We discussed in the alpha branch a lot of polishing and stuff that is close to what we have now. But some big and small feature are still missing and we don't know, if we will get it. So I would like to collect them here in the first post as short as possible (like a changelog). Bugs are not for this thread but some small fixes. 

# # # # # # # # # #
Features:
# # # # # # # # # #

- Quickload, quicksave, more savegames + hotkeys (0.91 Status: will be in)

- sector inventory as JA2 (will not be in, maybe post-release?

- IMP with choice of 3 voices, clothes, faces, hair
(0.9.1 will be in)

- voiced NPCs
(will not be in)

- soundtrack 
(0.8.x -> There is some new soundtrack, no JA2 music anywhere)

- more retro JA2 music (e.g. laptop music) -
(no comments from JAF, mybe on a radio channel?)

- hire mercs with gear, contract, answering machine etc.
0.9.x is in

- enemy in the game, who can be recruited
(no comments from JAF)

- Opening and closing drawers and closets and doors
will be in

- break lights and night vision
(no comments from JAF)

- sneak, walk (less noise), strafe
(no comments from JAF)

- soul: more commentary and speaking from our mercs
will be in

 sneak with silencers -> enemy dies within one turn > other enemies not beeing alerted
(no comments from JAF)

- animated portraits, animated dialogue portraits
will not be in but modabble by community with FC support

- contextual quest dialogue (e.g. when escorting someone)
(no comments from JAF)

- hireable NPCs with backstory and better dialogues/choices
(no comments from JAF)

- interaction between NPCs, hired NPCs, mercs
(no comments from JAF)

- flee out of sector while in battle
(will not be in)

- traveling from screen to screen
(will not be in)

- automatical first-aid pop-up after sector win
(will not be in)

- enemies fall sometimes when shot in leg
(no comments from JAF)

- supression (enemy change stance when heavy fire)
(no comments from JAF)

- mercs comment new items on ground + indicator like JA2 (circle 3x blinking)
(no comments from JAF)

- during battle indicate new enemies in fov (circle in middle of enemey from smaller to bigger + blinking? see ja2)
0.8.1 now some for movements the camera show the enemy which is great. Still buggy. Does not change back to active merc atm.

- UI with a better workflow, less space, like JA2 but more modern
will be in

- our mind is free feature: SHOOT anywhere at anybody in realtime&turn based mode
(no comments from JAF)

- item repair and item degration
0.8.x -> degration is in but rudimentary

- first aid (+ kit)
will be in

- ammo types, ammo displayed as in JA2
no -just ammo boxes

 -reload via drag&drop in inventory
a button is in

- cutting wires, wire cutter like JA2
will not be in

- jump over small barriers, sandbags
will not be in

- weapon attachments and stats modifier (scope, laser pointer, silencer, bipod)
sadly, will not be in

- energy should't drop so fast, water bottles to get more energy
(no comments from JAF)

- energy booster (drugs, pills)
is supported but never found

- Tactical AI
is in

- Lockpicking and crowbars to force through doors.
(no comments from JAF)

- option (settings) to get rid of flies on dead bodys
more options to be in soon

- "stack items" and "merge items"
not be in

- option in UI to unload guns and recover ammo
is now in

- Missing weapson category: heavy weapons 
(no comments from JAF)

- Missing weapson category: shotguns
is in

- bow
(no comments from JAF)

- Dual wield small weapons (imho: will not come as new animations are required)
(no comments from JAF)

- weapon and merc skins (after release as update? tdb)
(no comments from JAF)

- Weight and inventory space has influence on the gameplay (e.g. AP and movement speed) 
(no comments from JAF)

- gas masks and grenades like mustard gas
not in

- Ammunition with different properties 
yes or loater

 

