New here.

[sdevaney]

I have not seen these idea yet, but would have thought they would be one of the first addressed...sorry if I have missed it but did not want to post an entire new thread for these:

Paperdolling for worn equipment...something different that the shirtless guy
Character selection...more than 1 sprite.
Character direction...the sprite on my device only faces 1 direction - down.
Background for main menu...there's just characters...would look better imo.
Full maps for outdoor areas, not partial ones. Makes it easier to align the maps when mapping.
Blocked off areas that appear to be opened...simply adding trees or rocks can help.

Switching the layer the sprite is drawn on. I have only seen this in 1 other game where the sprite can walk on top of a bridge, as well as go underneath it. It adds depth to the environment and can add more uniqueness to the game. It can be done in the same manner as event tiles, except that 2 would be needed, one before sprite goes under bridge to draw under the layer, and one when they exit to bring them back to the original layer. While the concept is simple and my explanation is a very basic one in order to explain it, the idea can be used for much more than just bridge areas if you think about it.

Lets go through these in order:

"Paperdolling" - There has been some tinkering with this by the community. We would love to do this but we do not have the graphics.
"Selection" - Something we are keen on doing if we can find the graphics
"Direction" - Not something I have personally thought much about but I think that if we added directions to our main character we would have to add it to the NPC's as well. Again, a lack of graphics.
"Main Menu" - There has been work on this by some of our wonderful community members as well but nothing finished yet.
"Full Maps" - Not sure exactly what you mean? Are you talking about maps that are small and you can see the black borders? There is actually fairly decent map alignment as it is.
"Blocked Areas" - I think that would give the maps a more linear and trapped in feel, not the open-world concept we are going for.

This switching sprite thing is interesting I am going to do some research on that.

[Taledus]

Alright, the first 4 is pretty much summed up as lack of graphic artists/peoples time. My stuff looks way to plain, but if you are interested I can talk to a few people I went to school with if they'd be willing to volunteer time for portfolio work...

Full Maps - there's not many that I have noticed. The maps for the buildings are understandable as they are supposed to be small, but take for instance south east of Crossglen, it is fairly small. The main mapper (whoever has that job) has to take into account that small area when creating the areas around the maps...kinda like going down through 4 screens to get somewhere, or going to the right and having to only go down once to get to the same place...if that makes sense. Directly to the right of Crossglen is cutoff on the right side, but it isn't nearly as noticeable as the map to the south east.

The blocked areas could be filled in with trees in a way where it doesn't feel trapped...if a good mapper had the right graphic tiles they could make that happen, it's just all in what you have to work with. But this isn't a huge issue, only trying to determine if I can take my char a certain direction or not even though it looks like it is open for exploration. The un-explorable areas that appear open just throw off people until the try to go that direction.

The only game I have seen to do the sprite switching was Secret of Mana 3, right near the beginning of the game there is a walkover area. It just adds a lot of depth to the game. I have done something similar with a game I was working on in VB.NET a few years ago and it requires a good portion of the drawing code to be re-worked in order to allow that to happen, because the tiles act similar to event tiles except where it invokes a different drawing sub to happen instead of the main one. That was the only way I could figure it out, but I am sure there are other ways.

[phydeaux]

This switching sprite thing is interesting I am going to do some research on that.

I was thinking of doing this for a 3-d labyrinth I've been thinking about, and I was just gonna have 2 maps per map with different walkable areas, one for the upper level and one for the lower... The way the maps work right now, I think that's the only way to do it, because you need edge walls for the borders between the north side of the upper walkways and south side of the lower ones, else your character can "jump" between levels on that border, unless you put rocks along the north edge...

Oh, and I was also thinking of using the gaps in the trees on the 'above' layer as a really messed up maze in which the item drop trick won't work... But that omens just evil, and still just a thought in the back of my mind...

[Taledus]

This switching sprite thing is interesting I am going to do some research on that.

