A Really Long List of Game Tweaks, Ideas, and Bug Fixes

[turtlies]

Now that we have the source code and more updates seem to be on the horizon, I'd like to throw out a list of some smaller (...mostly) ideas I'd love to see in game. Yeah new models would be cool and all, but I'd like to focus on the quality of life updates and any common bugs that could fixing. A couple of the ideas are a bit bigger, but I figured I'd tack them on anyways.

Of course, not all of these are urgent nor necessary features. I'm not a coder of any sort, so I could be deeply underestimating how difficult some of these features would be to implement. However, I want to get the ideas out there for discussion---even if they wouldn't ever show up for years.

And, of course, I appreciate all the work you're doin' xSpirit! <3

Chatbox

Allow clicking of links/implementation of links
Been discussed on other threads already. Maybe posting links could be a mod-only privilege. At the very least, links that are in bios (usually pointing toward preset downloads or group sites) should be clickable. I do see a lot of flaws in having links, but also, it’s a pretty standard feature in other MMOs.

Allow copy and paste capabilities
Yeah, it has the capability to be abused, as do most things. Maybe something to leave only to bios?

Misc

New loading screen tips
New tips that appear at the bottom of the loading screen. Could be actually informational, more cute little quips, trivia, some vague hints? Some ideas (feel free to throw some out there! I’m not as creative):
~ Visit Feral-Heart.com to stay up to date on the latest news and events!
~ Make sure to give that login page a refresh once in a while...
~ Some say there may be a hidden place buried in the sands of Kiwimbi Beach…
~ Did you know: You can create custom presets for your characters!
~ Fun fact: Feralheart was released in January 2011! (I don’t know the actual start date but you get the idea)
~ Some sort of hint to allude to projects or ideas for future updates, “Hey! What’s that island over the horizon…? Looks like you can’t visit there, yet...”

Loading screens pertain to map you’re visiting?
Kinda like the randomization, but I’ll throw out the idea.

More loading screens in general
More playful ones, styles akin to the old forum banners? An excuse to hold another contest maybe…? ;)

Do not show portal names while in F3 mode
If your character is standing near a portal and the name shows up at the top, it remains even while halfway across the map in F3 mode. It should disappear when at the same point it would disappear in normal camera mode.

Folder for Heightmaps
This is simple enough it could have been done without the source code. I even did it for my own files. Basically, just literally make a new folder that heightmaps are supposed to go into. Add it's location to the resources.cfg so it's recognized. Easy enough. I just love some more organization rather than heightmaps just being saved wherever--there doesn't seem to be a clear specified location. Though maybe I'm just missing something, I used to save all my heightmaps in the Watermill folder, some people save them in the map's folder, others just have them floating 'round in the terrains folder.

Character Creation

Allow organization of character order
However the order of your characters is decided when you enter the game is an absolute mystery to me. There should either be a more set and obvious way characters are ordered (alphabetically, by creation date, etc) or it should be an option to set the order yourself. For example, I would want my most commonly used character to be the first character I see when I enter the character selection screen.

Extend marking limit
Markings re-cycle after 255 markings I believe. Extend the limit. Simple enough idea.

Allow organizational tabs for markings + items
Trying to find the perfect marking or item is an absolute pain. There should be some more organization to it. For items, maybe separation by body part (ie Head Items, Paw Items, Tail Items, etc.). Markings are trickier, though I do think they could be assigned to different groups in some way, like "natural markings", "scar markings", "spot markings", etc. Or, even just two categories: official and default markings, and custom and player-made markings.

Items own tab
Items are incredibly popular. Equip cannot be modded atm yet take up the same box space as items if you don't have the mod to increase the box space. I feel that due to their popularity, items should be moved to their own separate tab (like the I, II, III, IV, and V tabs). This gives the scroll box more space and shows more items.

Allow separate color options
Hue, saturation, greyscale, HEX CODES. Stuff like that.

Ability to press Tab to switch between the RGB number input boxes
Self-explanatory.

