Suggestions

I see the "quaternary" gene thing brought up a lot, but people don't like it because of various reasons, so I wanted to give my own spin on it: The quaternary slot as an optional unlockable.

How it'd work: There would be a scroll on the marketplace that you can buy to unlock an extra tertiary slot to a dragon. This slot would always start as basic, and always be the same color as the og tertiary. Just like silhouette scrolls, this slot would not be able to pass down on breeding and would not affect any breeding outcomes



Dragons before and after the release would look the exact same, only those with the extra tert (which i nicknamed tert+) would be different:



You can probably have a mockup where it doesn't even show the color since that'd make it even more "linked" to the original tert.

I know people don't like extra icons below dragons, but if people want extra clarification a T+ icon could also show up on the lair tab. Hover text could be something like "This dragon has an extra tertiary slot applied"




This solves two big issues people have:
Complexity for breeding > Slot is an aesthetic only modifier. Does not matter for breeding and it's telegraphed as such.

Having current dragons feel unfinished > Slot is optional, not a new universal feature. Doesn't appear on profile as "locked" if they haven't bought it. The same as a silhouette scroll or eternal youth

And some replies to previous responses:

This would look too cluttered!
While that's probably true, is that a real issue? I find plenty of fully gened dragons cluttered, and maxed apparel slot dragons ugly. That doesn't mean there should be less apparel slots or no complex gene interactions. Sometimes people like cluttered messes! Sometimes your clutter is someone's clean.

How would the layering work?
A fair one. I think it depends on the fr system ultimately, but I think either extra slots are always above or tertiary genes get a " priority" system where one will always be above another. I prefer the former, and I think it's easier to code. The latter could avoid "weird" layering like normal genes on top of genes like firefly, sparkle, gembond etc., but it's not like weird layering isn't part of the site (multigaze, skins, apparel), and if people want a "weird" layering for some reason or another, it's their prerogative.

EDIT: You could also argue for it to be a swapping mechanic like pose change. I wouldn't personally mind it, since this gene should be viewed as an aesthetic, so being allowed to put it above or below the original tert is fine by me

How much would it be?
See, I personally would love if this were a treasure thing BUT considering the track record, this most likely would be a gem item. Since it unlocks a slot but you still need to buy the gene, I think it should be one of the more affordable items, around ~150g

This is the least bad quarternary suggestion I've heard so I'll offer hesitant support. I personally would prefer that we just have a new series of terts that are combination of two terts, like for example combining Runes and Points, or combining Thylacine and Okapi, or what have you. But this doesn't immediately make me say nope the way other quartenary suggestions have**.

**Personally I wouldn't mind having quarternary genes but I can see this going over as badly as the eyes if not handled extremely carefully with a lot of advance warning and transparency and even then some people are likely to lose their minds over it. It's not that I'm personally against the concept, I think some terts would look great in combination, it has to do with not wanting Eyepocalypse-level drama all over again if that makes sense. :3

Edit: I am stupid! Full support, best proposed implementation for this. It would be cool.

Tentative no support. I like this idea, but my worries are in terms of coding- sure, it wouldn’t demand very many art assets, but how would a sometimes-there-sometimes-not tertiary color/gene work? How would the quaternary gene color be chosen- random? How would this interact with the breeding system? Would it have to make the dragon sterile? This sounds fun and I would love it, but it also sounds like a nightmare logistics-wise

No support. [quote name="vampiresatemyusr" date="2023-07-22 21:46:06" ] how would a sometimes-there-sometimes-not tertiary color/gene work? How would the quaternary gene color be chosen- random? How would this interact with the breeding system? [/quote] I'd get this feature if it was part of the game from the beginning, but not 10 years in.