# # # # # # # # # #
Post release ideas and features
# # # # # # # # # #

- animated portraits with pause script mod support
- humour like in JA2. In JA:F I have not laughed at any time (but cried sometimes :p)
- old interrupt system (at least as option/setting) so I can get interrupts base on experience and first sight, even while being in real time (with interrupt you are back in turn based)
- death animations, more animations
- better shopping like bobby rais
- airport map addon
- Real destructible environment
 - Explosives. There is an explosive skill but no real explosives related to this (TNT, C1, C2, C4, mines, etc)
- fire, weapons with fire
- wired and crazy NPCs with short dialogues or in need of help. Like helping one out of prison to free him
- mines
- roof tops
- grenade launcher
- rocket launcher
- more energy management (sleep)
- leaning at corners
- crosshair again polished to JA2 standard
- Martial arts. Not mandatory and not planned really, but since melee has gotten a proper skill, and JA2 had martial arts (2 animations), it could be expanded further.
- turn based box fights, fight in the pit :p
- cars and gas u can use to travel
- assassination sidequests with sneak in a house with special guardians
- Close and open doors in fights to take cover
- keys and locks
- bloodcats (imported from arulco in the san harmanos zoo)
- all missing feature from above

# # # # # # # # # #

Fixes:
# # # # # # # # # #

- fix crosshair calculation

- fix 4:3 resolution issues (see chris k posts)

- auto melee attack, auto go to door/crate open, etc. cursor changes in realtime or turn based to indicate this like in JA2

- MISSED SHOTS not 45 degree when 1-3 tiles before enemy!

- no clapping sound after sector win, do it as in JA2 (friendly music theme not so military + mercs comment on win!)

- viewcone in real time mode have no effect on NPCs or story NPCs!!!

- Respawn: When redeployed or training in sector without beeing in the sector since, the mercs must be placed

• mercs that have moved here and are in training/repair: middle of map
• mercs that a free/sleep on their last position

- stop autofire when enemy is dead, save ammo and APs (tbd by community)

- rework crosshair behaviour, sound, yellow circle)

- fix burst and auto fire as JA2

- fix bullet tail

- reload sound

- fixed sound effects (e.g. hit enemy "ohh")

- Usability fix http://goo.gl/Jf3evQ

- fix basic animations to be fluent

- interrupt as JA2 or changed interrupt system (tbd)

• game option (settings) to set whether all mercs automatically go into interrupt mode at the end of a turn 
• interrupt button activated -> mercs go auto interrupt, until button is pressed again.

- morale system fixed (more triggers)

- fix ugly animals

- fix weapon sounds (esp. SMGs and UZIs sound too weak)

- fix performance issues on all platforms

Please don't add things like roof tops or new game mechanics which are not present in JA2. Just the basic stuff from JA2 which you would like to defend. This list should be send to JA:F in a couple of days. Perhaps we can discuss some trade offs.

I would like to put the list in a kind of web service / voting system where you can decide on the importance of each point (most votes = 1) of the stuff. Does anyone know such a service?

There are too many small JA2 items missing from JA:F that I cannot list them all - ok I already listed the most important ones in the latest beta feedback comments. At the moment, I am doubtful we will see features that add "significant" gameplay features. Otherwise my first pick would be break lights. And I am not sure about features that require new animation - opening and closing drawers and closets would be my first pick in that case.

So trying to be as realistic/minimalistic as I possible can:
 - Getting the usablity improvements done: https://www.dropbox.com/s/352t3kmcusqu1rf/JAF_checklist.xlsx - maybe some has been already fixed/changed in the latest alpha?
 - Doing something for the interruption mode. At least, I really don't want to push the interrupt button at every turn. 2 easy approaches are: 
1) When interrupt mode is activated, this means that a merc automatically goes into the interrupt mode at the end of turn. The button stays pressed on until player releases it. + hotkey please.
2) A game option to set whether all mercs automatically go into interrupt mode at the end of turn. This option should take about 2 hours to code. [Player ends turn] -> [If auto interrupt mode is set on] -> [for each merc turn interrupt mode on]. It's not the prettiest thing to do though.