Color Options Placement Change
Hopefully you'll understand what I mean: When you enter the fifth tab to change the color of different body parts, the order goes Pelt, Underfur, Eyes, etc. A couple of the ordering for these should be changed, though. Head Marking should be immediately followed by Body Marking and Tail Markings. Mane and Tuft should be next to each other as well, maybe Tail Tip too.

More color customizing options
A couple of things I believe could have the color of changed:
~ Inner ear
~ Tongue/Mouth
~ Paw Pads
~ Sclera (whites of the eyes)
~ MAYBE pupil color
I do see in some of the new material files that it looks like toe and inner ear colors could be a possibility in the future...

Separation of Teeth/Mouth and Eyes
I’m not an expert on UV stuff, so I’m not sure if this is possible without screwing up a load of files. However, having eyes and mouth be separate for materials and such would allow for some cleaner mods, particularly with shading mods. Trying to make mods with glowing eyes that are effected by the environment makes the eyes look real good--until you open your mouth and your teeth are blindingly white. This is a bit of a niche problem so hopefully this makes some sense.

Map Maker

Snap to/Grid mode
This is more of a full on big idea than a tweak, but I never see this mentioned. A grid mode that would allow more precise placement or help out in planning features. Objects could then "snap to" this grid.

Caves/Tunnels/Underground/etc.
Not sure if possible with the engine or not. But boy would some land sculpting tools to allow arches and caves and tunnels without using a mismatched mesh be awesome.

Allow updates to terrain masks just like heightmaps
While in map maker, if I notice something off in the heightmap, I can go back to my art program, edit the mistake, and resave the file. All I need to do in-game is re-enter the name or just press enter again, and the heightmap immediately updates to the newest edit. Heck, I've even changed the name of files while having the program open and it's recognized them without requiring a reload. However, this same thing doesn't apply to terrain masks for some reason. In order to edit the terrain mask, it requires a full reload to show the latest edit. Basically... they should be able to update too.

Lock while randomized cloning
Ex. being able to lock the x/y/z planes to stop scaling in one direction, or to lock all three planes to only have the pitch/yaw/roll change, or vice versa

Change pitch/yaw/roll directly with numbers
Not sure exactly what kinda units or whatever these things are in, angles/degrees maybe? But it's annoying to try and be precise with just the arrow keys.

Fix glitching of heightmap when testing map [BUG]
This occurs when you test a map and exit back to the map maker. The heightmap will be permanently zoomed in instead of showing the entire map until the next reload.

More portal updates
~ Ability to lay horizontally
~ Allow different textures like a mesh---not by replacing the texture file for all of them (hope this makes sense: basically so people can make custom portals for their maps without needing an actual texture mod. Could work pretty similar to how water textures work.)

Water Rotation
Be able to rotate the flat water planes in map maker.

Shaped water on a plane when making New Water
Basically, when making a new water in Map Maker, you should have more options than just the flat square. So... pretty much just give the option of flat circular water pls. Talking about the function in Map Maker, not meshes.


Whew, I think that's all I have for now! If I managed to be a stupid dum dum and one of these actually IS a feature in-game, let me know! Also, since I'm not the best at explaining, if you want me to clarify any of these, I certainly can, or make a little mock-up to show what I mean!

Otherwise, I'd love to know any thoughts you have on these. As with any feature, none of them are perfect or without flaws, and I don't know the limits of the game or the game engine or anything like that. Hopefully some of these can inspire some other ideas or new features, though!

[LadySigyn]

I really like all your ideas, especially the ones about the links in bios, copy/paste, organisation in character creation, and the loading screens. The only thing I'm sort of 'eh' about is the wipe chat feature idea. To check on any messages from a certain channel (such as group or whisper) if local is chatty, I usually just uncheck the local box, which makes the text invisible. At least that way you can still keep the local chat, while also being able to check other messages. But each to their own, I suppose.

Thank you for sharing these great suggestions! I enjoyed reading through them all.

[Ellen11v]

I’m all in for the character creation ideas, especially the one with organizing items and seperate color options idea. I am very fond if hex codes

This is a very neat thread put very well together, too. Thanks for sharing your ideas <3

[Lady_RavenRose]

Really enjoyed reading all these lovely ideas! I really hope one day we can see some of them in game. I would love to see more customization for the characters and easier use of the chat box! Thank you for all these ideas~!

