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Important Accessibility/playability Issues That Should Be Addressed Now, Since Ec Is Still In Alpha

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Dragomok, Mar 1, 2015.

  1. Yknaar Dragomok Subordinate

    EDIT: The devs responded and are planning to support these!
    Original post below the cut:
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    As a left-handed gamer, there are several issues I keep running into, game after game after game, that make the game unplayable at worst, or sour my experience at best. In some cases, like in Bastion, devs are willing to fix them within a week of release, while in other cases, like in Firefall, two years of periodically bringing the issue up eventually results in a dev's response that their code is too mangled to fix an issue that theoretically should be fixable with Find/Replace.

    So here's the list of things that 'absolutely need to be'/'should be'/'it would be nice if you included them' in the game, with how it affects the playability in [brackets]. While most of these issues affect southpaws, there is some spillover over several right-handed groups, like EDSF-enthusiasts, original Descent players (who use numpad for movement) like Shamus Young or, er, a fringe group of Doom players (arrow keys).
    1. [Game unplayable] Full key rebinding. There are very few high-profile games that do not have rebinding nowadays, but after seeing Orcs Must Die demo not having it, and Starbound's beta going on without it for almost a year, I thought I'd bring that up. Just in case. (Also, if I didn't have to manually unbind every single default key I want to bind somewhere else, it would be nice, too.)
      (Also also, judging by Starbound's forums: people do expect rebinding in early builds - so bear in mind if Founder Access doesn't have that, there will be whining.)
    2. [Game unplayable] Left-handed mouse support. Did you know there's a left-handed mouse mode in Windows? It's a checkbox labelled "Switch primary and secondary buttons" and has been around since 3.1. It does exactly what it says - and yet the arcane process of SWITCHING TWO GODDAMN BUTTONS WITH EACHOTHER escapes scores and scores of AAA game developers. It's a big deal, since - even if you can freely rebind 'Fire' and 'Alt-Fire' - it makes EVERY. SINGLE. MENU absolute nightmare to navigate. Especially the Navigation Wheel types, where LMB selects, and RMB closes/moves back.
      And it's nearly impossible to fix for that on user side, unless you buy an expensive, rarer and rarer symmetrical gaming mouse - and even there, there is NO GUARANTEE will work, since its drivers might be programmed by incompetent, lobotomized apes (*cough*Razer Abyssus*cough*). There are few elusive, mail-order-only mice specifically made for lefties - with supply lower than fish population of Dead Sea - and again, no guarantee their buttons will be properly placed.
      Fortunately, the developer-side fix for that is apparently easy. So please, please, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF EMPEROR, make sure your game supports that.
    3. [Crippled movement] Rebindable '/' (slash) key. This falls under key rebinding, but I occasionally run into games where every key is fully rebindable - except that one. For instance, in Planetside 2, for 2 years and counting, this key has been hardwired for "start slash command in chat". That means I'm roleplaying all my characters as soldiers with bad kness (can't reliably crouch) and Tourette's syndrome (will occasionally stop mid-sprint and scream "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii"). Oh, I could probably use AutoHotKey to fix that, binding LCtrl to '/' and '/' to '\', but that's kinda inconvenient and I'm afra[PERMABANNED. OUR SOFTWARE DETECTED KEYBOARD MACROS. CHEATING IS EXTRA HERETICAL.]
      So, please don't forget that one.
    4. [Crippled movement] 'Reverse Y axis' option. Some people move mouse forward to look up. Some people move it backward. Personally, I use the former, but the latter is what many people are trained to do, regardless of their handedness, so I thought I'd bring that up too.
    5. [Confusing] Make your button prompts adapt to keybindings. That's pretty self-explanatory - if, say, I bound 'I' to 'move forward', then gameplay tips should not tell me "Press W to move forward". While it's not big deal with basic tutorial, it gets pretty annoying if you have advanced prompts. For instance, if I'm using IKJL for movement, seeing "Your aircraft is falling! Press K to jettison!" for the first time means I'm dead, "Press J to give strategic doodad to your more competent teammate!" means I'm getting friendly-fired for griefing, and "Press L to use this obscure vechicle function." means I'm giving enemy tankbusters a generous window of opportunity while I'm rummaging through keybinding menus to find out that I've got a choice between "Vehicle function 1", "Vehicle function 2" and "Vehicle special". (Two out of three of these examples are based on True Stories™.)
    6. [Inconvenient] Let us rebind the keys before entering the game proper. I really appreciate when I can start rebinding keys from login/character select/server select screen. Especially if you're doing a cold open. It's kind of jarring when you watch the intro, get thrown into Actual In-Tutorial Dramatic Action Sequence™ - and then have to pause the game for several minutes because you have to rebind keys. It kills the momentum, y'know?
    So that's my input.
  2. Galen Galen Arkhona Vanguard

    I am not a left-handed person but i support this since its such a bad experience for left handers.
    Golokopitenko and Dragomok like this.
  3. Kudzu Kudzu Cipher

    I think the real lesson here is don't be left handed like my sinister wife.
  4. Galen Galen Arkhona Vanguard

    As if it is a choice....
  5. DjemoSRB Djemo-SRB Preacher

    Well, ambidexterity is a practicable/developed thing. :D
    Tjeknalis likes this.
  6. Zhull Zhull Well-Known Member

    im left handed but i suppose i game righthanded, never had any problems.
    then again i also play the guitar 'right handed'.
    Dragomok likes this.
  7. Galen Galen Arkhona Vanguard

    Which is easier said than done :p
  8. DjemoSRB Djemo-SRB Preacher

    I dunno, im mighty skilled in turning the lights on and off with both my hands, a true natural in the making.:D

    But yeah, this seems like something @NicolasBrunoni might be interested in viewing.
    Tjeknalis and Wreckson like this.
  9. Galen Galen Arkhona Vanguard

    Daaamn bro you are a true master then:p
    Djemo-SRB likes this.
  10. DjemoSRB Djemo-SRB Preacher

    Was there ever any doubt? :eek:
    Imma eat lunch with my left hand now, to test my skills on a whole other level, wish me luck.
    If you dont hear from me in 20 mins call the police.

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