Im currently building quite a big adventure map on my reses. And in order to finish it I will have to tell a story and give instructions, as well as hints to some of thepuzzles. In order to do this I need a system that allows me to send a message to a player when he steps on a certain field. The cureent feature sign system "message" does that exactly. Howevery there is one issue. Thats the required size. In order to build this completly covered it takes from bottom to top: Building Layer (for hiding), Chest, Sign Building Layer. The minimum bounding box to completly hide it is therefor 3x3x4. That is a big chunk for sending a message. (ITS NOT ABOUT MONEY, ITS ABOUT SENDING A MESSAGE ) And building 4 block wide ceiling to the next floor is kinda weird. The only real suggestion to the problem to me is to make the chest more flexible (like making it possible to place the chest horizontal next to the feature sign). But maybe the dev team has better ideas or even opens up a option without feature sign. Maybe "Magic Dust" that you can spread on a field making that field messaging you . Please dont shorten the maximum message length in the process though.
We would not want to change the mechanics of the message signs. Meaning the chest underneath needs to work in a consistent way. The complicated logic of shop signs creates a lot of non intuitive side effect issues. So right now there isn't a better solution on that front (unless someone would suggest one). As for solutions to your problem, I would suggest the tripwire activation method to the feature signs. You can then setup your sign/chest on the edge instead of in the middle, maybe in a wall instead of floor.