 - And something extra that came into mind and could be doable: Oil barrels that explode when shooted at. This would require free aiming, though.

A couple of the mentioned features are already confirmed (IMP, item degredation). Apart from that this is what I am missing:

#1 voiced NPCs and even more so in-depth merc interactions (sadly that is also very expensive)
#2 sector inventory
#3 better interrupt system
Frankly, I don't really need any other new features in the game (although I would like some), just some improvements to existing features (for example UI) and some important fixes (resolution!!!) would be fine with me.

http://strawpoll.me
Here you can start a poll, although I am not sure how many options it allows.

However, I doubt we will see a lot of features in the game, that are not already in there. There is just not enough time and money for everything we want.

Chris, don't want to be rude. But who owns a 4:3 monitor these days? Can we focus on the other things? I didn't notice any resolution bugs on 16:9 und 16:10 displays. Perhaps it is a quick fix to allow all resolutions. Could be that you can fix this via a file in you directory. FC pls?

- only 30 entries. But I need a kind of "sequence this" not "vote this". Another idea? Wanna bring this list in the right order (which is very, very hard). Because for a good JA we need all these things.

I think Overwatch/Interrupt should simply be the default stance if you have any leftover APs at all, unless there's something better you can do with them (APs don't stack between turns).

Pretty sure heavy weapons were promised in the Reddit Iama.  Even without vehicles to shoot at, they'd still be useful with destructible environments. Same goes for grenade launchers, which were mentioned in the weapon "upgrade" path that FC proposed.

Stackable ammo (both in combining stacks and having more than one per square) as well as unloading a weapon needs to be in

What happened to weapon and merc skins? How are they implemented? Given that they're a paid add-on I'm surprised we've seen nothing of them so far. The bow and arrow was also among these weapons... again not seen them anywhere but just might be my lack of playing time

Less wooden merc dialogue.  I mean really, you run up to random stranger and he's unloading his lifestory to you with one question? Bleurgh.

Finally, in terms of story-telling, the story arc needs to have increasing tension the closer you get to your goal.  I have no idea if there is any sense of that at the moment but it would be nice.  A twist or two as well...

The light and day/night cycle doesn't appear to be working at the moment

Guns should be able to jam, and there needs to be a repair system to make the skill worthwhile? I'm guessing there will be no crafting but they did put attachments in their milestone update list.

Ammo types (was discussed at length from the beginning)

@gdalf

I think all your aspects are in now and worth it =) thx.

Some vague things like better story with tension are not specific enough. I try to get the list cleaner with small specific tasks for the devs they can run without the game designer as long as the list is given to them.

Yeah, it was vague but I haven't played through even half the second island so I don't know whether I'm being unfair.

<Edit - moved to alpha feedback>

the recruitable npcs should also include the enemy mercs, which should be caughtable and be able to recruitable... this was a costly kickstarter pledge ...

You are right. Could be a nice story twist too. It's in.

Not just a story twist... it's an actual pledge that 5 people took for large sums of money!

Also wanted to add:

There should be a "push" mechanic so that if it is your own mercs blocking your path, you push them out of the way when moving - needed for navigating tight spaces!

@Archo: Did you ever notice how when someone says "I don't want to be rude", usually something rude follows? Yes, there are some people out there that still have 4:3 monitors, for example because they use their monitors until they actually need to replace them.
http://www.screenresolution.org
Notice how the 3rd and 4th most used resolutions are essentially 4:3 resolutions (5:4, which is what I actually use, is way closer to 4:3 than to 16:9). Those together + lesser used 4:3 and similar resolutions are at least 20%, so obviously there are still people out there that are using 4:3 monitors. If the game doesn't work at all for 20% of the people buying it, it needs to be fixed imho. I don't mind having to play in 4:3 (those playing in 16:9 on a 4:3 monitor are most likely very rare), but it has to work in those resolutions as well, otherwise a lot of people will be rightfully upset.

