Pattern preset hotkeys sounds great, but will they be user definable? Each game can need its own settings to get a good effect and I think hard coded values might be a problem.
If you can do that with animated sprites, that would be better than good, that would be amazing! As long as the user still has some control over it, that's cool.
Do you have a feature list of what's being worked on and what is planned for later updates? I don't want to keep bugging you with things that you are already addressing.