6 ms·
It's also the games. Let's count them: 1. A collection of logos of the 30 studios that contributed to the title somehow, skippable or not. 2. A bunch of EULAs
by nottorp 6mo ago
It's also the games. Let's count them:
1. A collection of logos of the 30 studios that contributed to the title somehow, skippable or not.
2. A bunch of EULAs that you have to click through at least on the first run.
3. An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. I'm looking at you, Paradox and Vampire: Bloodlines 2. (For the record, I bought it extremely cheap, not at the launch price.)
4. On Playstation at least, the silly "press any button" screen. Why can't you give me the menu directly?
5. Another silly warning "this game has an autosave function". You may have to click through it or not.
6. If Rockstar, try to trick the user into launching the online component every time.
- tom_ 6mo agoThe Press Any Button screen is there so the game knows which input device is being used, and therefore (one way or another) which user, so it can apply any parental control/accessibility/etc. options required.
- nottorp 6mo agoWhich input device out of my total of one controller that is on? On a console that has already asked me who's playing when I turned it on?
- probably_wrong 6mo agoThe console knows all that, but does the game know all of that too? I'm not a console developer but perhaps the game doesn't have permissions to know which devices are on, only which devices are sending key presses right now.
- tom_ 6mo agoFeedback regarding the ins and outs of the UX would be better directed at Sony rather than me. But it accommodates the case where you haven't connected the controller yet. I can't remember if it's Playstation or Xbox that does this, but the game can start out in a sandboxed state, and explicit user input is required for the system to grant it access to the gamepad and the associated user.
- BoppreH 6mo agoI've seen computer games where any input device is accepted, and on-screen instructions refer to the last type of device used. Seemed like a good idea. And how does input-based parental control work? Do you hide the adult's controller?
- tom_ 6mo agoOn first use of the controller after a reboot, you're prompted to select which user is playing. Saved games and achievements and whatnot are per-user. If you've got a child in the household, you're expected to tag their user as such, which imposes some restrictions on their account. Then set up an access code on your user, so the child can't log in as you.
- jareklupinski 6mo ago> Do you hide the adult's controller? the case for physical games: put the cartridge on the high shelf
- ToucanLoucan 6mo agoI would argue it's also just a tradition of the medium at this point. And tbh most games I play would feel weird without it. It's like a spiritual carry-over from the Attract-Mode games used to have in arcades, and without even needing to put in a quarter. (Don't tell the game companies about that)
- shakow 6mo agoMany games can just swap devices on the fly (from the top of my mind, Elden Ring, Witcher 3, Lords of the Fallen, Dirt Rally).
- Forgeties79 6mo agoThis gets a little rickety when you have permissions tied to input devices, which is not uncommon in households with young children. Also for some games it’s just generally buggy.
- nemomarx 6mo agoWhich consoles/ systems use the controller to determine which account is active? At least on the switch you just have accounts in the upper left and switch between them regardless of controller. Is it a Sony implementation?
- Forgeties79 6mo agoI’m not trying to be difficult but this is very easy to search and the combative tone is unnecessary. I can tell you firsthand my Xbox does it, but that doesn’t really do anything for you because you already doubt me for some reason. You should still look it up to confirm it for yourself. You can tie users to controllers and set that for login. It’s a documented, widely used feature. I get that may sound ridiculous to you but it’s been standard for years.
- nemomarx 6mo agoI don't mean to be combative, I've just genuinely never used a console with that. The perils of mostly using PCs and Nintendo ones, I guess? If it's standard with both Xbox and Sony that does cleanly explain the press any button screen, although I wonder why they leave it in for the PC ports.
- nottorp 6mo ago
- fredoralive 6mo agoGames having a title screen where you “Press Start Button” is a slightly odd convention going back to the arcades, even on games where there’s only one set of controls.
- rcxdude 6mo agoWith arcades it at least makes sense because it puts the game out of demo/attract mode.
- nitwit005 6mo agoThere's no need to force a special interaction. They usually have to interact with a menu regardless. You can know the controller then. I had the impression this was on Sony's technical requirements list, so people have no choice.
- tom_ 6mo agoI assume the thinking is that there's a non-zero chance that the first input event will pop up some kind of user selection thingy. And that it's mildly cleaner to have this happen in response to a prompt such as PRESS <NAME OF BUTTON> TO START, where the user is clearly being directed to press a button to start, than it would be to be have it happen in response to them pressing (say) the down button when hoping to get to the second option of the apparently useable menu they'd just been presented with. As a bonus, this does also simplify handling any user-specific options that may affect the display of the initial menu.
- VoidWarranty 6mo agoYou're right about the reqs. A lot of the menu screen behaviors were traditions borrowed from arcade games and big box demo kiosks. The idea is that your game must do "something" if idle for a long period of time without someone officially "starting" it.
- Pay08 6mo ago> An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. That sounds amazing. Yeah, it's annoying, but I'd imagine it's much safer for epileptics.
- ToucanLoucan 6mo agoYes, BUT: Ubisoft's is not actually a click through and the amount of text on it means they show it for quite a long time, with no way to click past, and THAT is fucking obnoxious. I'm quite glad those warnings exist, don't get me wrong. I am not en epileptic, please do not try and force me to read your 3 paragraphs about epilepsy kthnx.
- Forgeties79 6mo agoBlame the lawyers then. I imagine very few games do it out of genuine concern for those with epilepsy. Accessibility is an after thought as well for many devs. I personally applaud any company that is attempting to increase accessibility and chooses to put up warning signs. I can press an extra button or two. It’s not the end of the world.
- ToucanLoucan 6mo agoOh absolutely agreed. I'm bitching about the inability to push those extra buttons.
- iamtedd 6mo agoIf I were an epileptic, I would appreciate seeing the warning before I buy the game, not once I've launched it. Which, by the way, invalidates Sony's return policy.
- Pay08 6mo agoI'm not a console player (or an epileptic), does Sony's storefront really not tell you about health warnings?
- 6mo ago