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well! i usually don't do this kind of stuff but since we finally have our grubby little paws on the source code, i've been thinking a lot about what we can do with it immediately as well as what we could do with it in the future. my ideas are divided as such below, ordered from most feasible to the slightly more outlandish. i'm no expert in working with the ogre engine by any means so if any of these are impossible i understand, but i've definitely been trying to think of things that should (theoretically) be easy to implement. so no "INTRODUCE HUNTING AND PVP!!!1!!1!!!" here.
(https://i.imgur.com/TNuhv6G.png)
i. NEW SLIDERS
we literally just got a new slider in the update which is fantastic! the tail slider was definitely a welcome addition and frankly my favourite thing about the update. so what other sliders could we implement? the tail slider is implemented via animation the same as the rest of them, meaning its limited to the bones of the skeleton itself. after fiddling around a lot with the models as i chip away at an in-progress animation overhaul (ooh!) i've also been trying to come up with other sliders that could be easily implemented the same way.
- paw slider -- this would be especially helpful for us cat roleplayers! one of my pet peeves about making domestic cats on fh is the chunky big cat paws -- having a slider for that means we could finally have lil kitty bean feet. yes.
- head size slider -- this would also be helpful for creating cats, but also for creating cubs and pups, because sometimes a tiny body just doesn't cut it. who doesn't want big ol' bobblehead puppers and cubbers? i imagine this one might be a little harder to implement though.
- cheek slider for feline model and chin slider for the canine -- maybe this is just a me thing but i'd just love for both models to have the best of both worlds! puffy-cheeked kitties? yes please! big strongjaw doggos? damn right.
- neck width slider -- i'm thinking mostly of canines here tbh! i don't think i really need to explain this, it'll just make diverse characters easier to make!
- wing size slider -- 🤷
ii. NEW BODY PARTS
cattails has actually already made a thread to this effect (https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=66687.0) so i'll make this short, but now that we have the source code it should be absolutely possible to add more body parts. there's already a variety of ear and tail mods out there that i'm sure the creators of which would just love to have officially implemented in the game! as well as that, i'd absolutely love to see new manes added -- at the minute, user-created manes are pretty much impossible to add unless it's an item, which just sort of loses the effect i guess? also in this category is new tufts! feralsaurus on deviantart (https://www.deviantart.com/feralsaurus/art/MS-dog-item-pack-part-I-796235464) has made a wonderful dog item pack which includes cheek tufts and chest tufts, which is something i'd love to see for both models!
iii. ANIMATION REVAMP
bit of a different one, but the og feralheart animations have not aged very well. there are so many animation packs around once again -- one of them could be implemented as standard or even a few that you could switch between? that would be sweet! on a more doable note however, a few more actions could be added, like lick/nuzzle/what have you. oh, and a nitpick -- the game is aware of when your character hits water and is underwater (the wading sound effect, and the blue overlay when underwater) but yet we still run on and under water. swimming animations would be glorious.
(https://i.imgur.com/CbtQC8s.png)
i. QUALITY OF LIFE EDITS -- (i put these in this section because of their varying degrees of feasibility)
- do something about the movie maker option -- it's been there for years, just staring at us, telling us it's coming soon. i'm not too bothered about it but i know the mv makers among us would be! it'd be great to see it implemented or at least something else in its place...
- the item list -- it really bugs me that in order to see everyone's items you have to have that exact item pack and have your .cfg in that exact order. that's fine when everyone is using legenedary items, but what about other item packs? custom items? how about we turn the movie maker option into an item maker option? you load in your mesh, position it on the model, export it. boom. we could use something similar to the preset sync too so that everyone can see your item, even your custom items! i'm not sure if this is doable or not but i thought it'd be a sweet idea. and being able to place items in real time in the first place would be a dream... anyone else find that the placement of items within the .cfg is just godawful? no one's fault obviously, it's just not very accessible at the moment unfortunately.
