Game Mechanics Handicap-friendly controls, and in particular, grappling equipment.

macks2008🌳

Terrarian
If there's one thing I, as a paraplegic gamer, didn't like about the 1.3 update, it's that grappling hooks can no longer be used when held, which really makes things a harder for me, and frankly makes the Web Slinger useless. Besides this when I click the on-screen keyboard (which I use for all keyboard interaction*), the game also treats it as a left click, presumably because the on-screen keyboard doesn't become the active window (so the OS still sends the click event to Terraria.exe). This is usually okay, but if I happen to be holding a pickaxe when I want to move near or past a critter I'm trying not to kill (after all, fishbowls are worth 20 silver and glowing scales are worth 50 silver), it can cause a bit of unintended and difficult-to-avoid carnage. Don't even get me started if my hotbar happens to be on a stack of bombs when I want to move...

If there's any questions, please ask.



*Movement, opening my inventory, switching my hotbar slot, etc.; if it's a keyboard key, I require the on-screen keyboard to type it at any speed faster than the speed of Dragon
 
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I have nothing to offer or suggest, except that I agree the game should be made more accessible to players who need some kind of special accommodation. Making grappling items work from the hotbar would be a good start.

On second thought I have maybe half a suggestion. There might be a setting to adjust the mouse's interaction with the hotbar, can't recall what it is though or whether it's still effective. Can anyone else come up with the other half, since all I have is that vague semi-recollection?
 
I honestly don't know of something you could do about this. But I will bump this for you, if anybody does know a fix. Stupid how they made grapples not work from the hotbar anymore.
 
bump: no acknowledgement from staff and I am still disabled, still want to be able to play the game as well as I could before, but still can't for reasons explained in the OP (after all, both reasons were unintended side effects of programming and design choices, not "features").
Also, it's not like I'm asking developers to do something like rewrite the Pirate Invasion event from scratch. I just want
  • if remotely possible, for the various grappling tools (which probably all inherit from one programmatic class) to be usable when held (either on the cursor or selected on the hotbar) like they used to be (the emphasized point means it should be incredibly easy, as it would just be a reversion... Unless someone did something stupid anyway).
  • If fairly feasible, for the Windows 8.1 On-Screen Keyboard to interact with Terraria's window in the same way that literally every other application I use (or even own, for that matter) does.
Personally though, I'd be happy if I could just use grappling hooks like I used to be able to. Maybe the other thing could be worked into the next update along with compatibility for Windows 10 (which I'll probably be upgrading to soon, anyway. I don't know, I've heard bad things about it, so maybe not.)
 
You could use climbing claws?
I can use climbing claws if I don't mind holding my mouse cursor over the left arrow key on the on-screen keyboard while my character swings whatever he happens to be holding...
Edit: that's not to say they don't help if I happen to be falling down a hellevator or something like that, but that's about the only time they're useful to me. I can't jump while holding the left or right arrow key because that would require moving my cursor off the left or right arrow key... See the issue here?
 
I can use climbing claws if I don't mind holding my mouse cursor over the left arrow key on the on-screen keyboard while my character swings whatever he happens to be holding...
Edit: that's not to say they don't help if I happen to be falling down a hellevator or something like that, but that's about the only time they're useful to me. I can't jump while holding the left or right arrow key because that would require moving my cursor off the left or right arrow key... See the issue here?
Maybe I don't undersatnd your condition. Doesn't parapalegia only affect the lower body?
 
bump: no acknowledgement from staff and I am still disabled

Macks, there are thousands of posts on this forum a day, and hundreds of Suggestion posts. There are nearly 7,000 suggestions in this section, and there are only so many hours a day while the developers continue to work on the game. While your suggestion is just as valid as everyone elses, there is no reasonable way for them to sort through all of the posts, let alone suggestions on this forum. The Suggestion forum is primarily used for recording ideas and then drumming up popular support; it is not and cannot realistically be perused by the developer team for suggestions, especially when everyone's suggestions warrant just as valid as the next.

So while I don't see any issues with your proposals themselves, and I do consider it a reasonable idea, you also have to respect that the developers are only a small group of humans dealing with a massive, constantly active forum . . . your post isn't being singled out for neglect here.

Its also worth pointing out that even if this is changed, it would only be when they are ready to release a new version . . . this could be weeks, or months. So patience will be required no matter what the outcome.
 
Maybe I don't undersatnd your condition. Doesn't parapalegia only affect the lower body?
Well really my condition is between paraplegia and quadriplegia and it's close enough to the latter that I don't have fine motor control and can't use my keyboard. I often refer to my condition as paraplegia but according to my latest medical records, it's diagnosed as quadriplegia. The exact point of injury is prone to causing confusion.
Oh, and one last thing: you misspelled 'understand' :p
Macks, there are thousands of posts on this forum a day, and hundreds of Suggestion posts. There are nearly 7,000 suggestions in this section, and there are only so many hours a day while the developers continue to work on the game. While your suggestion is just as valid as everyone elses, there is no reasonable way for them to sort through all of the posts, let alone suggestions on this forum. The Suggestion forum is primarily used for recording ideas and then drumming up popular support; it is not and cannot realistically be perused by the developer team for suggestions, especially when everyone's suggestions warrant just as valid as the next.

So while I don't see any issues with your proposals themselves, and I do consider it a reasonable idea, you also have to respect that the developers are only a small group of humans dealing with a massive, constantly active forum . . . your post isn't being singled out for neglect here.

Its also worth pointing out that even if this is changed, it would only be when they are ready to release a new version . . . this could be weeks, or months. So patience will be required no matter what the outcome.
It's ok, I understand. It's as frustrating as hell, but I understand. If I manage to figure out how to patch my problem myself would it most likely be included in the official game? If so I'll get right on it.
 
How you resolve it personally is unlikely to have an impact on the game development one way or another; additions like this have to be made to account for all users, and so a solution would probably be designed from the ground up to be coded into the game directly.
 
How you resolve it personally is unlikely to have an impact on the game development one way or another; additions like this have to be made to account for all users, and so a solution would probably be designed from the ground up to be coded into the game directly.
oh yeah, I forgot about the other PC versions, Linux and Mac (that is what you meant, right?). Is there anything I can do to help simplify patching the problem and make it more likely to be patched? Surely you could at least reverse the change (or make it optional) to how grappling hooks are activated?
 
oh yeah, I forgot about the other PC versions, Linux and Mac (that is what you meant, right?). Is there anything I can do to help simplify patching the problem and make it more likely to be patched? Surely you could at least reverse the change (or make it optional) to how grappling hooks are activated?

I can't say one way or another whether a fix you develop would/could be added into the game; ultimately, those decisions lie in the hands of the developers, and there are numerous reasons why crowd-sourcing additions to the game has been extremely minimal, including legal ones.

When I said "all users", I'm speaking from the perspective that a possible handicap friendly game feature that benefits you may not necessarily be viable for others with different but similar handicaps, and time spent on features like this has to come out of time spent on other major features, perhaps even other handicap related features (for instance, modifications made to adapt the game for those with color blindness). So its not necessarily a question of "is this a worthy change" but a matter of "is there time for this change, and how will time spent on this change interfere with other changes, and could this change conflict with pre-existing mechanics that would require more adjustments that require more time", etc. And yes, something like this being applied to PC may require specific recoding for Linux and Mac as well, so ultimately, the possibilities are more complex than I can truly vouch for; only the coders could say exactly.
 
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