Player Designed Mesh Models

[Penguin]

I've seen whine after whine on here about how bad the cockpits are for fighter X or buff Y.  HTC doesn't have unlimited time or manpower to make new cockpits, so I propose a win-win situation.

In my wish, players would be allowed to make their own cockpits/plane models (just like maps) and use them all they want when offline.  However, they would also be able to submit their creations to HTC, who would review (and possibly improve if necessary) them and put them into the main game with the next update.

This would allow cockpits and planes to look absolutely amazing without much work on HTC's part.  It would also allow for increased creativity and player-game interaction.  With hundreds of player-generated rough and fine skins to use, HTC could give us all the eye-candy we want in much less time and without any fuss at all.

Now, artists, you may think, "What's in it for me?".  Well, you would recieve the same 1,000 perks that a background maker would if one of your models were used in-game.  Furthermore, you would be allowed to put an appropriate watermark (i.e. your name, your logo) of your choice in an area that you could not see without hunting around a bit.  Your name would also appear on the main page of the site with a description of your model. 
Everyone wins.  We win because we get eye-candy.  HTC wins because they can spend less time drawing skins and more time creating new planes, vehicles and gameplay features for us to enjoy.  The artists win because they get perks and recognition for their long hours slaving over a hot keyboard.

-Penguin

[Krusty]

It's not that easy...

There's a lot of requirements that go into it. Poly count, access to game files or testing environment. Then there's the little matter of the software used to create the geometry costs $10,000 USD (unless I'm thinking of something else -- might want to search old forum posts because something like this was mentioned)

[Vinkman]

I like the idea but krusty make the key point. Geometry format is very impotant in HCT using the model. Software costs of existing programs are prohibitively high. Developing a utility that would convert files from less expensive programs might enable this idea, but I don;t know of any that exist, and it would be a big gamble for HTC to invest in it in the hopes that player content would be HTC quality and pay dividends.

But it's possible and I love the idea.