Suggestions for Writing Good Suggestions

[Wcmille]

I thought it might be useful to provide thoughts about how to make great suggestions. I'd love to revise these thoughts based on the suggestions of others. What makes a good suggestion?

1. Provides Revenue.
Rule #1, the idea has to be able to make money. Game developers have to eat too. Any suggestion, particularly ones that will be expensive to implement, has to provide a plan for how it will result in making money for SQUAD.

Example:
Ideas like new languages and new platforms provide clear revenue pathways -- these are new markets to attract new users. How does your idea do those things?

2. Be Novel.
Suggesting ideas that have already been suggested aren't useful. These are well-known to SQUAD.

3. Adds Complexity Appropriately
You can't make the game more complicated for beginners. It's OK if the game becomes more complicated as play progresses, but this is a complicated game for most people, and expanding to a bigger audience is how the game will make money. It's OK to add "option complexity"

Examples:
"Load and Clear's" CommNet and KerbNet are a good examples of adding appropriate complexity, because signal strength doesn't really matter until the game is well underway.

Life Support is a better concept for Mods, because it adds complexity right at the beginning.

4. Be Fun
There is a category of suggestions that increases realism, but probably doesn't increase fun (for most people).