20 replies to this topic

[Soda Popinsky]

I'd like to see a simple voice command system, where players can have their avatar call out "Alpha," "Bravo," "Charlie," etc.

The coordinated focus fire possible with Voice Chat with Team Speak / C3 really makes a difference, and is something PUGs don't get. The Text Chat is too easy to ignore in the heat of battle, compared to an audio cue.


Something as simple as hitting "V" for voice opening up a menu of things to say, these for example:

• Alpha
  
• Bravo
  
• Charlie
  
• Delta
  
• Echo
  
• Foxtrot
  
• Golf
  
• Hotel
  
• Go Left
  
• Go Right
  
• Upper
  
• Lower

People may say this isn't needed, as C3 VoiceChat will eventually be put in place. The problem is, not everybody has a microphone, speaks English, or is comfortable using voice chat.


Note: I did a search, but the topic that popped up wasn't in the suggestions forum.

[Calimaw]

I think it would useful.

Perhaps something a bit more robust with key combos

V (voice) -> A (attack) -> G (gamma)
V (voice) -> I (incoming) -> T (theta)

as an example.

[Penance]

way way way later....but you do understand what would be involved in a voice recognition system right?

if you think the games code is long and buggy now....

a better option, and easier to do, is a "free mouse" pointer option, and something that lets you set waypoints on the minimap.

Edited by Penance, 24 January 2013 - 09:28 AM.

[Fut]

Penance, on 24 January 2013 - 09:26 AM, said:

way way way later....but you do understand what would be involved in a voice recognition system right?

if you think the games code is long now.....

Whoa whoa whoa.
It's not a voice recognition system. It's sort of the opposite of that.

The suggestion is to have a system in place that allows people with or without a mic to deliver simple voice commands to their team. They hit a few buttons on their keyboard and the game plays a pre-recorded soundtrack of the command for the rest of the team. This would enable everybody to focus fire onto one opponent, or direct the movement of the lance.

Edited by Fut, 24 January 2013 - 09:30 AM.

[Penance]

Fut, on 24 January 2013 - 09:29 AM, said:

Whoa whoa whoa.
It's not a voice recognition system. It's sort of the opposite of that.

The suggestion is to have a system in place that allows people with or without a mic to deliver simple voice commands to their team. They hit a few buttons on their keyboard and the game plays a pre-recorded soundtrack of the command for the rest of the team. This would enable everybody to focus fire onto one opponent, or direct the movement of the lance.

is it like Battlefields CommoRose?..my mistake, interpreted it completely wrong, sounds like the commorose is what he wants.

Just what I want to hear spammed..

ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED


*shudders*....although i do understand the suggestion and it's not bad, but ENEMY MECH SPOTTED

Edited by Penance, 24 January 2013 - 09:42 AM.

[Calimaw]

Penance, on 24 January 2013 - 09:38 AM, said:

is it like Battlefields CommoRose?..my mistake, interpreted it completely wrong, sounds like the commorose is what he wants.

Just what I want to hear spammed..

ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED


*shudders*....although i do understand the suggestion and it's not bad, but ENEMY MECH SPOTTED

Oddly enough I play the game while listening to an endless loop of ENEMY MECH SPOTTED

[Fut]

Penance, on 24 January 2013 - 09:38 AM, said:

ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED

Oh lord.
People spamming the voice-command constantly hadn't even crossed my mind!
Great thinking on your part though, because this is going to happen in a lot of pug matches....
I'm getting a headache just thinking about it...

Calimaw, on 24 January 2013 - 09:44 AM, said:

Oddly enough I play the game while listening to an endless loop of ENEMY MECH SPOTTED

Haha. Well I hope it's at least set to some wicked techno-beats or something.

[Soda Popinsky]

I play another tactical shooter, Red Orchestra 1 & 2. It has voice commands, either by menu buttons, or by mouse over menu. There isn't any spamming that I ever hear on that game. The worst spamming is from VoIP with people jibber-jabbering or singing (which can be muted for specific players).

I'm not familiar with CommoRose, as I don't play Battlefield. I suspect you get the spamming due to the larger teams and automatic spotting nature of it.

I'm not suggesting automatic spotting. Calling out if a mech is spotted isn't really as useful as having commands to focus fire on specific mech designations (Alpha, Bravo, etc). When those 2 Atlai appear, it doesn't help as much to have a notification that an Atlas was spotted, as you don't know which one to focus fire on first.

If spamming really is an issue, I'd suggest an option to disable Voice Command notifications, or mute specific players. It would still work if Text Notifications were coupled with Voice Command notifications.

Edited by Soda Popinsky, 24 January 2013 - 10:15 AM.

[ValdnadHartagga]

I loved using the radio commands in Counter-Strike (of which I've only played the original and first Steam versions, so I don't know how much has changed). You had two sets of radio commands, each with its own menu that could be brought up with a single keystroke. Then, a number selection would play an audio clip - you could communicate with just two keystrokes. Each audio clip was pretty general - "Go go go!" or "Taking fire, need assistance!" for example and typically of no help when the other players didn't know where you were. But they added a lot of flavor.

Another game I played (and just resdiscovered) is Infantry Online, which allows chat macros. Not only are there commands that can be used to share information such as location and heading (great for crafting messages like "Enemies spotted EAST of A5!"), but you could also assign an audio cue from a list (so I could attach the "Enemy sighted!" audio cue to the example above). Infantry Online does not have VOIP, so players do depend on chat for information. The macros, however, require extensive knowledge of the various commands and how to impement them, plus they have to be coded in-game, so you were likely to be killed while coming up with a great kill-stinger. However, most games are persistent and you can respawn until the game ends so it's not too big a deal.

