Wish-List for Dominions 4

[HoneyBadger]

Well, I don't know much about the functionality of specific langages-how versatile *is* "plain old" C? If it works-and it'll work in the future, why change it?

[MaxWilson]

Pretty versatile. It has some weaknesses, such as no runtime type protection, but you can do object-based programming, some object-oriented programming, block-structured, and regular old procedural programming. It interfaces well with tons of other languages. It's about as portable across platforms as Java is, which is to say you still have to be careful about hardware-dependent stuff. I'm aware of no compelling reason why a legacy project which is already in C should be rewritten in another language.

That said, I personally would never in a million years choose to start a new project in pure C unless the only other option was assembly (e.g., writing hardware drivers or software for NASA satellites with special hardware). The lack of runtime type safety makes me nervous (I'm counting things like dangling pointers as a type safety problem here), and it's also a rather verbose language. There's pros and cons, and I'm turned off by verbosity in the same way that I'm turned off by nations with capital-only mages. There, back on topic.

-Max

[Olive]

I'd be happy with a variable allowing to change the aspect ratio of the display for 16/9 or 16/10 screen owners.

[Gandalf Parker]

Jazzepi said:
Exactly, I wish the devs would have spent whatever time they did on making the two new races on UI improvements instead (and fixing the awful temple dominion rate spreading bug). Every hour they spend fixing one thing could have been spent fixing something else.

You are mixing devs there. Kristoffer works on the races, Johan works on the code.

And as far as fixing one bug instead of another, thats just an opinion as far as what is an awful bug and best use of time.

[ajr]

Loren said:
Magic item work list: You indicate what you want produced. Mages with a generic <forge> order produce things on the list.

What I'd really like to see is as a UI improvement is a new order for mages, <pool> or something along those lines. Mages set to pool will, if there's nothing else for them to do, research. Somewhere in the UI, there are ways to grab a mage from the pool both to forge magic items and cast ritual spells; mages would be chosen such that all work is fulfilled and research is maximized. If work can't be done, the attempt to add the work item will fail. Solving these constraints may require which mages are doing what to change as more work items are added.

I'll admit it can matter where a ritual spell is cast, but other than for summons and a few other spells it won't matter the vast majority of the time; I would expect the main use for this to be site-searching and attack spells (you'd never send, say, teleport through the pool).

This could almost be implemented entirely on the client, but a "pool" flag for each mage would be required to really make things work. It would also be helpful if newly recruited mages went into the pool...

[Sombre]

Nice suggestion. Sounds do-able too.

[Kristoffer O]

> Exactly, I wish the devs would have spent whatever time they did on making the two new races on UI improvements instead (and fixing the awful temple dominion rate spreading bug). Every hour they spend fixing one thing could have been spent fixing something else.

As Gandalf said, we have different roles. JK is the code-guy and I make sprites and descriptions etc. I can fixe smaller bugs and change stats, but I can't code one bit (almost true). So every hour spent on new nations I could have spent on reading my students work or at quaffing beer .

> I personally would get infinitely more value out of a better UI then two more races.

That's OK. I personally like nations and content more than UI, but I have given up on games with lousy UI's. I would probably not get into dominions unless someone helped me. When I was 20 I wouldn't mind, but I think I'm growing ever more lazy.

> That isn't to say that Dom 3 isn't a great product. I think it was worth the money I spent on it, but I still bought it. I expect the game to receive support just like any other software product. Bug fixes, revisions to the code and interface.

We do fix the game occasionally with patches, but it is a matter of time and engagement. JK works full time as a computer engineer and I wouldn't expect him to work hours when he returnsd from work. After release we were a bit tired and prefered not to think about dominions too much. Important bugs must be fixed of course, but a bit of vacation from dominions was needed. Now we work on weekends when we don't have anything special to do, so It is mostly a matter of priority. Should I see my friends or should I add a new nation. At times friends get the longer straw, and vice versa.

> I read somewhere that the devs didn't know what to do with the income they were getting off the game. Well I have a suggestion. Hire someone else to help them code the parts they really don't want to. I think it would be easy enough for them to partner with a third party (who could be located anywhere internationally with the miracle of the internet) that could help them with the drudgery of UI improvements, while they focus on maintaining and improving the core of the game.

We don't get enough money to pay a full time job for one of us, so it unlikely that we will find another free programmer willing and able to get into the quite jumbled code of 10 years of ongoing programming. I don't think the cost of hiring a new programmer would be covered by possible sale increses.

About not knowing what to do applies to my normal salary as well. I sort of dislike money and don't like to do much, apart from games that is. I'm quite content with what I have.

I wouldn't mind to see a dominions totally remade by someone else (paying me for it perhaps). It would be fun (and possibly agonizing) to se a graphics heavy simplified RTS version of dominions

> Jazzepi

So it is unlikely that there will be big and ongoing UI-changes, but there might pop up things from time to time.

