Planetside 2 has been opened up to the community, at least in the terms of the aesthetic. Starting with US based creators, Sony will be allowing submissions to the ‘Player Studio’ for in-game items that will eventually appear in game for sale, and a portion of each sale will go to the original creator.
This follows in the footsteps of Valve’s treatment of first Team Fortress 2 and more recently Dota 2, both of which have economy’s almost entirely driven by submissions from the player community.
Especially interesting is that all of this comes with style guides to inform creators of how to maintain the visual look of each faction. Even to those who have no intention of ever firing up a program like Blender or Maya, it’s cool to see how the team at Sony perceive each of these iconic factions.
The Terran Republic is viewed as ’rounds, curves and circles’, with a ‘protective under armour vest of high quality thick leather like substance’. New Conglomerate are ‘rough and rugged’, using ‘defined squares, hard edges, straight lines, and thick bevels’. Vanu? ‘The Vanu Sovereignty has embraced alien technology like a religion. Their armour and weaponry is very ornate. Fashion before form is their motto.’ I always knew they were more concerned with how they looked than how they shot.
There’s a comprehensive FAQ for the Player Studio, along with information on how to get started, and all the UV Mesh for the major items that you can currently work with. Unfortunately the program is somewhat in beta, and currently limited to US residents, although that will hopefully expand out into the rest of the world forthwith.