For MWO, I might propose a hybrid of the two systems I have described above. Rapid communication using single keystrokes that display text information as well as play an audio cue. First key brings up a non-obtrusive menu that displays a short list of options. My ideas:

1. Enemy Spotted (would include text information with facing and grid coords)
2. Attack My Target (would also highlight, but not select, target in question for receiving players. Perhaps supply grid coords.)
3. Advance (if a Commander has designated an Attack/Move point, perhaps include a text prompt with grid coordinates and contextual directional instruction, i.e. "Advance East to A5")
4. Hold Position (again, if a Commander has designated a specific point, provide grid coords and directional info)
5. Fall Back/Retreat/Regroup
6. Defend Objective (maybe contextual depending on game type)

Any thoughts?

[Soda Popinsky]

ValdnadHartagga, on 24 January 2013 - 10:51 AM, said:

For MWO, I might propose a hybrid of the two systems I have described above. Rapid communication using single keystrokes that display text information as well as play an audio cue. First key brings up a non-obtrusive menu that displays a short list of options. My ideas:

1. Enemy Spotted (would include text information with facing and grid coords)
2. Attack My Target (would also highlight, but not select, target in question for receiving players. Perhaps supply grid coords.)
3. Advance (if a Commander has designated an Attack/Move point, perhaps include a text prompt with grid coordinates and contextual directional instruction, i.e. "Advance East to A5")
4. Hold Position (again, if a Commander has designated a specific point, provide grid coords and directional info)
5. Fall Back/Retreat/Regroup
6. Defend Objective (maybe contextual depending on game type)

Any thoughts?

Sounds good to me, as long as "Attack my Target" would also give the A, B, C, etc designation. Otherwise, teammates won't know which is your target.

[Garth Erlam]

Roger That.
I've Got The Point.
Go, Go, Go!

(Idea forwarded!)
Garth: Cicada Message Delivery Service

[focuspark]

Limit the command to and from the Lance Commander, problem solved.

[Soda Popinsky]

focuspark, on 24 January 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

Limit the command to and from the Lance Commander, problem solved.

Problem with that is the lance commander might not be the one who spots that Atlas cresting the hill. It could work if the spotting commands go up the chain of command to the commanders, then the commanders can call out who to focus fire on. That may be too complicated in the real world.

Glad Garth took notice (amazing Devs). I've also seen a suggestion to re-implement (from MW2 & MW3) the 3D damage model - as sort of a 3rd person view to help newbies figure out the torso twist. No out of mech 3rd person view to get pissed off about, and no splitting of the community.

Edited by Soda Popinsky, 24 January 2013 - 01:05 PM.

[Chavette]

Penance, on 24 January 2013 - 09:38 AM, said:

is it like Battlefields CommoRose?..my mistake, interpreted it completely wrong, sounds like the commorose is what he wants.

Just what I want to hear spammed..

ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY RAVEN SPOTTED
ENEMY ATLAS SPOTTED
ENEMY HUNCHBACK SPOTTED
ENEMY JENNER SPOTTED
ENEMY CATAPHRACT SPOTTED


*shudders*....although i do understand the suggestion and it's not bad, but ENEMY MECH SPOTTED

Imagine betty saying that, in order of appearance, that thing would never stop talking, lol!

[Fooooo]

A good example of perfect Vsays is ET / ET:Quake wars.

Clean, simple and lots of different things you can say, request etc.

V to bring up the voice menu. A number from 1 to 0 to select the type of message. A number to select the voice command in that group.

So player presses V.

Main Menu
1. Movement Orders
2. Grid Locations
3. Requests
4. Taunts
5. Misc
6. etc etc etc

Player presses 1.

Menu 1 (Movement group)
1. Move left
2. Move right
3. Follow Me!
4. Re-group!
5. etc etc etc

Player presses 3. (follow me!) All up so far, V-1-3.


(those aren't the exact same menu names as was in et or QW)

There was also an option in Quake wars to have the mouse come up so you can click them if you don't want to use the keys.....


It would be great to have something like this. Also with a spam filter like QW also eventually had. (can't repeat requests to spam or you get blocked from vsays for X seconds)

[ValdnadHartagga]

Garth Erlam, on 24 January 2013 - 12:55 PM, said:

(Idea forwarded!)

Yay, I contributed!

[Werewolf486 ScorpS]

Oh I thought this was going to be a cool thread about having voice commands for mech functions! "Sensors On", "Thermal On", "Next Target"

[Soda Popinsky]

Werewolf486, on 25 January 2013 - 01:49 PM, said:

Oh I thought this was going to be a cool thread about having voice commands for mech functions! "Sensors On", "Thermal On", "Next Target"

I'd keep saying "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot." And hoping my eventual cup holder will replicate said tea.

That said, Unreal Tournament had speech recognition a decade ago. You just had to install the Microsoft Speech Recognition pack on Windows.

[Volume]

Soda Popinsky, on 04 February 2013 - 09:32 AM, said:

I'd keep saying "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot." And hoping my eventual cup holder will replicate said tea.

That said, Unreal Tournament had speech recognition a decade ago. You just had to install the Microsoft Speech Recognition pack on Windows.

A decade and four more years than that ago, really.

It also was the first game I played that had the "V" menu that these people are talking about. Granted, Tribes had it before UT (15 years ago), and the VGS system is one of the reasons that Tribes: Ascend was compelling at all.

[hercules1981]

I'm sure plenty of people would hit the wrong key getting shot at then say oooo **** I hit the wrong key and try it again and then die because of it. I think your idea isn't worth the devs time at all they got plenty of other things to do especially with the clan invasion every1 is talking about coming up shortly. Go to Walmart and buy a 10 dollar mic and get on teamspeak

Edited by hercules1981, 04 February 2013 - 04:46 PM.