Few suggestions.

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zed24
Posts: 1
Joined: November 17th, 2012, 12:37 pm

Few suggestions.

Post by zed24 »

I'm new to this game but I liked it from the beginning. I want the game to be better, and due to that I've made a list of what should be fixed and improved.

1. Models of some undead units shoukd be changed:
* Undead Sea Serpent, Cuttlefish, Tentacle of the Deep, Yeti requires their models and animations to be changed. They should look more suitable.
* Undead human, elves, orcs and their riders should differ from each other. Undead Orcish Rider's mount should be changed to wolf.
* Undead wolves should differ from undead wolf riders.
* Undead gryphons should differ from undead gryphon riders. Undead gryphon riders should differ from undead drakes.
* Undead mermen should differ from undead nagas.
2. In Help section some units have the same images (Ghoul and Necrophage, in example). Somebody does not have such a portrait.
3. Plague mechanics should be a little bit revamped. I suggest one of the belowlisted variants:
* Plague-infected units will lose 2HP each turn until they will have only 1 HP remaining. Plague can be treated in villages or by healer units; units with "Regeneration" will self-heal. In this case "Plague" will become something like lite version of Poison OR
* Plague-infected units will deal 2 less damage with each attack. Plague can be treated in villages or by healer units; units with "Regeneration" will self-heal. OR
* Plague will "jump" on adjacent units each 3-5 turns.
In such ways I want make Plague much more realistic.
4. I suggest that Elves should have their own magi too. I suggest to update elven magi models or remove such a magi from Rebels faction and add something like battle druids.
5. More animation (e.g. unit movement)
6. Each unit should have its own personality. To implement that, I suggest:
* Add more female unit models;
* Add unit dialogs as pop-up text messages;
* Add a template-based short unit story generator;
* Add personality-based unit traits affecting its battle efficiency.
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ancestral
Inactive Developer
Posts: 1108
Joined: August 1st, 2006, 5:29 am
Location: Motion City

Re: Few suggestions.

Post by ancestral »

zed24, welcome to the community!

The biggest obstacle in your suggestions is just the hours and time to actually draw the artwork and animation. Much of that is ongoing; we frequently get new portraits and sprites, but keep in mind Wesnoth is a community-driven project. It’s only as good as its own contributions. (No one is on payroll here.)

The other thing to keep in mind is changes to the mechanics of the game aren’t something that will likely be changed. If the plague ability were altered, it would throw off the balance of the entire game — the Undead faction would then be too overpowered compared to the others.

Otherwise, you may be interested in the community add-ons, which alter gameplay features that may not otherwise make it easily into mainline.
Wesnoth BestiaryPREVIEW IT HERE )
Unit tree and stat browser
CanvasPREVIEW IT HERE )
Exp. map viewer
JaMiT
Inactive Developer
Posts: 511
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 12:38 am

Re: Few suggestions.

Post by JaMiT »

zed24 wrote:1. Models of some undead units shoukd be changed:
It seems you are referring specifically to walking corpse / soulless variants? Last I heard, those variants are limited by what people have created, not by some desire to limit the number of variants. Units are fit to the existing variant that fits them best. Once someone (regular art contributor or artistically talented player) comes up with sprites for new variants, they can be added to the game.

So good idea, but one that really needs someone willing to work on it, rather than someone willing to propose it.
Edit: (See the rationale for FPI #18.)

zed24 wrote:2. In Help section some units have the same images (Ghoul and Necrophage, in example). Somebody does not have such a portrait.
Getting the rest of the portraits made is the point of the Grand Portrait List. Although, it does look like those two units in particular were grouped together in order to make the whole project less daunting. On the other hand, with the project so near completion, maybe the portrait directors would consider re-splitting them? In any case, if someone (regular art contributor or artistically talented player) comes up with a quality portrait, it is likely to be included.

So already in progress (mostly).

zed24 wrote:3. Plague mechanics should be a little bit revamped.
You seem to be misunderstanding the use of "plague". The weapon special is not "plague" as in "Black Plague", but as in "plague of locusts". It does not represent a disease, but a widespread calamity/evil. (Specifically, the zombie calamity becomes more widespread by victims of zombies becoming zombies when they die.) The plague special cannot be made more realistic because zombies are not real.

zed24 wrote:4. I suggest that Elves should have their own magi too. I suggest to update elven magi models or remove such a magi from Rebels faction and add something like battle druids.
From the third note in [MUST-READ] About the Ideas Forum: "Default multiplayer is balanced! [...] Any suggestions that want to change this balance are almost guaranteed to be instantly shot down. If you attempt such a suggestion, you had better provide thorough research." Where is your research?
Edit: Also, FPI #20. I had thought it was in there somewhere, but somehow did not see it for my initial post.

