Stick to your goddamn development roadmap.

[Vigilance]

By public request.

Systems
Fighting system
Graphical User Interface. Buttons to open all screens presently associated only with keyboard commands. A potential can of worms and also at least to some extent dependent on the fighting system actually being in.
Alchemy Pushing. (In many ways more content than a system, but it needs to be thought out in some sort of systematic way, so I'll put it here).

Map Overhaul
Decent map tiles
Higher degree of topological complexity in the map. Controlled and localized height differences like ridges in Haven, more rivers, &c&c. Generally less flat and with more distinguishing features to make the terrain more memorable and easier to navigate.
At least ~6 distinct biomes (Forest, grassland, swamp, mountains, blasted heath, &c&c.)
More permanent terrain objects -- different boulders, shrubs, bushes, &c&c -- that A) Provide early, guaranteed and non-random access to more simple resources for nublets to use and have fun with and B) Presumably make the map more interesting to navigate. I would not mind having a serious load of things like blackberry bushes (get a bunch of blackberries), thornbushes (crown of thorns inspiration) &c&c. By analogy to haven I'd like to create far more bark boat type resources which are interesting in that they aren't hard to make as such, but they do require you to move across the map and seek out at least a few different specific objects. Incentive for exploration and whatnot.

Content
Fishing (should be available very early)
Treeplanting
Potter's Wheel
A smaller/simpler structure for flour milling. Windmill needs to pack a distinct advantage to be worth the effort.
Character gear. The primary uses of clothes will be to A) Protect you from the ravages of uncivilized lands and B) Combat relevance. Most likely you'll have some sort of energy pool, the cap of which is determined by your clothes. Clothes will effectively have hard and soft HP and require repairs and eventually replacement every now and then (Lather from soap will be used to repair them, among other things.)
Proper fighting AI & Loot for all creatures (dependent on fighting system).
Livestock (Manure & poop tiers)
Crops: Indigo, Rice, Potatoes, Corn & Tobacco for sure
Churches & The Spread of Civilization. This is somewhere in between a full system and a piece of content, I guess, but it needs to get in there at some point.
A way to unlock the witchcraft skills and also more of them.
The Occult (The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden".)
More sounds.
More stuff to do with the Meat Smoker and the Cauldron.
Mines for other metals: Copper and Silver at least.
Distinction between metal nuggets & bars, and recipes adjusted accordingly.
Lock picking tied into character skills and equipment. Also make several tiers of locks, and remember to make a really n00bish one.
More wall types and more defensive structures like braziers.
More houses.

This list could obviously go on forever with things like cheese and pets and blablabla.

The Early Game
A captain on the Old World docks yelling "Step right up! Left-click to move, right-click to interact!", and perhaps with some additional lines of useful info if you right-click on him.
An object in the Old World that allows you to set hairdo, hair color and facial hair. Presumably also an object to change these later on. A mirror, perhaps.
Some general prettyfication of the character creation room and Boston. Statue of the King, &c&c.
Proper building, combat and other restrictions set around Boston.
A wilderness guide in Boston that offers wilderness spawns to the civilized supergrids around Boston for a symbolic fee.
Separation of the Boston store into several thematic stores with associated trader NPCs with useful lines of dialogue explaining various systems relevant to the stuff they sell. The "grocer" could explain the gluttony system, for example.

Small(er) Fixes
Starcraft menu-buttons for the emotes, and perhaps a chat tie-in for them as well.
Summoning & Evidence
Reincarnation of dead characters
A way for the Boston store(s) to sell objects, so as to be able to sell, for instance, cows and horses.
More reasonable smelter payouts.

Other
Would be sweet if the client could auto-identify decent graphics settings on first launch and then also cache graphics settings.
Forage radar for the minimap.

That is off the top of my head, and while I've probably forgotten some things I do feel that that should pretty much be what a more finished product would include. I'll try to update it and keep it relevant as we move along. As you can perhaps gather, the fighting system is our top priority right now.

Hope that helps!

For all of you wondering, this is pulled directly out of the salem alpha forum.

Devs seem to love forgetting to do things that the game actually needs, note that we don't have witchcraft or all too many spooky creatures?

p.s.

http://i.imgur.com/fWnASff.png

[colesie]

Pointing out the obvious to the oblivious, I've striked out things that have actually been done by Jorbtar as of today.

By public request.

Systems
Fighting system
Graphical User Interface. Buttons to open all screens presently associated only with keyboard commands. A potential can of worms and also at least to some extent dependent on the fighting system actually being in.
Alchemy Pushing. (In many ways more content than a system, but it needs to be thought out in some sort of systematic way, so I'll put it here).

Map Overhaul
Decent map tiles
Higher degree of topological complexity in the map. Controlled and localized height differences like ridges in Haven, more rivers, &c&c. Generally less flat and with more distinguishing features to make the terrain more memorable and easier to navigate.
At least ~6 distinct biomes (Forest, grassland, swamp, mountains, blasted heath, &c&c.)
More permanent terrain objects -- different boulders, shrubs, bushes, &c&c -- that A) Provide early, guaranteed and non-random access to more simple resources for nublets to use and have fun with and B) Presumably make the map more interesting to navigate. I would not mind having a serious load of things like blackberry bushes (get a bunch of blackberries), thornbushes (crown of thorns inspiration) &c&c. By analogy to haven I'd like to create far more bark boat type resources which are interesting in that they aren't hard to make as such, but they do require you to move across the map and seek out at least a few different specific objects. Incentive for exploration and whatnot.

