I would applaud anything that makes the game more accessible to people, regardless of their limitations. And I have to high five another former AO player 
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This has long since been a big sticking point of mine. I despise glowie missions; I cannot hear them. For us (even though I am not completely deaf) these are worse then the kill all missions.
There was a thread about this not more than 3 weeks ago.
Unfortunately that was shortly before I14... 
I looked for a few pages and didn't find it, but there is one with a lot of good suggestions and support for the idea. Mine included
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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Yeah, I suggested something similar a couple years ago. I got shouted down, oddly, which I attribute to the overall decline in empathy among humans. Still in support.
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Yeah, I suggested something similar a couple years ago. I got shouted down, oddly, which I attribute to the overall decline in empathy among humans. Still in support.
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Jaysus, seriously? Well, we got better. >_>
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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Suggestions from the thread from about a month ago:
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Lachlin - player is in "sound" range of the glowie, an icon appears on the map
Me - have an icon appear in the health bar window like the proximity icons used for day job locations
AkuTenshiiZero - a small window with a sort of pseudo-radar, which pulses with increasing intensity the closer you get
Jack_NoMind - I think a UI element with an increasing/decreasing glow would be good; it's less distracting (and less easy to immediately 'read') than a pulsing light, and so serves the same function as the increasing/decreasing volume.
CorolinaR - Remember last years April Fools joke? Replacing sound with comic sound effects? Put that in the game as a 'Hearing Impaired' option. The glowie detector could operate when that mode is in effect, but not when it isn't.
Neuronia - making glowies brighter somehow might help...
NewJerseyDevil - possibly it would be some sort of buff aura coming off the glowie to show up in the buff tray, and could stack and show multiple symbols as you get closer to it
FriendlyHelper - I enable the Doppler effects to help me find the glowies. Years ago, the glowie sounder was changed and I couldn't hear them for weeks.
DarkSideLeague - I had an Idea of an inherent power that would allow you to see through walls (the outline of the glowies would appear).
CatAtomic - I think a little mark in the navigation compass would do the trick nicely, kind of like the "how to get out of here" beacon when leading a hostage to the entrance.
DakotaSunrise - Maybe a sonar-like "blip" in the Navigation window or as a status icon?
Arcanaville - use a console graphic to visually notify when you are within a certain range of an audible blinkie to support people with limited hearing is an excellent idea. There are, of course, minor quibbles over the details (blinking, size-variable, absolute range, etc) but the principle is sound game design.
Feihung - How about the cursor changing when near enough to "hear" it. Make it change it glow or pulse a little.
Hertz - They could just make the glowies shout "Woo woo woo!" every few minutes.
Or they could make the character say "It's got to be around here somewhere!" to himself (in the same way he says, "I'm getting too far away from my mentor!"). And when he gets out of range of the glowie, he can say, "I'd better keep looking."
ClawsAndEffect - I kinda like Hertz's idea about having the character think something to themselves when near it, and think something else when they start getting farther away. It would serve the same purpose as the other ideas and probably be easier to implement so they could possibly do it between issues.
Also would be open to customiziation so you could have you character think "It's got to be around here somewhere" or (like what I'm usually saying IRL) "Where the hell is the &#%!*& thing?!?"
Rachelthulu - How about making glowies act as friendlies with a series of point blank area of effect buffs that ignore line of effect, each with a progressively smaller radius?
Have the buffs do nothing, but they stack with each other. So as you get closer and closer to the center more icons appear as 'effecting' you.
Boxxy - I for one would love to have something on the map pop up or some notification that there is a glowie/blinky/object near by.
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My comment was in Sardan's quote, and I am still VERY much in support of this idea. I've played with a few deaf people in my years here, and in the course of talking to them discovered that there are a number of missions that they flat out cannot run because it takes them upwards of an hour to find the glowy.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
That thread!
I only clicked through the pages, I didn't actually use search because I was lazy the other day.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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I'm at work, so unfortunately, I have plennnnnntttttyyyy of time.
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Yeah, I suggested something similar a couple years ago. I got shouted down, oddly, which I attribute to the overall decline in empathy among humans. Still in support.
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Jaysus, seriously? Well, we got better. >_>
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I remember a thread a long while back where an OP (I don't recall the name) suggested that glowies appear on the map as an icon, because they didn't like having to look for it.
The OP's original suggestion had nothing to do with deaf players, and the initial responses were /unsigned. The opinions didn't change until another poster mentioned that they had or knew a deaf player that was having problems with missions that had glowies. At that point we all changed our minds and /signed the idea.
That thread has always stuck in my mind because I'm a disabled veteran and I felt ashamed that it never occurred to me that a person with a hearing handicap might have problems playing the game. Ever since that post I have made a point of /signing this idea each and every time I see it.
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Rachelthulu - How about making glowies act as friendlies with a series of point blank area of effect buffs that ignore line of effect, each with a progressively smaller radius? Have the buffs do nothing, but they stack with each other. So as you get closer and closer to the center more icons appear as 'effecting' you.
[/ QUOTE ]This actually makes the most sense to me. Either that, or an arrow like effect on the compass map that shows up when within a certain radius.
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Rachelthulu - How about making glowies act as friendlies with a series of point blank area of effect buffs that ignore line of effect, each with a progressively smaller radius? Have the buffs do nothing, but they stack with each other. So as you get closer and closer to the center more icons appear as 'effecting' you.
[/ QUOTE ]This actually makes the most sense to me. Either that, or an arrow like effect on the compass map that shows up when within a certain radius.
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An extremely good idea if it's feasible.
I'm only ladylike when compared to my sister.
I'd also be in support of adding a small "rumble" effect if you got near them (with the option of disabling it if you wish. i get vertigo easy and don't want it, but it would help.) a small short pulse if you're within 25 yds, i'd say, and incrementally it gets to be a stronger/longer shimmy-shake until you're up on and interacting with it.
Or make a way-point for the glowie when you're close enough. Then show on-screen something like "Clue is near." The way-point will also show the direction in the navigation compass as well. This should be clear enough, I think. Maybe make the way-point disappears when you move away.
This would be useful, yes - and not just for deaf players.
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
If you've played the Half Life games, they have a 'fire/radiation/injury' indicator by briefly blinking side panels in your vision. I think that'd probably be the best, sporadic visual indicators at certain distances away. It's not TOO exploitable, and I think it'd be of great use to those who need it.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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I'm not deaf, but I regularly play with the game sound turned off and music playing instead, so I can sympathize with being unable to find glowies by sound. This is definitely a good idea.
I had a good conversation with a person who played one of my missions and couldn't find the glowie. I mentioned I hadn't had trouble with it spawning, only that it would occasionally be quite hidden, but you should be able to hear it. Well, turns out, he can't hear anything. Three years ago, I was temporarily deaf (medical procedure) for close to a month.. I can tell you, it changes things. So I was reminded of something from another game I played, Anarchy Online. In the missions in that game, there were invisible mines and traps, and when you were close, you would hear a beeping. This beeping would grow in intensity the closer you got. But in addition to this beeping, your map would flash red in time with it.
I think it would be pretty cool if we got some kind of functionality that made your map or something else visually pulse while near a glowie (not all glowies are easily seen after all). You could turn this off in the options menu, so if you didn't want or need it, you could disable it.
I'm only ladylike when compared to my sister.