Rifts Character Generator - Cybernetics

I am here with another update to my Rifts Character Generator (RCG)!

This is a section that I really struggled with : Cybernetics. The challenge wasn’t the programming aspect so much as the UI/IX. I had no idea how to make Cybernetic selection look in the generator. Truthfully, I am still not sure I do!

This is what I came up with so far. Please let me know if you have any suggestions - I need them!

Let’s suppose we’re building a City Rat who had the left side of his body severely damaged and needs cybernetic replacements. We will provide him with a left hard, a left hand, a left leg, and some cybernetic armor.

First, we have the basic layout. On the left, you select the component you want to build (Arm, Head, Leg, etc.) followed by a selection of location, features, and physical attributes. Let’s build the left arm:

As you can see, I selected the location as “Left Arm” and threw on a Forearm Blaster. I then used the sliders to set the P.S., P.P. and M.D.C./S.D.C. A click Add and you can see it on the right.

Please disregard the extraneous commas in the Features section; it’s a glitch I’m working on.

I went ahead and gave our City Rat a left eye and a finger on the left hand:

Let’s give him some cybernetic armor. For this, I will give him LE-B1 Light Espionage Armor. I select that and you can see that it provides you the M.D.C. by location.

(Note: if this ever gets released, the armor stats will likely be replaced with a book and page number. This generator is meant to supplement, not replace, use of the Rifts books.)

What else….? He needs a left leg! This works like the arm, only I need to provide the Spd. attribute as well.

Excellent. Now let’s give him a big toe on his left foot. I also went ahead and added an internal sensor and cosmetic implant:

So that is the gist. There are options for internal organs and other features that I didn’t paste in here. You’ll also be able to add multiple types of armor, cybernetic weapons, and other funky gizmos. I had to reference the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition core book to get some of these.

My next challenge with cybernetics, aside from fixing glitches, will be to interface cybernetics with O.C.C.s like Combat Cyborg which has special selections and features.

So what do you think? Does this interface look okay? In an ideal world, I’d have a picture of a humanoid and you would click the part of the body you want to build a cybernetic for. Unfortunately, that goes a bit beyond my skills for now, not to mention there’s no guarantee that you’ll be building a humanoid! After all, I included options for non-humanoid body types!

I have received comments on my RCG from previous updates. I really do appreciate them.

I’m going to be at the Palladium Open House in April. I am happy to demo this privately for anyone who is interested. Maybe, if I’m very lucky, Palladium will take interest in a demo as well…