The sound of one hand clicking

BeeDub

I have a mate who recently had a stroke which has affected his left side. As a result, he can no longer use a console controller or handle games that require the use of both keyboard and mouse. Added to that, the stroke has slowed down his reflexes.

He is currently playing Neverwinter Nights, but I was wondering if anyone could recommend any other worthwhile games that can be played with only a mouse and are not too reliant on reflexes?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Drakmathus

adventure games like space quest, kings quest, monkey island, full throttle, etc. There are a few parts that require reflexes, but not many.

Also the Heroes of Might and Magic series is all turn based so he can take his time on everything.

AaronKI

How does he feel about Point and Click adventure games? Stuff like Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, Full Throttle, and anything else that can be played with ScummVM

Edit: Beat. :P

What about the original Fallout? I've only played it briefly, but I seem to recall that it was turn-based. It's also available on GOG for $6.

.Tripwire.

Puzzle Quest and probably its sequel, Galactrix (I say "probably" because I haven't played it yet and don't know for certain)

Bacon-BuTTy

This sort of thing really frightens me.

How old is your mate? I hope he's dealing with it ok.

.Tripwire.

Maybe someone here has some input on how playable the latest entries in the Civilization series is with only the mouse, but I think it's possible and I know at the least Civ2 hits the items on the checklist, being turn-based and good.

Hitsuraptor

If he's got a 4-5 button mouse could probably play Fallout 3 (Mouse 1 attack , mouse 2 + forward, mouse3 - inventory , mouse4 - vats and mouse 5 for use/interact)
World of Warcraft he'd be fine with, (Definately a PVE server though because in PVP he'll be at a big disadvantage without using the keys)
Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne the custom games specifically, I love me some tower defense maps plus there's probably other ones
I think Diablo is playable with just the mouse but I haven't really played it much
I'd second the point and click games adventure comes, the new series of Sam & Max comes to mind (You can download episode 4 for free off Steam if he wants to try it out)

Magitek

don't forget about things like onscreen keyboard, voice recognition and macro programs like autoit that might bring your friend upto speed, it probably won't let you compete fiercly in FPS games but I believe it's a powerful boon to have such things rather than struggling just with the mouse.

subedii

The Witcher can be played with just the mouse, although I'm not sure how well he'd handle the timing based combat. Might be OK on easy mode. If he's alright with Neverwinter Nights he'll probably be good with this, and it's a great RPG to boot.

Otherwise I'd say turn based games would be your best bet. Might be worth trying Jagged Alliance 2, which is an awesome squad level turn based strategy game, should be playable with just a mouse.

How about World of Goo? It's completely mouse controlled, and it's an awesome indie game. Main problem might be that some of the stages may require reaction to factor into them, although IIRC it's rare and it's not usually too fast.

The civilisation series is a staple. There's also the Galactic Civilisation series if he's more into sci-fi.

Actually now that I think about it, Sins of a Solar Empire is an RTS, but it's very deliberately slow paced, and mouse controlled. Most units managed themselves in combat, you mainly make the large scale decisions. Be worth trying the demo at least.

EDIT: Now that I think more about Neverwinter Nights, if there's any of the previous Black Isle / Bioware catalogue he's missed, those should be good. Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment in particular.

Nuzak

this thread has a pretty awesome title

Shaquar

Civ should be good with one hand. I play it completly with the mouse, just like the Total War games which are also excellent.

Also check out this: http://www.gimpgear.us/videogaming.htm

Gimpgear is a company that creates equipment for handicapped people. This for example is a gamepad that can be used with one hand. The stuff is really expensive and I don't have any practial experience but I've heard good things about them.

RichardTauber

Dwarf Fortress should fit the bill.

Willybubba

The Diablo series and I think Titan Quest can also be played mouse only.

Command and Conquer..?

Lave II

Not quite what is asked for, but I'm mentioning it anyway,

If he googles about "ASCII GRIP" he'll find a bunch of onehanded PS2 (and PS1) controllers. That let you use the PS2 with one hand easily.

http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/1/AGS/AGS-onehand/ascii-grip-v2.htm



I think that little button cycles the thumbstick between dpad, left and right stick.

So that should help opens up most PS2 RPGs, puzzle games, shumps, racing games and so on.

Hope it helps.

Hockey Johnston

Animal Crossing and Final Fantasy: My Life as a King can be played very easily with only the Wii remote in one hand. I highly recommend both for someone in that situation.

LewieP

My mum, who also struggles with kbam, likes the following games:

Aquaria,
World of Goo,
Defence Grid,
Portal (cleverly mapping stuff to the mouse - there aren't a lot of controls really)
Peggle,
A bunch of facebook word games.

Edit: Oh, and he should definately own a Wii and/or DS if he can, I would say roughly 30% of each consoles library can be played with just one hand. Tonnes of excellent stuff.

