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Communication and Voice Command


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Today, I bring the topic of communication, specifically voice communication in Dual Universe. While it is an already discussed idea among Novaquark, I would like to expand on it:

 

Free Talk:

This idea enables players to talk within the vicinity. The closer you are to the source of a voice, the louder it will be. Likewise, the farther away you are the less louder it becomes. If you are not facing the source, you won't hear them as well as when facing them. 

Now, we won't want to walk into a densely populated area and hear voices from all sides. To minimize white noise in Free Talk (unofficial term) you will have to move away from the vicinity of chatterboxes and not be facing them. Or simply, change channels.

 

Channels:

There will be multiple channels that the player can tune into like organization, ship crew, 'free talk' etc. and a custom channel that you can invite a select few to chat in. This creates options so players can choose what to use their telecommunication device for.

 

Telecommunication Device:

This is a device that will enable wireless communication. It will have to be with you at all times and indestructible. Whether or not the Nanoformer will be used for this is unknown. Unless you're telepathic we'll need this.

 

Intership Communication:

Let's say you're flying through space in your galactic Lamborghini and a stranger decides to fire lasers at you. With this feature you'll be able to target that ship and ask them why they're shooting at you or "Can we work something out?" before they annihilate you.

 

Interbase Communication:

Interbase communication is essentially a way to contact a nearby base (that is not in your organization) and establish a trade, treaty, form alliance, declare war, or gossip. All communication used this way is handled by Leaders, or under paid receptionists (basically anyone with authority). This is a better alternative to emails because it's more formal, but both will be available.

 

Voice Command:

If you've ever played Mass Effect 3 you would know the Kinect voice recognition feature that allows you to give orders to teammates. I have a similar idea to implement into artificial intelligence, you'll be able to command AI using your voice. Whether it is units, drones, or anything robotic in nature, most technological devices and AI can now be controlled with your voice. I think it'll be amazing for the Nanoformer, you'll be able to use its tools without pushing a button! But of course, there will be keyboard options.

 

Ignore Option:

This is essential for anyone that is being harassed verbally (and otherwise). This option helps maintain stability within the online community. Or if someone is simply talking too much, this is for you!

 

These ideas are for simplicity's sake, using your voice instead of keys saves you a lot of time and allows you to focus your keyboarding skills on other tasks while maintaining communication. If you have similar ideas, I will add them to the list. Now let's discuss!

 

*edit*

Simulating real voice in an environment will add a great deal of depth to the game. 

 

Sound Reverberation:

When you're talking in a large hallway, echoes will be present. In an open world, no resonance.

 

Sound Barriers:

Doors, walls, and objects will affect local speech if the listener is on the other side, reducing range a voice can be heard.

 

Proximity Noise:

This suggests that if you yell, the range it can be heard from increases (of course).

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The idea of a local, realistic talking and hearing system is intriguing. I'm not sure how viable it would be. Perhaps a simplistic model would work, but I'm not sure how desirable it would be. It would need testing to see if it makes for good gameplay. Imagine a crowded marketplace with sellers yelling and shouting to grab people's attention! Could be cool.

 

I wonder if a lot of these can be reconciled into a single unit. Some kind of broadcasting unit. Perhaps these units could even be automated to mark territories. Organisations could set them up in space or on planets/moons to auto-hail nearby ships with a pre-recorded message warning them that they are trespassing in XYZ empire's space...

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These ideas have already been tested, DayZ for an example. I've found this video on the net that is similar to what I'm suggesting.

Funny enough, there's a comment saying that more games should follow this example.

 

There could be a radio system that will allows announcements to be made such as "Recruiting military, apply at x". News of intergalactic affairs can be received this way as well.

Or it could be written on the wall of an arkship pub the old-fashioned way. So many possibilities.

 

I've added a few more ideas to the list!

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A lot of good ideas there. Thanks Astrov! 

While none of these will happen for the Alpha (mainly due to time constraints), there are many ideas that have their place in the Idea Box for later development :)

 

Thanks for considering! I understand that it's not easy to implement ideas immediately, but I'm excited to know that it's a possibility in later development. I can't wait!

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Hey Astrov, another idea that could be thrown into that list is the following:

 

Communications Disruptor

- a space ship modification, this device allows for a blockage of all voice communications within x kilometers radious of the ship outfitted with it.

 

Or something along those lines. I would imagine it would come in handy in space battles. :)

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Hey Astrov, another idea that could be thrown into that list is the following:

 

Communications Disruptor

- a space ship modification, this device allows for a blockage of all voice communications within x kilometers radious of the ship outfitted with it.

 

Or something along those lines. I would imagine it would come in handy in space battles. :)

I love this idea, and I had another one - put a speed limit on comms so that calling in help from a distance isn't instantaneous.

 

Problem is neither of those ideas would work as intended because people will always be able to communicate by out-of-game means. If there are situations where the in-games comms won't work, players will never use it and will instead always opt for a third party system.

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That's a good idea, Comrademoco, except for the minor flaw KlatuSatori pointed out!

 

But it made me think along those lines and come up with this:

A way to "hack" AI by giving them false orders. An enemy will have the potential to vocally command your AI under strict circumstances. This'll be especially dangerous to ships mainly controlled by AI, giving another reason to recruit real players. The only limit is the intelligent AI can't be outsmarted, only the lesser ones. For these you can hack the "command core" which takes a lot more effort.

