Future Enhancements
Some of the below ideas are very good, and some are really, really bad. Got a better one? Let's hear it. No promises, but there's always plenty more room on this list.
If you see a way to help with one of these ideas, please send us an email. Not all of these items are about programming.
"Highly Likely" Features / Enhancements
These features are likely to be appear in the next few releases.
- Make the access cards harass people who try to bogart them. (Suggested by Mynock_90 and Zebrafan.)
"Moderately Likely" Features / Enhancements
These features are likely to appear in a future release.
- Allow some (optional) variation in just how hard you are planning to push/pull someone who is sinking.
- Food (mostly at the Cantina?)
- A "clear buffer" option that empties the history. (Suggested by Mick.)
- A greater variety of nonalcoholic beverages in the Cantina, namely tea & coffee. (Suggested by Amazo.)
- A way to keep guys out of the women's locker room (and vice-versa, but somehow that seems less important)
- Much better descriptions of some of the areas that got hasty one-liners because I was in a hurry. (Contributions solicited!)
- A way to minimize/cover the client window and have it beep/flash when something happens.
- Take into account the weight of what you're carrying when sinking.
- Add the ability to have "chalkboards" that people can leave short messages on (write Kilroy was here. or erase chalkboard)
- Thin down the bartender's actions a little bit so they don't dominate the cantina so much.
- Add a "hall of fame" for total posts, total kudos, R/T time, and R/T deaths that respects people's privacy.
- Modify the pillory stock so you can't wake up if there's someone in the room with you.
- Add a working door to the fallout shelter.
- When you're walking around covered in something up to your _____, have the "something" reflect your last sinking experience rather than always being mud. (Suggested by Amazo.)
- Make the color of your name change in on the room list if you're idle/AFK
- Expand the "mud coverage" to allow multiple simultaneous substances, each covering a different range of areas, such that only the outermost one in any given area is visible.
"Unlikely" Features & Enhancements
These features would be cool to add, but resources simply don't exist to add them at this time.
- a clothing store (not quite sure how to handle this yet)
- default clothing based on gender
- A gift shop (need to figure out how to limit this)
- A way to tilt your head back and get more air if you're really deep.
- A way to control holding your breath.
- Using ropes and vines to rescue people
- Monsters (including "killer vines," "slipworms," giant spiders/webs, dinosaurs, and giant constrictor snakes) - they may eat you or chase you into quicksand
- Sound effects, like bubbling/squelching/etc (optional)
- A way to "lure" people into quicksand rather than just shoving them in.
- Stand / sit / lie down / lean back / hands over head (at least not while in quicksand... no use trying to lie down and roll out around here!)
- "Robot bimbos" (of both genders) that have an uncanny knack for wandering into quicksand
- Mini-plots / mysteries / adventures / storylines (ideas?)
- Thixotropic behavior (viscosity changes over time based on amount of activity)
- An "Art Gallery" showcasing the most-kudoed artwork from the forums.
- A "Library" showcasing the most-kudoed documents from the forums.
- Have a "trap door" that could open under certain circumstances, or if certain conditions are met.
- Add restraining devices that (willing) people can be locked into / modify the tentacles to restrain people.
- Add the ability to be tied up / handcuffed (and then thrown into quicksand).
- Allow quicksand to be an obstacle that must be crossed. Might be possible to jump across, struggle through to the other side, or cross using a log or bridge.
- Some kind of economy (to make the gift shop work so that special gifts are special and the island doesn't turn into a mountain of litter)
- Keep people from talking if they are under the quicksand?
- Chat moderators, who will be able to temporarily ban people who get out of line (It would be really nice never to need this.)
- Hunt the Wumpus
- A giant eagle that swoops down and carries people away, dropping them in quicksand. (Suggested by Jimbomite.)
- Proper support for furniture. (Including, fukiko181 suggests, a quicksand couch.)
- Ability to bury people in the sand (at appropriate locations) possibly with tidal effects. (Suggested by Mudkitten.)
"Never" List
There are no plans to add these features because they are impossible or not necessary.
- Spell check (there are various browser plugins you can get that do a great job with this)
- A "buddy list" (the main forum index page seems to cover this well enough for the number of users we have)
Known Issues
These are known problems with the Deep Sinking R/T software that may be encountered while visiting Sinking Island.
Pending Fixes
These issues will probably be fixed soon:
- The sidebar list of "who's here" is sometimes one step behind the chat window action.
- Sometimes you don't see the description for Limbo after you die. (May be the related to the previous issue.)
- If you're in a speedboat with another person, and the speedboat is at a dock, it'll say "you appear to be alone at the moment" just because there's nobody on the dock.
- The sacrifical robe has been known to "blow away to the down" which doesn't make much sense. (Reported by Amazo.)
Unfixable
These bugs either can't be fixed, aren't understood well enough to fix, or the fix is not practical with resources currently available:- If you send someone an tell message, occasionally they will receive it fine, but you will see your own name as "null." (Very hard to reproduce except when you aren't looking for it.)
- If you specify an action that could apply to more than one object (such as a drink in your hand and an identical one on the ground) the system often stupidly picks the wrong one.
- If you get pulled free of quicksand at the same time you are sinking, sometimes your description will show as "Danger_Girl is almost to her thighs in the Cantina East Patio" or similar. (This is a race condition that is currently not fixable.)
- Posing doesn't work properly if you are inside an object (like a Cabana). (Reported by Zebrafan.)
- Chimerix was ejected from The Dungeon in an untimely way. (Reported by Chimerix, but I'm stumped.)
- If you get covered in mud in Psychic World South, it will still be there when you "wake up." This may or may not be a bug, depending on your intepretation of PWS.
If you have encountered a bug that is not on this list, that means it is probably not known about, and hence will not be fixed. Please use the "Report" button to send as much specific information about the bug as possible so that it can be added to this list and hopefully fixed.