Flashing Lights deactivation option

[Arthurian Titan]

Hello, I'm very recently active on DST community, but I really love this game. I'm part of a community that is very tied together, and yesterday we had an accident on an online server because of the spam of Wickerbottom's End Is Nigh book. It caused one of my online friends suffer a seizure in middle game. I would really appreaciate if Klei implemented a Disable Flashing lights options on the Configuration Menu to make sure that people that suffer from epilepsy can play the game safely. Thank you for listening to me <3
PS.: My friend is fine, he'll be offline for a week and his roommate notify me and the community he makes part of his conditions, he's under medical attention and will be good soon.

[Rembo]

We sure hope klei adds an option to disable the flashes from the end is nigh and gunpowder, it's extremely dangerous and might cause seriously injuries.

I sure hope your friend gets up fine from this and thanks Titan for addressing this problem.

[enricool]

I'm sure he'll recover :)

[sl2va]

I always knew about possible eplepsy problem with lightnings, but never thought that it's can happen with player that i know.

[Ornge]

Thats horrible, I really hope klei adds an option to disable it in the future

[wigfrids hat]

i haven't seen this but now i am worried. i get really sick from flashes x____x

[Horsetail Plant]

Yes we need that option.So many people have epilepsy and those flashing lights can harm

 them.It should be a option.Pls Klei

 

[SpiderPriest]

i really hope Klei adds this , i really don't want this to happen to anyone else

[douan33]

Klei should add this option in the next QoL. There's no time to make it wait, everyone would be okay if they had to release the update in a later time, if they need to fully change the End Is Nigh book or to add the button. 

[. . .]

yep, klei should add option for insanity volume and the flashes in same update since this stuff can cause rl problems for people

[punnet]

sad to see a health risk overlooked like this in a game, I hope this is fixed soon so another incident doesn't happen. Hope your friend gets well soon

[bagherthegamer]

When it comes to real life risk i think it should be taken care of immediately. 

Hope a developer see's this. 

[JoeW]

I am sorry to hear about your friend. I hope they feel better soon. 

We looked into this recently and while I don't think it's totally ready yet we will have it in the for the QOL update coming next week.

We don't have an update for insanity in for this QOL but we do have it on the list to be fixed as well. 

[Ryde]

It is great to hear this is being looked at.

A seizure is a very serious medical condition and must be avoided at all costs. It's such a shame people prone to it can't go to any nightclub.

[minespatch]

Thanks Joe.

[Arthurian Titan]

14 minutes ago, JoeW said:

I am sorry to hear about your friend. I hope they feel better soon. 

We looked into this recently and while I don't think it's totally ready yet we will have it in the for the QOL update coming next week.

We don't have an update for insanity in for this QOL but we do have it on the list to be fixed as well. 

Thank you so much. He's recovering and resting, but I'm very happy to see that you guys at Klei are doing something about it. Me and the DST community is glad that you guys are resolving this issue. Thank you. <3

[Octavia360]

I think that this can also happen with gunpowder and snurtle slime, so if there was an option to remove flashing lights, explosions should also be affected by that.

[Cheeto-Jesus]

Thanks Joe! Glad to see that the friend is recovering.

If we are to change something for lightning and repeated flashes, we can also implement something like where the light glow overlay happens instantaneously, but holds for a second or two before gradually dimming down over time. Lessens the effects of night? Yes. Gamebreaking? Shouldn't be. It does (or I hope it does) reduce the chances of people getting repeated flashes of light on their screen since the light timer gets reset every time another lightning strikes near screen. 

Please excuse me if this may not be the occasion to suggest this. Just hoping to also get less flashing lights in my face too while still getting the feedback that lightning is happening.

[Blucario90]

Can we get support of this for Don't Starve (Singleplayer)?

[KCDA]

1 hour ago, JoeW said:

We looked into this recently and while I don't think it's totally ready yet we will have it in the for the QOL update coming next week.

The absolute last thing I'd ever want to do is be the "I told you this would happen guy..." I DO NOT WANT TO BE THAT GUY. But there have been several people warning about this for years, and I knew that unfortunately this horrifying event would most likely happen some day...

Lightning Strikes in and of themselves are horrible, and only get worse when you consider things like Mosslings, and especially The End Is Nigh...

A single strike first plunges the entire world into pitch black darkness, (enough to force close any Ice Boxes or Chests that are opened) for a very short amount of time. In the next instant, it lights up the entire world brighter than it would normally be, only to rapidly dissipate back into normal brightness in the next moment...

A very thematic approach sure, but quite problematic, from a health perspective, let alone gameplay wise.

This problem is only exasperated by Wickerbottom's Book: The End Is Nigh. In DS, it might not be an issue, since there's 0 reason to actually cast it. It doesn't do good damage, can strike the caster, and using Lightning Rods for light isn't great... In DST however, WX-78 exists, and any player would crave the Overcharged state, and thus seek out a Wickerbottom to not only read the book, but read it multiple times in quick succession...

March 12, 2013 - A Little Rain Must Fall. That was when Lightning was added to the series... Over 7 years.

So, what needs to happen to Lightning in my opinion?