[quote name="vampiresatemyusr" date="2023-07-22 21:46:06" ] Tentative no support. I like this idea, but my worries are in terms of coding- sure, it wouldn’t demand very many art assets, but how would a sometimes-there-sometimes-not tertiary color/gene work? How would the quaternary gene color be chosen- random? How would this interact with the breeding system? Would it have to make the dragon sterile? This sounds fun and I would love it, but it also sounds like a nightmare logistics-wise [/quote] Quite a few of these were answered by the OP already--the T+ color is the same as the original tertiary, and it is not passed down via breeding at all. This is quite frankly the single best implementation proposal I've ever seen of this, so a very tentative support since I don't see any reason to not have this other than hypothetical workload for the programmers. Also, in terms of priority, I think it would make sense to always have T1 be on the "bottom" layer and T+ be on the "top" layer, since conceptually they would be applied in that order. (Or at least that's what makes sense to me). If you buy a dragon that has the tertiaries layered in the "wrong" order, it would just be a matter of re-gening.

[quote name="LuckOfTheClaws" date="2023-07-22 21:51:21" ] No support. [quote name="vampiresatemyusr" date="2023-07-22 21:46:06" ] how would a sometimes-there-sometimes-not tertiary color/gene work? How would the quaternary gene color be chosen- random? How would this interact with the breeding system? [/quote] I'd get this feature if it was part of the game from the beginning, but not 10 years in. [/quote] [quote name="vampiresatemyusr" date="2023-07-22 21:46:06" ] Tentative no support. I like this idea, but my worries are in terms of coding- sure, it wouldn’t demand very many art assets, but how would a sometimes-there-sometimes-not tertiary color/gene work? How would the quaternary gene color be chosen- random? How would this interact with the breeding system? Would it have to make the dragon sterile? This sounds fun and I would love it, but it also sounds like a nightmare logistics-wise [/quote] I do not mean to be rude, but I did answer these questions on the OP itself. If you have an objection to what I wrote in my implementation, you can refute it and no support of course, but I can't really just reply to something that's ignoring 80% of the suggestion.

Support, definitely the most thought out and noninvasive implementation of this suggestion that I've seen to date.

I can also suggest a "swap tertiaries" button or a cheap consumable item, in case your dragon comes with Firefly, for example, and you layer Underbelly on top of it, which cuts off Firefly's glow. This button would allow you to flip the tertiary and the quaternary genes, leaving Firefly on top.

My only concern is linebreakers on ancients, as they will almost always create undesirable clipping. However, it's already an issue with Multi-gaze, so this can either be left at discretion of the playerbase or a dragon can always be limited to only having one linebreaking tertiary, I don't mind either of these solutions.

Yeah, something like this has always been my ideal implementation of a way to add multiple tertiaries.

I think being able to layer tertiaries would open up a nice new world of customization. :D

[quote]always be the same color as the og tertiary[/quote] No support because this really isn't fair to many people. What if people want an XYXY dragon? Or an XXXY? Or an WXYZ? Forcing a color would ruin A LOT of dragons, even if it is an "optional" slot. Calling it an optional slot wouldn't really help as many people would feel that this would make their currently complete dragons incomplete. How would it layer? Would Tert be on top? Would Quat? There really is no way to do this fairly again. For example, my avatar dragon had Underbelly. If I gave her a fourth slot, and Underbelly wound up being underneath the Quat when I wanted it on top, I would have to pay for Underbelly all over again just to get it to layer right. Or vice verse if I wanted Underbelly to be underneath and it wound up on top. Players shouldn't have to repay for entire genes for their entire lairs just to get layering right. This opens a can of worms as people would rightfully want double primaries and double secondaries.

Support!

This is very well thought out and described. Best implementation of a 4th gene I’ve seen. Obviously there is no pleasing everyone, but if it wasn’t indicated in any way, only after applying the scroll, I wouldn’t feel like my dragons are incomplete without it.
Also, as far as re-layering and paying for extra genes, I don’t think it’s unfair. It’s an extra cosmetic addition like maxed-out apparel slots or a silhouette scroll. Not necessary for gameplay but a nice goal to work towards. And people often already regene dragons when new genes are released anyways.