I was thinking of doing this for a 3-d labyrinth I've been thinking about, and I was just gonna have 2 maps per map with different walkable areas, one for the upper level and one for the lower... The way the maps work right now, I think that's the only way to do it, because you need edge walls for the borders between the north side of the upper walkways and south side of the lower ones, else your character can "jump" between levels on that border, unless you put rocks along the north edge...

Oh, and I was also thinking of using the gaps in the trees on the 'above' layer as a really messed up maze in which the item drop trick won't work... But that omens just evil, and still just a thought in the back of my mind...

I played a game a few years back that had scripts for the mazes...the area appeared open, but there were warps on the sides that would warp you back to the beginning. The scripts would automatically create a new maze map when the current one was completed. The script would just ensure that there was 1 unobstructed way from start to finish, with random dead end off shoots from the main path. Sometimes the mazes would work this way for 3-4 maps, and could take a party of 4 people a few hours to make it through for the "chance" at some obscure random item.

I think something like that could work for this game with the way it is currently setup, evil intentions and all XD

[Antison]

My experience is limited to C# an VB anyways.

I'm off topic, I know, but I cannot resists the urge to comment.
C#...best programming language ever VB...the worst modern day language ever I don't care if its VB6 or VB.NET

I'd offer assistance with programming considering this is open source but afraid that having access to any part of it would ruin the fun

I agree with this, plus after writing code all day the last thing I want to do is write more code at night when I could be playing A.T. or be playing with the kids.

[Stoodge]

I have not seen these idea yet, but would have thought they would be one of the first addressed...sorry if I have missed it but did not want to post an entire new thread for these:

Paperdolling for worn equipment...something different that the shirtless guy
Character selection...more than 1 sprite.
Character direction...the sprite on my device only faces 1 direction - down.
Background for main menu...there's just characters...would look better imo.
Full maps for outdoor areas, not partial ones. Makes it easier to align the maps when mapping.
Blocked off areas that appear to be opened...simply adding trees or rocks can help.

Switching the layer the sprite is drawn on. I have only seen this in 1 other game where the sprite can walk on top of a bridge, as well as go underneath it. It adds depth to the environment and can add more uniqueness to the game. It can be done in the same manner as event tiles, except that 2 would be needed, one before sprite goes under bridge to draw under the layer, and one when they exit to bring them back to the original layer. While the concept is simple and my explanation is a very basic one in order to explain it, the idea can be used for much more than just bridge areas if you think about it.

the thread about the main menu background is here -> http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1741
i have been busy with other commitments and also waiting for information from dev meeting before putting more time into this.
from what i can gather the last project meeting (#9) was a long one that had alot of higher priority items discussed than the title screen.
I unfortunately could not attend the public hangout as i was working or i would have brought it up there.
As of yet i havent watched the video of the hangout so i dont know what was discussed....

+1 to everything else though. i like these ideas alot.
the only thing i will add is that most these ideas would add a lot of 'polish' to the final product BUT i would much prefer more content over polish anyday. i can only hope that these things get addressed before ver 1.0 comes out.

[Tomcat]

On a semi-related side note for your information: Technically according to the Android design docs starting with 4.0 (ICS) we shouldn't count on there being menu buttons and everything should be able to be accessed from the user interface. So that is something we are keeping an eye on as newer devices come out. We want to make sure and remain completely playable while balancing nice aesthetics, understandable user interface, and the Android design guidelines.

Easy enough to add a Menu soft button inside the Toolbox, where it won't clutter up the display.

[Pyrizzle]

Easy enough to add a Menu soft button inside the Toolbox, where it won't clutter up the display.

Good suggestion that would a great place to put a save button for players who may have newer phones that do not have a menu button at all. Great suggestion!

[nyktos]

and i have been wanting a "soft" [back button] too,
to save the lifespan of the buttons on my device.

i am really looking forward to seeing the changes when they are made.