Readable text on SDTV

[Tails Prower]

Dear Obsidian,

I'm very interested in this game and I'm following it from a couple of weeks now. My question is simple: will this game be optimised for SDTVs too?

I'm asking this because the other big RPG came out recently, Mass Effect 2, had very little, tiny, microscopic text, and this has generated many many thread with anger and sadness on their forums (most of them have been closed or deleted, but you can still see them). This ended with Bioware saying they won't do this again for Mass Effect 3.

Now, how is this game optimized to be readable on SDTVs? Does it have tiny text (hope not)? :confused:
I'm not from USA or UK, i bet the game won't be dubbed in other languages, so I will ahve to read subtitles.... please make them readable.


That's all. Can't wait for the game.

[denyeverything]

plus one. good point man.

[Tails Prower]

plus one. good point man.

Thanks buddy!

Do you think anyone from Obsidian will ever see this thread?

[denyeverything]

Maybe. Regardless, I'm pretty sure that it's an issue they are aware of. Given the amount of delays' they have put on this for polish, I would be particularly irritated if none of that time went to this.

[bmovieblues]

I thought developers were aware of this issue when the fiasco with Dead Rising happened. Doesn't anyone remember that? Gamers complained they couldn't read the text on sdtv's. Now, that was a few years back. With the price of hdtv's dropping it would seem like most of the sdtv's would be phased out at this point. It was funny but during this whole issue with Dead Rising and the SDTV's Epic released a statement that Gears of War would be SDTV friendly.

Maybe the people involved with Alpha Protocol could take a page out of that marketing book. Though HDTV's aren't that costly now...

[Tails Prower]

I thought developers were aware of this issue when the fiasco with Dead Rising happened. Doesn't anyone remember that? Gamers complained they couldn't read the text on sdtv's. Now, that was a few years back. With the price of hdtv's dropping it would seem like most of the sdtv's would be phased out at this point. It was funny but during this whole issue with Dead Rising and the SDTV's Epic released a statement that Gears of War would be SDTV friendly.

Maybe the people involved with Alpha Protocol could take a page out of that marketing book. Though HDTV's aren't that costly now...

Yeah, HDTVs are becoming less expensive as time passes, but many people still doesn't have one (like me :p ) for a reason or another. If I can remember correctly, HDTV owners are something like 50% of the market, so half of the 360 users can't read Dead Rising or Mass Effect 2.

Like Denyeverything (nice nickname :D ) said, this game got dealyed for months and months, so I'm confident they won't do a mistake so stupid (and so easy to address)... but I was confident in Bioware too, and..... :(

It would be nice if someone from Obsidian would answer this, but I think I've never seen any developer in this forum.

[bmovieblues]

I would think if you were a gamer that had a hearing problem and owned a SDTV this would be a huge issue. I'm not educated in how games are presented for those who are hearing impaired. However, I would imagine subtitles help so seems like a pretty big issue. Could make the game unplayable for a hearing impaired player. That isn't to cool.

[denyeverything]

I would think if you were a gamer that had a hearing problem and owned a SDTV this would be a huge issue. I'm not educated in how games are presented for those who are hearing impaired. However, I would imagine subtitles help so seems like a pretty big issue. Could make the game unplayable for a hearing impaired player. That isn't to cool.

We aren't just talking about sub-titles. There is also everything else. I can't recall what game it was, but I know there have been plenty of times where I'm looking a menu's that are virtually unreadable on my SDTV. There will be plenty of non-dialogue text to read.

[Tails Prower]

We aren't just talking about sub-titles. There is also everything else. I can't recall what game it was, but I know there have been plenty of times where I'm looking a menu's that are virtually unreadable on my SDTV. There will be plenty of non-dialogue text to read.

Exactly.
And consider that many people doesn't live in UK or USA. My language isn't english, so it's pretty difficult for me to follow a deep story in a game like this without subtitles (since, i bet, the game won't be dubbed in many languages).
It isn't an issue, I'm used to read subtitles in games. But I'm not used to read microscopic subtitles! :D

And it's not just subtitles, even with menus (I think of the Codex in MAss Effect 2, or the pause-menus in Ninja Blade or Lost Planet) this issue persists in some games.
And I can't understand why, honestly. Luckily, many developers think about SDTVs (like Bizarre, Epic, Codemasters, Bungie, Sega first-party, Team Ninja etc.).

[denyeverything]

http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=53144&hl=sdtv