((Long post I know, sorry XD))
Alright, so I was having a discussion with some of the other folks on the IRC thread (Hello other folks *waves*) and I got to thinking about this one idea:
If, and that's a big IF, modular clothing were to be implemented, and also if we could customise our own characters for Singleplayer mode (or customise Turner at the very least), wouldn't it be cool if some of our clothing decisions affected our characters, depending on the environment they were in?
Example 1: Desert Clothing
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So, we all know when travelling in the desert, wearing white (or light coloured) clothes helps keep the heat off better than black clothes (As light coloured clothing reflects the sun's rays, while dark clothing absorbs it.) So, if your character were to wear black clothing (or heavy clothing, or worse, black heavy clothing), they'd be more likely to overheat, and would be a bit more sluggish than those who wear lightweight, white coloured clothing.
Example 2: Footwear and swamps
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In a hypothetical swamp setting, you'd have to take into consideration the terrain there, and any possible natural hazards it poses (For instance, bodies of water might hide sharp debris or biting creatures, and other areas might be full of thick mud and quicksand.) When considering clothing, footwear would be quite important. Both heavy and light footwear (and going barepaw) have their advantages and disadvantages:
Barepaw/Light Footwear example:
Turner goes through a swamp area and wades through a small body of water, wearing nothing on his feet. He steps on a protruding stick, and injures his foot, causing him to limp for a while. Later, he recovers, and shortly afterwards is pursued by enemies, and after running through the area, finds his path is blocked by a large patch of thick knee-depth mud, with seemingly no visible way around it. He makes it through, slowed down slightly by the thickness of the mud, but otherwise unaffected. Meanwhile his pursuers flounder about helplessly, and quickly lose him, retreating and cursing the rabbit for being so awesome.
Heavy/Thick-soled footwear example:
My hypothetical custom character is fond of wearing rather thick-soled sandals (Think the thick-soled sandals that the floppy-eared concept art rabbit wears, which I hope will be available in game.
). Following Turner's trail shortly afterwards, he finds the same body of water Turner had to wade through. He makes it through without a problem. He steps on a twig, his thick soled sandals causing it to snap, alerting the aforementioned enemies to his presence. After fleeing, he too finds his path blocked by a patch of quicksand. He starts to wade through, but the quicksand grips the soles of his sandals, and he is slowed down severely, having to stop every few seconds to tug at his feet. Eventually he sinks to his waist, and the enemies leave him to his fate. He is rescued in the nick of time by a friend, who asks what he was doing wearing sandals in the swamp in the first place.
So there we have it. :3
As well as that, here's a piece of art I cooked up regarding the whole matter (This was made in a PChat session with some of the folks here):
As you can see, this unfortunate rabbit has managed to get his sandals stuck in the mud, slowing him down. :3 (That'd be the aforementioned hypothetical custom character I'd make, by the way.)