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General discussionVaporum gets free Accessibility Update, adds Stop Time mode(25 posts)(25 posts)
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Posted December 06, 2017
Freeze frame.


Vaporum, the steampunk, grid-based dungeon crawler, has been receiving a steady stream of fixes and improvements that gradually made the game more accessible to people with certain disabilities. Now the big Accessibility Update takes this one step further, introducing an optional Stop Time Mode, available at a touch of a button.

What Stop Time Mode does is automatically pause the game when you're not taking any action, giving you more time to plan your next move when things look hectic or help you more easily execute a time-sensitive action while solving a tricky puzzle. On top of that, Fatbot Games added an on-screen directional keypad to enhance that old-school feeling, plus item comparison tooltips that help you decide which piece of gear to equip.

Vaporum is now 35% off until December 11, 6PM UTC.

If you want to know more about the Accessibility Update, you can always head over to the devs' blog.
Posted December 06, 2017
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adaliabooks: I think it's basically just a way of highlighting that a game has had major new features or changes, and it's tagged as free so it's clear it isn't a new DLC or other content which has to be purchased.

Seeing as GOG news items are mostly used for releases or sales it makes sense to tag it prominently as free so there is no confusion.
Fair point.

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JaseMourne: Hey The_Gypsy!

All our updates are free, implicitly. But we never advertise them as being something special because they're free. We think that supporting a game for a reasonable amount of time after release without asking for more money from gamers is the right thing to do, and "free" updates are the norm, not an exclusivity. I believe the GOG's wording here uses the term "free" explicitly to make it 100% clear, not to make it sound awesome or something. :)

Hope this sheds some light on this from our perspective.
That's good to hear. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Posted December 06, 2017
This feature certainly makes the game more attractive to me. It's beautiful and looks like a great concept, but I struggled with Grimrock. A feature like this would have made that game fantastic for me.

This is really worth checking out now.
Posted December 06, 2017
Nice feature. I mean, I'm never going to use it because I prefer realtime and would not even have bought the game if it did not have realtime, but more options are always good. So thanks!
Posted December 06, 2017
this game is on my wishlist and with the current changes even more so, now to find the money..... :P
Posted December 06, 2017
From the comments in the thread, it seems that this update - while intended to make it easier for disabled folks to play - broadens its appeal to the marketplace in general.

I hope other developers take notice and bake in more accessibility options.

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JaseMourne: Yes, this is pretty spot on.
Just curious, how difficult was it to implement this mode?
Posted December 06, 2017
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JaseMourne: Yes, this is pretty spot on.
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HereForTheBeer: Just curious, how difficult was it to implement this mode?
I would be also interested to hearing that :)
Posted December 07, 2017
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yogsloth: This feature certainly makes the game more attractive to me. It's beautiful and looks like a great concept, but I struggled with Grimrock. A feature like this would have made that game fantastic for me.

This is really worth checking out now.
As well you should, as it works magnificently! Really helps with maneuverability without being much of a cheat, glad I snagged it!
Posted December 07, 2017
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HereForTheBeer: Just curious, how difficult was it to implement this mode?
At first, we were brainstorming a true turn-based mode where you and enemies would take turns to do actions. And that, to be honest, would be a little nightmare to implement into a game that was built from ground up to run in real time.

Then we got this idea where the simulation doesn't need to change in the slightest, we only pause the game and let the player do some actions without time constraints. We had many concerns, like when you take an action and the game pauses right after, will it look and sound stupid, will it give the player enough audiovisual feedback, will it ruin the fun? But playtesters received it well so we went ahead with it.

We had to solve some edge cases and sound issues, so it surely wasn't trivial to implement, but not the hardest nut to crack either. Hope that answers the question. :)
Post edited December 07, 2017 by JaseMourne
Posted December 07, 2017
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HereForTheBeer: Just curious, how difficult was it to implement this mode?
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JaseMourne: At first, we were brainstorming a true turn-based mode where you and enemies would take turns to do actions. And that, to be honest, would be a little nightmare to implement into a game that was built from ground up to run in real time.

Then we got this idea where the simulation doesn't need to change in the slightest, we only pause the game and let the player do some actions without time constraints. We had many concerns, like when you take an action and the game pauses right after, will it look and sound stupid, will it give the player enough audiovisual feedback, will it ruin the fun? But playtesters received it well so we went ahead with it.

We had to solve some edge cases and sound issues, so it surely wasn't trivial to implement, but not the hardest nut to crack either. Hope that answers the question. :)
It does, thank you :)
Posted December 07, 2017
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SirPrimalform: Besides, isn't this basically like the active-pause thing Baldur's Gate uses?
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dtgreene: Actually, it sounds more like the way roguelikes work; when you aren't doing anything, the whole world is stopped, but once you perform an action (like moving), the entire world gets to move.

Basically, it makes the game turn-based rather than real-time (not even real-time with pause).
exactly, thank you for pointing that
it is one of the key point that gave birth to the denomination of "roguelites" instead for many games sharing some common set of mechanism except for this "turn based" one that is, truly, inherited from the old "Rogue"

Some recent games do still have this, like dragon fin soup, sproggywood, or such

also, i really like the choice given by games when it's all real time BUT there is an active pause button (like in chaos league for example, or FTL in normal diff level), i think it's the best compromise to welcome more type of players.
If someone doesn't like the pause button ? easy: just NOT use it and one keeps his game "pure and clean"

also @SirPrimalForm
i do have some form of physical disabilities that now clearly hinders me when gaming, and i had to give up on at least two whole genres of games i used to love playing when i was younger. And you wouldnt believe the shitty comments i ever get on some gaming forum whenever i DARE to ask about X or Y game on PC would have controller support or not (because gaming wise, controller is enough to get me back in business... for the rest of daily aspects of my life however, it's a bit more complicated :) );

really, i knew whole internet/online population became quite a crappile of scum these late years but i was far away from the truth...

anyway, be it SOMA of Vaporum, it is an option, and on single player games, i might add... it should not justify some comments tbh, as it is in no way affecting anyone else's experience of both games wether they choose to not use this feature. And for people who think it does, i have bad news for you but telling you the truth would break forum's TOS tbh :)
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Community
General discussionVaporum gets free Accessibility Update, adds Stop Time mode(25 posts)(25 posts)
(25 posts)