I’m collecting ideas at GridStream parties again for Halloween brainstorming. After two weeks, we’ll put them in some semblance of order, and I’ll put a little more detail into our favorites, with reference images where appropriate. Then I’ll send the whole list off to FC roughly two months before the event, hopefully about the time they’re looking for ideas of new stuff to add. So yeah, it has to start pretty early. I’ve just started that thread again for this Halloween on the GSP forums.
Posting the official list on the GSP forums and linking to it from the AO and SWL forums worked well so far, so let’s go with that again. On the GSP forums, I don’t have to worry about dividing the list between games, and the post length and editing restrictions are much looser, so I can manage the list better as ideas come in.
If you don’t have a GSP forum account to post your ideas there, go ahead and tack it on here. I should see it and I can just copy it over. Or better yet, come to a show so we can talk it over and bounce it around a bit. That often results in more and better ideas.
Once I’ve finalized the list, I’ll post the whole thing here too, but separated into AO and SWL posts.
And yes, you can always just post your own suggestion any time you want, but I find that these threads, especially the discussions of them at parties, bring up a lot more ideas and more of them actually get posted in a big pile FC can more easily find. So let’s hear it. What do you want to see falling out of ol’ Pumpkin Jack’s smashed gourd this year?
For those of you who don’t follow the GSP forums, here’s just the Secret World ideas we submitted for Halloween this year. Sorry there weren’t more SW ideas, but we don’t have many shows there lately and, well, nobody replied in this thread. A good number of these work for both games, though. If you want to see the full AO + SWL list, it’s at the same Gridstream link above.
Trick or treat, Mr. Pumpkinman!
Here’s GridStream’s annual brainstorming contribution of Halloween ideas. They were collected at two weeks of GSP parties, plus a couple that came up since last time. The forums were pretty quiet, and our parties are mostly in AO these days, but we got a pretty good list anyway, and a lot of the ideas apply to SWL, too. GSP DJs, Dancers, and staff helped put them in order so I could fill in extra details on our favorites, but as always, the whole list is here. [in the main list anyway, this is trimmed for the SWL forum]
[both] shiny and feminine, but practical, female armor
Not typical MMO female “armor” or unisex “storm trooper” armor that just happens to be wrapped around a curvier mesh, but more like Wonder Woman 1984. Perhaps it’s something like a nano-woven honey polymer non-Newtonian ballistic cloth armor, very light and flexible, but effective.
If it ends up being too girly for men to wear without looking silly, that’s fine. Some like to play that way, and there are plenty of other choices if not.
[both] Tiger Print outfit
A black and orange version of AO’s Zebra Print outfit. SWL would need the original, too.
[both] balloons pet, in Halloween colors
Maybe make some of them pumpkin-shaped. Not much more to say about that. …unless…
What if they weren’t full of helium at all but were kept aloft by trapped spirits trying to escape back to the Shadowlands and you could occasionally see a blurry face pressed against the inside of the balloon, amid vague swirls of mist trying to hypnotize you into letting them out? Like the creepy spheres the Soul Hunters used in Babylon 5, but floating on strings like they’re supposed to be cheerful.
[both] fishnet stockings with matching heels (or pumps) and booty shorts
Particularly in dark red, rich purple, and light blue, matching some of the available corsets and/or bikini tops
[both] ocelot print bikini with some ocelot spot tats/body paint
Head to toe ocelot spots body paint with a matching minimal bikini or Speedo. Ocelot pattern is similar to leopard, but even cuter. Google has pages of reference material for ocelots and ocelot body paint.
[both] More Halloween colored shorts
There are a couple in orange or black, but not many, and those aren’t the only Halloween colors. Blood red, bone grey, and mysterious dark purple would be nice. Maybe even some patterns like bats, pumpkins, witches, cats, ghosts, the usual Halloween tropes. It’s not much of a costume, but for some characters it’s close enough.
[both] “steamy bath censorship” costume
A little bit of strategically opaque white cloud underwear that emanates a particle effect like adventurer shields but with slow fluffy white cloud particles, aka “The Onsen Episode” costume. Great for screenshots in those Sunrise Station apartments and Tokyo bath houses. AoE nosebleed effect optional.
[SWL] tanga or thong bikini bottoms
Nothing fancy, just simple basic styles like AO’s Midnight Pumpkin or White Thong, in at least the same colors as SWL’s current bikinis. It always seemed odd that a game with such contemporary clothes and scandalous (Snake Charmer) costumes should insist on retro swimwear with coverage and ruffles. I mean, it’s great to have that option, but not so much as the only two swimwear options.
[both] Figleet of your Imagination
An especially silly pet leet.
[both] that glass sphere the Goblin King juggled in Labyrinth, with a reflection still inside it of David Bowie’s hands flowing around it. Maybe make it an AoE pacify/slow gadget?
[both] undead teddy bear costume, like an almost life-size version of AO’s Childhood Memories one taken all apart and tied on as a costume
[SWL] pet camera / surveillance drone, not necessarily Orochi brand, but probably one of their subsidiaries. Doesn’t zap or scan anything, just hangs back and watches. And blinks its little red light to remind you it’s watching everything.
[both] Stillsuits or hunter-seekers or worm-riding gear or something from that new game you’re working on, as a teaser
[both] wireframe suit - uniform item that’s just pitch black like the morph suit, but with one pixel wide white lines at the edges of all the polygons. Well, maybe not /all/ the polygons in SWL. All the sharp angles?
[both] Low-rise boyshorts and matching lacy balconette bras
[both] the lockdown Wookiee “I really need a haircut” outfit
[both] Like bath bombs, but for kitchens. Throw one in the sink and tentacle monsters spring out of it and grope and flail all around your fridge and cabinets and randomly cook you a meal with whatever they find and then slither away, leaving decent, if creepy, food, and a huge mess. Could that actually summon a Filth Chef in certain “kitchen” areas to produce a consumable item?
[both] I doubt the engine supports it, but it would be cool if there was a nano that could make a rainbow appear leading to your mission waypoint. And if that is possible, a Halloween version could be a cloud of bats or a rolling jack-o-lantern or some such.
[TSW] pitchfork skin for hammers
Thanks for your continued work on our favorite worlds and for reading (at least some of) this and letting us contribute some ideas to the holiday development cycle. I hope you find at least some of it useful or at least amusing.