on the Promo-Team. Toricredits are a dime a dozen now, and it has killed the quality of textures. Everyone needs one now, so nobody takes the time to make one good set, instead they make 50 shitty ones. It's sad to watch. People tell me my textures are awesome. No they aren't. A couple months ago they were sub-par. That's the problem with lowering TC prices. I really can't stand it. Nobody works for anything anymore.

Agreed. The pricing issues seem to be arising due to A.) "Artists" with overinflated egos and B.) The ever-increasing Toribash "cost of living". People see sets being sold for a lot and they then decide that their sets, regardless of quality, should be selling for that much. And then they bump and wonder why nobody is bidding. >.> TTM's planning a little something to try to remedy those problems. ;)

The major issue that I have these days is with the endless and mindless repetition and conformity to basic trends. One that you mentioned is the anime+headphones heads. If I remember correctly, it was Mrama that first made a set like this, and all of a sudden we're seeing a plethora of those sorts of heads - some that are very similar to Mrama's. My belief is that this problem arises from people's fear of actually trying new styles and ideas - thus the tribals, vampires, emos, evil grins, and so on and so forth. Rectifying that problem will be rather challenging.

Also, in response to this:

Comments are allowed on texture sales as long as they are constructive. That is to say, a comment like "This set sucks too expensive" would not be allowed, whereas something along the lines of "This set isn't worth the asking price right now because of X and Y. At the moment it is worth Z, but you could make it worth the current price by doing A and B."

It's not that bad, just be sure to post properly and have a good argument on why it sucks.

I've had many infractions, lately moderators gives me them for fun because they want to make me happy :3

most texture sets suck megac*ck

that's the truth. To get a good set now, you have to pay a lot of $$ - shame, really. It was nicer when there were less people with textures, and the sets were well made.

Still some good artists out there, though.

Better yet, send a PM.