ANSWERED:Scrolledex

[Renorei]

The number of different dragon breeds in DC has grown so much over the years to the point where if you're someone who is new to DC or who is getting back into the game from a long hiatus, it can be hard to keep track of all the breeds. It would be cool if there was a little icon at the top of your scroll that would take you to a checklist of all the dragon breeds, with a check mark for whether you have that breed or not, whether you have one of each gender, whether you have all the alts that the average user is capable of getting, and possibly an indicator of whether you have caveborns or lineaged dragons, without any particular statement that would even remotely suggest that caveborns are "better" in any way.

 

Is it absolutely necessary for using this site? Nope. We've made it this far without it.

 

Are there some people who wouldn't use it? Sure.

 

Are there some people who would use it? Yep.

 

Would it be useful to those who do use it? Yep.

 

Would it negatively affect anyone who doesn't use it? Nope.

 

 

As of right now, you essentially have to rely on outside sources (dragcave wiki) to know whether you've collected all the dragons or not. It just would be nice if there was some kind of on-site feature that did this. It wouldn't even have to be all that detailed, and could in fact simply contain silhouettes of the adult dragons' sprites (if you haven't gotten one already) with a picture of the egg and description of the egg so as not to spoil the surprise of the adult appearance. But let's be honest, except for with a new release, people pretty much always know what the adult looks like before their own egg hatches...except for the odd person who doesn't use the DC forums and doesn't use egg-hatching fan sites and instead relies on old-fashioned forum signatures to hatch their eggs, although I think users like this are in the minority.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Renorei

[cyradis4]

Could be useful, could be useless, depending on how it was done.

 

For instance... The action log could have been extremely useful, but because of how few entries it has, its essentially useless.

 

I'll support.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[HeatherMarie]

Totally support! I can't even count how many times I've had to change my scroll to breed-sort to better see how many of each type I have (and then scrolling alllll the way down only to realize the breed I'm looking for is on the 2nd page). I'd LOVE a simple, easy checklist showing what we have.

[hetshepsit]

Totally support! I can't even count how many times I've had to change my scroll to breed-sort to better see how many of each type I have (and then scrolling alllll the way down only to realize the breed I'm looking for is on the 2nd page). I'd LOVE a simple, easy checklist showing what we have.

My thoughts and feelings exactly.

[edwardelricfreak]

Yes yes yes from me!

 

I sort by color, so the way I check which things I have is by looking at the Wiki list and checking against the dragons I have. I scroll around a lot looking for certain sprites. It's obnoxious.

 

I'd sort by breed but eh I don't like how it looks. Not that it really helps me see what I have, though.

 

I think that certain special dragons (for instance, GoNs, Zombies, and Neglecteds) should NOT show up on the list until after you successfully get them. Kind of like certain "event-only" legendaries in the Pokemon games. They aren't even listed in the Pokedex until after you get them and register them.

[Rhynn Collins]

I like it. I wouldn't want pictures on the list, though; just the names would be good (also minimises spoilers for those who don't want spoilers). Right now I rely on a few spreadsheets I've made myself, so I have all the info in one place... a 'Bestiary' or the like would be great.

[Shokomon]

I support this!

 

I don't want any names or pictures on the list though! It would ruin the surprise of discovering new dragons. I mean you can always look it up, but it would be your choice. I'd rather the "Book of Dragons" (lol) would just have numbers up to how ever many breeds we have. That way people can discover new dragons and have them appear on the list without being spoiled.

- A good example is the Pokedex itself. When you get it, all you have is numbers until you encounter the Pokémon, and then you have catch to get the full details.

- Similarly, maybe we could have the "Book of Dragons" only show the egg when you first catch a breed, and then, show the all details once it grows to adulthood.

 

I also like Edwardelricfreak's suggestion. Dragons that have special requirements like Zombies, GoNs, and Neglected shouldn't come up as a fun surprise. I'm not sure if this should apply to Hybrids though. That may be too much.

[diaveborn]

Oooh, neat idea.

