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Since the ticket system was implemented 4 years ago, the most wanted feature on PMC has been Skin Alternates. Introducing this feature is more difficult than it looks, and it has understandably not been implemented to this day.
(This would give us the ability to upload several similar skins under the same submission).
But why is this necessary? What makes it the most requested feature ever?
If you have an alternate version of a skin, you could always post it as a separate skin, right?
You can upload your skin alternates separately, but...:
1. If the skins are too similar, it will likely be removed.
2. The skins clog up your profile, as well as the front page.
3. Uploading recoloured skins is not allowed.
4. Uploading edited skins is not allowed.
5. It's a tedious way of doing it.
If you can't upload your alternates separately, the only other option is to upload the skin file in the description.
There are countless examples of this, but for the purpose of demonstration, take Kefka's TMNT skins; the characters are too similar to upload separately, so the image files are tucked away in the description like this:
This is something you've probably seen many times before, and it's not a pretty sight. Uploading skins this way is hard, time consuming, and makes the alternates more difficult to find and download.
The result is that most people don't bother uploading alternates at all.
If there was a skin alternate system in place, users would instead be incentivised to create slightly altered version of skins, allowing for more personalisation.
It would also be a great way to organise similar skins.
It's the most requested feature for a reason!
Unfortunately, introducing such a system adds a lot of complexity to existing systems, and would be very difficult to implement. Cyprezz recently stated that he is still not sure how to do it.
So the aim of this post is to open up discussion on how the system should work, and to hopefully give Cyprezz some good ideas as well as some motivation.
Here is how I think skin alternates should be implemented:
How will alternates be displayed on the skin's page?
For simplicity, the alternates should be treated as separate skins under the same submission.
This means each alternate has it's own amount of views, diamonds and favourites.
However, the comments should be the same over all alternates.
If an alternate is featured in a collection or a favourite list, the link in that collection should lead to the corresponding alternate in the skin post.
When you feature a skin on your profile, you feature the alternate that is currently open.
The "change my skin", "download skin" and "papercraft" buttons should use the alternate that is currently open.
A good way to display the alternates would be in a bar under the skin preview, like this:
The simplest solution would be to display the different versions on a slideshow when you hover over the image, like this:
Notice that the description also says "3 Alternates". It could alternatively say "4 Versions".
If any of the alternates are in a different format or model, it should say in the listing:
If the skin is in a small widget, it should just show the slideshow:
It should be possible to upload all your alternates in one skin submission.
When you upload a skin, there should be a button to upload another skin file, like this:
I think the max amount of alternates should be at least 20, since that's the same as the amount of images you can upload to a media gallery for texture packs and builds.
In case there are alternates of different genders, you should be able to select several:
When reporting a skin, you specifically report the alternate that is currently open.
When reporting a skin that has one or more alternates, you should be able to select if the report is regarding all versions, or just the selected one:
I'm not familiar with the moderator layout, so I'm not sure what kind of changes needs to be made there, but moderators should be able to request changes on or remove certain alternates as they wish.
What do you think of this concept? Let me know if there is anything I have overlooked, or if there is anything you would like me to change or add to this list.
And lastly, why do you want skin alternates on PMC?
(This would give us the ability to upload several similar skins under the same submission).
But why is this necessary? What makes it the most requested feature ever?
If you have an alternate version of a skin, you could always post it as a separate skin, right?
You can upload your skin alternates separately, but...:
1. If the skins are too similar, it will likely be removed.
2. The skins clog up your profile, as well as the front page.
3. Uploading recoloured skins is not allowed.
4. Uploading edited skins is not allowed.
5. It's a tedious way of doing it.
If you can't upload your alternates separately, the only other option is to upload the skin file in the description.
There are countless examples of this, but for the purpose of demonstration, take Kefka's TMNT skins; the characters are too similar to upload separately, so the image files are tucked away in the description like this:
This is something you've probably seen many times before, and it's not a pretty sight. Uploading skins this way is hard, time consuming, and makes the alternates more difficult to find and download.
The result is that most people don't bother uploading alternates at all.
If there was a skin alternate system in place, users would instead be incentivised to create slightly altered version of skins, allowing for more personalisation.
It would also be a great way to organise similar skins.
It's the most requested feature for a reason!
Unfortunately, introducing such a system adds a lot of complexity to existing systems, and would be very difficult to implement. Cyprezz recently stated that he is still not sure how to do it.
So the aim of this post is to open up discussion on how the system should work, and to hopefully give Cyprezz some good ideas as well as some motivation.
Here is how I think skin alternates should be implemented:
Skin Page Display
How will alternates be displayed on the skin's page?
For simplicity, the alternates should be treated as separate skins under the same submission.
This means each alternate has it's own amount of views, diamonds and favourites.
However, the comments should be the same over all alternates.
If an alternate is featured in a collection or a favourite list, the link in that collection should lead to the corresponding alternate in the skin post.
When you feature a skin on your profile, you feature the alternate that is currently open.
The "change my skin", "download skin" and "papercraft" buttons should use the alternate that is currently open.
A good way to display the alternates would be in a bar under the skin preview, like this:
Listing Display
How will alternates be displayed in the listing on the front page, profile pages etc.?The simplest solution would be to display the different versions on a slideshow when you hover over the image, like this:
Notice that the description also says "3 Alternates". It could alternatively say "4 Versions".
If any of the alternates are in a different format or model, it should say in the listing:
If the skin is in a small widget, it should just show the slideshow:
Uploading Alternates
How should uploading alternates work?It should be possible to upload all your alternates in one skin submission.
When you upload a skin, there should be a button to upload another skin file, like this:
I think the max amount of alternates should be at least 20, since that's the same as the amount of images you can upload to a media gallery for texture packs and builds.
In case there are alternates of different genders, you should be able to select several:
Moderation
How will users select which alternate to report?When reporting a skin, you specifically report the alternate that is currently open.
When reporting a skin that has one or more alternates, you should be able to select if the report is regarding all versions, or just the selected one:
I'm not familiar with the moderator layout, so I'm not sure what kind of changes needs to be made there, but moderators should be able to request changes on or remove certain alternates as they wish.
What do you think of this concept? Let me know if there is anything I have overlooked, or if there is anything you would like me to change or add to this list.
And lastly, why do you want skin alternates on PMC?
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skin-alternates
ScotsMiser
sniffercraft34
Atten007
The Gamers Club
minecraftwikipt
KongPlayz
KaiOceansword
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would they all have the same link?
Have no idea why they haven't done this yet when it's so damn popular. Been four year since that ticket was posted
Not sure about limit cap though, I thought the cap for previews was due to larger image sizes; Could use a different kind of display lay out that only loads one selected skin's 3D model at a time rather than many running in the background if the 3D renders are too space intensive
Good work!!
I'd personally like alternates for skin packs and whatnot