What do you think about UCs nowadays?

[Old but gold]

I've never had one. I actually just keep one pet which I train, read to and gourmet feed.

That's something i have tried many times 'cause i think focusing in a single pet is awesome... but i never managed to keep doing it. I end up getting more pets xD

[Rome]

I still don't get how they pick and chose certain pets to keep UC and not others. Especially royal pairs... like wtf?

[nymbly]

I still don't get how they pick and chose certain pets to keep UC and not others. Especially royal pairs... like wtf?

TNT at the time have said in various places that time in the office was all hands on deck to roll out customization. All at once they were switching from a whole new system for pets (simple gif files to flash) and the artists were tasked with redrawing all 54 species at once, along with a ton of wearables to launch the new mall. Various content people were put to an afterthought task of which pets to leave, something they'd never done-- the Mynci had recently been revamped just before this happened, and the original amazing Darigan Mynci was replaced with a sign of things to come, the standard pose Darigan (although oddly enough I think that one is UC?). Anyway of Royal pairs they've basically said, it was a random oversight in something that they had about 5 minutes to do in the midst of everything else. It's actually kind of incredible that they even let some pets stay the same.

I think this also explains some of the shoddy artwork on the new versions of Neopets compared to what the artists were capable of. The time crunch meant that they had to roll with designs that might have undergone more revisions in a previous era. I think it was a mistake to rush it as we've now had to live with these new designs for almost 13 years with no revisions at all, but I don't think they were thinking ahead to the fact that once this is done they can never be changed again, so let's make it good.

I think that's one of the things I miss the most that customization took away, the ever increasing design aesthetic and refining what that meant for Neopets. Yes some of the backgrounds they released after that are very pretty, but when you slap a giant bobbleheaded Ixi in it the overall effect is still bad. And that's why I'm never gonna quit my unconverted pets.

[Rome]

Yeah, some of the converted pets are really butchered. RIP Meercas.

[Shiro]

I miss the old uc mutant lupe

[kez_min]

TNT at the time have said in various places that time in the office was all hands on deck to roll out customization. All at once they were switching from a whole new system for pets (simple gif files to flash) and the artists were tasked with redrawing all 54 species at once, along with a ton of wearables to launch the new mall. Various content people were put to an afterthought task of which pets to leave, something they'd never done-- the Mynci had recently been revamped just before this happened, and the original amazing Darigan Mynci was replaced with a sign of things to come, the standard pose Darigan (although oddly enough I think that one is UC?). Anyway of Royal pairs they've basically said, it was a random oversight in something that they had about 5 minutes to do in the midst of everything else. It's actually kind of incredible that they even let some pets stay the same.

I think this also explains some of the shoddy artwork on the new versions of Neopets compared to what the artists were capable of. The time crunch meant that they had to roll with designs that might have undergone more revisions in a previous era. I think it was a mistake to rush it as we've now had to live with these new designs for almost 13 years with no revisions at all, but I don't think they were thinking ahead to the fact that once this is done they can never be changed again, so let's make it good.

I think that's one of the things I miss the most that customization took away, the ever increasing design aesthetic and refining what that meant for Neopets. Yes some of the backgrounds they released after that are very pretty, but when you slap a giant bobbleheaded Ixi in it the overall effect is still bad. And that's why I'm never gonna quit my unconverted pets.

To add to this I talked with one of the old neopets artists on DA and they said that the same artist didn't draw the whole pet on the converted ones which I found a bit weird. Like one artist would draw the head, another would do body etc. Might be why some of the converted ones look a bit deformed...

[Old but gold]

To add to this I talked with one of the old neopets artists on DA and they said that the same artist didn't draw the whole pet on the converted ones which I found a bit weird. Like one artist would draw the head, another would do body etc. Might be why some of the converted ones look a bit deformed...

I'm afraid whoever directed neopets that time had a serious lack of common sense, then.
It's like they were writing 'the ABC of what you shouldn't do when making a game'

[oventoast]

Artists, chime in:

How long do you think it would take (in terms of hours, weeks, manpower) to redraw:

a) all of the pets on neopets (not including any stock/promotional art)
b) redraw all customizable/wearables?

Just wondering. Assume all resources available.

[♥ lagrima ♥]

To add to this I talked with one of the old neopets artists on DA and they said that the same artist didn't draw the whole pet on the converted ones which I found a bit weird. Like one artist would draw the head, another would do body etc. Might be why some of the converted ones look a bit deformed...

Somehow that explains a lot but god I hate knowing that that's the case. Some converteds look like their heads don't belong to their bodies.

[Fiore]

Artists, chime in:

How long do you think it would take (in terms of hours, weeks, manpower) to redraw:

a) all of the pets on neopets (not including any stock/promotional art)
b) redraw all customizable/wearables?

Just wondering. Assume all resources available.

Uh I think my post got deleted or I deleted it by accident?



The original Krawk, the post conversion and finally my rework. The rework took maybe like 45 mins total? I did a quick vector with Illustrator but ended up making further edits in Photoshop after. The point of my rework was to maintain the integrity of the original while keeping it customization friendly. I didn't try *too* hard because I have a screechy 3 year old to deal with. It's not perfect but I always hated how the post-conversion Krawk looked. The hamfists and floppy feet annoy the crap outta me.

I can imagine all the wearable shit would take forever to redraw if the pets themselves get redrawn or reworked. A necklace or shirt won't look the same on a Bruce like it would on a Krawk.