I personally think this is a really convenient idea if people can pull this off, this can drastically speed up people looking up art if done properly.
However I might throw in my two cents in to add some more, if however this does get achieved it might be really easy to then pivot the data base to be used for machine learning for creating machine made drawings (Like for example MakeGirlsMoe - Create Anime Characters with A.I.!), which could be a great asset for people who need custom characters/ larger characters drawings without being forced to draw the character or pay for a commission of several characters. That could drastically improve the quality rpgmaker games as creators can use ready made assets that aren’t solely in the creator.
Although I believe there’s several issues that may have to be addressed to be able to realistically accomplish the database
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Making a system in the database that recognizes repeating images of the base image and deletes them, although having a user upload a higher resolution version of the original in the database would cause the database to use the new resolution version as the base image. This can allow multiple users to upload images without the issue of causing massive influxes of repeat images. This can help cut down on the need for moderation.
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Having a clearly defined set amount of filters so that each image can be defined in the correct tags. This mainly just entails about the OP said about criteria tags, however it might be worthwhile to add in tags for the artstyle aswell to be included with the direction of character, poses/action character is doing, and amount of character shown in the shot (is it just a bust drawing, or a full figured drawing?)
It also would be difficult to have a general consensus of agreed upon body weight for characters due to artstyles making it difficult to gauge how much a character weights. A concept I might put forth instead of a weight system is more of a tier system of a progression of a character’s encumbrance (for example tier 1 being normal bmi, tier 2 slightly chubby with beefed up parts, 5 defined pot belly with flaired assets, 10 bbw, 15 ssbbw with a defined split stomach down to their knees, and rear takes up two chairs, etc, etc) This would likely have to be done as a progression drawing all the way to absurd sizes in a sense similar to bra sizes, that may be the most straightforward way to have a defined measurement of a persons assets if I’m not over analyzing it. Having a clear tier of assets at different sizes can also be easier to define what size each asset is compared to the body, so instead of looking for a pear shaped character instead of pear shaped it would more be like find character with tier 10 and above tush and tier 8 and below for every other body asset.
If I’m to be harsh, there might also have to be a filter for quality of work too, there’s a clear line between a person who uses the circle tool in mspaint and a cave dweller using professional equipment and years of experience of drawing degenerate fatty wank for coom cash. This could be a pretty controversial tag, so it might be best to make it extremely simplistic as of having a 1-4 range. with 1 being mspaint stuff, 2 being better than mspaint but not good enough to be decent ,3 being decent, and 4 being professional work. The quality tag could be cemented better with clear definitions as to what makes a good character art, be it with consistent adherence to some form of anatomy, lighting/shading, clean lineart, etc etc. While not needed it could help filter out tags to a greater degree.
I mean if you’re making a database with filters you may aswell have the database with the most filteriest filters, that badlandschugs can use it as a lifestraw to drain the ocean in record time.
- The possibility of changing those filters due to human error; there’s a definite likely hood of users mistakenly inputting in the wrong filters when submitting an image, this could be circumvented by adding in a flagging feature that allows users to suggest to admins or mods to change the filters to best suit the image. Or having the community change the tags themselves by putting in enough flags to change the tags.
I think currently the best line of action to handle this is to;
- plan specifically what guidelines to implement into the system
- produce a system to recognize repeating images to delete and make a higher resolution image the base image
- implementing the image tagging system,
- making a flagging system to correct any errors in tags (making it able to be managed by the community would make it more autonomous and less of a pain for admins)
I don’t think it’ll be as big of a hassle as it would be to make a AAA game, but it would likely be a very sizeable upbringing to bring into fruitition that’ll require a fair amount of planning to make happen, and more problems would arise after the development when people submit images than a game would make.
Apologies if I rambled through this or it was worded poorly, I wrote this when I was tired and I didn’t get my chicken tendies today.