While working on concepts for new characters I noticed that there are already a lot of really good characters already in game that could be turned into new characters with a few clothing changes.
Obviously this concept has already been implemented with a few of the characters, but it has only scratched the surface.
Also, since you can swap head models, a quick way to add more customization would be to expand the number of heads available past the ones that have bodies. So instead of creating a new character called "Dark Biker" lets say you just create a head model that looks like a biker helmet with red glowing eyes. Then someone who is using Sergei or Major could use that head model and, bam, they're now a biker.
Another ambitious idea is the concept of choosing the clothing. However, seems like something that would change the way characters are designed completely, so I'll leave this one alone before it starts cutting into the "create-a-character" idea. But I will say that if we leveraged some of the effects that powerups have and use those for character customization, it seems like something that could be quick and easy to implement. Although, as someone who has more art experience than game programming experience, I haven't taken into consideration the impact of 12 characters running around with 5 different shaders on. But then again, this is the idea pit where artists and users go to have fun thinking out loud and programmers go to silently roll their eyes.
