The problem with walkie-talkies

[Jake]

I'm aware that a huge pull of this game is its atmosphere and aesthetic and the sound design does tie into that heavily - the way your friend's screams echo through the rusted metal halls is absolutely flawless.

I know that the walkie-talkie is supposed to play into that; the company you're working for is clearly more invested in themselves than their employees, which is why you're given really crappy walkie-talkies that aren't the best quality but it's all you got.

My problem is sensory overload. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, allow me to give a brief, very simplified explanation:
I am autistic. Among other things, I am hypersensitive to various stimuli, especially sounds, but generally all 5 senses. This means that when there's too much stimulation all at once, I am unable to cope or focus and become very disoriented and frustrated.

So when I'm in-game, and I'm in the building with some friends and someone tries to talk to me over the radio, I'm having to contend not only with crappy walkie-talkie audio, but also the people near me talking (amplified due to the reverberation from being indoors), as well as the environment ambience such as the steam pipes or doors opening or items being dropped, as well as all of the footsteps from other players and monsters.

It's unfortunately so bad that I'm pretty much always forced to be the person who stays in the ship, or I have to be the only person without a walkie talkie.

My proposed solution:
I would like to suggest a keybind that simply lowers the volume of everything except for the person talking on the walkie-talkie, by like 75% (or a configurable amount). If you need some way to have it make sense from a gameplay perspective, you could equate it to holding the walkie-talkie up to your ear to better hear it, at the cost of awareness to your surroundings.

Though I can understand if this could potentially be seen as hindering the atmosphere in a sense, so I'd even just be happy if any modders reading this would be up to the task. I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Chaos]

Lol, I can barely believe what this thread has devolve into.
And the OP was pretty nice too...some his supporters on the other hand...make it all very entertaining.

[Matrias]

When i play with friends we split the load 2 walkies one flashlight a shovel etc. Ive gotten used to using the blue scan spam as my flashlight as the shoveler. Be one with the shovel!

[Miki Naoki]

I can't believe that there are people complaining about someone asking for extra accessibility settings. The more people that can comfortably play a game, the better.

Of course that there are other things that are more cost and/or time efficient but that doesn't mean a simple idea has to be ignored or declined, it can just be postponed while kept in mind for future updates.

[(TTV)OnBrandRP]

Jake a écrit :

I'm aware that a huge pull of this game is its atmosphere and aesthetic and the sound design does tie into that heavily - the way your friend's screams echo through the rusted metal halls is absolutely flawless.

I know that the walkie-talkie is supposed to play into that; the company you're working for is clearly more invested in themselves than their employees, which is why you're given really crappy walkie-talkies that aren't the best quality but it's all you got.

My problem is sensory overload. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, allow me to give a brief, very simplified explanation:
I am autistic. Among other things, I am hypersensitive to various stimuli, especially sounds, but generally all 5 senses. This means that when there's too much stimulation all at once, I am unable to cope or focus and become very disoriented and frustrated.

So when I'm in-game, and I'm in the building with some friends and someone tries to talk to me over the radio, I'm having to contend not only with crappy walkie-talkie audio, but also the people near me talking (amplified due to the reverberation from being indoors), as well as the environment ambience such as the steam pipes or doors opening or items being dropped, as well as all of the footsteps from other players and monsters.

It's unfortunately so bad that I'm pretty much always forced to be the person who stays in the ship, or I have to be the only person without a walkie talkie.

My proposed solution:
I would like to suggest a keybind that simply lowers the volume of everything except for the person talking on the walkie-talkie, by like 75% (or a configurable amount). If you need some way to have it make sense from a gameplay perspective, you could equate it to holding the walkie-talkie up to your ear to better hear it, at the cost of awareness to your surroundings.

Though I can understand if this could potentially be seen as hindering the atmosphere in a sense, so I'd even just be happy if any modders reading this would be up to the task. I'd greatly appreciate it. :heart:

My issue with walkie-talkies is that they're an item in the first place. They really should just be base-kit (just a keybind, attached to your body) and all they do is extend the proximity chat. So the deeper in you go and further apart you are, the more interference there is, even have certain monsters outright jam the signal.

[Valec]

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

leah a écrit :

Ableism here is wild

as a person in a wheelchair believe me this game not having a slider for the walkies is not ableism people saying it does not need to be added is not ableism such a stretch to even think about calling it ableism

Businesses are forced to cater to you in your wheelchair already(not that I believe you at all about being disabled). But I guess, you already enjoy that, you don't need other people with other disabilities being catered to. Absolute selfishness.

No disabled person would ever argue against an accessibility feature being added to a game. You are not who you say you are, and that's a fact.

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Valec a écrit :

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

as a person in a wheelchair believe me this game not having a slider for the walkies is not ableism people saying it does not need to be added is not ableism such a stretch to even think about calling it ableism

Businesses are forced to cater to you in your wheelchair already(not that I believe you at all about being disabled). But I guess, you already enjoy that, you don't need other people with other disabilities being catered to. Absolute selfishness.

