Vision and Corrective Lenses

[Bullet_Magnate]

My understanding is that the Short Sighted negative trait can be eliminated by wearing any pair of eyeglasses you happen to find (which, if correct, superficially makes sense). However, I'm sure everyone knows different glasses have different prescriptions, and wearing the wrong glasses won't necessarily help (and can actually make vision much worse). 

 

Given the HUGE range of potential prescriptions, finding a pair of glasses that matches or is close to yours would not necessarily be easy.  

 

Ultimately I don't know how important this is, since I think the only negative vision-related trait in the game is Short Sighted and it doesn't currently have a really major effect.  Maybe this isn't a good thing, though ... because I'm sure for a lot of people their poor vision (esp. if they lost their glasses or contacts) would be a major challenge in a PZ-type scenario.  

 

BUT, maybe this could be fodder for considering a vision system that feels more realistic without adding a ton of complexity or necessary data handling (for example, I think you'd pretty clearly NOT want to have to generate a Prescription value for every pair of glasses in the game during initialization / every time a zed wearing glasses spawns ... ).  

 

One possible approach:  

 

     (1)  Have two negative player traits: Near Sighted (NS) and Far Sighted (FS).  Without corrective lenses, a NS person would have limited distance vision, decreased firearm accuracy, poor foraging, etc.; while a FS person would be unable to read, and would find it difficult or impossible to do close-up fine motor tasks like electronics assembly, etc.  

 

     (2)  When a character with either trait is created, they are given a randomly-determined "Prescription" value of 1-1000 (determined by averaging two numbers in order to create a bell curve, with high / low value prescriptions thus being rare).  Also, they would start with a named pair of glasses (like the keyring -- e.g., "Velma Dinkley's Glasses") that is in their exact prescription.  So, for example, the near-sighted Ms. Dinkley's glasses might have value of "N653" (i.e., near-sighted glasses with a prescription value of 653).

 

     (3)  Negative trait effects are only reduced when wearing glasses with a prescription that matches your trait (e.g., wearing NS glasses doesn't help if you're FS), and even then only in proportion to the similarity of the prescription value (e.g., if your number is 700 and the glasses are 699 then you basically suffer no penalties; whereas if yours is 875 and the glasses' value is 50, there is very little beneficial effect). 

 

     (4) Wearing glasses with the wrong prescription type (e.g., FS glasses on a NS person) -- or any prescription, for a normal-sighted character -- would increase negative effects rather than helping. 

 

     (5)  For eyewear discovered during gameplay, its prescription value would ONLY be determined if and when a player actually put them on.  This would obviate the need to determine and create a prescription value for the vast majority of the eyewear in the game.  (Though I will admit I have no idea if Lua supports this approach ... )   While regular eyeglasses would obviously have a prescription, there could also be a chance of finding, e.g., prescription sunglasses, safety glasses, etc.  

 

     (6)  Assuming something like the above was implemented, it might also be worth adding Condition / Cleanliness values to eyewear, and having its benefits decrease in proportion to damage and dirt (so a character who is heavily reliant on their specs has to constantly be concerned with keeping them clean and in good repair).  

 

I think the above is potentially workable (though I'm sure it is WILDLY oversimplified ... any optometrists in the crowd?).  I like the idea of the additional tension potentially created for characters who are heavily reliant on rare-prescription glasses.  It would add a whole new dimension of fun to those moments when your glasses fall / get knocked off ... 

 

(Note that contact lenses are, I think, maybe a bridge too far since they'd add a bunch of weird "micro-managey" stuff to the game -- finding contact lens solution, cleaning the lenses, potential severe eye infection in a poor-hygiene environment, etc.) ... though apparently disposable lenses were available by the late 80's, which might simplify things.  Still, I find the idea of a character losing a contact lens and then having to Forage to find it again highly amusing ... ).  

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Bullet_Magnate
fixing typo