Some time ago I started a thread on the FGU interface which lead to some interesting discussions. I am now trying to do the same but with a focus on functionality. While this website is available for features suggestions, a thread seems more indicated for extended discussions. I am going to make four points, as well as a plea (in the post below this one) for something I had already advocated for in the other thread.
1. Doing more with distance and speed. FG can calculate distance from a point in the map, and is aware of PCs/NPCs speeds. However nothing seems to be done with the speed data. It would be really useful if FG could color code or something similar movement on the map according to the available speed, like here. A possible color coding in PFRPG would be green for a single move action, yellow for twice the speed (move + standard), red for any further than that. The color coding should just be informative and not actually prevent token movement - for example in PFRPG you can decide to be running for the whole round, giving you 3x or 4x the speed.
This feature would be particularly useful to GMs, who have to move a large number of monsters and NPCs all having possibly different speeds. But it would also benefit players, who tend to forget about encumbrance or more complex movement rules. While the specific colouring would depend on the ruleset, the feature itself would be useful in most or all of them.
More advanced incarnations could offer a drop down menu to select a specific speed (normal, fly, burrow, etc) before moving the token, or take into account map areas denoted as difficult terrain.
2. More automation. When I was researching which VTT to use, FG was (almost) always listed as the one with the best automation, at least out of the box. That may well be (or used to be) true, I have never made an extensive comparison, but when I first tried it with PFRPG I was disappointed: not very much (class features, spells, feats) is automated out of the box. In fact, I found other threads with similar complaints. I was still happy enough to stick around, and community modules are largely to be thanked for that. But I think FG should capitalize on its fame, and improve out of the box support for ruleset automation (I mean with already coded effects, I know I can write them myself). As a lot of it has been done already by the community, I think it would make a lot of sense to see if an agreement with the community developers can be reached so that their work can be included in the appropriate FG ruleset rather than duplicating it from scratch. Extending the effect coding possibilities would also be welcome, and again this is already done in some available extensions.
Side note: I think that the amount of automation included in sold modules should be made much clearer. It seems natural to think that a paid module will expand functionality, while this is almost never the case. I know that now (well, it's been a while), but I was not happy when I first discovered it, and again I found that I was not the only one to be disappointed. The module description (at least for PFRPG) is a fairly generic blurb which really does not make this clear. I think that at a minimum the general description should include a line to the effect that the module does not add any new functionality. In fact, I think that the module description should specify which effect coding has been added, if any. In comparison, the description in the syrinscape module is very honest.
3. Triggers/events associated to fixed or moving areas in the map. Kind of building on 1, the possibility of denoting fixed or moving (associated to a token) areas on the map, and associate to them an event in response to some trigger. Fixed areas could be used for traps or environmental hazards - in fact the pit terrain is a rather specific case of what I am describing. However, it would be great if you could use more complex triggers and events, which apply effects to token, roll dice, and support if/then constructions and boolean logic. For example, if any character enters a specific square (trap) it triggers a spell which means it plays an animation (I wish) and a save roll is automatically triggered, or things like that. Moving areas could be used for things like auras, attacks of opportunity, flanking detection.
4. While I am dreaming, a natural extension of 2 would be the availability of a large number of triggers, e.g. entering an area, attacking, dealing damage… and associated events, like playing an animation, displaying a dialogue, applying an effect, rolling something, all supported by robust coding possibilities for the final user.
Now, I am aware 3, 4 are very complex, and not far at all from being a full implementation of the coding needed for a computer game. I certainly would expect them to be implemented very gradually over a long period of time. Perhaps some discussion here could help isolating reasonable requests/features, and identifying ways to implement them.
Also, functionality of this kind often draws critique on the basis of moving too much into computer game territory. I think this is a serious point, but I suggest it is discussed in a separate thread.