[accessibleimage] games

http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,66879,00.html
The Blind Fragging the Blind 
By David Cohn[Bilde:16032005_132541_1.bmp]
02:00 AM Mar. 14, 2005 PT
Michael Feir is an avid gamer. He spent so much time playing games in
college he created his own online gaming magazine. But Feir doesn't play
the best-selling games and has never seen World of Warcraft -- he's blind. 
It doesn't matter. A growing library of computer games has been built
specially for blind gamers, using sound instead of visuals to let players
know what's going on around them. 
[Bilde:16032005_132541_0.bmp]"My dad had taken me as a young person to
arcades and he would tell me what to do, and what was going on," said
Feir, founder of [ http://www.angelfire.com/music4/duffstuff/audyssey.html
]Audyssey Gaming Magazine, an online quarterly for blind gamers. "I always
thought that I could play myself if they were sound-based games." 
Now the games exist -- lots of them. Audio games represent almost every
gaming genre, from [ http://www.castle-quest.com ]multiplayer role-playing
games to action-adventure titles, driving games, science fiction thrillers
and puzzle games. 
Amateur re-creations of '80s arcade shooters (in 2-D sound) exist in audio
format. Elaborate war simulators like Tank Commander from [
http://www.gmagames.com ]GMA Games requires audio players to complete
missions, shoot tanks and dodge missiles -- from all sides. 
The popular first-person-shooter Quake was even turned into a purely audio
experience by All in Play, a company that produces games for both blind
and sighted players. 
"It was basically a technology prototype to show that even in more
graphically inclined games, anything is possible," said Jeremie Spitzer,
co-founder of All in Play. 
The demand is such that the niche has grown from text-based games coded by
hobbyists to between 30 and 50 professional audio-game developers who sell
3,000 games a year, experts estimate. 
Most of these games run on ordinary PCs and are often joystick- or
keyboard-controlled. The player dons a pair of headphones, and elements of
the game are delivered in stereo to help players shoot aliens on the left
or avoid a tank on the right. 
Arcade-style audio games like Galaxica use the game's familiar beeps and
bleeps to help players shoot aliens, while newer action games include
opening scores, voice characters and elaborate sound effects. 
Audio games are limited in visuals, so programmers must find creative ways
to use sound to signify everything from attacking helicopters to the kind
of surface upon which a character is walking. 
In Drive, for example, the music speeds up along with the car the gamer is
driving.
"Games based on sound alone can have a very different challenge than video
games," said Richard Von Tol, an audio games programmer who runs the [
http://www.audiogames.net ]Audiogames website. "So these games can be
exciting for sighted gamers too." 
In most respects, the audio-game industry is very much like its visual
counterpart. Publishers offer demos of their games, often as downloadable
sound files that demonstrate gameplay. 
 Gamers and programmers can share information, hints and ideas at several
websites like [ http://www.agdev.org ]Accessible Game Developers, a
collective of commercial game producers and hobbyist programmers. The site
is organized as a wiki: anyone using a text reader can contribute. 
"It's a community," said Justin Daubenmire, president of [
http://www.bscgames.com/ ]BSC Games, the gaming division of [
http://blindsoftware.com ]Blindsoftware.com. "There is definitely strong,
healthy competition and we like it because it makes us work harder on our
products, but it's all quite enjoyable." 
Although audio games can't compete with Electronic Arts or other industry
giants, they do provide much-needed entertainment to a growing community
of blind gamers. 
"I use these for stress relief, especially if I want to find something to
shoot, damage or blow up," said Kelly Sapergia, an audio-game reviewer for
[
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19
]Main Menu, a gaming radio show on [ http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/ ]ACB
Radio. 
According to BSC Games' Daubenmire, the professional audio-gaming industry
transitioned in 1998 after the release of [
http://www.gmagames.com/sod.html ]Shades of Doom, a 1998 audio monsterfest
similar to Doom. 
The game stood out from previous audio games because of its emphasis on
action, Daubenmire said. Older audio games tended to be organized around
text menus, with small puzzles or arcade games woven into the gameplay. 
While these are still popular, Shades of Doom is a 3-D world that allows
the audio gamer to explore an interactive realm. It made the audio-game
industry much more ambitious, Daubenmire said. 
"We are not just hobbyists, we are skilled programmers," said Daubenmire. 
Shades of Doom was built on Microsoft's DirectX technology, the same
programming software that powers many graphical PC games. The only
difference in programming for audio games is a lack of video files and an
emphasis on the sound engine. 
Since Shades of Doom, the quality of audio games has continued to mature,
catching up to that of their visual counterparts, Daubenmire said. 
Audyssey founder Feir agreed. 
"Shades of Doom was a real breakthrough," he said. "Games now don't make
us feel like we are playing a dumbed-down game for blind people, but real
exciting quality games."



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx



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