Hologram Conversations

[nickcrazy]

 

This might be a bit of a crazy idea, but what if there was a better way of communicating with someone in a way that would make use of the holopads in every room of the station besides the AI?

 

Here's how it would work, a player character would step onto the tile that the holopad is on, clicking it underneath them. They get an option to either request the AI's presence or to send a holopad communication request. After selecting the send a holopad communication request, you would get a list of all the holopads on the station. Selecting one would then send a request to the selected holopad. The holopad in question would state something along the lines of, "Holographic Transmission Request from [holopad origin] by [character name]." anyone in earshot of it could approach the holopad and click it, giving the option to accept the communication request or decline it. If accepted, it would use a holographic image of the player character that the AI also has the ability to use.

 

The person sending the request would then have control of the hologram and be able to speak through it just as an AI could, though they may not be able to interact with their inventory or use any items in their hand at the time while the communication continues. At any point, either party can stop the transmission by either clicking on the holopad if they are recieving or go to the object tab and hit end transmission if they are the ones sending it.

 

Of course, I believe sending a holopad communication request should have at the very least the same cooldown time as a fax machine would with sending a fax to central command.

 

I also believe that if we wanted to broaden the scope of this idea, Central Command itself would have the ability to instead of having to waste precious fuel to investigate a situation, they could simply use holographic communication transmissions to get a better scope of the situation and then decide to waste the fuel to go or not if they deem their physical presence is necessary on the station.

 

This is just an idea though but I believe it is possible with byond and could be something that would further enrich the roleplaying experience.

 

[orelbon]

i like the idea, but seems like id be a pain in the ass to code, and since we already have so many other forms of communications it would be kinda under used. but still i like this this because the concept is cool.

[nickcrazy]

 

i like the idea, but seems like id be a pain in the ass to code, and since we already have so many other forms of communications it would be kinda under used. but still i like this this because the concept is cool.

 

While yes, this will be under used in comparison to other forms, I think it is a good idea to have in the server as a way to enrich the roleplaying experience, such as it being a neat form of private communication with other departments and heads, or being a way to safely allow a criminal to stand trial while also be confined in a secure area of the brig, appearing before a trial as a hologram.

 

[necaladun]

I really like this - especially for CentComm communications!

[Spacemanspark]

This is amazing.

[Kharshai]

If this is feasible from the coding side of things, it'd be a really great addition to the game.

[Twinmold]

 

It is actually fairly easy to code, pulling much of the coding straight from the AI's side of things, and modifying it into a list system so that no single holographic projector hosts more than 1 hologram at a time. Then, you set it up so a each holographic projector is in a full list of projectors. The hard part comes from sprites, as you'd have to make holographic sprites for most outfits and all player builds/variants (in part or in whole). A ghost sprite could be used to test it, however. That is of course presuming the game doesn't already have a function to automatically make a holographic variant of something to be loaded into RAM for a short amount of time.

 

Variables:

- var/Real_Name //So it knows what it's looking for when the hologram ends.

- var/ID_Name //This is what is sent to the receiving hologram for the name of the person. This is the name on the ID of the person sending a hologram (For T's)

- var/In_Use //Both the sending and receiving holograms would have it changed to true when in use. This makes it so a hologram cannot be sent to one that is being used to digitize someone, so to speak.

 

This is not everything, but could help start such an addition to what already exists. On a side note, a name change of the holographic projectors would be fitting, instead of stating more AI-only.

 

[fludd12]

This, only if the ability to build holopads is added, so that we can have holographic assemblies of heads of staff in the Captain's room (every sci-fi ever)

[SigholtStarsong]

Yes. So much yes. All of the yes. So much yes, in fact, I'm can see Lord Yesloloth forming in the distance.

[Midaychi]

 

A better way to do it is to have people subscribe/unsubscribe to the holopad by clicking on it and selecting the option.

 

Then as long as they stay in range of the holopad, they display on the target recipient holopad and their relative position is mapped around the recipient holopad. You can do this by copying appearances to a holomob and have its movement and actions mirrored. You could probably even handle in hands and wound overlays.

 

You can't see what's going on at the other end of the holopad, only holograms and speech around it that is sent to your pad.

 

That way if the heads of staff are all subscribed to the bridge holopad and talking around it to the medbay holopad, their holograms would be relatively positioned around the medbay holopad and the pad would be transmitting talk. If the clown then busted in and started bashing the HOS, all you'd see is the hos suddenly reacting and running around and becoming bloody, and some chatter about 'FUCKING CLOWN' etc.

 

ON a side note: ability for head level access ids to broadcast to ALL holopads on the station at the same time.

 

Also, if the above becomes taxing, just make it only work in a 6x6 area around the holopad or something.

 

[Fj45]

That description of the HoS getting attacked made me instantly love this idea.

[davidchan]

 

Me too, would certainly make some jobs a hell of a lot easier, and others a lot more fun. Imagine the clown running from room to room, activating Holopads and forcing his image to be displayed on the bridge, in head of securities office, or any of the other annoying places. The Illusive Man, just with more Honk and a lot less Shepard.

 

Could also 'buzz' people by activiating the holopad to their office/work area and saying hello and what you need, though I feel the AI should be able to hear ALL holopad conversations, or there to at least be a record of them somewhere like with PDA server.

 

And lets not forget the funnest/most interesting use of this. Useful hostage taking. Force a person to link to a holopad (or configure the holopad to track them), broadcast it to a location of your choice, have them read out a ransom demand (*COUGH* NUKE OPS *COUGH*) or even give the Captain a live feed execution of one of his crew for failing to meet a traitor's demands.

 

[BiberDark]

Would this block the ai from using it ?

[nickcrazy]

 

Would this block the ai from using it ?

 

I was thinking while one holopad conversation is going on, the AI can join in if they want.