zed24 wrote:5. More animation (e.g. unit movement)
See my replies to #1 and #2 as well as New animations. This is not an idea but an ongoing project.

zed24 wrote:6. Each unit should have its own personality.
Why? (This is not a role-playing game, at least not in mainline.) Stating something with no supporting reasons is unlikely to convince anyone of anything.
zed24 wrote:* Add more female unit models;
I think the units that do not have female variations do not have them either for some sort of story reason or because no one has made female sprites for them yet. So at best this goes back to all your other artistic ideas -- the volunteer talent pool is much smaller than the tasks in front of it.
zed24 wrote:* Add unit dialogs as pop-up text messages;
Some people would say that the current way of displaying messages is a pop-up. You might need to provide a mock-up of what you mean. And keep in mind that the amount of space required for text can change when the text is translated into the various languages the game supports.
zed24 wrote:* Add a template-based short unit story generator;
Probably can already be done in WML. Go for it. Make this generator and show the world how awesome it is. (I doubt it would see any use in mainline, but that's no reason to not do it.)
zed24 wrote:* Add personality-based unit traits affecting its battle efficiency.
FPI 25 (as listed in [MUST-READ] About the Ideas Forum).
alluton
Posts: 420
Joined: June 26th, 2010, 6:49 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Few suggestions.

Post by alluton »

1. Takes alot of artwork ( Tought I think new portait for Tentacle is ready now) which community projects don't have endless amounts. Like ancestral stated.
2. I don't really see that as much of a problem. If any problem at all.
3. Again same whit ancestral would break balance.
4. Rebel aren't just elven faction. they have merman and wose aswell. Would be weird if there were two elven druids.
5. Again its artwork( and propably its pretty much least priority)
6. First of all I don't see any point of female unit models. It would double the amount of art needed ( image folder on my wesnoth version is 72mb) and it would increase the size of the game. Also it would have very little impact on actual game.
Not sure what you mean whit unit dialogs. Could you be more specific whit that?
Do you want every unit to have their own short story background?


And welcome on forums.
"This game cured me of my real life addiction."
-Flameslash
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Elvish_Hunter
Posts: 1576
Joined: September 4th, 2009, 2:39 pm
Location: Lintanir Forest...

Re: Few suggestions.

Post by Elvish_Hunter »

zed24 wrote:1. Models of some undead units shoukd be changed:
zed24 wrote:2. In Help section some units have the same images (Ghoul and Necrophage, in example). Somebody does not have such a portrait.
zed24 wrote:5. More animation (e.g. unit movement)
All of these suggestion fall under the FPI #18. We're aware that art can be always improved, but requesting new art won't have it made faster.
zed24 wrote:3. Plague mechanics should be a little bit revamped. I suggest one of the belowlisted variants:
In such ways I want make Plague much more realistic.
First off all, as JaMiT said, zombies are not real: how can you make more realistic a thing that is unreal to begin with? Anyway, in most stories, zombies need to attack and wound their victims to spread their plague;there's also the multiplayer balance problem, as Walking Corpses can be recruited in multiplayer, and altering their plague can potentially make Undead overpowered (or even underpowered).
zed24 wrote:4. I suggest that Elves should have their own magi too. I suggest to update elven magi models or remove such a magi from Rebels faction and add something like battle druids.
This one instead falls under FPI #20, with the additional problem that it could possibly disrupt the multiplayer balance.
zed24 wrote:* Add more female unit models;
This one, again, will fall under FPI #18, as it will require more art with little of no benefit. Don't forget that this is game has a medieval-like/fantasy setting, and that, in old times, in most armies females were not allowed, except maybe for supporting purposes (healing, cooking, etc.)
zed24 wrote:* Add personality-based unit traits affecting its battle efficiency.
This one instead falls under FPI #25. There is also another problem: if you have more traits available, you'll lower the chance to recruit a unit with the one (or two) traits that you need (yes, there are some scenarios where having Quick units can make a difference). But since traits are fairly simple to make in WML, you're welcome to try and create your own add-on, where your units will have a pool of ten (or any other number) traits, instead of the usual four. Who knows, maybe it'll become the most played era on the MP servers. :) But for mainline, this is not going to happen.
Current maintainer of these add-ons, all on 1.16:
The Sojournings of Grog, Children of Dragons, A Rough Life, Wesnoth Lua Pack, The White Troll (co-author)
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