"It's usually a combination of community ideas/feedback and my own desires for "that game I want to make one day but haven't gotten to yet.""

Could you elaborate / expand / add more detail on this? You have worked on this for years and you probably have a long term vision; which I am curious to better understand.

Could you delve into your perspective / passion / pursuit for "that game I want to make one day but haven't gotten to yet"?

Thank you for all the work you keep doing with the Flare Engine.

What kind of features are going to be headed for 1.13 / possibly 1.12.1?

How do new versions / patches / releases work?

Are new versions / patches / releases a matter of a lot of new features or is there a time variable?

Is there a list of wish list features to be worked on and then when they are tested / worked on / implemented a new version rolls out?

Is it possible to get a small new version like ~1.12.1 with a new big game building feature like supporting floating point numbers (so more refined itemization can occur / build a new kind of previously non-possible depth / scaling detail of many simultaneous equip-able item types; to support lots of item slots and lots of attribute depth)?

Or is there a big difficulty releasing a new version so a few new features (like Added additional requirement properties to enemy and NPC map objects ) alone are not worth the effort; what is usually worth the effort?

Is it possible to ask for a small patch release like 1.12.1 if there are significant game building features (supporting floating point numbers and the new post 1.12 release features such as the added additional requirement properties to enemy and NPC map objects)?

How is this process of building / working onto the Flare engine and making a new release version play out in general and what usually happens?

Do you play by feel and when ever you have free time / motivation / inspiration / ideas from the community, or is it like going through a wish list and you have a sort of schedule / semi-order / routine you go through; what is your general creative process?

How do you feel when working on Flare / what do you like about Flare and what do you want / strive towards?

Thank you for reading this and I hope things are working out smoothy, if not I hope they get better:-).

Yeah that sounds good Danimal; Also thank you Dorkster for your help and advice :-).

I view my game development as a kind of a working first version commercially viable prototype for setting up a larger scale R.P.G.; I hope XD. If I can get more visuals for the main armour slots that would be great to add more quality and depth to the main driving gameplay element of explore, fight, upgrade and repeat. Even if it is just few a pixels it is like having a working template for a bigger scale game; if I get more resources to make a bigger scale game. It is true that Baldur's Gate and Diablo I and II only had a limited amount of armour visuals per armour slot. Yet still if there are more independent layers or armour customization it adds more quality to Flare. Yet even if I don't manage to get more visual layers, what Flare currently offers still works; it is just limited in that extra layer of high quality.

How hard would it be to add all the one-handed weapon types / models into the off hand to support 'off hand' weapons? Even if off hand weapons just buffing the main hand damage would work even if technically they are a 'shield' / off hand frill. Implementing the visuals of the character dual wielding (even it is just technically attacking with the one weapon in the main hand) is still a success. If a person really wanted to split hairs crafting could be used to translate one-handed weapons into off-hand weapons with enough crafting recipes; and vise versa. At any rate your idea Danimal for 'off hand dual wielding weapons' would be waayyyy easier than paired weapons with a million combinations XD.

It is great to work with people to even just share thoughts and make things better. Especially with the more brain power and more iterations of ideas that brings; it can offer more perspective and ability to further develop ideas into good ideas :-D. I hope some form of dual wielding can get supported (I can pay for extra motivation if need be) to support the spirit of dual wielding game play. Also I hope more independent visual armour slot / types and be developed and supported in Flare.

Also it would be an added bonus of gameplay quality if we had more independent visual armour slots layers to have them help drive a deeper item / equip-able item slot system that is at the heart of the core of gameplay and character progression. In such ways as with having the new item slot types being visually independent interchangeable just like the preexisting main armour slots / types. Even if say visually independent Shoulders armour type / slot were added / supported it would be quite impactful and the player can see a lot of shoulder armour visuals / art.

Although I wonder if in Blender if all the armour layers were hidden minus the independent layer for the new slot type / old armour assets subdivided into new types:
- one animation render run being just shoulder armour,
- one animation render run being just the torso armour without arms and shoulders,
- one animation render run being just shin armour,
- one animation render run being just wrist armour,
- one animation render run being just the leg armour without shins and waist armour,
- one animation render run being just arm (bicep area) armour,
- one animation render run being just the feet without shins,
- one animation render run being just waist armour (belt / 'plate skirt' area),
etc.)

Then ran the preexisting armour animations and and armour models to generate new armour visual layers how hard that process would be? It would require no new animations and art assets (most likely) for one has to just hide armour models in strategic areas minus the new ones / new armour slot areas and run the animations and render-er script(s). This should make the new 2.5D animations with the preexisting armour models for both male and female? Or is there something I am missing that adds extra difficulty? I could pay for this as well if it is matter of motivation / required skill / professionalism.

I am hoping I can help add more item customization / opportunities / depth and play style options. Such as new visually independent armor layers and mechanical and visual implementation / support for dual wielding. I wish to help add to the Flare engine to make the gameplay and character progression deeper. I hope to work towards added features with projects such as this in hopes to add more high quality content opportunities.

I wish to have the Flare R.P.G. engine be rich in gameplay features and be home to amazing wonderous elements of R.P.G.s. Even if they are in a simpler form to work within our scope of game engine with Flare; as like with Danimal's dual wielding idea. Even with simple implementation the main gameplay driving features would still be there to enjoy; yet simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication ;-P. I hope for players to explore a deep and richly enjoyable form of high quality gameplay while they play the games built in the Flare game engine :-).

Who has the skills and ability to implement Dual Wielding into Flare?

Is there anyone or a group pf people of whom I could commission to do this that so everyone could benefit after it is done? I would like this feature for my R.P.G. although if I can also help the community / Flare game engine in general I would love to do so. I just blew like 2K on a game mechanics demo a few months back and now that project is on ice for the team has full time work now.

Also I don't want to butcher the art when there is a better person for the job. If it is a matter of motivation I would rather spend some money helping people make cool things for lots of people rather than just on my own projects alone. I would rather spend money with this kind of community project where everyone can benefit after it is done. Rather than to just spend money where it is only for my game projects and they may or may not even see the light of day after all is said and done for the project.

I can pay in PayPal if there is someone or some people are willing, able and talented enough to do this kind of work. I would love it, everyone else would probably too if we could pull off Dual Wielding support for Flare. Even if it is just the 2.5D animation set for the base Flare male and female character models with all the base weapons and armour sets that would be a success.

Even if the engine has limitations like it has to be considered a two handed weapon but it is called a 'paired weapon set' / Axe + Sword, Hammer + Hammer, Dagger + Axe etc. even if these must be preset built combinations made via crafting two one-handed weapons into a preset technically single item that has both one-handed items made into technically one item (or something) that would work too. That will work, it would be very clunky and inefficient to develop but having that option for support is better than nothing too. Sure it is clunky as all hell but it will still offer that kind of play style to the players and make Flare a more grand / bigger scale game.

I hope that it is just a matter of if we can find the talent and motivation to pull it off. I have a guess that Danimal and maybe Dorkster could team up to do Dual Wielding support for Flare. Although I am not 100% sure on how you guys would be motivated to do so. If you guys can think of how to do this and find a way to make it work well enough within the engine I can pay something reasonable for your guys' time, talent and effort. Please just tell me how long it will take and how hard the it is and I can pay a fair honest price for your work. Even if it is super clunky to start with having even 'combined weapon sets' for a version 1 of Dual Wielding. If we get the animations working and they play fair enough with the game engine to start a working version 1 of Dual Wielding that is still a success.