About feature requests
lansounet
Member Posts: 1,182
I might get flamed for this but I believe that section is being spammed with a lot of "content" request which you can mod if you want them so bad. The dev team is already working on some new content, while improving UI / fixing majors bugs / reworking source code.
Stop asking for everything, make it yourself.
Akin to that is asking about implementing already existing mods that alter rules/difficulty/etc... They're working on compatibility with these, install them if you want them.
Stop asking for everything, make it yourself.
Akin to that is asking about implementing already existing mods that alter rules/difficulty/etc... They're working on compatibility with these, install them if you want them.
Post edited by Coriander on
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Devs can judge for themselves what`s important or not between all those suggestions. It`s always better to have an engaging community which comes up with great ideas for new content or improved/original mechanics than having one that`s mute.
Don`t worry, it`s not like everything is going to end up in the actual game. Probably most of those ideas won`t ever be applied. Nevertheless it`s nice to see people making an effort to help making this project better.
But there is one major argument against "there's already mods for that":
Applying mods can be a major annoyance that involves reinstalling a lot of stuff, not to mention the headaches that come from conflicts between mods.
If Overhaul adds these mod features to BGEE, implementing them would be as simple as ticking a box in the options menu.
1. Modding isn't for everyone. Modding BG in particular isn't all that easy to learn or to do- not with the mod order, hotfixes, forums to peruse, disparate mod download sites, compatibility issues, bugs to account for, etc.- so there will be many who simply can't hack the challenge of it. Even the sheer number of mods out there in the is daunting to many. Then there are those on different platforms than the PC which don't have the same access to mods. Should these BGEE players be denied mod content in such a way when there's a chance now of everyone having the same content?
2. Nicer on veteran modders. Even those of us who can and do mod nevertheless get sick of the total game reinstalls, as @Tanthalas mentioned above. I certainly do. Adding basic modded options to the game eliminates these headaches from the equation.
3. Customization is a good thing. The more the player can tweak the game for different effects, the more interesting options the player has available, the more interesting the replay possibilities. Clearly there are popular game customizations that were carried into later games, so why not apply them retroactively?
4. Part of BG's appeal through all these yrs has been mod content. Releasing a BGEE 13 yrs later really ought to account for that.
5. Including otherwise modded content into the game entails professional writers who will eliminate the bugs of the original mods and make them all compatible.
All that said, the devs will be taking into consideration plenty of factors, so discussion of tweaks as options doesn't force their hand in any way, just puts a different range of ideas on the table. The "current hundred of request" simply shows the devs what people who've actually played the game have been wanting all these yrs. I do believe, however, that a subdivision of feature requests into, say, "Tweaks," "Graphics and sound," and "Game Mechanics," might be useful, but it's also good to be able to see how one or the other type of request weighs with others... They're not endless after all, though the element of repetition will no doubt arise at some point... *sigh*
I'm thinking specifically of the fifteen threads posted in the last two hours by a single user today. Not that it's not great that people have ideas, but...inundating the developers with hundreds of requests isn't going to make it easier.
Maybe we just need to organize the threads better. But it's more than a little ridiculous right now.
I still stand that (too?) many of these requests ideas (while some are great and everything) could have been made on any modding community forum for the last 10 years instead of filling up this forum now when devs are probably looking for more engine-related issues.
I don't want them wasting time adding 1 more encounter in an empty area or putting big yellow exclamation marks above quest givers, etc... instead of fixing what's broken.
As to what @Aosaw just mentioned, yeah, I concur but we can't really control those ones... We'll see if such posts are even monitored by the OP (since they weren't on reddit). It's a forum after all- with all the benefits and drawbacks that democracy offers...
EDIT: Not to mention that most of his requests seem to be just transfers from reddit, so I don't think its a big issue.
Other things are already feasible through modding, and some have already at least partly been done. Hence, it makes a lot more sense to request things that can't be done wihtout access to the source code, since this is our last chance to get them. This is why I try to limit my requests to things only devs could do, or do efficiently / effectively (amateurs can draw portraits and paperdolls, but they could never do so better than Nat Jones).
However, I can think of at least one reason why it makes sense to request the inclusion of mod-material in BG:EE: convenience. The least mods one has to install to make the game look, sound and behave as they like, the better. It makes the installation quicker and diminishes the chances of bugs arising.
Secondly, Trent has made it clear that he is interested to know what people want, he has also said that they have drawn up the suggestions which have been made and considered which ones they want to implement.
I agree with you that it is the developers decision as to what to put in, but limiting the notion of requesting seems to me to be without merit. If the developers don't care for these requests then they will either say stop making them, or they just wont read them. What I would say is that there definately needs to be sub-categories within the forum to limit clogging.
Finally I would repeat what others have said above in respect of mods.
Having that said, I'd like to expand on the request feature and add the possibility to vote on forum requests. That should give the devs a better idea of what features are popular among the fans.
In the end the forum is still a very small sample of fans.