Suggestions for HKO
These are just a few things that popped into my head, here and there, which I think would add value. I’m going to “prioritize” these based on my own uninformed knowledge of how the GM team works… and I dunno if they’ll ever even read this, or consider any of this, but at least I’ve done what I could. I hope they do not see this as being overbearing or pushy.
- case sensitive player names. We’ve seen at least one case of two different players having a name collision; sharing the same name, with the only difference being capitalization. Would it be possible to make character generation test against existing names while being case-insensitive yet still maintain case-sensitivity in-game, so that we may retain our “personality”?
- More keyboard shortcuts. It has been mentioned before, worth mentioning again. Movement keys especially. With the arrow keys being currently unassigned, this is a natural growth.
- Configurable chat filter. I like the chat filter, but I think it should be possible to enable/disable this per user preference. It is very hard to account for many of the possible offensive words, so a “stock” dictionary, with the ability to customize filters might come in handy.
- manual AFK. Our players are automatically flagged afk after about 10 minutes, but sometimes I need to go afk, and wish to set an afk flag without the default timeout.
- AFK auto responder to private message. Similar to above. At least once, I went afk, and someone sent me a PM. They figured out that I was not at my keyboard, but I still would have liked some sort of way to indicate to them that I wasn’t just being rude.
- chat tab indicators. We tab between general chat and PM chats quite often, and sometimes I’ll tab out of a PM tab, and miss a message. Some sort of visual clue on the PM tabs, maybe a flash, or something, that new text has arrived.
- bigger farm storage for bigger farms. Even if it was just one extra column of storage, that would be a bonus. It seems like there should be some other perks in the more expensive farms. Inventory management is a mechanic for all games, and no matter how much you have, it is never enough, so I’m not looking for some insane or big buff, just a small benefit to owning a larger farm.
- Logging out on our farm? When I log in, I’m back at the Farm Manager. I know the farm is instanced, and disappears when I am not logged in, but it would be nice to have a quiet place to login.
- quick teleport to our farms. I know everyone wants teleports, transport systems, etc, but that is not really what I am thinking of. Many games have a “home” spell. It doesn’t necessarily take you out of danger, but just gives you a quick way to get home (and logoff in a safe place! which is a process I am used to in other games)
- visitors on your farm. When people visit your farm, if you leave the farm, they are automatically kicked out. But that includes the house. I think the house should be considered in the same class as the farm, and don’t kick them automatically.
- Sound effects… Having gone thru FB with no sound FX, I was pleased to hear sounds. Except for one. I think we all know what that one is. I have no idea on sound management. Maybe configurable sounds? Maybe sound volume that is separate from music volume? I don’t know
- Code optimization. The client is a bit fat and heavy. If other processes are running (virus scan), HKO would often become sluggish. This was most highly visible during the loading screens.

February 25th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
You should put the ability to pause farms on here.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
[…] listing possible suggestions for the upcoming HKO beta (I hope they at least use a […]
February 26th, 2009 at 5:03 am
they will read it if you send to their email i guess…
February 26th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I wouldn’t want to bother them. Some of these have been discussed before, I’m sure they’re aware of it; some are just my opinions, which make no real difference in the ultimate scheme of things.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:20 am
[…] Azog: Suggestions for HKO […]
February 26th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Thank you! :) And great ideas. ^^
February 26th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
AHoy Azog!
Nice to see you posting !
I especially agree with more barn storage!!
I started a new thread in the forums-just about inventory -please consider stoping by and commenting!
Take Care~serenitycat