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Chatbubbles mod?
Lord.Bachus
Member RarePosts: 9,686
Just wondering if the API allows modders to create a mod that shows chatbubbles over peoples heads..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
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For me personally, chat bubbles add a layer of immersion because there is nothing more off putting than a screen of characters and npcs that are static and silent the whole time.
Equally, if thre are 20 people on screen and you are trying to RP or have a conversation with one of them, it's almost impossible to do via a chat box due to spam etc.
Finally, speech bubbles tend to come in subtly different "shapes" that denote whether someone is shouting, or whispering or laughing etc which I find more intuitive than having to constantly check a chat box.
Pffft what do I know, SWG Pre CU was my first mmorpg and it spoiled me.
This! QFE
I think thats a splendid answer to your question, many people espescially those that tend to roleplay would agree with this.
Is there anyone with enough modding experience that can answer my orriginal question, with the current api and options, will modders be able to create a chatbubble mod..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
They probably don't want us to have the ability to track where characters are and put things over their heads.
I don't think it is possible.
Although I find it extremely annoying playing a game that doesn't have names over heads and at the same time no bubbles. I think all weekend in the beta I never got one response to anyone from a /say. And why would I expect a response.
There is no way for them to know who said something to them or when if they even know someone said something at all. That is just a lot of barriers to communication. Its a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" situation imo.
/signed!
Yes, every day when I talk to people I see chat bubbles over their heads. Not having them in game really kills immersion due to the missing realism...
Pardon the sarcasm, but the only bubbles I've ever seen over people's heads in real life were from the cigarettes they were smoking and the only letters in those "bubbles" were O's from their smoke rings. I don't buy the argument that we need chat bubbles for immersion. Chat bubbles are simply a convenience to let us recognize who's talking on screen.
Everyone has their own tastes; I personally dislike chat bubbles. I agree that it is difficult to know who is talking in a game -- short of using cut-scenes for everything BioWare-style -- but I find chat bubbles to be a poor solution to tht problem. I'd rather see a character's lips moving and see their head turn towards me... or something like that... to know that they're talking to me. Or give full voice to all players (local chat only) and add lip movement... But I don't see that happening anytime soon; it requires too much bandwidth.
EDIT: Typo
I never used to use chat bubbles, I'd just look at the chat window. With a UI like ESOs, where I and the developers want you t to pay more attention to the world then UI chat bubbles are great. I'm surprised they didn't include them.
I can see the downside, going to crowded town areas and the screen is filled. That's why you should have options. Only display them to people on my friends list, guild members, or when I'm grouped.
I'm wondering why every time chat bubble support in any game is mentioned, there's a squad of haters rushing in, trying to convince everybody how chat bubbles suck and why there shouldn't be chat bubble support in any game ever..
Exactly.
So add the option and let the individual choose.
ESO is all about player choice right?
Labeling everyone a "hater" because they have different tastes than you is rather immature, don't you think? It's as foolish as calling people "fanboi's".
The purpose of forums is to allow people to express their opinions. If everyone had the same opinion, then there would be no need for forums since anything you'd think would be the same as what everyone else thinks, so why talk about it?
The subject of OP was "Whether the API allows modders to create a mod that shows chatbubbles over peoples heads". Instead of providing constructive input, like link to some website with mods or developer interview regarding addons, you provided half a page of your ranting why you think chat bubbles suck, because people in real life don't have chat bubbles over their head.
The purpose of this forum (or any forum as a matter of fact) is not to go off-topic and rant about anything that crosses your mind. And yes, you are a chat bubble hater.
Dismissing something based on realism when discussing a computer game set in a fantasy realm is a bit of a weak argument though imo. When I talk to people in real life, I don't have to pull out my smart phone and check a little chat screen to see what they are saying either.
In the context of a mmorpg, with the right level of options, filters and toggles, chat bubbles are win win for everyone.
I keep reading that the ESO engine is based on the Hero Engine....
If that is true, it may be the same problem as SWTOR has, in that the engine cannot support chat bubbles because it kills the frame rate so much the game becomes unplayable. That is the reason that chat bubbles were in SWTOR originally but were cut before launch.
I've always heard it takes up a lot of resources to do chat bubbles, that was the reasoning we were given for them not being in SWTOR.
I imagine if it were possible to do chat bubbles via mods it would be done in other games. I think it's more complicated than a mod can modify.
No its not... they started out with the HERO engine in early release...while developing their own engine from scratch... after about a year most of the Hero engine got replaced by their own inhouse developed code-...
However, we will never know how much of the Hero engine secretly made their way into their own engine.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
If you can have a hitpoint bar above a character/NPC´s head... you can have a chatbubble at the same spot too... But however the problem might be the realtime scaling of these bubbles..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I don't care if the bubbles are added as long as there is an option to disable them. I mentioned the subject to some hardcore role players I met in previous games and they don't like the bubbles because they add more distractions or so they say. The text comes from the chat box, therefore, having a duplicate text in the form of a bubble is more stress to the eyes. These role players may have their own RP style though. From my experience with them, quality was more important and their RP sessions were done in an instance to avoid distractions. They used private group chat for out-of-character conversation which was kept to a minimum in case there was a misunderstanding in the RP process.
To be honest, I enjoyed their RP style and we were on the same page regarding bubbles. But this doesn't mean the bubbles shouldn't be in-game. To each their own.
Hypocrit? hehe He was expressing his opinion.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
The point I am making is that SWTOR's engine is, at it's heart, derived from the Hero Engine. SWTOR has never been able to support chat bubbles without making the game unplayable.
If, as I have read, ESO's engine is also derived from the Hero Engine, perhaps there is something inherent to the Hero Engine that just cannot cut where chat bubbles are concerned.
If so, I fear we may never see them in ESO, just like we will never see them in SWTOR.
I am not convinced this should be the case though, I mean SWG had chat bubbles like 10 years ago...it can't be THAT difficult or demanding on the engine....
Engines are there to be improved... If they agree with us chatbubbles are important, the engine Hero or no hero will be upgraded to support them
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I've seen this enough times now that I feel compelled to chime in. So, despite what apparently a whole lot of people seem to believe, game development doesn't involve flipping switches to turn things on. There isn't some secret chat bubble option that ZOS can just turn on. Any feature in game development requires time, resources, and money, all of which are finite. This means that even if a developer wants to do something, it has to be prioritized.
Maybe they DO want to do chat bubbles (personal opinion: highly unlikely), but it's #50 on the list of things they need or want to get done. It's also possible that they feel chat bubbles simply don't fit the game. And yet another possibility is that they present technical issues (games are complicated).
My point is that it's not as simple as people think to 'just add chat bubbles' or 'just add a minimap'. Game development involves making choices based on a whole lot of variables.
hmm... actually in the earlier version there WAS a minimap, so yeah, they can just put them back and make it optional.