I created this page to collect the feature
requests and design ideas, and to document the differences between
the different decker versions and the "official" version 1.9. Please
post any changes you want me to make to this page on this forum. Please don't use the
RFEs for discussions. Other people won't notice those discussions.
Custom Decker Sprite
The program should add all images contained
in char_*.* files to the list of available images. If the image
format does not support transparent colors (standard bmp format,
jpg), the color of the pixel in the upper left corner will be made
transparent.
There should be a button for changing the
player sprite in the deck dialog. It should call up a list or a
table that contains all the available images.
Quicker Contract Acceptance
There should be an 'accept and begin' button in the dialog that
displays a single contract.
There should be an 'accept and begin' button in the dialog that
displays the list of available contracts.
New Wait Button
When you do something
that takes more than one tick ( scan, evaluate, file transfer ),
you'll keep doing it until you press a button or you get attacked or queried by an entity or until
you've finished what you were doing.
Resource Structure
Resource names should be
<name>[_il][_16|_32].<type>
Image lists have the
postfix (or infix) _il ( "char_il.bmp" , "special_nodes_il_16.bmp"
).
All standard resource file names could be made
completely lower case (looks better i think, not really a
requirement since the programs don't care).
Instead of starting image names with "MATRIX_" or "HOME_", put
them in a "matrix" or "home" subdirectory.
Rename the matrix button image *kill_shutdown?.bmp as
*shutdown?.bmp.
Construct hardware
It would be cool if you could buy
constructs (AI) for your deck, this idea comes from the neuromancer
book. The construct could have 1 ability that you could ask it to do
and it would happen in the background or simultaneous with your
commands, such as asking the construct to scan the files in a node
while you explore or have the construct evaluate the files you scan
etc.
I doubt an attack construct would be suitable with the
current system, but skills like weaken or virus could probably be
useful.
Companies Remember You Hacking Them
The more often you hack a company the more likely will they try
to hunt you down in the normal matrix.
Opposing AI deckers
When you enter a system, there should be a small chance that a
defending AI decker is currently in the system, too. If you set off
a yellow alert, one or more defending AI deckers may come online. If
the yellow alert deckers don't find anything wrong with the system
(like you being there, files missing, ice missing, IO nodes switched
off), they will log off again.
Free Matrix
You can move around a
large Matrix and enter any database that you please. If you do not
have a contract, you can only get money through downloading files.
And, if you do not have a contract, you can only earn skill points
by killing sentient artificial intelligence or other deckers.
If this happens some of the 'at
home' stuff could possibly be implemented in the free matrix
section. I"m thinking of stuff like an encrypted drop box for
contracts in a public data node. Nothing that really affects the
game, just adds flavor.
Corporate logos should be reserved
for skin packages or scripted missions, to keep the download
small.
Scripted missions
For scripted missions, clues do not
necessarily reveal the locations of the objectives. They can also
reveal the location of some other node, or plain text that is
important to the plot or to finding other deckers.
Also, there could be a new kind of downloadable files simply
called "Messages" which you might have to read a lot of before you
can find the information you want, like in Neuromancer the PC
game.
Secret contracts : A new kind of file type
that you can download from a data node. Basically, once you download
a Secret Contract file, that contract appears in your Contracts
list. Usually, the difficulty is much higher, there are a large
number of different objectives, and there might even be a time
limit. But, these secret contracts would also give a lot more money,
stat points, and reputation. Secret Contracts might even be a neat
component of scripted missions with stories.
(most of the ideas from the forum are still missing)
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