Prelude:
I did have a search through, and found some interesting reading, but no threads that cover my thinking.
Thought I would compile a few here, and see what you all think.

Nb for the optimists, yeah I'm aware it will most likely not be acted on, but it is only a suggestion thread.

If you feel I stole your idea, you will have to take my word for it that I had all this stuff on notepad for a long time (most of it) and am only now posting. I am not after glory or whatever, just trying to think up ways to boost game popularity. (without changing the funkyfeelin I hope?)

Let me hear your thoughts...
I can go into more detail on the pointations if needed.
(lol spellchecker took its time over 'pointations'! I was actually starting to think it was a real word.


EDIT:
P.S...
I found an old thread in my thread searching
http://www.funkypool.com/thread/19049/how-could-subscribing-be-more-appealing/1#1490148

Misc. Suggestions (Brief):

- Auto page-refresh for forums? (would prob need a more stable server though?)
- Spoiler Tags for offline/inbox messaging?
- Volume control. (or preset options eg high/med/low)
- Clan System Update? (See Below)
- Account Customization/Avatars + Profile Building.
- Achievement System Expansion?
- Animated Profile Pictures? (settings option to personally disable if preferred)
- Stabilize FPS/Lag for slower/older systems? Mobile phones have less lag at times.
- Alternative Payment Methods for subscribing. (I prefer to pay with Mobile Phone/SMS)
- Game Win Animations (Unlockable Series? See Below)
- More Mini Golf Tables? (Seasonal Tables? Unlock New tables through achievements?)
- 5 Player Maximum for MiniGolf?
- Considered a Darts MiniGame?
- Game Currency? Add a 'NotRealMoney' staking aspect? (Would need legalities checking)

Forum Related Suggestions:

- Ability to re-size image display in posts (also for inbox messages)
- Clan_Forum_Thread posting_control options? (See Below)
- Text Spacing. Currently can only have 1 space, else the text is compressed. (alt code doesn't work)
- Forum Rating System? Players get points per post, lose points for OTT posts. Would help identify those who seek to cause problems via forums?
- Forum Rating System Perks/Rewards? Increased Character Limit in posts at higher rating?
- Allow some Alt Codes? (Or characters from the CharMap?)

Clan System Update:

Incorporate 'Clans' into the game?
Members only feature? (would add incentive for players to subscribe)
Clan stats to record:
Current Clans Name
Clans current position in current League Season
Total 'Squad' Size, and names.
Seasons Won
Season Finish History
Clan Silverware? (could add)
A n Other useful and handy figure/s.
Would make being a subscriber compulsory if wanting to play for a Clan.
I'm sure the Pro's and Con's have been discussed in depth long before now?

Game-Win Animations:

As the Black Ball/9Ball sinks... A short animation pops up.
Would need to keep ani/gif durations to absolute minimum for obvious reasons.
I can't see people minding an 5/10 second wait if the animation is good quality?
Maybe add certain trigger criteria? Like 7ballings etc?
Could unlock new animations for hitting certain in game achievements:
40+ run in straight
7ball your opponent
Win MiniGolf with 2 opponents
x amount of forum posts
the list goes on...
(again... add settings option to disable if player prefers)

Clan Forum Threads.

The player who creates the thread in that section, has some extra thread options during compilation.

eg:
Who can post on this thread:
- me and mods
- Me and Clan Captains
- Me and the world
(members of the same Clan can post for all three options)

Simpler thinking on those lines...
Can only post on a clans thread if a member of that clan, or a captain in another clan?

Most of your ideas are admirable but things change so quickly sometimes in the clan world and TBH admin or mods will not appreciate any extra work mate.

I happen to agree here, some cracking ideas, the membership initiative/incentive is something i support and advocate. Anything else which requires 'putting ones effort in' then you probably got more chance plaiting fog.

Could be surprised, too many changes though could/would ruin the simplicity which Funkypool already has,

You can put spoilers in inbox messages just have to type SPOILER in brackets at the start and /SPOILER in brackets at the end.
Same with IMG etc

ooo sweet! Thanks for the info
never actually tried manually typing the tags, figured there'd be a button if was doable

Or you just type in what you want then highlight selected area and click on SPOILER

I've got some feedback on some of your ideas on why they may not be implemented. Please don't feel offended though, I would just like to show you both sides of the idea


Auto page-refresh for forums - There isn't really enough action on the forums for this to be needed (apart from maybe in the clan forums). What could be implemented though is a refresh interval, say every 30 seconds or every minute? This way there is less stress on the server, but I still don't see this being added as there isn't really enough action on the forums for this to be needed.

Spoiler Tags for offline/inbox messaging - As members have already told you, this can be done

Volume control - use windows volume control. You can change the volume of each window you have open in windows by going to the volume mixer. Here's a link on how to do this: http://goo.gl/iOwYpy

Clan System Update - This has been wanted for a long long time. But as Nick has a full time contract at the moment chances of this are looking very slim for the time being. I would love this to be implemented as well, and I'm sure one day in the future it might be. But as you said about making it a subscriber only feature, that will never happen. Nick has said before that he wants to keep the base game free for everyone and doesn't want to give anyone any advantages because they have given him money. This is why the cues were added because they give you no real gain to the game and only give it extra aesthetics. The reason for the premium membership was because you wanted to support the site, not because you wanted more features than other non-paying members.

