Introduction
I figure it's about time we had a thread that acted as an archive of all the exceptional ideas that have popped up over time, including a quick summary, a link to the thread, and MM's thoughts that he's given (wherever applicable).

And so, without further adieu, I present the archive:
Updates
1/2/06 - Two entries added. Changed hard-to-read "implemented" text from green to yellow. Updated "implemented" text due to release of Soldat version 1.3.1.
12/11/05 - Five more entries added. Marked ideas that are/will be implemented as needed. Renamed topic and added some text for clarification purposes. Fixed incorrect idea/suggestion title.
12/3/05 - Archive created. Post layout established. Several topics placed. Submission instructions and guidelines established.
Archive Entries
quote:A Solution for the Barret
Summary
Instead of implementing ineffective statistical changes, the barret can be balanced by both removing the cursor when standing and implementing a narrow field of vision when the scope is in use.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
"This would be a very cool thing if I did it. It could be used in realistic mode very well.
However it might be hard to do at this point."

quote:Active Scenery
Summary
Soldat maps can be given greater aesthetic qualities and more immersive environments by allowing the insertion of sceneries that "interact" through animation based on player actions. A large portion of the topic is also derailed with the suggestion of particle-based animations.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Advanced Filters Window
Summary
A set of filters built into the Join Game client screen that provides "Yes", "No", and "All" options and replaces the current filters.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Ambient Lighting
Summary
Through use of alpha layers or colored filters, dynamic lighting would be implemented to create more realistic shadows and varying levels of visibility of players and objects on a global, and possibly local, level, enhancing aesthetics as well as gameplay.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Ambient Sound
Summary
Dynamic ambient sounds created by placing "sound generators" at various locations in the maps.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Animals
Summary
Special bots, moddable from pre-fabricated ragdoll skeletons, that can be used to represent non-human NPC opponents for use in a wide range of applications that include game modes, special team members, neutral characters, unfortunate bystanders, etc.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Animated Scenery
Summary
Animated map sceneries could be animated without requiring .gif file support or changing the map file format by placing the frames of the animation in a horizontal row in a single .bmp file. Then the game simply determines the frame rectangle size automatically and cycles through each frame accordingly.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Custom Gosteks Online
Summary
Players can make truly unique identities for themselves by creating customized gostek files that can be downloaded automatically by other players in-game.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
"This would be a very cool option. I thought about it years ago, but I didn't do it because there are certain problems. For example the file downloading doesn't work as well as I would like to. If I could get that working then it would be easier from that point."

quote:Environment Complications and Map-Specific Weapon Mods
Summary
Special types of scriptable polygons and polygon properties would allow for nearly limitless applications, and maps should have their own unique weapon mods to create an even more unique gameplay experience on each map. Other possibilities include "interactive" polygons that affect anything within their area and a "fill in the blank" no-coding system instead of a scripting language.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Flashbang
Summary
Flashbang grenades "blind" the screen with a white flash that shortly fades away. They would most likely be obtained as powerups or pickups to prevent constant blinding effect. Additionally, there is a playable "LiveDemo" plug-in as well as a movie demo (WMV format).
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Jumping Off Walls
Summary
Players will be able to jump off of a wall for increased maneuverability and, in no-jet maps, additional height.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Knife: Charge-Up Time
This idea/suggestion has been implemented as of version 1.3.1.
Summary
The knife is made to be more difficult to spawn-camp with, and generally require more skill to use overall, by having a grenade-style charge-up that determines how far the knife travels when thrown.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Minigun Warm-Up Suggestion
Summary
The minigun, instead of having its delayed firing, would instead fire at a steadily increasing rate over time. Other possibilities include a "spin-down" time that shortens the current fire delay for a short period of time after the gun has already been fired.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Possibility to Toggle the Gravity
Summary
Either as a game option or in the map file, the value for the gravity can be altered to create zero-gravity "outer space" environments, "supergravity" games with fast fall speeds and limited jumping, and everything between. Other possibilities include changing the "falling" direction.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Power-Up: Ultra Ricochet
Summary
A power-up would allow the player to temporarily fire bullets that ricochet off of the floor and walls at 90º angles for all weapons.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Ready to Respawn
Summary
Instead of automatically respawning when the waiting time has elapsed, the player would be allowed to press a key to respawn at their discretion, allowing the player however much time is needed to choose weapons, type a statement in chat, etc.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Shield as a Secondary
Summary
A shield can be used to block and ricochet bullets, but possibly wears down and eventually breaks. Other ideas include the ability to be used to bash opponents at close range, and/or be rode upon like a sled down slopes. Legs and head would still be vulnerable unless crouched.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Snatch Weapon
Summary
When unarmed, a player can press the F key to steal their opponent's weapon when in close proximity, or theoretically even catch a thrown knife.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Special Awards/Penalties
Summary
At the end of each round of gameplay, players are "awarded" in a Super Smash Brothers: Melee or Goldeneye: 007 style while the next map/round of the game is being prepared.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Tazer Secondary
Summary
A chord-based tazer is introduced as a secondary that can momentarily stun an opponent, rendering them helpless, but has a long reload time and short range.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:The Mid-Air Jump
Summary
Soldat players can perform a second jump in mid-air for gaining extra height and increased mid-air maneuverability, especially on no-jet maps. Other possibilities include an expense of jet fuel and an alternate mid-air dodging move.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:"Unreal Tournament"-Style Voice-Overs
Summary
When a multikill (Double Kill, Masta Killa, etc.) is achieved, the large red text typically displayed is accompanied by a voice-over. Favorite nominations for voice actors include Michal Marcinkowski and Chakra.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Water and Swimming
Summary
Special water-type polygons in maps allow for underwater areas of maps that have their own movement controls, limited "oxygen bar" that depletes before drowning occurs, and altered physics that affect player and bullet speed. Other possibilities include using colliders for underwater, partial transparency, an underwater-compatible harpoon gun secondary, and bullet shattering.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