Content
Fishing (should be available very early)
Treeplanting
Potter's Wheel
A smaller/simpler structure for flour milling. Windmill needs to pack a distinct advantage to be worth the effort.
Character gear. The primary uses of clothes will be to A) Protect you from the ravages of uncivilized lands and B) Combat relevance. Most likely you'll have some sort of energy pool, the cap of which is determined by your clothes. Clothes will effectively have hard and soft HP and require repairs and eventually replacement every now and then (Lather from soap will be used to repair them, among other things.)
Proper fighting AI & Loot for all creatures (dependent on fighting system).
Livestock (Manure & poop tiers)
Crops: Indigo, Rice, Potatoes, Corn & Tobacco for sure
Churches & The Spread of Civilization. This is somewhere in between a full system and a piece of content, I guess, but it needs to get in there at some point.
A way to unlock the witchcraft skills and also more of them.
The Occult (The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden".)
More sounds.
More stuff to do with the Meat Smoker and the Cauldron.
Mines for other metals: Copper and Silver at least.
Distinction between metal nuggets & bars, and recipes adjusted accordingly.
Lock picking tied into character skills and equipment. Also make several tiers of locks, and remember to make a really n00bish one.
More wall types and more defensive structures like braziers.
More houses.

This list could obviously go on forever with things like cheese and pets and blablabla.

The Early Game
A captain on the Old World docks yelling "Step right up! Left-click to move, right-click to interact!", and perhaps with some additional lines of useful info if you right-click on him.
An object in the Old World that allows you to set hairdo, hair color and facial hair. Presumably also an object to change these later on. A mirror, perhaps.
Some general prettyfication of the character creation room and Boston.Statue of the King, &c&c.
Proper building, combat and other restrictions set around Boston.
A wilderness guide in Boston that offers wilderness spawns to the civilized supergrids around Boston for a symbolic fee.
Separation of the Boston store into several thematic stores with associated trader NPCs with useful lines of dialogue explaining various systems relevant to the stuff they sell. The "grocer" could explain the gluttony system, for example.

Small(er) Fixes
Starcraft menu-buttons for the emotes, and perhaps a chat tie-in for them as well.
[s]Summoning & Evidence
Reincarnation of dead characters[/s]
A way for the Boston store(s) to sell objects, so as to be able to sell, for instance, cows and horses.
More reasonable smelter payouts.

Other
Would be sweet if the client could auto-identify decent graphics settings on first launch and then also cache graphics settings.
Forage radar for the minimap.

That is off the top of my head, and while I've probably forgotten some things I do feel that that should pretty much be what a more finished product would include. I'll try to update it and keep it relevant as we move along. As you can perhaps gather, the fighting system is our top priority right now.

Hope that helps!

[Mereni]

Oh so much in there we don't have but wish we did. Pottery wheel, smaller flour mill, so many nice crops, pets!, metal nuggets?, silver mines, witchcraft, a usable fishing system... Sure would be nice of something from that list gets added next week so we don't have to keep despairing.

[Dallane]

Oh so much in there we don't have but wish we did. Pottery wheel, smaller flour mill, so many nice crops, pets!, metal nuggets?, silver mines, witchcraft, a usable fishing system... Sure would be nice of something from that list gets added next week so we don't have to keep despairing.

I think we can safely put most of that stuff on the "nice things" list atm.

[T0ne]

It seems fairly certain that they do not have any actual sort of formal road map. Though this listing of ideas/tasks may be the closest thing out there. I think they even mentioned on the last live stream that they never know what they will be working on until they start working on it. No matter how smart or how good of developers they are, they can not get this game to where it needs to be with just the two of them. They need at the very least a project manager/product manager (both ideally) a QA engineer, and maybe even a part time developer/assistant to take care of some more basic coding functions/projects.

I also would have to say that the fishing system should stay on the list, it is one of the most haphazardly thrown together systems I have ever had the misfortune of using.

[Viackura]

no, because when they say they will implement something people like you think that you will get it and that is not how it works, developers only give a loose idea of what is to come

[T0ne]

no, because when they say they will implement something people like you think that you will get it and that is not how it works, developers only give a loose idea of what is to come

That IS how it works. Why say you are adding something, set expectations and then not follow through? It only ends with disappointment.

Do some research, find out what a development roadmap is and why it such an important aspect of software development. It is not meant to be a tool for communicating things directly to external users, it is a plan used to manage progress internally, to show what is done, what is almost done and what needs to be done.

[Dallane]

no, because when they say they will implement something people like you think that you will get it and that is not how it works, developers only give a loose idea of what is to come

That IS how it works. Why say you are adding something, set expectations and then not follow through? It only ends with disappointment.

Do some research, find out what a development roadmap is and why it such an important aspect of software development. It is not meant to be a tool for communicating things directly to external users, it is a plan used to manage progress internally, to show what is done, what is almost done and what needs to be done.

Dwarf fortress roadmap is the best example of this.

[jorb]

Proper fighting AI and loot is done, at least relative to the state the game was in when I penned that little gem. I generally think we've done a pretty decent amount of these things. It's also not just a matter of doing them just to cross them off some arbitrary list, but of having a decent idea for a mechanic and actually feeling inspired enough to go for an implementation.

[dageir]

Proper fighting AI and loot is done, at least relative to the state the game was in when I penned that little gem. I generally think we've done a pretty decent amount of these things. It's also not just a matter of doing them just to cross them off some arbitrary list, but of having a decent idea for a mechanic and actually feeling inspired enough to go for an implementation.

I smell an update coming soon..