It might have been fair to go to greater lengths to let you and other customers know that we are a small company that have limited resources. Many on this forum and old dom2 players are probably aware of this, but new players might not know it and expect quick and ongoing work on the game. I think there is some info on the matter on shrapnels site, but I'm not sure if what is said there translates to how much ongoing support you percieve that you recieve.

Hope you are OK with this.

KO

[lch]

Didn't we have a wish-list thread already?

Oh well, I'm with the "better interfaces" crowd here, I have two requests which are very much needed and shouldn't even take too much energy to get implemented:

1. The ability to load a previously created pretender in the pretender creation phase. While starting a new game and in the game settings. You should be able to just load what you have saved and then be able to still edit the pretender. I understand that this hasn't been done this way currently because of multiplayer/PBEM games and password security, I guess. Fine, then ask for the password if somebody clicks on "edit pretender" or something and otherwise just assign it to that nation like it is now. It will be "just" a few new dialogs, but it would help things tremendously, especially if you are using a pretender that you created some time ago and you haven't written down what your designed pretender looked like.

2. The ability to read messages that you sent out this turn. I don't even want some history/log feature where you can follow the conversation you had with somebody else, I just what I sent out to whom this turn so far. At the moment, all you can do is see how many messages you have sent out at all, and delete them all if you think you made an error there somewhere. Hardly satisfying.

[Xietor]

Kris,

we as fans of the game, do appreciate that you read and respond to the forums. As an attorney, I do not expect anyone to do anything without compensation. So major work should be done and sold as dom IV.

Unlike the robert jordan series, even if no more work was done, dominions is a complete and finished product. Of course as fans of the game, we will always be able to think of ways to further improve it.

Have you ever thought about posting an internet application for a coder? Explain up front that you can only promise experience in game development, and it may help them move on to an actual paying job in the future. Being a developer of dom IV would look good on a resume and summer is approaching, meaning lots of bored college kids.

[HoneyBadger]

Thanks for the insight, Kristoffer O.

I seem to be one of the last people in the USA who enjoys having a day off, relaxing, sleeping in, etc. more than I do making extra money that I don't really need. Maybe it's my extra-thick skull protecting my brain from the government lazer-beams, or maybe it's just that I've got enough of an imagination to amuse myself, rather than paying for my entertainment, if that's my only option. I don't need that much stuff. I like stuff, and I like to shop, but it's not a driving force in my life.

If I didn't get to work at home in my bare feet, and didn't love the company I work for, and wasn't trying to buy a house in a bloated real-estate market, I wouldn't work any overtime at all.

Hopefully, the good people of Sweden will retain a sensible approach to the better things in life.

Ok, one of the things I'd like to add to the list-so as to make this post on topic-is more graphics. I don't mean a new graphical interface, and I don't want everyone to have to run out and buy a new video card.

I'd just like to see every unit with more graphical options. What we have right now are two unspecified graphics per unit. I want many, many more.

I'd really like to see it expanded to 12 (ideally) specified graphics per unit. That's 2 for walking, 3 for combat, 3 for wounded/stricken/exhausted (so we can see who's in bad shape on the battlefield), 2 for casting spells, 1 for when the unit's just holding still, and one for when the unit is resisting spells.

Obviously, that will require a lot more graphics-and it'll probably take a year atleast to add them in for each and every unit. But it'd be a good improvement to the overall "look" of the game, and hopefully it wouldn't be hard for the Devs to patch in the ability, and then the community could do the actual additional artwork-in the process ending any *****ing about the graphics in the game, because, if you don't like them, you can volunteer time and effort into improving them directly.

I'll be among the first volunteers, especially if I get a scanner soon.

You wouldn't, ofcourse, *have* to add them, if you're modding in a new nation, for instance.

Ideally, there would be a graphic "pool" that would function as graphics currently do in the game. If you don't want to assign graphics to a specific task, then you just leave them in the pool and the computer assigns them as it does now. Ideally, you could even have more than one "set" of graphics in the pool or in slots, and the computer could then choose between "sets" of graphics for assignment-to simulate different looks for the same unit (Bob the Jotun has a forked beard, whereas Doug the Jotun has a big silly moustache. Tim the Jotun impersonates Elvis (the Jotun) on the weekends, and as such, is sporting sideburns and a black belt). Something very similar to this is currently being done in Total War 2.

Along this same line, could we (please! please! please!) get atleast some kind of screen-saver-type changing artwork during the calculation of turns?

Much preferrably, one that we can add to in mods.

I really feel silly as it is, sitting there staring at 2 little bearded busts for 10 minutes while the game calculates the other nations' turns (note: I usually play long games of SP).

I'd love it if I could look at some nifty artwork while I waited. It would really make the time go by, even if it made the turn itself objectively a little longer to process.