@Chris

 Yes. I knew but you also then know, the "open question" is asked out of good intentions. So with your figures maybe FC can be convinced that is something to fix. I am also surprised that the percentage is as high as you claimed. So it is a good thing you explained it. Also, I like 16:10 very much for work on the mac =)

Added it to the list - although it is more like a bug.

Any more ideas folks or change requests?

- Optimization issues: performance drops, occassional heavy FPS drops for no reason

- Performance drop when there are significant weather effects (such as rain)

- The game is not optimized for MAC system at all. My system should be able to run this game very comfortably, but I have performance issues.

After the next release coming next week, I will update the thread and see what we got. Then I will send this via email to FC and ask them to go through and tell us what category the feature fix will be in:

category:

1. Will be in
2. Possible
3. Will not be in
4. Will do after release

Then we can discuss in the forum on what needs to switch to another group so we have any influence at all at this point. Also we should focus on what reviewers and new players will miss. This game needs at least a few good reviews and some medicore to get some sales - so FC can deliver the whole experience within weeks after release. 

Nice initiative Archo. It's valuable discussion.

"Our approach for this Kickstarter funded project is transparency. We will give you the naked truth in frequent updates, as you are our backers and are entitled to know where your contribution endes up."

This is why I trusted you. Now as we have props the transparency is gone - tell us more about the upcoming plans and stick with transparency please.

Thx for the update - I appreciate the feedback. It seems that it is not necessary to give more feedback at this time, as the feature plan (without sector inventroy! :( is finished. But I will keep track of the list here, as Thomas said, you never know what the future will bring. 

I had the fear you are thinking: Oh these guys and their plans and wishes are frustating - the project is not what we expected we are happy to finish it and close up next month.

I will stop rasing concerns and I am more happy than ever to read "We are in for the long run". Let's see what we will get.

I wonder how much of these triggers will be implemented roughly in percent (%).

@fc

Are these moddable? We would like to use ja2  speech files.  One piece that made the game a living game.

