[Accessibility Suggestion] Pause Mode.

[unmerged(277627)]

So, I've been thinking a lot about Magicka of late. Of it, its difficulty in single-player, and how it might be a tremendously hard game for those with accessibility needs. I wasn't sure quite what to suggest in regards to this, really, as I wasn't certain quite where the problem stemmed from.

But after batting out in Stars are Left, due to my poor sight and not entirely infallible motor control, it came to me. It's the queueing of spells and the stress involved that makes it difficult, and yet there are games that have done similarly but how have they managed it? Via a pause mode.

Basically, you'd hit a key and enter into pause mode. In pause mode, all a player (or players) can do is queue up elements, they cannot cast them, just queue them. Then they can cast them on coming out of pause mode. This is an option that could be enabled for multiplayer, too, it would be a server-side option, so each host could decide what they want.

Bad-ass spell queuer who doesn't need an aid like this? Don't use it! It could be entirely optional and even off by default! But I think that Magicka would become even more popular if it had something like this in it, as I know what's turned most of my friends away from it is my talk of how difficult it is. If the difficulty wasn't so nightmarish, it wouldn't be a problem.

So I think the Pause Mode would work.

I'll just leave this here to see what people think of it.

 

[ddave101]

I like your suggestion purely in the terms of learning and accessibility.
That said, isn't part of the fun of magicka spending times scrambling around for the right spell, only to have it blow up in your (or your friends) face(s)?
personally I enjoy seeing a new player, or even sometimes an experienced player, panic and not realize that when joining the arcane stream from 3 other wizards, forget that they had queued up a healing spell just before, and everyone is sent flying...
The main problem I think is tolerance of other players. Ok there are griefers out there, but I have seen some haunted off from the chants of "dude stop f****** killing us", and "noob" etc. But I try to encourage that type of behaviour...
when I see someone charging a powerful spell into an enemy I will try to get it to blow up (on the enemy if I can get judge it right), but often than not I get it wrong and get flamed, sometimes even as bad as the leader returning to the lobby and kicking me... (OK I really did screw up there and they were suggesting I was macroing)

I totally get your point and agree that it can be really frustrating when you can't get the right spell, can't type fast enough, or even confuse that odd black robe for that other odd black robe trying to attack you. But I also think that the crazyness adds to the fun and hilarity of the game, and time spent (admittedly for me steam has me tracking at ~500hours :O) you become accustom to the patterns of the spells rather than having to remember and type them.

Sorry for the long reply, but hopefully it is as balanced as I mean it to be and I have brought across the point that not knowing what you are doing is also half the fun.

Catch you in game
-Maelstrom!

 

[unmerged(277627)]

As much as I appreciate the reply and the kind tone--and I do!--the reply misses the point a tiny bit. See, the problem is is that no two players are equal, and some might have a great deal of difficulty with Magicka.

The audience that this game could be marketed to would double or triple overnight with a Pause Mode for this very reason. Sometimes developers don't realise how important accessibility is. And like I said, it's not forced, it's something you choose for yourself, or choose to do with a group of friends. If you're a perfectly healthy, normal, neurotypical person with no disabilities or impairments at all, then this is going to be a hard position to wrap your head around.

But even for a person who has stress issues, where too much of it can make them ill (and such illnesses do exist, such as an impaired adrenal gland), it can help. Or again, for a person who has motor control issues. Or for a person who has poor sight (of the sort that can't be fixed with spectacles). There are a lot of people out there with issues like this.

What an optional pause mode would do is act as an enabler for these people. See, whilst Magicka might be difficult as it is for a normal, healthy person (as I've explained), it can become insurmountable for someone who has accessibility needs.

I've put a lot of thought into this. I don't share accessibility ideas lightly, and often I'll try and consider things from every angle. But a pause mode would solve a lot of issues that the game has for impaired people off the bat, and I imagine that it might not be too hard of a thing to implement. It won't be something for everyone, but accessibility options never are something for everyone.

 

[Calathas]

Well, I guess the idea would kinda sort of maybe work, but only in singleplayer. The multiplayer probably COULD work, but only if each and every person in the game would be in voice chat, cause otherwise there'd be alot and I mean loads of others wanting the pause, others not wanting the pause and some trying to explain why the want the pause and so on 'n so on. But meh, singleplayer is fine by me. I don't really mind Navi (though some people seem pissed off about it) nor would I mind the pause mode, if it was optional.

 

[Shams]

Is there a gaming site tailored for people with disabilities?

regarding "pause mode" - just based on how much work is involved I'd say it's a bit unfeasible. But I'll bring it up in the next meeting.

/s

 

[unmerged(267276)]

How about just using timewarp? May give you more time to think.

As although I'm for accessibility stuff, a "pause mode" would just result in the enemies not getting a step near you.

*Pause, queue up uber lightening ice rocks, cast, pewpew, repeat. I don't think this would be the right way to approach it, as ya may as well be shooting cardboard cutouts. The spells are so powerful that the it would really be pointless.

 

[unmerged(362541)]

Usually when I feel that the difficulty is getting too high, I hit escape and use that as my pause and think on how i could control the situation, hope this helps in some minor way.