CleverRaven / CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA

Prevent split-second screen flashing from certain menu interactions (eating food), or add a photsensitive epilepsy warning.

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#69,987 7 comments 5 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
(S2 - Confirmed) <Suggestion / Discussion> Accessibility Info / User Interface
Dominant language
C++
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Description

### Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Certain menu actions that are commonly used can cause a sort of 'screen flash' effect. This is most noticable when you use the 'eating' menu - eating an item with any sort of 'eating time' causes the menu to close for a split-second and then reopen, which repeats for every single item you eat. Doing this in quick succession with certain food items thus produces a noticable 'screen flash' effect due to menus repeatedly opening and closing.

This, on its own, this is a fairly annoying eyestraing when you batch eat a number of items.

But the bigger issue is that it could be outright dangerous for anyone with **photosensitive epilepsy**. Such flashing is not present or rare in the game and could catch players 'by surprise'.

An example of this 'flashing' can be seen in the gif below (note: this is done during winter and I'm not capturing the whole screen, the slight pause is cause I was menu-ing).
![GIF](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/assets/39234303/91e3e44b-0cc0-46fe-ad2e-3114b52c8410)

### Solution you would like.

Modify the mechanics of eating so that the momentary 'screen flash' does not occur - keep the 'eating' window open and do the time-relevant stuff in the background.

### Describe alternatives you have considered.

Add a photosensitive epilepsy warning to the game somewhere - either in its description (before downloading the game, in launchers, etc) or elsewhere noticeable. Something like "In rare cases, with certain tilesets or menu action, momentary screen flashing may occur."

### Additional context

This effect also happens with various drugs - try eating 4 multivitamins or aspirins in quick succession and it will also happen (ignore the gif artifacts, gifcam couldn't capture it accurately).
![GIF](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/assets/39234303/88935558-c832-42d9-98b5-39f7c6c696f0)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Reproduce the flash by using the eating menu with timed food and with drugs such as multivitamins or aspirin in quick succession. Trace why the menu closes and reopens during these actions; done means the eating window remains open without the repeated flash, or the requested photosensitive-epilepsy warning is added in a noticeable location.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
game-dev
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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