More on epilepsy in Cliffs of Dover

[ATAG_Doc]

Originally Posted by luthier

Hi everyone,

The team could never in a million years imagine that a post on a Russian-language forum would so quickly make the rounds and spread around the internet.

The information there is not accurate, especially the placing of the blame on Ubisoft.

I feel that I need to describe this in more detail.

Our game did cause wide-scale epilepsy failures when tested. Propellers, muzzle flashes, smoke puffs, explosions, falling bombs, flying or taxiing between buildings, sun shining through canopy framework, etc, they were all causing potentially seizure-inducing flashes.

We worked hard to address all these issues individually, but since a flight sim is all about fast-moving large objects, there were just too many instances of things causing high-contrast flashes.

So, as we were running out of time, WE decided to implement this epilepsy filter as a stop-gap measure.

The filter sits on top of the game's graphics wrapper. It saves a previous frame, and then compares it pixel-by-pixel to the new frame. When two pixels are found with a high degree of contrast between them, the new pixel is toned down to make the change less drastic.

This causes a visual effect somewhere between bloom and motion-blur that removes virtually all instances of high-contrast flashes.

However this pixel-by-pixel frame analysis and modification takes up additional resources, it in fact delays the showing of each new frame until each pixel of it checked, and therefore the filter is causing deteriorated performance that is especially notable on lower-end machines.

We are continuing to work to optimize the game and to increase its framerate. Ubisoft has been very patient and understanding with us throughout the entire process, and we are continuing to work with them very closely to find the best solution to epilepsy issues.

In summary, I want to stress that it is OUR code and OUR game engine that is causing performance issues. And it US who has to make it better, and that's exactly what we pledge to do.

There are places where the food is so hot and spicy that they require you to actually sign a release and indemnify them from any damages caused from you eating it*:
*indemnify transitive verb
1: to secure against hurt, loss, or damage
2: to make compensation to for incurred hurt, loss, or damage


And also have a "hold harmless**" clause.
**Provision in an agreement under which one or both parties agree not to hold the other party responsible for any loss, damage, or legal liability. In effect, this clause indemnifies the parties on a unilateral or reciprocal basis (as the case may be). See also indemnity clause.

Also you could "Require binding arbitration" in the event of any legal matters resulting from use of your product. You could do many things to cover your butt so we can purchase the fully functional version. Set minimum age requirements for a full unlocked versions and jack up the price to say $150 per copy for the trouble.

You can still buy a Toyota even after all the accelerator pedal problems and yet not one shred of evidence was found that supported the theory that Toyota had anything to do with it. Turns out after all this time they find that it is most likely the root cause is the floor mats the OWNERS installed caused it.

Just because someone may try to hold someone legally accountable for their own actions doesn't necessarily mean that all of these products will disappear from the public. Good homework and solid legal agreements as a condition of purchase goes a long way to protect you from others that have harm come to them from using your product.

Its the world we live in. We need to cull some lawyers. But anyone can cut themselves on one of your CD's/DVD's or a paper cut your instruction book or a cut from a box. I can see it now. Someone using scissors to open IL2 CoD and they cut their finger off. They will come after you.

The truth is no one needs any valid reason to take anyone to court. You can have a bad hair day and someone take offense to it and start legal action. There is no filter to filter out what can and what cannot go to court. You can find yourself in there for anything.

Just throwing it out there.