I am all for as much race customization as possible, but the way I see it, if Elemental goes this way I think we'll be disappointed. The problem is that a "race editor" with "body parts"like building blocks will probably not make good-looking creatures. And it certainly not will make creatures made with "soul", that feels right, done with art skills and some class. I would hate if the races would be downgraded to a spore-like add-on in an editor which is not even included in the core game and campaign.
Considering the apparent limited resources available for races in elemental, I would prefer that SD skips 2-3 core factions (the "Diplomats" certainly don't sound very exciting) and instead works out 2-3 non-cannon factions/race models, like lizardmen or something with wings. And what is wrong with wanting to play Galadriel in war against Sauron anyway!
The more I think about it, the more I feel the basic premises of the game are wrong. The way this is going, I think it will be fully up to the modding community to try to make Elemental meet D&D and all our beloved fantasy novels/stories, like Conan or Covenant ... What a missed opportunity.
I understand your fear Gorgon, but I see things a little different having some knowledge of how these systems work. 3D modeling of this nature is all about wire frames and animations. Lets take "Torso's" for example. If they make 3 (and really we only need 3) One that's a normal human, one that's a little shorter and stockier, and one that's a little elongated and thiner, all of them use the same wire frame animation and there's no reason why they don't need to not use the same animation. The same applies for arms. One arm is longer and skinnier, one is bulkier, and one is shorter. All the arms move the same way though. They bend in the same places and have joints in the same places and all have the same animation. Swinging a sword is the same whether it's a green bulky arms swinging it or a slender skinny arms swinging it. Changing a model is just as easy as changing a skin as long as you're using a standard animation. Once you make the models in pieces they all become interchangeable.
Bottom line, to me at least, any customization of this nature, Any At All, is better then None. It doesn't have to be complex or hard. It just has to be there. That's my (and others) opinion anyway. Hopefully my limited explanation of how the programs work cleared things up a bit.
Well, if the building editor is using Havok, it should be possible to make a creature creator like what you've suggested. If it's using the Kumquat engine, we can't be sure that Havok is capable of this or not. This is what I meant. Even if it would be possible to make a creature creator like this, it would take a lot of work to make it probably...perhaps this could be shipped with an expansion.
"A lot of work" would be a opinion there my friend. If they already have the basis to work from it wouldn't take long at all. The longest part would be the few days it would take a modeler to make a hand full of parts. They already have the animations because they'll need them for the 3D Battle Engine. If you've ever done any 3D modeling or skinning you'd know what I mean. Once you make one "Arm" and get it working with the animation, making new arms that use that same animation isn't hard at all or even that time consuming. I could probably pump out 3 or 4 "Arms" in a day provided the animations were done for me.