- preset maker live updates -- tikoucas has already done it. (https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=65370) but implementing it in-game would just streamline things sooo much. a lot of people have talked about drawing directly onto the model, and while that's an awesome idea, i don't think its feasible just yet.
ii. SHADOWS -- why oh why did kovu omit shadows from fh? they were in impressive title. did they really hinder performance that much? even so, having the option would have been nice. anyway, either way, it would be absolutely wonderful. in case it wasn't clear from my reshade preset, i like to make fh look as post-processed as possible (lol) but the lack of shadows just really breaks the immersion for me. it'd definitely be a nice touch! and obviously with the ability to toggle it on and off.
this thread is a work-in-progress and i will be consistently adding to it as time goes on and i come up with more ideas!
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All these ideas sound pretty fun and would definitely add more the the customization of the game! I would love to see puffy cheek felines running around! ♥
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great ideas for updates, man. i'd love to see this stuff, ESP the quality of life things, added. excited to see more of ur ideas since they're all fantastic and don't seem to add too much crazy, insane stuff to the game that would, say, make it unplayable or anything.
ike i've seen some ideas tossed out there that are just.. e. the game thrives on simplicity. keeps people with bad computers playing.
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Love all of these ideas!
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Ohhh a cheek slider for felines would be perfect. Especially for making domestic cats or lynxes. All of these are wonderful ideas, and I hope that we get stuff like this in the next update. ^^
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Absolutely love all of these ideas, especially the new body parts/sliders & shading! I'd love to have the option to turn a shader on and off or even slide it up and down.
I adore the sliders/body parts because.. smaller paws for cat rpers.. MAN that would be amazing and the cutest thing.
𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥!
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Interesting ideas you've got here, ungodly. A couple immediate things I can think of would be that...
1. Adding the tail slider broke ALL of the animation mods, which is not a bug.
2. Shadows impacting performance on a game where literally all you do is chat or rp and maybe parkour here and there... doesn't seem like a big issue to me? Why aren't there any shadows? There is the ability to add shading on presets and objects though... hmm...
The lack of shadows never made sense to me.
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Interesting ideas you've got here, ungodly. A couple immediate things I can think of would be that...
1. Adding the tail slider broke ALL of the animation mods, which is not a bug.
2. Shadows impacting performance on a game where literally all you do is chat or rp and maybe parkour here and there... doesn't seem like a big issue to me? Why aren't there any shadows? There is the ability to add shading on presets and objects though... hmm...
The lack of shadows never made sense to me.
EDIT: xSpirit you goddamn ninja lmao! i'm still keeping this here though cause it took me a while to type it up yikee
1. that's very true! which is why i think if new sliders were to be added, i think it'd make sense to add them all at once so the animation fixes could be a once-and-for-all type of deal.
2. fair enough yeah! it could have been a problem maybe a few years ago when there was like... a thousand people online at a given time, but these days we cap at like three hundred. *shrugs*
the ability to add shading to objects and presets is actually independent from shadows actually cast by objects/entities. the shading on objects and presets is simply adding ambient shading rather than environmental shading if that makes sense? technically objects and presets are already shaded in this way, but it's possible to code it in to make the effect richer and more noticeable. however, they're still not affected by objects around them, i.e, the shadow that would be cast by a tree, or a cliff, or what have you.
in saying all that though, it still makes little sense to omit true shadows in the first place. most games even from that era (late noughties, early twenty-tens) have a shadowing option at the very least. it boggles the mind, but hopefully that's something that could be implemented fairly easily without cracking the game apart like a coconut, lmao
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Was gonna put this in the new thread xSpirit made but figured it might just be better to expand upon what you've said here.
Not only would an item sync akin to the preset sync do wonders for alleviating confusion and frustration in what people see, but it would also make things easier in the creator, too. If it functions the same way as the presets and what's displayed no longer relies on the .cfg order, users could edit their lists so that they don't have to see items they know they wont use without worrying about the consequences.
In fact, I might even go so far as to suggest that, if this is possible with the items, perhaps we could accomplish it with the markings too, for the exact same benefits. If I don't want, say, the MP5 marking, broken markings, or duplicates on the list, I can just get rid of it and I can still tell when someone is wearing that marking. Achieving this with either or both aspects of character customization would be a game-changer for modding.
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I’m totally down for these ideas, especially the item maker one :)
Looking forward to see what else you’ll bring up!