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Hi everyone,

About the communication disruptor, as Klatu & Astrov said, this game mechanic would rely on "good faith" from all the players. 

If they have any alternative to avoid this communication jam, many of them will use it (TS, Mumble, Skype).

Therefore, implementing such a thing would be useless.

 

@Astrov: I don't understand very well what exactly you mean by "hacking AI with vocal command".

Could you be a bit more specific? :)

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What I believe they are talking of is if there was a playable role in the game like 'Hive Commander' or a Command Ship class of vessel - where you operate a ship that commands several other Drone ships.

 

And another player having the ability to 'Hack' the 'Control Matrix' or otherwise have the ability to take control of the Drones' and use voice commands to feed if orders.

Seems like two separate interfaces coming together.

 

 

 

I primarily worry about adding built in voice comms for several reasons.

  •  If you die and can't talk, right there any pvp force will choose to not use it.
  •  
  • If its popular it will take more system resources, areas it is likely to be used in social gatherings will already likely have a semi-large data load just for normal player actions
  • It will take more developer time away from other aspects if they choose to not implement a half-arsed VOIP that is also integrated into game play

Its great for second life and games where meet and greets are the main game play, and for single player experiences. For MMO's many people are already entrenched into third party communications. I feel it would have a hard time gaining traction unless its really a feature that is pushed by the Dev''s

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What I believe they are talking of is if there was a playable role in the game like 'Hive Commander' or a Command Ship class of vessel - where you operate a ship that commands several other Drone ships.

 

And another player having the ability to 'Hack' the 'Control Matrix' or otherwise have the ability to take control of the Drones' and use voice commands to feed if orders.

Seems like two separate interfaces coming together.

 

 

 

I primarily worry about adding built in voice comms for several reasons.

  •  If you die and can't talk, right there any pvp force will choose to not use it.
  •  
  • If its popular it will take more system resources, areas it is likely to be used in social gatherings will already likely have a semi-large data load just for normal player actions
  • It will take more developer time away from other aspects if they choose to not implement a half-arsed VOIP that is also integrated into game play

Its great for second life and games where meet and greets are the main game play, and for single player experiences. For MMO's many people are already entrenched into third party communications. I feel it would have a hard time gaining traction unless its really a feature that is pushed by the Dev''s

 

 

Yes, this... Actually my original thought of it was 1st directed to "actual" communications between players, but I had a low IQ moment when I didn't realize about 3rd party comms, like Klatu mentioned,  And thus, thinking a bit on what Astrov, mentioned... but you elaborated more on this...

 

Comms. Disruption can be used with commands coming from the "commander" to the "drone ships" and thus being interrupted...

 

Thanks Kongu!

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Hi everyone,

About the communication disruptor, as Klatu & Astrov said, this game mechanic would rely on "good faith" from all the players. 

If they have any alternative to avoid this communication jam, many of them will use it (TS, Mumble, Skype).

Therefore, implementing such a thing would be useless.

 

@Astrov: I don't understand very well what exactly you mean by "hacking AI with vocal command".

Could you be a bit more specific? :)

 

Hey Nyzaltar! You would be able to give orders to enemy AI under certain requirements (so it won't be easy) and command them, technically being 'hacked'. Not all will be able to be hacked this way, only lesser AI. I think it would be cool to do this with with voice, so it is actually two separate ideas.

 

Here's an example. Two ships are locked in a fight, one of them wants to infiltrate the enemy's hull. There's an AI that can open/close the boarding dock on the ship. So, it's a good idea to hack this AI to board the enemy ship. By special means, you hack into it and request the AI to "Open the boarding dock". This will be similar to how you can command your own AI with voice. However, I'm not sure exactly how they will be hacked into receiving orders, but it won't be easy!

 

It may not be a viable idea but I am exploring what other things voice command can be used for.

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I would love to have the ability for someone who "owned" an area to drop a prop to bring in some URL stream.  Either for background music, or DJ's (yes, this is a self interest post  LOL).   Such a thing is pretty much essential if you want to open a club, bar, cantina, etc....  

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I would love to have the ability for someone who "owned" an area to drop a prop to bring in some URL stream.  Either for background music, or DJ's (yes, this is a self interest post  LOL).   Such a thing is pretty much essential if you want to open a club, bar, cantina, etc....  

 

Great idea! Don't hesitate to post it in the Idea Box section, PetdCat! :)

@ Astrov and the others: this is also true for any suggestion/idea you might have. Use the Idea Box section: the first ideas were posted by me as it was just extracted from the blog comments. But feel free to use this section by yourself. The only rule is to post only one idea/suggestion per topic (and post only realistic ones)  ;)

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I was the one who first suggested real voice chat system where you could talk like you would in real life on the main devblog web site before they had the forums so it is cool that that idea is actually being tossed around. It is correct though to say that it could get very noisy in a crowded area so I was thinking maybe having it as an option so you could turn it off whenever it got annoying.

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I was the one who first suggested real voice chat system where you could talk like you would in real life on the main devblog web site before they had the forums so it is cool that that idea is actually being tossed around. It is correct though to say that it could get very noisy in a crowded area so I was thinking maybe having it as an option so you could turn it off whenever it got annoying.

 

Yes, I suppose I should give you credit haha. Whenever it'll be implemented, we'll be able to socialize more which I think is important. The voice command feature is something I thought of when playing other MMO's, point-and-click is tedious sometimes and it's easier to use a microphone.

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