Of the top of my head
DS:
Picross DS,
Puzzle Quest,
Rhythm Heaven,
The Korg synth (for the musically inclined),
Phoenix Wright games.
Trauma Center,
Advance Wars,
Elite Beat Agents,
Nintendogs,
Disgaea,

Wii:
World of Goo,
Wii Sports,
All the light gun games,
Tiger Woods,
Zack and Wiki,
Boom Blox,
I think all 3 Art Style games,
Elebits,

chasehatesbears

I want to say Multiwinia and Darwinia can be played entirely with a mouse but I can't remember.

The_Scarab

I think the answer is to play Baldur's Gate 2.

Can be controlled entirely with the mouse and the level of engagement and developments, as well as the sheer length of the game and the pacing, which is slow, I think will help with recovery.

I played all of Baldur's Gate 1 when I was in the hospital about 7 years ago. Lasted a good month or so, really helped concentrate and take my mind of other worries.

I think that length of RPG is the way to go. An adventure game, point and click, is also a good choice. I highly reccommend Discworld 2 or Broken Sword 1 and 2. They are both funny and probably less well known than Monkey Island (while also being far superior)

subedii

The_Scarab wrote: »

I think that length of RPG is the way to go. An adventure game, point and click, is also a good choice. I highly reccommend Discworld 2 or Broken Sword 1 and 2. They are both funny and probably less well known than Monkey Island (while also being far superior)

Ooh, Discworld Noir if you can find it. Personally I'd say it's the best of the three, and if he's a fan of the books he'll love it even more.

solsovly

You should take a look at this:

http://benheck.com/Games/Xbox360/controls/1hand/singlehandcontroller.htm I'm not sure how you would go about getting this made but you may want to email the guy that made it.

Honk

Tom Clancy's EndWar is a fairly new RTS playable almost entirely via voice commands. I think you will need a mouse for some camera movement but that's it. So I can highly recommend that, it's really quite fun. I think it deserves a lot of praise for making it easier for people with certain disabilities.

I had some minor trouble on and off with the voice commands but I'm not a native English speaker - but if your friend is I think it would work really well.

I'll second the Heroes of Might and Magic series as well, I'm not really into turn-based games but they are still on my top ten list easily.

edit: I just realised that a stroke can affect speech, so EndWar might not be such a good suggestion if that's the case.

Verr

RichardTauber wrote: »

Dwarf Fortress should fit the bill.

This so much. If he can approach it with a open mind he will unlock a game that has destroyed my life.

Mr_Grinch

Xcom/UFO?

As Lewie pointed out, there are plenty of Wii games out there that just use the pointer.

TrippyDK

On the note of Ben Heck, he created this with another company for mass production. It basically allows for each part of a controller to be a module, thus allowing for customizable one handed gaming.

The_Scarab

Endwar is a good call. But you still need two hands realistically to play the game well.

Get a flight stick and hook up some Ace Combat. That can be done one handed quite easily.

Nerdtendo

It will take a bit to set up, but he could theoretically play Tribes RPG mod with just one hand. There's a script out there that enables auto attack with the press of a button, several other automatic commands using the voice chat menu (ctrl-v to bring up the auto menu, then choose a sub menu and a command with two more key presses). With just a three button mouse, he could walk forward, jump, and use whatever boots he's wearing (floating and flying).

Admittedly, some of the game takes some reflexes, but generally speaking the poor bot AI can be abused to your advantage, and you can get to be so powerful that the bots are nothing to worry about anyways. Despite the game's flaws, it's quite a bit of fun.

There is open PvP and theft (pickpocketing), but the guy that run's the PC-TRPG server is pretty cool, and there's some cool guys in the community. I might be able to convince Particle to allow a controllable on and off PvP/theft flag on a single character if your friend wants so he can avoid some griefing. Even then, though, players can shove him around and potentially kill him that way, but that's against the rules anyways.

http://www.pcrpg.org Has all the necessary files to get started put together in a single install. I'm pretty sure all he'll need is to set up his controls, and to learn the basics to the game.

Cantido

Defcon and Darwinia, I think.

Remington

How hard would it be to make something for his right foot that could take over some functions of the keyboard? You'd think there'd be a company interested in making a line of products to make games more accessible to people with disabilities.

Cronus

Strange Attractors. http://www.ominousdev.com/games.php

Apparently the second one is out, but I can only vouch for the first one, which is free by the way. It was an awesome game that only takes one button. The goal is to get from the bottom of the screen to the top in space with a lot of objects littering the level. The one button turns gravity on and off. It was a blast to play.

Evangir

I imagine the Total War series of games would be a good choice. The real-time combat can be paused at any time, and nothing really requires hotkeys (I know I almost exclusively use the mouse to play the game), and the world-map stuff is almost completely mouse anyway. I doubt you'd even need to creatively bind anything, except perhaps the Pause key to something on the mouse.

