Multi-stage badges (My compromise for AE badges)


FreakyMutantMan

 

Posted

Before I go too in-depth, let me make something clear: By "multi-stage", I mean one badge that has multiple titles unlocked by clearing scaling requirements, such as defeating X enemies. I do NOT mean multiple badges that are acquired in such a manner; in fact, excess badges would be replaced by a single multi-stage badge, keeping the titles but condensing them all into one badge. Make sure you at least keep this in mind when replying.

Now, with that out of the way, here's a poorly made diagram to demonstrate this (condescending explanation follows):
Diagram

As you can see, it looks the same as a normal badge would (so long as you pretend that it doesn't look like something hastily slapped together in GIMP), but what are those (vaguely) button shaped things on the bottom of it (I know it says what they are right on the diagram, but.... shut up)? Well, Timmy, those are for the other titles the badge possesses! In fact, "Cooler Than You" is actually the final title of the badge. At one point in time, when Bob (what we shall call the character who would have this badge) had only acquired 2 Coolness Tokens (the number of which is the scaling requirement for the titles), he could only choose "Slightly Cool" as a title with this badge. However, as he earned more and more Coolness Tokens, that title was soon replaced with other ones, including (and limited to) "Mild Coolness", "Average Cool Factor", "Coolcat", and "Grade A Cool". Finally, upon collecting 1,000 Coolness Tokens, he unlocked that final title. However, at any time Bob can switch to one of the earlier titles if he so chooses to. He is not restricted to just the most recently unlocked title. In addition, Bob really only has that one badge; while he can choose from 6 badge titles, all of those titles are connected to the same badge. When he only had the first title, he could still select that as a badge title, though it looked like this to others (please excuse the laziness of the diagram below):

The Example
Bob
Slightly Cool (1/6)

As you can see, not only is the badge title gray, but there's also an indicator of how many titles Bob has gotten for that badge. This is to show to other players how much progress Bob has really made on the badge, in case he's using an earlier title instead of the one that he got most recently. However, now that Bob has fully cleared the badge, the title looks normal and the progress indicator is dropped. Even if Bob decides to switch back to "Slightly Cool", it will still look normal, which might seem like it would be confusing to other players, but the fact that it looks normal rather than gray with a red X/Y actually shows that he cleared the badge, but just decided to use one of the other titles. Now run along, Timmy! You wouldn't want to be late for dinner!

With that out of the way, there's still some details that I'm not sure what to do about. If anybody could help me out with these, it would be very much appreciated. Remember, the idea is to condense the number of AE badges overall while still allowing players to earn and/or keep the titles of the excess badges:

1. Should clearing the first milestone count as having the badge, with the other titles being completely optional? Or should it only count as having the badge when you've cleared all the milestones, so that while the player can still use any titles they unlock, they have to entirely clear the badge for it to factor into their badge count?
2. How would a multi-stage badge be differentiated visually? Should there be a number in the corner of the picture indicating the number of titles? If so, how would a partially cleared badge be shown when looking at your or somebody else's badges? Should it be in an X/Y format? If there's no number, how should it be indicated? In addition, should the picture change as well when you acquire it's respective title or depending on what title is selected? Should it change at all?
3. Should there be a separate count for completed multi-stage badges? Should there be rewards for completing a lot of multi-stage badges, or should it be purely cosmetic?