Features : Feedback & Proposal

The brainstorm namespace is used for requesting features and concepts, discussing ideas, and providing feedback for design and balance purposes. Feedback for existing concepts takes higher priority than adding new concepts, as the development checklist is quite long, however ideas on how to modify existing concepts are appreciated and welcome. Discussions are sorted in sub-namespaces of their own, including User Interface ideas and Internal Systems & Coding discussions.

The current workflow is to iterate over concrete proposals in this wiki.

If it's just an idea, please get some feedback in the Game Design Discussion section of Crawl community board: The Tavern. Alternately, drop by ##crawl-dev on Freenode or e-mail the DCSS mailing list to discuss a mature idea that is ready to be formulated as a proposal.

The initial steps in submitting a concrete proposal involve:

1. Check the DCSS Philosophy (section (N) in the manual) to see if your idea fits those principles.
2. Check the Refused and Rejected Concepts List to confirm your suggestion (or similar) is not listed there.
3. Check the features under the brainstorm namespace (drill down into sub-categories) to see if a similar idea has been proposed; if so, please adopt and expand that concept.
4. If your idea is completely new, create an existing page under the appropriate brainstorm namespace category.

Developers then post an approved proposal as an “Implementable” in the tracker. The tracker acts as a list of approved ideas for any interested developer to pick up and create as a patch.

As mentioned previously, before adding a new suggestion, read the Refused and Rejected Concepts List.

Create new pages as needed, but please locate the appropriate category. Examine the Namespaces page to determine where to categorize or discuss your new feature. If you cannot locate a proper namespace, put your idea under Miscellaneous.

Example:
INCORRECT: dcss:brainstorm:jiyva (jiyva)
CORRECT: dcss:brainstorm:god:jiyva (Jiyva)

This wiki is for topic proposals and to maintain / manipulate those proposals and ideas into working forms. Discussion and chatter about topics from new contributors is best conducted in The Tavern Forum.

After creating the wiki topic, go to The Tavern's Game Design Discussion Forum and search for an appropriate existing thread. If you cannot find one, create one. Then, post a link to the Tavern thread on the wiki page and a link to the wiki topic on the thread.

The rationale for this is that discussion across a wiki is not easily manageable historically (multiple updates in varied places) and technically (tracking changes without having to check multiple links), whereas a forum is built for this purpose. The intent of the wiki is for designing and modifying the designs, and as a repository for implementable items. By maintaining a standard area for discussion, DCSS can avoid unintentional or non-debated patching and updates that might be rolled back (example: the translocations vs. constriction debacle). Tavern Thread to Discuss.

UBB Code for posting a link to the DCSS Wiki from a Tavern Thread :

• [url]https://crawl.develz.org/wiki/_your_topic_per_the_address_bar[/url]
• or [url=https://crawl.develz.org/wiki/_your_topic_per_the_address_bar]Wiki Link to YOUR_TOPIC[/url]

Wiki Code for posting a link to the Tavern from a DCSS Wiki page :

• ^ Discussion | [[https://crawl.develz.org/tavern/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=####|Tavern Thread to Discuss]]|

This is how it will look on the topic wiki page:

All categories allow feedback on existing proposals and submission of new proposals.

• Attributes, States & Mutations : Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Health, Hunger, Magic Points, Mutations and other states
• Backgrounds : backgrounds / jobs / classes
• Species : races
• Skills & Experience : skills, training and experience

• Items & Equipment : weapons & armor (items), scrolls, evokables, food and artefacts
• Magic & Spells : spellcasting, books, schools, and spells
• Gods & Religion : religious topics (gods, wrath, religion, altars, etc.)

• Dungeon : features, vaults, branches, portals, shops, terrain, and traps
• Monsters : creatures and their habits

• Combat : conflict mechanics, Armor Class & Shields, defense & offense, weapons & armor (as they apply to combat)
• Effects : game effects (brands, haste, invisibility, etc.)
• Gameplay Concerns : topics which affect game play, balance, tactical methodologies, and general enjoyability

• User Interface : interface topics include menus, help screens, automated tasks, options, ease-of-use, etc.
• Tiles : topics concerning the Tiles graphical distribution
• Internal Systems & Coding : topics concerning coding and system mechanics
• Game Variations : various game modes (Sprint, Zot Defence, Tutorial, etc.)

• Miscellaneous : anything that doesn't fit under any prior category