[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