Fresh Winds for Immersion and Accessibility in Sea of Thieve

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    Ahoy, fellow pirates and devs!

    I wanted to bring up an idea that could improve both immersion and accessibility in Sea of Thieves. Many players rely on visual and audio cues for crucial in-game events, but what if we had another layer of sensory feedback that could enhance the experience for everyone?
    Haptic Feedback in Gaming – The Status Quo

    Right now, most haptic feedback in gaming is basic and one-dimensional. A great example is the Xbox controller’s rumble motors – they provide vibration effects, but these are often simple pulses that don’t convey much detailed information.

    What if haptic feedback could go beyond just shaking the controller?
    The Potential of Multi-Dimensional Haptic Feedback

    Imagine feeling the direction of an incoming cannonball impact, sensing the waves shifting under your ship, or getting subtle directional cues toward points of interest—all through controlled vibration patterns.

    This could:

    Enhance spatial awareness (allocentric & egocentric cues).
    Improve accessibility by allowing visually impaired players to receive important in-game information.
    Create a deeper sense of presence by translating game events into immersive physical sensations.

    Not Just for Controllers – A Step Toward Wearable Haptics

    Haptic feedback isn’t just for controllers or VR gear. Advances in wearable haptic technology allow for lightweight, wrist-worn or compact devices that provide real-time feedback without bulky vests or complex setups.

    These devices could bring tactile immersion to PC players, mobile games, and handheld consoles, making spatial awareness and accessibility features more universal.
    A Chance for Sea of Thieves to Be a First Mover

    Right now, very few games provide real-time haptic event data, despite the growing demand for more immersive and accessible gaming experiences.

    🔹 Sea of Thieves has the opportunity to be a First Mover in this space. By providing real-time event triggers, Rare could set a new industry standard for haptic gaming and inclusive design.

    A key step toward enabling this would be making real-time game events accessible via open endpoints. This wouldn't require major game changes—just exposing existing in-game events like:
    ✅ Damage indicators (from which direction the attack came)
    ✅ Environmental feedback (storm intensity, ship damage, fire, mast breaking, etc.)
    ✅ Proximity alerts (enemy ships, treasure locations, incoming threats)
    A Logical First Step: Open Data Access for Developers

    If direct implementation of immersive haptics in the game is too complex, a more feasible starting point would be to make these real-time game events available through existing external interfaces.

    🔹 For example, Overwolf already integrates with Sea of Thieves, but mostly for statistics. If more real-time data were exposed via Overwolf or another system, developers could build next-generation accessibility tools and immersive experiences.

    Would the developers be open to discussing how Sea of Thieves could take the lead in making real-time game data more accessible for haptic feedback and immersive gaming?

    I’d love to hear thoughts from the community and the devs – could this be a way to make Sea of Thieves even more engaging and inclusive?

    Cheers,
    Kaan Sevinc

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  • heslashthem
    Champion
    Insider

    PlayStation’s latest controller is a great example of doing what you’re asking for, and if I remember correctly, Xbox’s head did say they really loved the idea of that for their controllers. I would expect to see something like this in the next year or so and then subsequent support for several games like SoT to follow after. Cause I agree, the immersion must be unreal and has a chance to bring more accessibility to players.

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    Hey Tesiccl, thanks for your response!

    I completely agree that PlayStation’s DualSense controller is a great step forward in immersive gaming, and it’s exciting to see more developers exploring haptic feedback. However, what I’m advocating for isn’t tied to a specific controller. It’s about creating open endpoints that allow any device, including external haptic hardware, to interact dynamically with in-game events.

    One key challenge with existing controllers whether it’s XInput for Xbox or the PlayStation DualSense protocol is that they are fixed devices with predefined haptic capabilities.

    XInput (Xbox controllers) only supports basic rumble with two motors (low and high frequency), offering no spatial or patterned feedback. Haptic information is always generalized.
    DualSense (PS5 controllers) improves immersion with voice-coil actuators and adaptive triggers, but it remains limited in differentiating spatial impact directions since the entire controller vibrates as a single rigid object.

    Since these standards are closed and proprietary, they dictate how haptics are implemented rather than enabling broader innovation from third-party hardware developers. This is where open endpoints could be a game-changer.

    Imagine Sea of Thieves allowing players to feel the direction of incoming cannon fire, the shift of the wind against their sails, or the subtle vibrations of a distant shipwreck beneath the water not just through a gamepad but through a dedicated haptic output device designed specifically for immersion and accessibility.

    Instead of waiting for the next generation of controllers to define what’s possible, wouldn’t it be exciting if studios like Rare could lead the way by supporting an open approach to haptics that lets players decide how they experience the game?

    Would love to hear your thoughts on that!

