Item idea brainstorming thread

[Jetryl]

I'm planning to do a big push to draw item icons in the near future; we've currently got a lack of them, and they're somewhat holding back content development. Sort of a catch-22; "we can't make a list of items because we've got no graphics for us to inspire the list from"; versus "we can't make any graphics because we don't have a list of items." And (mental) catch-22s like this are best dissolved by just taking some action of whatever sort.

So in this thread, we're just coming up with whatever ideas for items; be they names, purposes, or whatever - the point is to just get my creative juices flowing so I can start hammering out some new icons.

3] Armor and Item icons
Thanks to borrowing icons from wesnoth, we've got tons of weapons. But that's pretty much all they had; we don't have any armors/gloves/helmets, and we also don't have icons for "general RPG items". We need to make them. Our armor sets are going to be kinda like Chrono Trigger, in that we'll have some items which everyone can use, some items that only males/females can use, some items that only fighters/whatever can use, and some items that only specific characters can use.

We need:
Torso Armors - sometimes armor breastplates/cuirasses, sometimes dresses, sometimes tunics
Head Armors - usually helmets, but sometimes hats, circlets/crowns, or hairpins, or bandannas
Foot Armors - sometimes greaves rather than boots, but usually boots, sandals, and shoes.
"Offhand items" - these will vary wildly between characters - sometimes bracelets (laila), sometimes gauntlets (claudius), sometimes armguards (rafaela). For some wizard characters, we could even do talismans, or grimoires - who knows.

We'll probably add in another category or two, depending on what we get enough drawn for; rings might be a good candidate, or maybe capes/cloaks.


Eventually, in the final game of allacrost, we're gonna need some ~20 different options for each slot. A good example for us to run by is, once again, chrono trigger - if we can make as many items as they have, we're in fairly good standing. If you look at the following pages (click on the links they have at the side for other varieties), you can get an idea of all the items they had in their entire game - that's about how many we should shoot for:
http://www.rpgplanet.com/chrono/ct_armor.shtml
http://www.ffinsider.net/chrono-trigger/armor.php
http://www.chronoshock.com/ct/equipment/armor.php

Some initial ideas for armor are:
(name ideas: vest, chain, plate, mail, aegis)
Tin mail
Chain ring vest
Rodium Breastplate (or perhaps "Rodium Plate", since IMO it has a nice ring to it, and since it's going to be the entire torso entourage, including pauldrons, and all that other stuff)
Argent Chain
Firebrand Plate (some elemental affiliation with fire)
Spark Vest (etc -> electric)
Frost Plate (etc -> Ice/water)
Terra Plate (etc -> earth)


For dresses:
(name ideas: dress, sash, gown)
Windlace Dress
Willow Dress (already drawn as that green dress laila has)
Iridine Sash/Gown

[Maeglin Dubh]

Gambeson, Vambrace, Pauldrons, Jack, Arming Coat, Lammelar Coat.

Barbute, Kettle Helm, Greathelm, Pig-snouted Helmet, Leather Cap, Skullcap, Crested Helm.

[KaelisEbonrai]

Arcane Discs -> sort of glow-y arcane discs like this cube -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-led-cube/ these are throwable explosive/magic things -- Come in various colours, black metal+blue, brass+green, steel/silver+red (or others)

Winged Edge -> long sword with highly stylised wings as the crossguard, most likely the wings would be angular, rather than curved.

Random Crystaline Objects -> Various crystaline bits and pieces, perhaps in various different colours, perhaps they could be weapons, armour, or perhaps stat-enhancers/increasers.

[Jetryl]

Arcane Discs -> sort of glow-y arcane discs like this cube -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-led-cube/ these are throwable explosive/magic things -- Come in various colours, black metal+blue, brass+green, steel/silver+red (or others)

That's ... awesome.

Winged Edge -> long sword with highly stylised wings as the crossguard, most likely the wings would be angular, rather than curved.[/quote]
This is EXACTLY the kind of ideas I need.

Random Crystaline Objects -> Various crystaline bits and pieces, perhaps in various different colours, perhaps they could be weapons, armour, or perhaps stat-enhancers/increasers.

See also "shards", one of root's pet features.


Keep 'em coming!

[Gallivan]

Monster Rancher (which I just ebayed) reminded me of how I use to love that game as a kid. The number one draw was these ancient disc sort of things. You would place them in the 'shrine' and they would transform into monsters you could raise. The coolest thing about it was in order to use an ancient disc you put a random CD (Shania Twain, Linkin Park, FF6, etc.) into the PlayStation and it would generate a monster unique to each CD. Multiple CDs had the same monster but Linkin Park would only generate a Tiger for instance, it NEVER varied.

I digress - just to brainstorm as the thread suggest, is there anyway to incorporate ancient 'ruins' as a way to make each game play unique? An orb, when unlocked, could randomly produce an item. This way each play through would vary - although this may be harder to balance.

[Orymus]

To you need artistic references?

- "Knight armor" - right pauldron is more proeminent, it is a tight-layer of plate armor all over, much like a breastplate, silver-colored.

or use?

- "Kight armor" If at all relevant, very efficient against slashing weaponry and fire.