Hello everyone!
Today I would like to share my new artwork - sheep skins, as well as consolidate all the information I gathered for this topic when I posted my concept skins for Rams and Springalds
Community Discussion
Skins are a topic of discussion among the community. Below, I have outlined the main pros and cons that can be highlighted from the comments under my posts on Reddit:
Pros:
- The ability to purchase cosmetic items that can finance the development of the game in the long term can be useful for its further promotion.
- Some users feel that they can buy skins just to change the appearance of the model and not necessarily show them to other players.
Cons:
- Skins can spoil the aesthetics of the game for all users, not just for those who bought them.
- Skins are not needed in the game, and developers should focus on balancing the game and other important features.
- Skins can vary greatly from the original model, which can affect the readability and clarity of the game.
- Developers should give players the ability to turn skins on or off.
Based on community discussion, I decided to experiment with this idea and came to the conclusion that skins would look most interesting on neutral units, such as animals. We already have a similar example in the game, which is the Enchanted Deer that fits perfectly into the environment and doesn’t interfere with players recognizing what’s in front of them and whether they should oppose it (I, honestly, was scared when I first saw him 
).
After thinking about all this, I came up with the idea of sheep skins (specifically those that your scout collects). Here's how it works in my head: Initially, the sheep on the map spawn in their original skins, but once your scout collects them, they convert (possibly with interesting animations) into your customized skin. This does not affect the gameplay, but it adds additional engagement to the scout race for sheep. Now, when your opponent's scout is trying to collect sheep from you, they will not only see your color on them, but also your beautiful and rare skin that you received for a high rank or bought in the in-game store. Isn't that wonderful?
Customized sheep can also have special sound effects and animations. For example, when they are converted, a small glow appears around the wizard-skin, and instead of the usual bell, some interesting "magical" sound can be played. If the enemy scout takes control of your "collected" sheep, the neutral skin will not change, but will simply change the player's in-match color - your branch of glory will remain with the sheep for the entire match, or until the peasant's club.
Here’s some concepts that i didnt finish
Please write your thoughts and comments on this idea, maybe I missed something!
If you’re interested in checking out my works related to Age of Empires IV, you can visit my portfolio Artstation page or Instagram profile.
Usually I share my works, memes, and other stuff related to AoE on aoe4 subreddit.