 

I would find it most helpful if it had a list of links to the view page of dragons (so for example all my purple dragons I would be able to find links for all of them under the purple section of the checklist) although that could make it a bit unwieldy. Maybe have that info hidden at first, then expandable so we could see it (on the same page) if we wanted? Also: I'd personally not use it if it had a zombie sprite on it, and would prefer the suggestion of not even listing that breed if we didn't have any zombies on our scrolls.

Edited December 17, 2013 by diaveborn

[xeyla]

Could be useful, could be useless, depending on how it was done.

 

For instance... The action log could have been extremely useful, but because of how few entries it has, its essentially useless.

 

I'll support.

 

Cheers!

C4.

My sentiments exactly. If this "Dragon Book" were to be implemented, I'd like to be able to customize it, my way. I'd like to be able to make checklists, regular lists, essentially have a "google docs" like suite in my cave. I'd like to not have to use outside sources for record keeping, chart making, etc.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Yes yes yes from me!

 

I sort by color, so the way I check which things I have is by looking at the Wiki list and checking against the dragons I have. I scroll around a lot looking for certain sprites. It's obnoxious.

 

I'd sort by breed but eh I don't like how it looks. Not that it really helps me see what I have, though.

 

I think that certain special dragons (for instance, GoNs, Zombies, and Neglecteds) should NOT show up on the list until after you successfully get them. Kind of like certain "event-only" legendaries in the Pokemon games. They aren't even listed in the Pokedex until after you get them and register them.

Doesn't that sort of ruin the point of a checklist, though?

 

Also the pokedex comparison falls short; it's true for the current gen's Legendaries, but slots for all the past ones are included in the national dex.

 

Anyway, kinda neutral on it. I'm someone who checks and double checks for sprite collection even when I've had everything for a while, so I understand the feeling, but I feel it'd spoil the initial mystery and excitement of the game for new players, even just with silhouettes. I mean, those people could always just check the wiki, but if it was right under their noses I feel it'd be used (and subsequently regretted) by many more players.

 

Maybe it'd only unlock once you reached a certain trophy level?

Edited December 17, 2013 by angelicdragonpuppy

[KoalaNoob]

I like the idea and think it would be really useful, but unless it would be customizable, (which might be hard to code) it wouldn't suit everyone's needs.

[Syphoneira]

This is a cool idea, and I'd think that it actually IS becoming a necessity for new people or those who have been off for some time.

 

Perhaps especially if the suggestion of a special, annually renewed badge/trophy for those having all regularly available dragons should come to pass, so that people at least know how many dragon sprites they're missing to get it.

[Pixxelation]

I'd suggest calling it the Dragon Index, rather than the Dragedex. It reads and sounds a little nicer, and also doesn't have the extra "e" from pokédex, which is just pokémon + index --> poké + dex.

[edwardelricfreak]

I prefer something like "Dragon Book" but then I fear it's too much like the Book of Dragons from How to Train Your Dragon.

 

And considering we have a few non-dragon creatures on DC, I think "Bestiary" which is used in a lot of stuff would be best. c:

 

Besides... "Originating in the Ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks." Bestiaries were popular in medieval times so it makes sense for the game!

[MysticTiger]

I've been wanting something like this since I seen it on another site.

 

Basically, it would show the dragon's image and then in that same box it shows how many you have, how many are male, how many are female, how many are CB and how many are frozen (among other things).

 

Then, for those dragons you have yet to obtain, it would say something like "Dragon Information not Unlocked Yet" and have a picture like this:

[Pixxelation]

Doing something like that might be problematic, though--artist's have to consent to recolors like that, as far as I'm aware. Also, would the dexes show spriter's alts?

[edwardelricfreak]

I was thinking of silhouettes...it'll take a while to get all of the current sprites turned to silhouettes but it's not too hard.

 

Would it just show the adult, or hatchlings and eggs, too?

 

I guess if you click on whatever stage it will also show the information on them. Maybe eventually the pages could also include extraneous information like what some of the conceptors/artists post.

 

PieMaster, I doubt it. OP says alts that regular users are able to get so I don't think spriter's alts will show.

Edited December 17, 2013 by edwardelricfreak

[ninish]

i like this idea! (just for the sake of it, really, i don't think i'd use it much :x)

 

i also like the name 'bestiary', since it could show chickens, dinos, papers & cheeses once you obtained them (or i don't know if they should be listed from the beginning?)

