Ever since i came onto this site and started to use the editor frequently, there have been plenty of things i’ve wanted to see added! This is a collection of them. I get that you’re probably a busy guy @grazer , so i made it easier by high-lighting the most important parts by making them bold! But, i highly suggest reading the whole thing instead if you can! I’ve also provided a visual demonstration of all my suggestions to give a rather accurate depiction of what i’m saying would look like!
*Add different proximity sensor shapes! Currently the only shape is circle, lets say for example you’re making a rouge-like (Google it) and you’re using proximity sensors connected to cameras to make the camera transition to different rooms, you’d have to make the doors at the center-edge of each room to make that work! But, if you could set it to square or rectangle, then it could be anywhere on the room cause then you could go into the room without having to walk closer to the center to get it to work!
I also suggest making it so when you click the object, its proximity sensor will appear, and then you can drag the edges to make it either bigger or smaller!
*Add a quick menu! Basically, if you want to edit a objects behaviors the only way you could do that is clicking it and going into behaviors. But: Why not add a little arrow at the top left that lists the behaviors in the object vertically and allows you to go into said behaviors and edit them there! This would be helpful is you just need to tweak something quickly or need to see what a mailbox/message says!
*Add a way to change a objects collison manually! Currently, Flowlab seems to automatically detect an objects collison and that typically works well. But you should make it so you can go into the skin editor and go into a different layer that allows you to edit the pixels which collide manually! Flowlab is a extremely open and customizable editor and making it even more customizable like that would be great!
*Add a flagging system! There is currently 0 regulation as to what goes onto Flowlab and this is both a blessing and a curse! A racist game could be uploaded and it could just slip under the cracks and go unnoticed! My solution to this is a YouTube styled flagging system! Basically: If someone in the community clicks the flag button on the games page: They should have to re-enter their email/password (This is to prevent mass-flagging!) and than it should be sent to either Grazer or, my idea: A special page on the website where the community will look at it and be the judge of whether the game gets punished or not! Which leads me into my next idea:
*Add a mature/explicit setting! What this would do is make it so creators can tell players that “Yeah, this game is more adult”! Creators should be required to put this up when the game features: Blood or gore, sexual content, racism or swearing! Now being a “Mature” game should mean that only people who enable the “Show me mature themes” button on their account (Which should also be added!) will be able to see it! Simple, and useful!
Now what do we do if someone gets FLAGGED for NOT putting up the mature themed button when it should be up? Well, deleting the game is FAR too brutal of a punishment in my opinion! As what if that racist game has a lot of effort behind it? So here’s a lighter solution: Just make it so flagged games will be forever set to not show on the games list and that any link to the game on the site will be automatically removed! Meaning, yes, the game still exists: BUT it can no longer be shared unless it’s being exported! Fair and brutal!
*Change how a input/output plug looks when it’s connected! Basically, as of right now: There’s no way to know which plug is used and which one isn’t! And my proposal is to change the outline of the plug so that you can clearly tell at a glance that it’s being used or not! For example in this picture it kinda looks like that the “on” input on that switch has something going into it when in reality it’s just going behind it!
*Add a variant of the save function which EVERYONE shares on that game! Basically as of right now: Online functionality for Flowlab is pitiful. And i have a solution to this which would definitely make adding certain things to your game a LOT easier! My proposal is a special variant of the save behavior which allows EVERYONE to update the same save data! This opens up the door for a LOT of different things to be made! Here’s a list of some off the top of my head:
-Leaderboards could be made as you can just have the number be filtered out with other peoples numbers in the save and then if it’s in the top 10 save it!
-Shops could now have a universal stock amount as you could just tell the shop to subtract 1 and then save it so everyone gets the same amount of items before they ring the shop dry!
-You could even have a custom play count as you could just use the “Once” behavior to add 1 to the number and then save it!
*Add custom loading screens
Recently, paid users got the ability to customize their games page (I’m a little jealous, to be honest). Why not expand upon this by allowing them to even customize the loading screen that plays before their game opens? This could be anything from allowing them to put up a simple picture that scales with the resolution or going so far as allowing them to make their own animated loading screens! This would allow game developers to give their games just a little bit more character!
An improved games page
Iv’e brought this up in The (Now defunct) Crigence Critique, but Flowlab puts a little too much of an emphasis on “Creating” but not enough on "Playing"
Cycled pins
Over the years, Flowlab has gotten FAR too many pins (If you ask me anyway), i think it would not only make the pins more effective, but free up space if we made the pins cycle between each-other!
Of course, i’m not sure if the websites infrastructure would be capable of supporting this but it’s something to consider!
Thanks for reading ~Crigence