My wishlist...

[ClawlessVictory]

I might add to this from time to time, and if this is a dumb thread or if whatever I mention has been discussed before please kill it.

I played this game totally free of spoilers until I beat it last year and now I play it with minimal spoilers. For example, I look up information on monsters I have killed, but I do not look up info on areas I have not explored and the creatures therein... which I think is only Hell now. So, whenever I burn myself out as a 'crawler', I'd love to contribute in some capacity to this game if I'm able, so I plan to use this thread as a reference in the future.

1)Artwork for armor displayed for humanoid monsters. Seems to me this would be a relatively easy fix?

[Galefury]

It wouldn't be easy at all. It would require new tiles for most armor-wearing monsters, or armor overlays adapted to the tiles of every armor-wearing monster. Also I don't think it's a good idea, because what monster a monster is is much more relevant than what armor it is wearing. Taking up a lot of space that could be used to distinguish monsters from each other by instead displaying their armor would probably be bad. Having a little icon in a corner of the tile (like for sticky flame) might work. That shouldn't distinguish between armors though, just between very heavy armor and everything else.

[ClawlessVictory]

It wouldn't be easy at all. It would require new tiles for most armor-wearing monsters, or armor overlays adapted to the tiles of every armor-wearing monster. Also I don't think it's a good idea, because what monster a monster is is much more relevant than what armor it is wearing. Taking up a lot of space that could be used to distinguish monsters from each other by instead displaying their armor would probably be bad. Having a little icon in a corner of the tile (like for sticky flame) might work. That shouldn't distinguish between armors though, just between very heavy armor and everything else.

In a way, I agree. Displaying armor for monsters might make it confusing identifying a them, it's really just a cosmetic detail anyways.

I don't know about all of the nuts and bolts behind the game, but it seems to me all one would have to do is maybe create new humanoid monster tiles. Orcs, goblins and kobolds would be three great monsters to experiment on since they're the most common armor wearing humanoids. Plus, these new tiles could possibly serves as new PC tiles?

[roctavian]

Generally, monsters that use player doll tiles are undesirable. If we were to replace PC tiles with any other shape, we'd run into the same issue of re-drawing every piece of equipment in the game as comes up every time someone suggests differently-shaped halfling or troll or whatever tiles.

Re-drawing all new humanoid monster tiles is no small task, and I think I've re-drawn about half of them over the last six months. Not all of them are going in, either. In many cases, developers and players alike prefer the tiles in the game. Unlike gameplay features, graphical changes have to be seen before anyone can decide if they're good or not. So you should feel free to make the tiles, but don't necessarily expect them to be used.

That said, it's possible that we could go for depictions of shields on monster tiles -- though even this would be a serious undertaking, considering how many monsters can use shields and don't have a free arm on the tile.

[infiniplex]

For shields, would it be possible to store a shield position on monsters and just display a shield at that point? I know the old game Civilization II did this for heath bars on units. I don't know if it is possible to store data with tiles.

[roctavian]

I know little on the coding side of things, but I think that should be possible. Weapons can be displayed in different positions on the tile, which is why you sometimes see Yaktaurs holding axes in front of their faces -- the weapon wouldn't fit within the tile otherwise. Multiple items can be shown on the tile, judging by the deep elf blademaster tile, but I'm not sure exactly how that functions; I've never seen one generate with two different weapon types in either hand, and I've never seen one switch out a weapon for a better one, so it might just mirror the appearance of the first weapon in the second hand?

[ClawlessVictory]

This suggestion is surely way out of the question, but has anyone thought of maybe zooming in a bit on the playfield? Much of it seems to be wasted space, concealed by the 'fog of war'. By zooming in, more detailed tiles could be created.

[ClawlessVictory]

Has anyone thought of changing the descriptions of the various branches to planes of existence? For example, the shoals could easily be converted to the elemental plane of water, and instead of stairs going up and down, there could be watery portals you could enter, because really, does it make much sense to go down a staircase to another island?

The other branches could easily be changed as well. For example, the swamps could be called something like 'a swamp realm' with portals instead of stairs. The volcano could easily be converted to the elemental plane of fire, ice caves to elemental plane of ice, etc.

As I'm writing this, I thought of a something that might be interesting. How about a 'shade realm' in which the walls of the dungeon consist of smoke or shadows that constantly shifts around, like a more unstable abyss, and creatures can emerge from the walls, possibly right in front of you within melee range. Of course the area could be populated with demons, the occasional necromancer and various legions of the undead and would maybe even make them more dangerous if you're suddenly surrounded by a small group of them.

[ClawlessVictory]

As I'm writing this, I thought of a something that might be interesting. How about a 'shade realm' in which the walls of the dungeon consist of smoke or shadows that constantly shifts around, like a more unstable abyss, and creatures can emerge from the walls, possibly right in front of you within melee range. Of course the area could be populated with demons, the occasional necromancer and various legions of the undead and would maybe even make them more dangerous if you're suddenly surrounded by a small group of them.

This idea is a bit shallow, so perhaps it could be simply an optional portal to a small area similar to a bailey or the sewer. Also, to make things a bit more interesting, the 'walls of smoke' could inflict pain damage and drain so as to discourage free movement through them. And how about a shadowy clone of yourself guarding loot at the end?

[inkydood]

Has anyone thought of changing the descriptions of the various branches to planes of existence? For example, the shoals could easily be converted to the elemental plane of water, and instead of stairs going up and down, there could be watery portals you could enter, because really, does it make much sense to go down a staircase to another island?

You enter D:1 well above sea level, probably on a mountainside. When you've descended enough, some of the staircases (which don't necessarily go straight down) tunnel out to nearby regions, like the Swamp. You aren't strictly "underground" until at least mid-Dungeon.

That's the best explanation I've seen, anyway. Not that it needs explaining; Crawl is a fantasy game with its own rules, after all!