There are a lot of core components to the gameplay in evo that are very hodge podge right now. On the playing front it works fine, but behind the scenes, shit is fuuuugly.
So in no particular order, here is a short list of what I would like to do, starting with gadgetry first.
Kanban is here:
https://tree.taiga.io/project/forboding ... rts/kanban
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Gadgets
Resources Cleanup:
*Eliminate mex spot finders and consolidate into a single system (preferably reading lua placement markers from a config file for where resource spots on the map should be). These spots should be marked with a graphic that is laid on the terrain (or perhaps something drawn in GL? -- because speed).
*Create a system that works similar to how geos are placed where mexes can only be placed on those aforementioned predefined plots. Technically, thanks to google frog, a system like this kind of already exists, but I need to specifically be able to make it so that mexes cannot be built without those markers, no exceptions.
Sidenote: Please understand that mexes in evo aren't mexes OR metalmakers. A gadget simply checks to see if the mex building exists and gives resources on a per second basis to the correct team/allyteam).
General Gadgetry:
*Help me identify and eliminate unnecessary gadgets or consolidate them if possible
*Help me with a better way of switching fire modes (needs ui hotkey for switching as well). The current solution works, albeit rather crudely and is difficult to control well.
Nice to have gadgetry column:
*Help me introduce an upgrade system, similar to sc2 style (I don't have any other games for reference) where weapon damage, unit hp, etc can be modified by percentages (I envision a system where you could upgrade nearly every part of your units abilities incrementally).
Widgets
(Chili) UI
Evo's ui is a hot mess. It's functional, and it works, but there are so many elements of it that I dislike. Much of it is crap
All the parts of the ui need to be recreated. Some of the parts can probably be modified form existing widgets, and that is fine, but I need them to be properly done.
Note: No mockups for now, but if someone were to take this on I would make mockups before asking for any work to be done. It would be silly to try to blindly create things.
All UI elements MUST be responsive, scaleable and moveable with set default locations on the screen and an easy way to reset positions and sizes. This is so that different resolutions can be accommodated nicely.
Resource Bars
This includes metal, energy and supply. All 3 things should be numbers instead of bars. Color coded nicely so that you can tell when you are excessing or near to capacity. Income, outgoing and net should be displayed in a nice easy to reference fashion. Preferably with a little icon to the side (like normal) showing what each item is.
Player list
Player list should be hidden by default and referenced by a hotkey. When hotkey is pressed it should show all active platers sectioned by the teams they are on and then spectators in another section.
Build/order menu
This is the kicker. It is extremely difficult to design these nicely. I want something similar to integral menu but with a LOT of improvements.
Tabs - Yes
Hotkeys in a qwerty fashion - Yes
Hotkeys for the tabs - Yes
Menu items should be generated from the unit build lists, not from an external config. This of course limits the ability to do multirow lists (I.E. 2 icons on first row, 4 icons on next row, 1 icon below that, etc), but that's a sacrifice I'm ok with, because the way integral does it in a way that I dislike and I would love to get away from that.
Menu items should be the models of the units themselves (I believe this is possible because the idle builders widget does something like this. I'd love to see it on a build menu).
It should be possible to dismiss the build menu with a hotkey and allow an experience player to not use it at all using only hotkeys.
Orders menu should be separate from the build menu.
I'm leaving out details, but hopefully this is enough to get across the general idea.
Minimap
The default minimap is probably good enough as it is. I want it to actively display resource locations all the time though.
Chat
Needs to be color coded, automatically filter out all system info (with a checkbox to display all (warnings, errors, etc)). Needs to be scrollable.
Esc Menu
Ability to resign, exit game, adjust gfx/sound options -- volume sliders (WITH PERCENTAGE NUMBERS!) on the base menu for quick adjustments. Adjusting gfx options will write values to springsettings.cfg and items that require a restart will be marked clearly. I actually already have a widget that does this (in a very ugly non-configurable way).
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Changing the UI is going to allow me to dump a SHITLOAD of deadweight widgets, so that will make me quite happy.
These aren't in any particular order, but they should be enough to give a basic idea of what I'm going for.
Compensation
I'm thinking of a budget of $500 to start with and we can go from there. I'm not unreasonable and I work with in house development teams very day at my day job, so I'm not at all unfamiliar with the process. Of course we can negotiate on a per item basis.
Why are you doing this?
Because this is one area where I simply can't do it myself and I need help. Evo is a good and a fun game, but there are a lot of areas where improvement is desperately needed. I have known this for quite some time, but knowing it and having the means to do something about it are two very different things. I now have the means.
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Enjoying evo as a game is a bonus, but not necessary. The reason I say that is because if you enjoy it, you probably have some better ideas of how to improve various aspects than someone who doesn't really know much about the game.