  • rvb1101
    Seafarer
    Insider

    Hi @kaanabyss, I'm surprised to see this kind of topic actually being brought up on these forums. It reminded me of what Phillips tried to do with their amBX kit, trying to brig bias lighting, wind and rumble effects to games. The kit was pretty rudimentary, consisting of a set of speakers with lamps for bias lighting (AKA ambilight), fans and a desk rumble bar, but then again this was over 15 years ago.

    Another interesting project was the Novint Falcon haptic controller which had the ability to emulate a lot of textures via haptic feedback, Novint also had a haptic vest in prototype phase that never went into production. Again this was circa 2007, so pretty old implementations.

    I would love to see a game try to implement haptics that actually aided with immersion and I would think this would be possible by mapping ingame events and building haptic profiles, you would need both hardware and software to march in lockstep but certainly possible.

    With that said, I don't think Rare is going to do anything with haptics, I could be mistaken but I don't think they have any history with haptics implementation and their core audience doesn't really seem interested.

    If they actually did a haptics update, say having your sails reach the perfect angle triggering a specific haptic response, you'd probably get someone on these forums complaining that it's cheating and should be banned.

    You might think I'm exaggerating but please consider that this developer chose to cater to players that can't grasp basic elements instead of updating SoT and improving everyone's experience across the board. I'm not going to go into specifics because I do not want to give any reasons to the so called moderators of these forums to do what they do best, scrub posts they don't particularly like and close topics instead of allowing discussion to flow.

    Good luck to you.

  • SirPebble323
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    This is a pretty cool idea! I think it’s pretty interesting for this kind of thing to pop up on these forums; lots of people just kinda complain, but this is a high-quality idea that can positively benefit the game itself, while not giving only select players the ability to experience it. I like it!

  • Soulstinger2k20
    Master
    Insider

    A game would need to be designed from the ground up with this sort of stuff in mind.
    This is a 7 year old game with spaghetti code.

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    @rvb1101 Ahoi!!
    Thanks for your feedback! I really appreciate that this topic is being discussed here. Sea of Thieves actually encouraged me to post this idea in the forum to gauge community interest. The fact that the post has already been viewed over a thousand times shows that there is curiosity about the topic. Of course, more upvotes would be great, but even seeing people engage with the idea is a step forward. Maybe the potential benefits aren’t immediately clear to everyone, which is understandable.

    The technologies you mentioned, like amBX and the Novint Falcon, were definitely ahead of their time. However, what my project aims to do is fundamentally different. I have been working on it for over a year and a half, first as part of my studies and now as part of my user testing for my bachelor's thesis. This is not just a theoretical concept.I have already built a native implementation in Unreal Engine within a custom game environment as a proof of concept, alongside second-generation prototypes.

    My long-term goal is not just individual integrations but a wider industry shift toward native haptic support in game development. I have already contacted Epic Games to discuss the possibility of an Advanced Haptics implementation in Unreal Engine, where haptic bindings for damage markers, directional indicators, or other in-game events could be natively supported. If such a feature were to be integrated at the engine level, it would allow developers to easily implement haptic feedback without workarounds, leading to more immersive and inclusive gaming experiences.

    This is also why I emphasize software-level integration rather than external hardware workarounds. When we talk about reaction times and performance, integrating haptics directly into a game engine is essential. Without developers seeing the benefits, the industry won't move forward. Interestingly, I have already received offers from smaller studios on Steam who are open to implementing this technology in their games. However, larger studios and engines setting the foundation would be the real game-changer.

    My goal is to develop the smallest possible haptic wearable that can deliver directional feedback and pattern-based responses for mouse and keyboard, controller, and handheld gaming. Unlike bulky vests or specialized hardware, this device is designed as an everyday accessory, making haptic feedback accessible without disrupting the gaming experience.

    Regarding the cheating discussion, I want to clarify that this technology only translates existing visual information into another sensory channel, reducing cognitive overload, especially in competitive games. Calling it cheating seems like a stretch. Players can already gain an advantage with higher frame rates, better graphics cards, or faster peripherals, so technology always plays a role in performance. My goal is not to create an unfair edge but to enable accessibility and improve immersion.

    The ethical discussion around this technology is crucial, which is why it’s a core part of my user testing. I specifically ask participants how they perceive haptic feedback and whether they feel it gives an unfair advantage. The results will provide valuable insights into how players actually experience this kind of system.

    If you want more information or are curious about my test environment, I’d be happy to share more. Also, if you're interested in trying it yourself, I'll likely be at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, where I’ll be presenting my prototypes and test environment in the Gaming Without Borders area. This will give people a hands-on opportunity to experience the system and see how it works in practice. Thanks mate Arghh :-)

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    Hey @sirpebble323

    I really appreciate your words! It means a lot to see people understand and support the idea. That kind of encouragement is exactly what keeps me motivated to keep pushing forward with the project. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!