000 – sees enemy     001 – sees enemy
002 – sees lots of enemies     003 – sees bug
004 – sees bug for 1st.time     005 – sees signs of bugs
006 – hears something     007 – smells signs of bugs
008 – expects trouble     009 – hopes the bugs are gone
010 – sees too many bugs     011 – sees item
012 – sees item     013 – out of ammo
014 – badly injured/deathspeech     015 – friend 1 dies
016 – friend 2 dies     017 – friend 3 dies
018 – (empty)     019 – weapon jams
020 – gets shot repeatedly     021 – complains about injury
022 – avoids a bullet/explosion     023 – warns cannot hit target
024 – is injured     025 – is tired
026 – out of breath/needs break     027 – killed an enemy
028 – killed a bug     029 – complains about disliked merc 1
030 – complains about disliked merc 2     031 – complains about disliked merc 3
032 – killed Mike     033 – sees gruesome death
034 – won’t go in water     035 – has finished task
036 – refuses to obey order     037 – has a drink of alcohol
038 – has killed bug queen     039 – complains about npc
040 – complains about team/job/deal     041 – thinks enemies are inferior
042 – sees airstrike     043 – complains about quality of equipment
044 – would prefer to work alone     045 – complains about other merc
046 – just gained a point/level     047 – disagrees with strategy
048 – disagrees with strategy     049 – finds out in team with disliked merc
050 – finds out in team with disliked merc    051 – congratulates friend 1
052 – congratulates friend 2     053 – congratulates friend 3
054 – would prefer to discuss contract later    055 – sees Mike
056 – is blinded     057 – fails repeatedly at task/refuses to
continue
058 – appreciates an npc’s personality     059 – detects enemies in sector
060 – knows enemies are left     061 – finds cool item?
062 – killed an enemy     063 – sees Joey
064 – responds reassuringly to Miguel     065 – all enemies defeated
066 – items missing/Bobby Rays shipment    067 – killed Doreen
068 – sees bloodcat     069 – victory speech
070 – all enemies have fled sector     071 – (empty)
072 – (empty)     073 – seconds someone’s comment
074 – complains about quality of equipment    075 – discovers mine in ground
076 – discovers mine in ground     077 – (empty)
078 – has arrived at chosen destination     079 – (empty)
080 – refuses to join(casualty rate)     081 – refuses to join(casualty rate)
082 – refuses to extend contract     083 – refuses to extend contract due to
short notice
084 – video-phone greeting     085 – accepts dismissal pleased and
willing to work again
086 – refuses to join due to dislike of merc    087 – refuses to join due to dislike of merc
088 – refuses to join due to dislike of merc    089 – notifies that contract is ending soon
090 – accepts contract extension     091 – accepts to join
092 – reluctantly accepts to join due to 093 – reluctantly accepts to join due to
friend 1 influence friend 2 influence
094 – reluctantly accepts to join due to     095 – refuses to join due to casualty rate
friend 3 influence
096 – repeats     097 – you cannot afford this mercenary
098 – accepts dismissal     099 – refuses to join because of casualty
rate(repeated)
100 – refuses to join due to disliked merc     101 – refuses to join due to disliked merc
(repeated) (repeated)
102 – refuses to join due to disliked merc     103 – reluctantly accepts to join due to
(repeated) friend 1 influence
104 – reluctantly accepts to join due to     105 – reluctantly accepts to join due to 
friend 2 influence friend 3 influence
106 – repeats     107 – you cannot afford this mercenary
108 – video-phone greeting (alternate)     109 – make comment about video-phone
technology
110 – comments on your delay while 111 – asks how long and if you buy 
using video-phone equipment etc..(payment options)
112 – comments on your delay while     113 – comments about another mercenary
using video-phone while using video-phone
114 – comments about another mercenary    115 – notifies that contract ends soon
while using video-phone
116 – asks for higher pay grades

_ATTN.wav = The sound made when you initially click on the character, or, when he/she is
already selected at the beginning of a turn.
_COOL.wav = A response to a good kill or finding an item by opening a container.
_CURSE.wav = Cursing when missing a shot or failing at a task.
_DYING.wav = Sound character makes when dying or falling unconscious.
_ENEM.wav = Default sound when seeing enemy.
_GOTIT.wav = When character has successfully picked up an item and placed it into
his/her inventory.
_HIT1.wav = Sound made when character gets hit or suffers from unbandaged wound.
_HIT2.wav = Ditto.
_HUMM.wav = Sound made when spotting an item or finding something in a container.
_LAUGH.wav = Usually follows a kill using burst or autofire.
_LMATTN.wav = Pissed-off ATTN (see above).
_LMOK1.wav = Pissed-off OK1 (see below).
_LMOK2.wav = Pissed-off OK2 (see below).
_LOCKED.wav = Notifies that the door/container is locked.
_NOTH.wav = Finds nothing on ground or in container.
_OK1.wav = Acknowledges order.
_OK2.wav = Acknowledges order.

Have poked Dan for an answe Archo, but very busy so let's see when he has time to answer.

This is what I currently added. There are more in the BiA voice catalogue, so as we get the last features in I will take another pass and see what we can re-use.

            string audioClipName = unitID + "_" + voEvent + "_";
            switch (voEvent)
            {
            case UnitVOEvent.ACKNOWLEDGED:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 8).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_CLICKED:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 8).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.ENEMY_KILL:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 6).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.ENEMY_SPOTTED:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 5).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.HEARD_SOUND:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_STUNNED:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_DYING:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_HIT:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 5).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_WOUNDED:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_LOW_HEALTH:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 4).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.MERC_BLEEDING:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 3).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.WEAPON_ALMOST_BROKEN:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.WEAPON_OUT_OF_AMMO:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.HIRING_HELLO:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.HIRING_ACCEPTED:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.HIRING_DECLINE:
                audioClipName += "0" + UnityEngine.Random.Range(1, 3).ToString();
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.HIRING_NO_FUNDS:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.SUPER:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;
            case UnitVOEvent.COMBAT_SECTOR_CLEAR_GOOD:
                audioClipName += "01";
                break;

That's what I feared. What's in is sadly the absolute minimum. So BIA is the goal you wish (but are not capable) to achieve in terms of merc interactions? I don't remember pretty much any of that in BIA, so that can't be a good sign.

