Bubble Chat

Heres is an idea that might add to the chat:
When a person chats it won't only appear in the chat below but above your ship.. Like this!

[Little_Apple]

Bitfighter isn't an mmo.

[bobdaduck]

What? Of course bitfighter is an MMO. With levels and quests and chat bubbles!

Seriously though, It would obscure bullets and stuff which would make it a bit harder to play. Not a huge drawback, but it also doesn't really add anything so I don't see the merit of this idea.

[Skybax]

I kinda like it, actually. Think about it.
Obscuring bullets? Really? Do we reeeeally need to see a phaser in the .79 seconds it exists directly above our ship? If you're typing I don't know if you'd really care. For everyone else, it would make it faster to read what other's are saying. Especially quick commands. Instead of having to look to the bottom left of the screen (which is a long ways on big monitors) you can just see it above the player's ship.

[watusimoto]

My first reaction is positive... but what about players who are off-screen?

[Skybax]

The chat would still show up in the bottom left, it would just also show up in a bubble for those near.

[Little_Apple]

If it were to be added I would like it if you could turn it on/off via the settings menu.

[watusimoto]

You'd also lose all sense of message ordering; who was replying to what.

[Santiago ZAP]

I would like to see this in game

What? Of course bitfighter is an MMO.

Its a MO (not MMO, which stands to Massive Multiplayer online, its a Multiplayer online game, it really needs players)

I think it could be useful to mark an area. Like, "This area has been heavily attacked in the past, please defend it." Or, "Hey, I'm gonna go pwn some noobs, want to help?"

I am concerned about visibilty, however. Assuming the bubble could stretch to accomodate longer messages, there could be a huge bar of text hovering over a ship for several seconds (I would assume the bubble would need to remain visible for several seconds or else the message could not be read). This on its own is not an issue, however, several ships typing and sending out bubbles in a crowded area could be problematic.

And not necessarily blocking vision, but distracting as well.

[Skybax]

Well, if a bunch of people wanna sit in one place and spam the chat box, there's probably not a game going (or at least one that they care about) and so visibility wouldn't really be a problem.

Well, if a bunch of people wanna sit in one place and spam the chat box, there's probably not a game going (or at least one that they care about) and so visibility wouldn't really be a problem.

I agree, but communication is crucial in games that require teamwork. Maybe just have premade commands of: Attack!, Defend!, Medic!, Repair!, Help!. However, we already have this in bitfighter, but it could have a better organization, in my opinion. (press "V" in bitfighter) We have a current chat system...Opti's idea seems unnecessary and I rather have our small force of programmers to program something else or take a break. Also, using skype could replace this idea, easily.

If teamwork is what you want, instant communication is the way to go, aka voice chat. There should be a more official "voice chat lock" button.

If teamwork is what you want,instant communication is the way to go, aka voice chat. There should be a more official "voice chat lock" button.

I kinda like it, actually. Think about it.
Obscuring bullets? Really? Do we reeeeally need to see a phaser in the .79 seconds it exists directly above our ship? If you're typing I don't know if you'd really care. For everyone else, it would make it faster to read what other's are saying. Especially quick commands. Instead of having to look to the bottom left of the screen (which is a long ways on big monitors) you can just see it above the player's ship.

The global voice chat with the current team voice chat could completely replace this bubble chat feature. The purpose of the bubble chat is to improve communication, but the voice chat is the best.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1350&p=13835#p13835

One problemo: not every PC user has a mic.

In my opinion, I think it's hard to program a "chat bubble" that follows the ship (while still being above the ship). Also, the bubble has to be resizable for long messages; however, we shouldn't need a huge chat bubble. Thus, I think the game should only have the quick commands like: Attack!, Defend!, and Retreat! to be chat bubbles; or the game could have a limited amount of characters for the chat bubbles like a limit of 10-20 characters.

Since microphones aren't a requirement for the game, then some type of bubble chat system seems beneficial.

In my opinion, I think it's hard to program a "chat bubble" that follows the ship (while still being above the ship). Also, the bubble has to be resizable for long messages; however, we shouldn't need a huge chat bubble. Thus, I think the game should only have the quick commands like: Attack!, Defend!, and Retreat! to be chat bubbles; or the game could have a limited amount of characters for the chat bubbles like a limit of 10-20 characters.

Since microphones aren't a requirement for the game, then some type of bubble chat system seems beneficial.

Its not a matter of "how hard would the be to code" sort of a situation, its more of a matter of "how would this be useful and practical" sort of a question. From what I've seen on this thread, i have not seen legitimate reason why this should and could be useful.

Well, one reason is because the bubble chat is more noticeable than the current chat box.

I kinda like it, actually. Think about it.
Obscuring bullets? Really? Do we reeeeally need to see a phaser in the .79 seconds it exists directly above our ship? If you're typing I don't know if you'd really care. For everyone else, it would make it faster to read what other's are saying. Especially quick commands. Instead of having to look to the bottom left of the screen (which is a long ways on big monitors) you can just see it above the player's ship.

However, I said the global voice chat can easily replace this feature, but you said we don't all have microphones...could we just persuade players to buy microphones?

[sam686]

If it were to be added I would like it if you could turn it on/off via the settings menu.

If it was added, I might want it to be turned on/off by pressing ctrl + M.

Looks like chat bubble is adding more stuff around ship, just like player name is below other ships. With the font size small enough and no outlines, it won't block much of anything. I haven't yet heard of anyone complaining that ship names is distracting or blocking from seeing bullets or anything.

If it's a huge message it would. Like this: THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS TTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMM SSSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The chat bubble's character limit is important.

Well, if a bunch of people wanna sit in one place and spam the chat box, there's probably not a game going (or at least one that they care about) and so visibility wouldn't really be a problem.

It shouldn't take a bunch of people sitting in a corner to spam bubbles. There can still be a lot of chat bubbles if people are using the stop & go method or just using quick chat messages. Furthermore, even if they are just sitting and chatting, it's reasonably possible that there are a couple of active players who legitimately want to play the game.

However, I said the global voice chat can easily replace this feature, but you said we don't all have microphones...could we just persuade players to buy microphones?

I don't think encouraging users to buy microphones is the answer to this problem. We should try to implement features that cater to all users, but we can't be perfect. If there's one user who falls in that little crack, then that sucks but so be it.

Looks like chat bubble is adding more stuff around ship, just like player name is below other ships. With the font size small enough and no outlines, it won't block much of anything. I haven't yet heard of anyone complaining that ship names is distracting or blocking from seeing bullets or anything.

No, it's not just like the player name. The player name is tiny, rarely longer than the length of the ship. It is also just there for identification. A bubble's purpose is to be read by other players, so it would need to be large enough and remain visible long enough to do just that.

[watusimoto]

Ok, just to put this to rest, though I was originally intrigued by the idea, I am coming down against bubble chat because 1) it will take up valuable screen space, potentially in the center of the screen, 2) it makes it hard to follow the thread of a conversation, and 3) if someone is off screen you won't be able to see their messages.

[raptor]

Locking topic for now... it was already thoroughly discussed