[Hakumi]

Love it, Love it, Love. It.
Very thought out, nicely written and just organized altogether. <3
Fingers crossed that these get implemented ( at least some! )
As for the chatbox, I think pressing 'enter' actually has your little tick in the box.. As for cycling through the different types of chats, I wouldn't mind having something like that.

[Syrinx]

some dang great ideas!
i especially like the underground one. it'd be really cool to have maps with caves or secret tunnels, or little underground dens.
also even though i don't write fancy bios, being able to copy-paste would be so useful. it just sounds easier to have a copy of it on your computer as well as in-game (and not having to type the whole thing out again).

and man, i've wanted separate colors for the pawpads forever. i hope with the source code bein' in their hands they can make some of this cool stuff a reality.

[turtlies]

Thank you guys for the feedback! I've removed the Wipe Chat and Press Button to Start Typing ideas, as I see they're already possible!

[VortexAlive]

Taking some time to reply to this long list of ideas and what my thoughts are of them. There are so many. xD


Allow clicking of links/implementation of links
I am for this as it would help reduce the feel for a need to use tinyurls as well as not having to use external messaging apps. If it were just for moderators, it would at least help when directing users to forum pages.

Allow copy and paste capabilities
I am for this as it would make bios easier to manage.

New loading screen tips
This could be very helpful. I'm for this!

Loading screens pertain to map you’re visiting?
That would be neat, and I guess for private maps it would just be random?

More loading screens in general
Pffft I'm for this. xD

Do not show portal names while in F3 mode
Or... you could just move away from the portal and not see the name while using F3...? You can also use Tab to hide the Interface.

Folder for Heightmaps
I just save mine in the map folder that it is used for...

Allow organization of character order
Omg yes! I've wanted to be able to re-order my characters from day 1! I'm all for this!

Extend marking limit
More marshmellow complaints everywhere lol, but for this! xD

Allow organizational tabs for markings + items
Alphabetical Alphabetically Ordered Categories... I'm for this! I can also see complaints about seeing wrong markings coming from this if it were implemented. xD

Items own tab
Would make them easier to go through. I'm for this!

Allow separate color options
I'm not sure it's needed? Could just end up looking cluttered? But I'd be for it either way. c:

Ability to press Tab to switch between the RGB number input boxes
Not much to say but I'm for this!

Color Options Placement Change
I don't unerstand the workings of the game well enough to know if this would break things or not... Like the tail slider broke animation mods, and the separation of tuft and mane is/was glitchy. Though I am for this. c:

Separation of Teeth/Mouth and Eyes
I think if you know presets well enough and use different layers and passes you could get the effect you want by doing it that way. Also, if this were implemented I can definitely see this breaking everyones presets... x'D

Snap to/Grid mode
Pretty sure I mentioned this somewhere... years ago... I'm for this! xD

Caves/Tunnels/Underground/etc.
My only thought: "LAAAAAAAG! -ded-"

Allow updates to terrain masks just like heightmaps
Interesting... never tried that before, I would be for this but I don't think I'd use it since I close the game to make any file changes anyway, force of habit I guess. xD

Lock while randomized cloning
This would help when wanting to keep objects at the same level of height, etc. I'm all for this!

Change pitch/yaw/roll directly with numbers
Omg it's maddening having only the arrow keys to use.. and even more so that the units in the file that their positions are stored in are not in the form of degrees but some random ".050946396" form. I'm all for this if it can be done! x'D

Fix glitching of heightmap when testing map [BUG]
You mean the minimap glitch? It does make it hard to navigate the map in map maker when that happened, which is every time... I'm for this!

More portal updates
Omg yes, I can see some beautiful map entrances being made it this were implemented. I'm for this!

Water Rotation
If you can manage to get a mesh to use the water material then you should be able to do this, but that is with a mesh and not the plane you are talking about. xD

Shaped water on a plane when making New Water
I don't have any thoughts on this one.


Nice list of ideas, hope to see some of them make it in some day!

[Wyldercat]

I'd love to see all of these in-game. These would make the client seem a lot less clunky and dated; and I'd be super psyched for a loading screen contest.