Oh I agree that 32x32 sprites mean there's likely no better option- going beyond the current minor differences inherently means giving the female characters super-overdone hourglass figures. That's why we shouldn't do it? Because there's no way to do it that doesn't cause a significant tone shift while creating a really awkward gender double standard where nothing existed yesterday?
Sprites conveying information at a glance is often a vital gameplay consideration, but why would this be one of those cases? Why do I NEED it to be clear at that any onscreen janitor, security officer, etc. is or isn't female?
>That's personal canon and at odds with a lot of characters and how they act ingame though.
People don't need swimsuit model bodies to behave in ways that are charismatic or seductive. Personal canon for characters is one thing, and I'm fine with there being a range of interpretations, but there's still the question of whether it fits the spirit of SS13- and while this game's totally a mashup of disparate genres & tone, I think there's a clear body of evidence that the core, default state does not involve NT personnel being hollywood action movie levels of sexy or cool. Because if it did:
- Our dramatic chase scenes wouldn't be ended by halls full of banana peels.
- The most threatening participant in our dramatic chase scenes would not be the roomba with a stun baton.
- The list of player roles on station would not bother including such glamorous staff positions as janitor and cafeteria worker.
- Fire extinguishers and toolboxes would not be staple elements of our fight scenes.
- The tech doohickey everyone has would not be PDAs with removable pens in them.
>We could keep the current female body as one of two options however and I don't see any reason not to if the code allows it, as humans could do with more customization options compared to lizards.
Let players achieve this body shape via extensive plastic surgery in medbay or ordering corsets at cargo. (Except probably not, because the stuff Fwoosh warns about would still totally happen)