About accessibility

[twisted 128]

Ok, so accessibility has been the catchphrase recently, in particular to the apex campaign. Im working through it and it's fun so far. But if I have to be honest I think accessibility is squandered solely on the campaign (I'd personally prefer a little more  consequence for dying and maybe some AI teammates but I'm open minded right now). There are so many things in game that need to be make accessible that would in turn make the game more appealing to that wider audience BIS is got in their sights.

 

Its not about changing the nature of what makes Arma so great (the challenge, the need to be tactical, teamwork, multirole ops). It's about making the game more accessible by removing frustrations and enhancing game mechanics.

 

Just a few of the things I'd really like to see made more accessible are:

 

* Ai should stop getting stuck in houses, or in corners of things or on boxes/objects. Cheat it if you have to. If I cant see AI and it is healthy then I'm willing to concede that it might have found its way out of a house it got stuck in 10 minutes ago by itself. Hell, just teleport it a few metres from the thing it is stuck on if no one can see it.

 

* Make using bipod NOT sometimes rotate my rifle away from where it is pointing and cant be rotated back. I cant tell you the frustration when I line up a shot, the surface looks like it should support the weapon, the ai are heading in and bam the rifle is rotated away from where I am aiming and I have to raise the bipod to fix it. ffs. Again, bipod should enable me not move my point of aim 45 degrees away.

 

* Reduce the jog speed a touch when indoors. No one runs/jogs at full speed or full stride indoors, as you wont go far before knocking into the wall. An automatically appropriately slower jog speed indoors would be neat. You can still sprint like a mad man right into the nearest wall, but the basic jog speed should be more reasonable.

 

* Talking of accessible - let my character do crazy things like climb over a wall, or vault a low fence.

 

* Auto-adjust crouch height to match the wall/window sill we are crouching by. I thought this was actually in game but it seems not. Might be mistaken.

 

* On the same point as crouch, when behind the corner of a wall or other obstacle like a vehicle, be great if sighting in your rifle let you peek out from cover. And unsighting un-peeked you back out. (sorry I mangled that word badly). That's accessible and its done to great effect in other games.

 

* Make scopes appear a little closer to my eye when up. I know this is an old argument, but when I'm at the raneg im focused on my target. If i want to see around me i turn my head. Having the scope so far away is counter to the act of raising the scope.

 

* I'd suggest a more fluid animation/movement system for much great accessibility but I think that's for the next iteration of Arma... But it is needed when you look at how more intuitive the character movement can be when a little inertia,  more responsiveness (which isnt counter to inertia), etc.

 

* Weapons that automatically go down/are lowered when they should hit nearby objects.

 

I'll keep adding to this list as I can. It's not a dig at the game. I'm a mad arma3 fan. Love the improvemnets and constant iteration. That's why Im taking the time to post. But after coming back to arma 3 after a few weeks of playing other games there are some real ways this game can be made more accessible. Not just by having spawn points in the campaign.

[en3x 209]

I support that thinking.

 

Arma 3 game mechanics and its content like SP should lean and build on legacy of what made

arma successful as franchise not try to appeal to everyone.As as well thoughts like  let's make

game for a niche audience which attracts lots of public attention and due to that change deciding to

revise game and target that new incoming audience.At that point you should go ahead and call it

different game.

 

However making game accessible should mean replacing action menu, revise and rework

animation system, commanding system etc.But of course its easier to make accessible

campaign then spend months of work on action menu or any other system that would really

make an impactful difference on a player.

 

This might be my opinion but a casual new player that saw this game be popular and bought

it for that reason probably play multiplayer games (KTOH, life, BR) and doubt he really cares about

latest SP campaign.

[bad benson 1733]

i was going to say you forgot about the action menu. but en3x brought it up.

 

i feel like just that alone would catapult the game 3 steps further. i don't use it much anymore due to mods but everytime i'm forced to, like the few areas mods don't /can't cover, i remember how much enjoyment it takes away.

[dragon01 902]

Indeed. I think the action menu should be either replaced with something more comfortable to use, or removed altogether. That alone would go leaps and bounds towards making ArmA truly accessible. 

 

Perhaps the best idea would be to take clues from BI's own Take On: Mars. Press the "interact" button and an interaction happens. Getting into vehicles should be based on whichever position you approach (it'd also be more logical, especially in tanks and APCs). Switching seats should be a separate menu, for example a radial one opened by holding "interact" (pressing it twice should disembark you, like in TOM). Advanced vehicle features should be operated either by diegetic switches, much like in Take On: Helicopters (or TOM, for that matter), or by keyboard keys. Ammo type changing could be done by holding "R" when you're on foot (once again, with a radial menu) or simply pressing "R" in a vehicle (once again, logical, since vehicles usually have two types of ammo. Holding "R" should work, too, in case of those that have more). 

 

Regarding the command system, I noticed that surprisingly, they could take some clues from ArmA1 commanding menu. Right now, you have to remember what list of commands is under what key. You get no indication and the only way to learn that is by experience. In short, the very antithesis of accessibility. ArmA1, on the other hand, opened a "master menu" which you could quickly scroll through and select the sub-menu you want. Indeed, other games with in-depth commanding (generally old-ish ones) usually have something like that. Another thing I can think of would be decluttering the menus. Some of them contain stuff that don't think is of any use (for example, no matter which unit is selected, you get "Supports", "Custom" and "Radio". They shouldn't appear in most cases, especially if they're empty). Here's an example "quick commands" menu:

 

1. Interact

2. Alt. Interact (alternative action, usually it'd be "move to", but for example a damaged vehicle would get "repair", with the primary being "get in")

3. Regroup

4. Hold

5. Open/Hold Fire

6. Watch This Direction

7. Copy My Stance

8. Suppressive Fire

9. Interact With Me (usually "move to me", but if the player is injured the medic would heal him, or if the player is in a vehicle, units with that order would board the same vehicle).

0. Advanced Menu (opens the ArmA1-style advanced menu with more detailed commands).

 

The Advanced Menu could look much like the A1 one, but with revised categories (since "1" and "0" keys would be freed up when in it). Additional space for commands would be well spent in setting up a "disengage" behavior for AI (another thing it sorely needs) and other options that allow you to more precisely specify their behavior. One example would be "garrison" command, which would send AI into a building and to its window positions (random if there are no enemies, otherwise they'd prefer those facing the enemy). In general, some Rainbow Six-style commands specifically for interacting with buildings would be nice.

 

Animations are a bit tangential to accessibility, TBH. Other than some clunkyness in movement, they're mostly related to visuals. Something which I think could improve gameplay would be being using rocket launchers when prone (very possible IRL, you just need to take a slightly odd stance) and smoother ladder animations.