Cogmind Beta 16 Feature Voting

12 options up for voting this time--heat map overlay, bothacking expansion, more encounters, overmap view and more...

New version, new voting! Okay mostly the same topics, but time for another round...

So last time we got new legs, well received in Beta 15 and even came with a handful of those new melee features from another voting option thrown in to go with them (as well as on new related utilities, if late game). Good choice! One of the new enemies took advantage of the new legs, so good timing, too :)

In that light, for now I've removed the other "melee mechanics expansion" idea from last time. Maybe it'll show up again later, but melee was already in a decent place, is in an even better place now, and we can also wait and see how it all shapes up going forward.

As many of you are probably aware, our next version(s) are focused on the Unchained. You may also know that these will be more geared towards experienced players, so in the interest of ensuring that everyone has extra new stuff to look forward to, I'm also updating the voting list to temporarily remove anything that would likely be late-game or more exclusive content. Universal QoL would be good, early/mid-game stuff would be good, we just don't want a Beta 16 where you have to reach the late game for it to be any different from the last release :P

In that light, bring on the voting! The top-voted feature from the following list will be the next thing I work on, to be included in Beta 16. To reiterate from last time, technically none of these options are guaranteed to ever be implemented and voting for them to be done sooner is the best way to ensure they happen at all:

• Heat map overlay: Toggleable visualization mode for the map view displaying your movement over time, thus brighter areas where you stayed longer or moved more. This could also offer other highlights depicting areas of combat and destroyed targets, depending on what's needed or works best in addition to just movement patterns. This is a good feature for reviewing or sharing your progress, and if active the highlight could even be included in map exports for a wider view. This update would also include an expansion for the visual SFX system, including marking doors that have only been heard, probably a way to recall the previous sources of sound effects on the map, and maybe more related features (ex: tweakable SFX visualization duration).

• Screenshot mode: A better mode for sharing one's current state in a single image, including full inventory and build tag (even if that feature is not active). As part of this feature I'd also look into adding a way to upload various types of screenshots to our #cogmind-activity channel on Discord from right in the game, like a normal screenshot, a crop of your HUD, screenshot mode output, etc.

• Item database: Although the current item gallery provides access to discovered item info, it was originally intended purely for ASCII art viewing (the first versions didn't even allow the info window!), thus it isn't great for quickly looking up info about items since that wasn't what it was designed for (although note that you can hit the first letter key of a target item's base name to skip to that section in the gallery!). A new interface would make it much easier to explore known items, or see where you may be missing things. (This feature may be less needed now considering aoemica built the amazing Cog-Minder, but I'll leave this on the list in case you want to express support for it.)

• Overmap: View a much larger area of the map at once. Basically like a minimap but takes up your entire screen :). It has a few related features as well, and I've written about this before on the blog.

• Scanalyzer expansion: Adds new functionality to Scanalyzers, allowing you to use them to "study" a particular item's design and in doing so improve some predetermined aspect of its functionality. For example improving your accuracy with a specific type of weapon (e.g. Gauss Rifles), or improving the energy output from a particular engine type. Such items would be known to you as "Gauss Rifle+". It could also be possible to obtain such "item analyses" via other non-Scanalyzer means as well, as seen with Schematic Archives.

• Drone PIP: Picture-in-picture views of drone FOV, as described in the relevant blog post, along with some other relevant features.

• Bothacking expansion: A multi-feature package surrounding all things RIF-related. Some new RIF abilities including for example Dispatch Diversion, Process Snooping, Tracking Disruption, and Algorithmic Interface. Some new hacks including for example map_machines, disband_escort, system_surge, locate_parts. Also additional bothacking effect indicators to reflect state modifications due to active hacks.

• In-game score history data and leaderboards: Instead of scorehistory.txt (which is now ancient and most people probably don't know about or use it, or just use the website...), basic stat overviews of future runs would be available via a new interface in the Records section  (including sorting by score rank or time). With this I'd also try to add a measure of in-game global leaderboard support.

• Full mouse UI for machine hacking: A set of mouse-driven menus would be added giving keyboard-free access to every single machine hack, including all (known) manual Trojans/brute force hacks. Technically this menu system would also be available and of use to keyboard players as well, listing every option explicitly.

• Expanded manual: The in-game manual would be expanded to support more than 26 sections, with new sections added on various topics including alert/influence, the scoring system and its calculations, all the context help normally available only in context-relevant areas of the game, and more.

• Encounters package: At least 15 new encounters across multiple branch maps, including especially caves and Research branches.

• Player-submitted item/mechanic: Can't say what this would be, since this is a bit of a longer process involving all of you submitting ideas for a new item or mechanic followed by me vetting them for feasibility then another round of voting for which one everyone prefers.

• Exiles Mecha Space Battle Sequence Ending (w12): Okay you can't actually vote for this but you can try. Heni (formerly Luigi) wanted this option, but perhaps you can vote with your imagination and also realize it with your imagination, where it could reach much greater heights of fidelity and realism!

Everyone is encouraged to vote for more than one option. Voting is open and ongoing until I cut it off at some point, at least a week from now, whenever it seems like most everyone who is participating has completed their submission.

Remember that anything that fails to take the top spot might still become part of the game one day, it'll just either take longer or can perhaps be voted for at a later point.

And note this is for voting and discussions among patrons, so please do so here or use the patron channels on the Discord server, not the public channels!

Beta 16 already includes a large new batch of achievements, as summarized last time, but so far other than that it's mainly just bug fixes--time to bring on the new features!

Update 250714: Poll is now closed! The winner is Scanalyzer Expansion, and I'll have an update on that next time as it is implemented for Beta 16.

Update 250815: The new feature went quite well! Read more details here.