I guess there goes the Jagged Alliance game I hoped I will get. Oh, well. Hopefully this will at least be a fun non-JA game with JA mercs. At least we get a new story. That way I will at least have a reason to finish the game once, unlike BIA.

I really hope some more interactions can be added by modding at least. However, let Dan work. I highly doubt his answer will change anything.

Thx for the info Thomas. I will point to some speech files now which you should consider to get into the game (from JA2) because they add more variants and atmosphere:

avoids a bullet/explosion  (only when bullet is close to merc)

gets shot repeatedly
just gained a point/level 
friend 1 dies
congratulates friend 1
complains about disliked merc 1 
warns cannot hit target
has finished task
complains about quality of equipment  
_LAUGH.wav
_CURSE.wav
_LOCKED.wav 
HUMM.wav = Sound made when spotting an item or finding something in a container.
appreciates an npc’s personality   

+ backpack sighted, or hmm or so while the backpack is highlighted.

The more you get in the better. But we all dislike the BIA sound files. Everthing that is from BIA makes it more BIA which nobody wants. Sounds stupid but JA2 is the way to go - their sound files are much better (weapon sounds, voice). For example the "dies" sound is now from BIA which I can easily spot as they sound really "human" - which is bad as we have a more comic like style like JA2. So please replace this one. Also variants randomly used (which JA2 has) are ideal, which you know.

In the videos when you talked about JA:F you focused often on the personality and relationship between the mercs. It is hard to understand for us, that these elements are not in. So keep on adding stuff  :)

Hello to all followers :)

I updated the collected feature list (not bugfixes) so it represent the last status which Thomas gave us. I hope everything is correct so far. There are some feature where we did not get any detailed responsed due to lack of time. I think and hope these features will be discussed post-release so we can get a priority list at least.

Added a few features also.
 

Added a section post-release.

A few more :

- Explosives. There is an explosive skill but no real explosives related to this (TNT, C1, C2, C4, mines, etc)

- Real destructible environment. At the moment only small props get destroyed by explosions (as far as i've experienced), and they totally disappezr, they should be blasted and damaged, potentially into pieces flying and altered model (damaged). The walls, doors, etc should be destroyed by explosions (of course the game lacks real explosives, see above).

- Base management. Planned in the kickstater, it changed along the way, but still no sign of it.

- Martial arts. Not mandatory and not planned really, but since melee has gotten a proper skill, and JA2 had martial arts (2 animations), it could be expanded further.

- Energy management -  sleeping. Energy system appeared lately, but we still miss fatigue management. Mercs never need to sleep, energy bar never depletes over time. (not mandatory but still missing)

- Camouflage. makeup caouflage Kits and camoed clothes.

Cool. Added your stuff. But not base management. Because FC tried this and felt like it does not suit a jagged alliance title. That is good as I thougt this idea has never been good. You base is your sector where you have milita. Guillera tactics not base management.

Well, it was how they named it in the first place, it has become sector improvement or something like that, but still, they were talking about building improvements as far as i know, no?

- Bullet impact (has mystériously disappeared a few builds ago, it was there and quite good)

- Weapon readying. Separate readying a weapon (raising it) from aiming and shooting it.

- Water tiles. Moving in water (knee deep, torso deep, swim, underwater swim ?)

If I remember correctly, the swimming was in the JA1 too. There was even a chance that water snakes catched swimmers and tried to pull them underwater.