 

and seeing there the complementary info of the breed's creator would be awesome

 

(if a user completed their 'dex', it would work like some sort of in-site wiki )

 

[Draketeeth]

There is a Limits page which details holiday breeds and GoNs and counts if you're already at the limit for those or not. I was actually surprised to see that it can also list the codes of those dragons.

 

Since that page already exists, I don't see why it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to adapt something like it to list the other breeds. It could have a little book icon at the top of the scroll for easy access and reference.

 

A bit more complex notion:

So that the game is not a complete spoiler, because I remember being a newbie and raising my pretty eggs and wondering what they might be and the thrill of the wait, allow the majority of the book (common breeds, some uncommons, a few rares) to be unlocked at the bronze trophy level, and the remainder to be unlocked at silver? However in the meantime if you happen to get one of the hidden breeds for your trophy level, it is viewable when your dragon reaches adulthood since you have already seen what it is at that point and own it.

 

Just some thoughts

[psyrae]

Here's a thought -- because I would use the heck out of a feature like this, especially if it had all kinds of fun, extra information about each breed.

 

Rather than having it as silhouettes, or based on a user rank, if we go with the bestiary idea, each dragon gets it's own 'page'. Numbered, maybe? And if you don't have the dragon, there's just nothing on that page? That way, there's nothing spoiled, you just see that you're missing a dragon. And the page could have all your dragons of that breed listed. And a table of contents so you could easily click to specific pages. Or something.

 

But wait, that still makes it hard to figure out what you're missing. Hm. >> This whole post might have been entirely useless.

 

I have no idea about coding or any of these shenanigans, so this might be too complex or really just entirely unnecessary, but I'd love an easier way to navigate my dragons and see lots of info on each breed. So yes, seconded times a thousand.

Edited December 17, 2013 by psyrae

[MysticTiger]

Doing something like that might be problematic, though--artist's have to consent to recolors like that, as far as I'm aware. Also, would the dexes show spriter's alts?

Would that even be considered a "recolor", though? It's a black overlay. And as far as I knew, TJ had the rights to do with the dragons what he wanted on his site since the dragons are copyrighted to him and the site (...and if he doesn't have that power it's a really big error on his part as it could open him to potential money compensation lawsuits).

 

I don't think it needs to show Spriter Alts since there's only a select few that have them. Or, maybe it would show that sprite instead of the normal one on the pages of those who have it? I'm thinking about Snow Angels and how on the breed limit page it shows white-tipped when I have a Tri-Colored.

 

@psyrae:

I don't know about different pages. That would imply that every dragon out there has breed information, which it doesn't. Very select few do. I don't see having a problem with having a separate page for those that do, linked below the name on the main page. Having different pages, though, is a lot more work.

 

There already is a page that has the startings of what I think most of us are referring to; http://dragcave.net/help/limits .

Edited December 17, 2013 by MysticTiger

[Ashywolf]

Depending on the coding recolours may not be needed -- I know in some javascript programs there are functions for colour overlays which would achieve that affect without having to edit the sprite at all.

[MysticTiger]

Depending on the coding recolours may not be needed -- I know in some javascript programs there are functions for colour overlays which would achieve that affect without having to edit the sprite at all.

True. I didn't even think about that.

[araglas]

i would totaly support this, but i think from the missing dragons there should be the egg and the egg description be shown, so that i can see, what i need to hunt.

those dragons i have should be show as adults, with the breed name, and how many i have from then and i would also love to see how many male and female i have...

[HeatherMarie]

Okay, instead of "protecting" newbies from being "spoiled" by restricting the checklist to certain trophy levels or other such restrictions, why can't it just be a scroll option? Just like you can "check" accepting aid or showing your name on dragon's pages, you wouldn't see the checklist unless you "checked" that option.

 

That way no one would accidentally get spoiled, it'd be a conscious decision by the user to enable this list of all the available dragons. Then it wouldn't matter about blacking out breeds that users don't have, or keeping certain breeds off the list, because they already said they wanted to see it.

 

Of course that would mean there would *have* to be something added in the on-site Help section about the checklist and what exactly it is.