Any possible ingame text chat in upcoming updates?

[MuteBeaver]

Me and my friends had a blast in the game, it was awesome, saw it due to the autumn sale and thought why not try it out, it while game at first seems "wonky" it is fun, but (as one could guess from the nick i got) it doesnt really have a way to comunicate with others if you arent able to talk, i know a lot of people will say that adding it would be pointless due few reasons, but i dont think its bad to make it more accessible, had to use steam friends chat to do "say" anything and it wasnt the best

Ofc could make the chat proximity, maybe bit smaller than the normal voip? unsure how hard it would be to add something like this, but im sure theres guides, way etc one could find on google if looked around!

Do like the game and plan to play it more when updates come out, thats it from me! o7 (Ps: Sorry for bad grammar)

[Devilish Dave]

I get it, not everyone is social, but....plenty of other games.

This is why this would be a chore to include:

To use voice chat, one requires a radio and receiver, so then text chat would technically have to only work if the users have both those items, but then you need to write code for this that having a radio allows you to text, having a receiver allows you to see the text.

Then we have problem 2, that when you speak, it can be misheard, especially with the static and all, also it is not repeated. Whereas with text, the text is there and not redacted to a degree nor does it fade once you read it.

A 3rd problem is convenience, many people are more interested in spotting enemies and paying attention to the quests they're doing, not to see if someone wrote, also where would this text box be? Would you even notice it due to inattentional blindness? Would the font be some vivid colour so it stands out and become noticeable when you're fixated on something else? Does everyone want that? So if someone turns it off, you're already communicating with one less person and eventually the question becomes, what is the point of texting if even just half of the player base turn off text messages so it doesn't clutter their screen?

Then lastly we have immersion. I would think most of us who play such games are not just here for the challenge but the immersion too. I mean that's what makes games fun. Having voice chat implemented with the various effects adds immersion (even if it doesn't work as intended yet). A text chat would break that immersion and maybe for you and your friends it would be nice, but to add something like this for such a small group (correct me if I'm wrong) would be a waste of resources and time, that could be invested in bettering the game in ways that affects everyone else.

So text vs voice in a game like this, requires you to factor a bit more into the idea.


Edit: Slightly inconvenient, but a potential solution would be Shift + Tab and use Steam overlay to text with your friends.

Then doesn't discord have an overlay? Or perhaps a mod that allows you to text while gaming?

Maybe even another texting program then if not Discord?

I'd look to these kinds of solutions instead of holding your breath for such an update.

[bgproductionsoffical]

I'm looking into adding a text chat for the evac computer to get around the proximity issue