James Dekk

This is a well-veiled request for games that the thread poster can play one-handed. :winky:

.Tripwire.

Hey, with the simple controls of Trackmania you could bind LMB ←. RMB →, MOUSE4 ↓, MOUSE5 ↑

Of course requiring a mouse with those forward and backward buttons. But I don't think that's an unwise device in which to invest.

SoaL

My dad's friend has limited movement in his hands and he plays a bunch of games. I don't know about your friend, because you mentioned his reflexes aren't what they used to be, but he plays some FPS games by rebinding his keys so most everything is on the mouse and uses pretty much only the spacebar on the keyboard. Other than FPS he mostly plays strategy games like Civ 4 and the total war series

He plays a whole lot of tiger woods on xbox too.

e: has anybody mentioned Peggle? He should check out peggle

TychoCelchuuu

Someone already said XCOM but it needs to be said again.

LewieP's Mummy

Seconded Lewie's suggestions. World of Goo is fab, and so easy to play - well, use the mouse, but some levels are hard - good for perseverance. I found Portal difficult, but well worth the challenge. Some levels took me over half an hour to play, but it was the first game I'd ever played. Also Prof. Layton on DS.
I also managed to play super mario galaxy on Wii by holding the star collecting thingy with my knees to aim it, cos I can't hold much with my left hand, and the thingy stick was too big for me to hold. I did think about taping it to just one leg, but thought that was going too far.

On the typing front, if your friends speech is OK, Dragon Naturally Speaking is fantastic - I use it at work all the time, cos I find typing is painful after a while, and typing 1 handed takes forever.

Oooo and Peggle is great1

Lagnar

Its been said but the Civ games can be played with just the mouse fairly easily. When I first played I never used the keyboard, and if I remember correctly its just shotcuts to things that would only take a second or two to go find using the mouse. Eveything you need is on screen I belive, a button for options and such.

If you can find them the Icewindale games, and really most other D&D games. You said he is playing Neverwinter nights, so I would recomend its expansions along with Neverwinter nights 2 and its expansions. NWN2 generally is an updated rule set along with a few changes here and there but plays generally the same. It can be hard to run at times, but I have a 6600GT with 2 GB of ram and I can run it no problem at a decent setting. Only when you have 10+ people on screen casting the higher level spells will it start to slow down.

Most Stradegy RPGS can be played easily. Final Fantsay Tatics for the PSP (the remake of the original on the PS1) can be played with one hand. Ive set it down on my desk and just played with one hand numerous times.

And yeah, I know a few people who use Dragon (See LewieP's Mummy's post) due to various reasons and they say its wonderful, so I can second that as a substitute for typing.

Arasen

Kind of off topic, but make sure your friend keeps up with his rehab and physical therapy. I've seen people regain a lot of mobility and use after a stroke over the years.
As for games, definitely ScummVM games(especially Grim Fandango). Baldurs gate, Fallout 1&2, Fallout Tactics can be played in turn based mode too. Most JRPG's have options to do turn based or active time battles. Peggle, World of Goo, are great and have demo's on steam so he can try them out at the very least.
Also, I've seen some rehab facility's with use Wii's to get patients to keep moving and work on motor control. It could be a nice break from doing standard therapy all the time (just to be clear: NOT TO REPLACE THERAPY). Of course you'd have to gauge his motor control and determine if it would be appropriate at this stage.

Frem

I'm pretty sure Guild Wars can be played decently one handed, as long as your friend strays away from PvP. Not that it matters much; I get nuked in seconds playing PvP even with two hands. :-(

Blue map

If your friend likes the music genre you might want to consider audiosurf as it's controlled almost exclusively with the mouse.

Kazhiim

Blue map wrote: »

If your friend likes the music genre you might want to consider audiosurf as it's controlled almost exclusively with the mouse.

Yeah. Audiosurf is tons of fun, and since it takes any music you can input, it's has essentially infinite replayability. And it's not, you know, a decade-old game like half these guys are suggesting (so he might enjoy it)

Buttcleft

To add to the isometric RPG fanfare that would be perfect for this, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura.

A massive, expansive game with numerous endings and a amazing story. Defaults to real time battle, which I with full faculties sometimes get lagged in...but it has a turn based option that seems to be very strong.

Simcity games would also be good, I mean he'd have to do some minimal typing for Mayor and city names etc, but nothing extensive that can be easily pecked with one hand. If he is not a avid Sim City fan I would certainly reccomend an older Sim City like SimCity 2000, since 3000 and 4 get a bit more complicated. Although 4 is certainly easier to play than 3 with region mode.

Peggle and its derivatives is a mind numbingly addictive game that can very easily be played with one hand.

and to Kazh, Psshaww. Just cause a game is old does not mean its not good, Especially true for the old Isometric RPGs. far more epic and intriguing than the bullshit we get today.