  • CallMeBackdrafT
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @kaanabyss the thing is,

    Playstation gave this capability on a platform level.

    If Rare would develop it, they would have to spend money on making it work for their specific game on Playstation, Xbox, Pc (steam) etc etc etc.

    Since developer time is exorbitantly expensive the ROI on something like this is practically insurmountable for a singular developer.

    Wearable haptics have been tried and the thing is the amount of people willing to invest in extra hardware is quite minimal not to mention the amount of people willing to not see it as a gimmick and try it once or twice and then it remains as a dust collector. this makes the scalability a challenge and thus the pricing will remain high for consumers.

    The problem with current implementations is that dualsense is patented, making it hard to make something similar. So somebody should start working on a platform agnostic haptic layer which then gets picked up by MS and Sony and implemented on their consoles. And and then hopefully they are willing to pay that developer some amount of money to be able to do so.

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    Hey @callmebackdraft
    Thanks for sharing your insights, I really appreciate this perspective.

    I completely agree that developer time is incredibly valuable, and the return on investment for implementing haptics on a per-game basis is challenging. That is exactly why I believe this should be approached as a platform-level feature rather than a game-by-game implementation.

    Sony took a step in this direction with DualSense, but as you mentioned, its technology is patented and not accessible for broader adoption. This creates a gap where there is not a universal, cross-platform haptic layer that developers can easily integrate into their games.

    This is the space where I am actively working. I am developing a wearable haptic device that provides directional and event-based feedback in a way that can be mapped to existing game events without requiring custom implementation for every single title. It is not about replacing controllers but expanding immersion and accessibility, particularly for those who benefit from alternative feedback methods beyond just visual and audio cues.

    Scalability is definitely a challenge, and the gimmick factor is something I am very aware of. That is why I am focusing on practical use cases rather than just novelty experiences. My goal is to demonstrate a working proof of concept that highlights real benefits, rather than just adding another accessory that gets used once and forgotten.

    The real long-term goal? Exactly what you mentioned, a platform-agnostic haptic layer that could eventually be integrated into Xbox, PlayStation, and PC at the OS level. That would allow developers to map events without extra workload and create a standard for advanced haptics across platforms.

  • abjectarity
    Lord
    Insider

    As long as there is an option to fully turn it off for the people who don’t like it, and by doing so they aren’t now missing out on something important, I think it’s a cool idea and brings a lot of immersion. Vibration bothers my hands and so I turn it off on just about every game I play. I disliked the short time I played on PS5 because I never could find a way to fully turn off all the stuff their dualsense controller can do. From an accessibility standpoint, as a disabled gamer myself, I love the idea of new ways to help people enjoy the game, as long as the options are 2 sided and you can turn things off/on to suit individual needs.

  • KAANABYSS
    Rogue

    Hey @abjectarity
    Thanks again for your valuable input, especially since you mentioned that you usually turn vibration off. That perspective is incredibly important. My goal is not to just add another vibrating device. In fact, I am not a huge fan of traditional controller rumble myself. In many games, it feels like it is just there for the sake of it, often more distracting than immersive.

    My concept separates input and output. The controller remains a pure input device, while my wearable, with its flexible design and multiple independently controlled actuators, acts as a specialized output device. The idea is that players can turn off the controller’s rumble and still receive meaningful, tailored haptic feedback via the wristband, only where and when it truly matters.

    Most importantly, everything is configurable. There are default profiles, but users can also create their own. Some may want only subtle alerts, like a pulsating ring when health drops below 30 percent. Others may not want directional damage indicators at all, preferring only high-alert feedback. It is all about giving players full control over how feedback is delivered and making sure it enhances rather than interrupts the experience.

    I do not want this to be a system people feel the need to disable completely. That is why customization is key. I am currently working with Gaming Without Borders and actively conducting user testing to ensure the feedback I gather from real players directly shapes how the system evolves. The aim is to create something that supports players, not something that becomes another distraction or barrier.

    It is not a one trick pony either. The technology has applications beyond gaming, like indoor and outdoor navigation. I have already begun exploring how the wearable could act as a tactile compass to guide users through public spaces, airports, or even just around town without relying on visual cues. This could be useful for orientation in everyday life, particularly for those with visual impairments.

    That said, I am also fully aware that a solution like this needs support at the platform level to reach its full potential. Native integration and accessible endpoints are essential for performance and reliability. That is why I am in ongoing discussions with Microsoft, Overwolf, and Epic Games, advocating for more open and standardized ways to connect real-time in-game events to external devices.

    Because ultimately, immersive feedback should be more than just an afterthought. It should be part of the foundation.

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