quote:Weapon Mod Scope Value
Summary
Each weapon would possess modifiable values for scope range, scope-return, etc., adding additional modding functionality.
Michal Marcinkowski's Thoughts
Currently not applicable.

Archive Submission Instructions
To submit a thread for insertion into the archive, please post at the very least a link to the thread. I will then review the topic to determine its eligibility.
Guidelines for eligibility are:
Topic length -- Is the idea discussed in depth and developed to a reasonable extent? This is typically a sign of there existing much interest in the idea on the part of the Soldat community.
Potentiality -- Does the idea, in the event it were implemented, provide a substantial and possibly positive change in the overall game experience?
Faithfulness to the Theme -- Does the idea fit well with the general theme and "feel" of Soldat?
Michal Marcinkowski -- Did MM post anything in the topic? This is almost always the mark of an idea with real potential, although it is by no means a necessity to be approved for the archive.
Of course, the purpose of these rules is to basically weed out the threads that suggest really stupid things or that haven't had much discussion/development; to be any more strict would only be detrimental to the point of creating an archive in the first place.
It is also appreciated, but not necessary, if submissions are made in the official archival format, as it would save me that much more time. I would post the actual code for the layout below, but it seems the various Forum Codes tags all hate the Code tag.
Miscellaneous
Thank you for any and all submissions, as well as your questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions. I also hope that this thread has been of good service for you.

Not one of my ideas are in there, and "the mid-air jump" is not an "exceptional idea," nor even realistic, and it'd totally mess up the "feel" of Soldat as you said yourself.

Active Scenery: particular scenery and polygons are affected by player actions (client-side) for realism.

Power-up: Ultra Ricochet: ricochet angle extends to 90º for 20 secs. for your projectiles.

"Ready to Respawn": you don't respawn when the seconds ticker ends after a death; you have to tap a key first, so maybe you can go AFK without letting anyone collect free kills. When it says "Ready to Respawn" everything else blacks out so you can't abuse the system and appear at cheap moments.

Snatch Weapon: Push F while unarmed and you can grab a nearby foe's weapon.


I don't think any one of these would very drastically affect the feel of the game too negatively. They are all very minor yet almost necessary tidbits of convenience (maybe not the last one :-P).

Very nice.
This should get stick.
:) Nice work on it.

To Keron: I'll be trying to keep a good amount of leniency regarding the criteria, as well as consider the alternate ideas and suggestions that are produced in the topic. The Mid-Air Jump did push it a little on the theme end of things, but not enough for that one aspect to keep it off the list, in my opinion; especially considering the amount of response and alternate ideas (like air-dodge) that were suggested. I'll try to communicate this more clearly next time I update.
As for your submissions--they look swell enough to me, so I'll throw them in as well.
All of the topics I initially placed in the archive are just ones that I remembered well or that popped out at me while I gave the various forums a quick look-over, so chances are there are a good few other topics that I've missed too.

to get MMs comment on the topics without on id suggest messageing MM with the link to this topic but first id clean it up a bit.
i believe some should be removed, not on personnal opinion but rather to keep this topic on the best ideas. particularly those on weapons and weapon modding

YoMammasMamma, I was talking to a beta tester and they said that Michal M has, infact made a charge up to the knife, like the grenades.

Actually I was already aware of that, as evidenced by my response to the really blatant hint that MisterX gave in the Weapon Balance Discussion forum.

However, I decided it would be best to include the topic anyway for archival purposes--which would fit the whole point of the archive in the first place :)

It's become obvious that "Exceptional Ideas" was a bad phrase to use for describing the kinds of topics I intend the archive to be for. It's just that "Ideas That Don't Totally Suck Balls" wasn't a much better option.

Really, this is just a place where people can see what decent ideas have already been thought up, so that redundant threads can be avoided, people can easily find the threads about them, and also to promote inspiration in general, in addition to whatever other reasons you may need a reference for.

I'll put that in the next update too, which won't be today since I've already wasted way too much time making another post. Oh, and you can expect to see an "Implemented" indication, too. I would have before but a any hint is by no means official word--and I trust you're not lying, considering the situation and the fact that pirates are up there with ninja in terms of awesomeness.