Account Customization/Avatars + Profile Building - You didn't expand on this, what exactly do you mean? We can already change our avatars and edit our about me section?

Achievement System Expansion - I like this :) I could see it going quite well with the 'Game-Win animations'. You get a hard achievement, you get a super cool animation when you win for both you and your opponent to see :D

Animated Profile Pictures - This won't be added due to the lag that it can give some users. These gifs can also be pretty annoying and just causes unnecessary problems

Stabilize FPS/Lag - the problem with the lag is Java (in my opinion). Java is a very resource hog application as it runs in its own Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which takes up a lot of processing power. I can see it being quite hard to stabilize the lag for this unfortunately. I could be completely wrong though, of course :p

Alternative Payment Methods for subscribing - These could be added but it is down to security of the payment method. This is completely up to Nick though and could possibly be added if there is a high demand for a certain payment process.

More Mini Golf Tables - Possibly not just limited to Mini Golf tables, each table could have a festive feel to it, such as tinsel around the table or baubles for balls etc... But I can see this being kind of tricky for Nick to implement and wouldn't go without the server being restarted when it is added. I like the idea though!

5 Player Maximum for MiniGolf - There is currently a 3 person limit, but I could see 5 people working quite well. But mini golf doesn't really seem to have much popularity at the moment. It did at the start, but it seemed to be a bit of a fad and has slowly died out. Don't get me wrong, some people still do play it as you can see from the 'Best Score Today' on the mini golf ranking page. This leads on to my next point about fads...

Considered a Darts MiniGame - I can see a lot of effort being put into this and then it ending up like mini golf is now. People like it at the start and then gets bored of it after a while. But this could possibly be more popular than golf was as there is a more competitive aspect to it compared to golf. But we have to remember that this is a pool site, but I don't see why not! Kind of contradicted myself there, sorry lol

Game Currency - Killerpool was introduced and had both real money and game money at steak. It had the same engine as funky (don't quote me on this) and work exactly the same but money was involved. It was liked for a while and then people lost interest in it and came back here.

Ability to re-size image - Shouldn't be too hard to add in. If the image is too big then it auto resizes to a reasonable size. Seems good to me :)

Clan Forum Threads - I have replied to this suggestion quite a few times. The reason this will not be added is because it gives a limitation to each member. Say they wanted to post in your clan thread saying that you two had a good game and enjoyed playing that member, that wouldn't be available because of the options ticked when creating the thread. IMO, every member should be able to post in whatever thread they wanted (within reason, obviously)

Edited at 11:19 Sun 29/12/13 (GMT)

Again, please don't feel offended because of me shooting down your ideas. I'm just trying to show both sides of the suggestion.

It's great to have a structured thread like this every once in a while! If I knew the Java coding language I would do my best to try and convince Nick to let me help him out a bit. But as I don't and Nick is the only one who has control it may be some time till these get done I am pretty sure that the easier suggestions might be added once Nick gets a block of free time.



You are very wrong. I couldn't appreciate what Pix has done more

I did try it with the MOD ones too but they thought of that...spoilsports lol

Post 2/5

Clan System Update - In principle, I agree with the whole, keep the game free and open to all concept... Those who do pay, shouldn't have a game advantage...
but there could be more for subscribers?

Account Customization/Avatars: I was thinking along the lines of Signatures (forums), and like a little MMO style character to customise. Don't laugh at me just yet...
That then lead onto thinking things like tournament shirts/ties/clothing items.
Daft idea, but purely somewhere to display further unlocks/awards?
Could also increase popularity with younger generations if done well? Idk.
For me, I like collecting. (and love the spins)
Add onto that: the medals and then the Game Win Animations idea...?

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Post 3/5

Achievement System Expansion - Had some awesome ideas lol (but not exactly PG?) Still... could come up with some witty masterpieces.

Animated Profile Pictures - Yeah... cure the lag... open more options?

Stabilize FPS/Lag - Agreed. I think Java b-lows (last few years). I think Flash is no better though. Would converting to html5 yield any improvements? I read a lot of other games have.

Alternative Payment Methods for subscribing - Please add pay by text. (I can finally subscribe then)

Considered a Darts MiniGame - When you're right, you're right. Life is a contradiction lol Just thinking more something short that could break the pooling up a bit. But to go whole hog as a new game type... controversial, but I'd still play that more than the arcade tables ;-P

Game Currency - Yeah my luck on FP... I'll not be playing for real cash any time soon lol. Was thinking about adding another layer to the game, not so much about the gambling, more the focus/alternative play-styles? Riotous? :P]

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Post 4/5

More Mini Golf Tables - I think the reason the MiniGolf faded out, is because they are the same tables over and over.
For me, once I can make the pot every time, the MiniGolf starts to become boring...
Addition of a new course/s would spark that fad off all over again? Just gotta renew the challenge now and then? idk
5 Player max... I think makes that game type more sociable too?

Ability to re-size image - That would do but I was thinking more like on MS Works:word processor when you add an inline image, you can then click on the image, and drag the corner to scale?
Currently is just calling up a url... to do this... might be too intensive on the game as is?
Coming back to the is html5 better than java for FP's future? line of thinking.

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