No disabled person would ever argue against an accessibility feature being added to a game. You are not who you say you are, and that's a fact.

im just saying it does not have to be added and just because they claim to be accessible does not mean they are how would I know that oh all the places ive been that are not actually accessible

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Valec a écrit :

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

as a person in a wheelchair believe me this game not having a slider for the walkies is not ableism people saying it does not need to be added is not ableism such a stretch to even think about calling it ableism

Businesses are forced to cater to you in your wheelchair already(not that I believe you at all about being disabled). But I guess, you already enjoy that, you don't need other people with other disabilities being catered to. Absolute selfishness.

No disabled person would ever argue against an accessibility feature being added to a game. You are not who you say you are, and that's a fact.

also see the guy in a wheelchair in my profile picture thats me so tell me again how thats a fact that im not disabled did not know you knew me

[The_Grouch]

Yeah a mod for this would be good, I wouldn't use it but I don't know why so many people are being butts.

[Thysios]

Chaos a écrit :

Sorry but this sound like a *you* problem, maybe you should try other game?

Accessability? In MY game? How DARE they!

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

Gravemind1 a écrit :

What an interesting introduction to this games community lmfao

Hey, can we maybe get a slider to turn down the radio?
>NOIT WOULD TAKE TOOMUCH TIME FOR THE GAME AND YOU ARE A MINORITY NOT THE MAJORITY OF PLAYERS SO BLBLBLBLBLBL JUST USE VOLUME MIXER


Or! Now bear with me cause this just might surprise some people.. OR..! an audio slider could be added, like every other game to come out in the past 23 to 24 years now?
That people with less resources, less time, less experience and so on have been more than able to implement without many issues?

If the guy making this come forward to say he's simply too busy, then it is what it is. Asking for an audio slider that is more than just the Master Volume is absolutely, positively not a big ask in 2023. Miss me with the excuses, people.

i dont go around demanding people build ramps on there houses for my wheelchair simple as that

Of all the disabilities with the most laws protecting them, a wheelchair is pretty high on the list lol...

Whether it's support for autistic people or not, the game should have multiple sliders for audio. Should be a standard feature in games these days. Obviously I don't expect it all implemented from day 1, but it should definitely be added regardless of this post.

Master volume, music, voice chat, sound effects etc. Should all have their own volume slider. Maybe even volume sliders for each individual player, so you can boost/deafen a players voice if their mic isn't the best quality.

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Thysios a écrit :

Chaos a écrit :

Sorry but this sound like a *you* problem, maybe you should try other game?

Accessability? In MY game? How DARE they!

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

i dont go around demanding people build ramps on there houses for my wheelchair simple as that

Of all the disabilities with the most laws protecting them, a wheelchair is pretty high on the list lol...

Whether it's support for autistic people or not, the game should have multiple sliders for audio. Should be a standard feature in games these days. Obviously I don't expect it all implemented from day 1, but it should definitely be added regardless of this post.

Master volume, music, voice chat, sound effects etc. Should all have their own volume slider. Maybe even volume sliders for each individual player, so you can boost/deafen a players voice if their mic isn't the best quality.

did your read that i said peoples houses?

[Thysios]

HANDIJORDAN a écrit :

Thysios a écrit :

Accessability? In MY game? How DARE they!



Of all the disabilities with the most laws protecting them, a wheelchair is pretty high on the list lol...

Whether it's support for autistic people or not, the game should have multiple sliders for audio. Should be a standard feature in games these days. Obviously I don't expect it all implemented from day 1, but it should definitely be added regardless of this post.

Master volume, music, voice chat, sound effects etc. Should all have their own volume slider. Maybe even volume sliders for each individual player, so you can boost/deafen a players voice if their mic isn't the best quality.

did your read that i said peoples houses?

Do you expect business and car parks etc to account for your disability? If your workplace had several stories of stairs and no elevator would you be ok with your work saying 'lul that's a you problem'?

[LunarCelestial]

The amount of people just doing "hah youre autistic and cant play game go cri bout it" is kinda disgusting.

The autistic community is not small, nor is it tiny in this game. The people that come with the "its just a small part" argument want us to say we're autistic every ten seconds and then complain about us making it our whole personality. Pick a damn side .

I understand ur issue, personally i can handle it but i can understand why you'd get sensory overload.
personally if they decided to make an update for it i'd recommend making a new item like the flashlights.
a "pro walkie talkie" perhaps, one that can talk with normal ones ofcourse but just receive and send better quality.
only thing i can currently reccommend is lowering other volumes and maybe just have that help.
I hope you solved your issue with mods!

[Kyrain]

MAybe there will be a mod made for that issue

[Woody]

weak genes

[xiii_TM]

This is a fantastic suggestion, the game is obviously early days right now but some basic accessibility features like audio ducking (this example), colourblind modes, etc would be great. Ultrakill is a good example of a similar single dev indie game with a ton of really good accessibility options, so comprehensive accessibility options are definitely achievable as a goal for a solo dev.

Ignore the guy who is complaining that you shouldn't be able to play a game because of overstimulation, it's a weird argument and honestly based on their response of "sorry I was just trolling" at the end I'd assume they're just an edgy 14 year old who is best left alone.