1. The option alone isn't enough. From this QOL update and onward, the first time someone launches the game, they need to have a prompt, asking if they are sensitive to flashing lights, and would like to tone down Lightning. Klei, you know how many people have bought DS and DST, you know how many people this can potentially affect. How is someone, who NEEDS this change supposed to know that it was added if they are already playing the game? You can't honestly expect those who need it, to check the settings every update to see if it exists yet.
2. Lightning itself needs to be toned down, regardless of the setting. Why plunge the ENTIRE world in these sudden light changes? Why not a local area, why darken the world around you, not only making the "real" flash more intense, but the darkness itself acting as an inverse flash. 
3. For the love of god, please put this in DS as well, it can't be DST exclusive. It'd be horrible negligent otherwise.
4. Please stop having it impact gameplay in annoying ways like closing chests, or the brief moment of insanity due to darkness. Yeah, it's a small thing, but if you're gonna change Lightning, why not? People have been wanting this for 7 bloody years.

 

TLDR: 7 long years... It has been a possibility for 7 years, it's a miracle that it took this long if you ask me, and for that, I am thankful. Thank god, we haven't heard of any other victims for so long. Klei, please, go the extra mile for us.

[CameoAppearance]

I'll probably use this setting off and on even though I'm not epileptic, because there are times when flashing lights instantaneously give me bad eyestrain headaches. (Some people can get full-fledged migraines from them, but the headaches they give me aren't that bad.) This will be helpful for lots of people bothered by flashing lights, not only for photosensitive epileptics.

14 minutes ago, KCDA said:

Lightning itself needs to be toned down, regardless of the setting. Why plunge the ENTIRE world in these sudden light changes? Why not a local area, why darken the world around you, not only making the "real" flash more intense, but the darkness itself acting as an inverse flash. 

I can't agree that this is necessary if you have Disable Flashing Lights turned off and have already seen a prompt that makes you aware that they can be disabled. If the high contrast flash is a problem for you, is that not the entire purpose of the Disable Flashing Lights setting? Just make the setting take those lighting changes out too, in addition to the flash itself.

I approve of the suggestion of a prompt to make players aware that the option now exists and of back-porting the setting to DSAlone (even without The End is Nigh being useful, hurricane season in SW can be very lightning-heavy, and then there's angry orphan moslings to consider in both games), but there's no need to tone down the look and feel of lightning strikes for other players who explicitly chose not to use that setting.

[Maxil20]

I'm happy lightning is getting changed in DST. As @KCDA did state, though, a change for this would be appreciated in vanilla DS as well.

While the book easily is the main issue in DST, DS has a few issues as well with other methods. In particular:

• Hammering the pseudoscience stations in the ruins will cause a lightning strike for every single entity spawned from the station. While it's normally only 1-2 strikes, loot like the trinkets/batalisks from it can cause over 5 strikes at once, in a very short amount of time. This is especially bad if something like a rook rams into it, where it both rolls loot twice and spawns a lightning bolt due to the station being smashed. (This doesn't occur in DST, since it's impossible for lightning to strike whatsoever in the caves)
• RoG has the moslings, and while it isn't as bad compared to other methods, getting multiple strikes isn't unheard of and can amass quite quickly.
• SW's Hurricane season has constant lightning bolts come down every few seconds for over 4-5 minutes, and is especially bad during the long nights that you will usually experience in combo with it as well.
• HAM's Thunderbirds cause 3 rapid strikes of lightning, and can be activated by anything going near them. Apork only magnifies the problem, where they cast 10 bolts of lightning at once.

As for the prompt suggestion, I also agree with this as well. There are already similar warnings when you boot up DS/DST (DS will warn you of trying to play ROG if you haven't played much vanilla yet, and DST will warn you if you immediately try to start playing multiplayer to start a solo world in order to try to learn the ropes of the game). I think a simple prompt that is displayed only once when launching about being notified about flashing lights and having the option to tone them down would be very helpful for players, especially given it's severity to people who are affected by this.

I am very pleased this is being looked at though. I did think it was a community based thing to help others who are impacted with it (such as warning very clearly in chat to open the map/close your eyes, or streamers usually opening the map during end is nigh reads), and I am happy that proper action is being taken, and I do really appreciate the kindness of the devs going this far to try to prevent it.

[me real life]

59 minutes ago, KCDA said:

The absolute last thing I'd ever want to do is be the "I told you this would happen guy..." I DO NOT WANT TO BE THAT GUY. But there have been several people warning about this for years, and I knew that unfortunately this horrifying event would most likely happen some day...

...

This problem is only exasperated by Wickerbottom's Book: The End Is Nigh. In DS, it might not be an issue, since there's 0 reason to actually cast it. It doesn't do good damage, can strike the caster, and using Lightning Rods for light isn't great..

...

Please stop having it impact gameplay in annoying ways like closing chests, or the brief moment of insanity due to darkness. Yeah, it's a small thing, but if you're gonna change Lightning, why not? People have been wanting this for 7 bloody years.

It's incredibly insensitive to come into a thread about how someone literally had a seizure due to DST lightning, proceed to say "I told you so" to a dev and then complain about how an item isn't useful in DS and that lightning simply annoys you in DST.

[CameoAppearance]

10 minutes ago, Maxil20 said:

HAM's Thunderbirds cause 3 rapid strikes of lightning, and can be activated by anything going near them. Apork only magnifies the problem, where they cast 10 bolts of lightning at once.

Oof, yeah, I forgot about the Thunderbirds entirely. Them too. Moslings, hurricane season, thunderbirds, and hammering pseudoscience stations: the four horsemen of the singleplayer lightningpocalypse.

[Mrklli]

For me flashing lights won't trigger epilepsy but migraine, and even though it shouldn't cause me any risk of injuries it's still horrible and sometimes scary too. I'd rather not experience that. I would really like to see some options for flashing lights, but before we have them we as a community can make a difference. If you EVER decide to cause lighnting strikes etc while playing with others, give a warning before you start or even ask your fellow players if they're ok with it. It'll only take a sec and it might mean really much to somebody.