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Audyssey Issue 05

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Audyssey
 · 5 years ago

  

Audyssey;


Computer Games Accessible to the Blind


Edited by Michael feir


Issue 5: March/April, 1997





++


Welcome





Welcome to Spring, everyone, and welcome to the fifth issue of


Audyssey. In keeping with the season, this issue will focus on the


creation of games. Thanks to a timely suggestion by one of my


readers on Compuserve, we will start a section for game developers.


We'll also have the latest developments from Pcs.





This magazine is published on a bi-monthly basis, each issue


appearing no earlier than the twentieth of every other month. All


submissions must be sent to me in standard Ascii format either on


a 3.5-inch floppy disk, or via e-mail to my Compuserve address. I


will give my home address and my Compuserve address at the end of


the magazine. There are now several ways of obtaining Audyssey. To


subscribe to the distribution list so that you receive all future


issues, send a subscription request to J.J. Meddaugh. As he is


running several lists, be sure to specifically ask to join the


Audyssey list. His address is:


jmeddaug@cris.com


You can find all issues of Audyssey on the Internet on Paul


Henrichsen's web site at:


ftp.thesocket.com/pub/henrich


All issues are also available in the disability forum on


Compuserve, and also in the gamers forum.





For those of you who have trouble finding some of the software


discussed in this magazine, or if you know someone who doesn't have


access to the Internet, but would be interested in the magazine,


this magazine is now available on disk. PCS has agreed to


distribute Audyssey, as well as selected shareware or freeware


software on disk for ten dollars US per year. To subscribe to


Audyssey on disk, contact them at:


Personal Computer Systems


551 Compton Ave.


Perth Amboy N.J.


08861


Phone (908)-826-1917


E-mail: pvlasak@monmouth.com











Please write articles and letters about games or game-related


topics which interest you. They will likely interest me, and your


fellow readers. They will also make my job as editor a lot more


interesting and true to the meaning of the word. This magazine


should and can be a highly interesting and qualitative look at


accessible computer gaming. To insure


that high quality is maintained, I'll need your written


contributions. I'm not asking for money here, and won't accept any.


This magazine is free in its electronic form, and will always


remain so. PCS needs to charge a subscription cost to cover the


disks and shipping costs that it incurs by making the magazine


available on disk. I'm writing this


magazine as much for my own interest as for everyone else's. Your


articles, reviews, and letters, as well as any games you might care


to send me, are what I'm after. Send any games, articles, letters,


or reviews on a 3.5-inch disk in a self-addressed mailer


so that I can return your disk or disks to you once I have copied


their contents onto my hard drive. Please only send shareware or


freeware games. It is illegal to send commercial games. By sending


me games, you will do several things: first, and most obviously,


you will earn my gratitude. You will also insure that the games


you send me are made available to my readership as a whole. As a


further incentive, I will fill any disks you send me with games


from my collection. No disk will be returned empty. If you want


specific games, or specific types of games, send a message in Ascii


format along. *Never* *ever* send your original disks of *anything*


to *anyone* through the mail. *Always* send *copies!* This


principle may seem like it shouldn't even have to be stated, but


when it comes to just about anything related to computers, there's


always some poor soul who will act before applying common sense.


Disks are *not* indestructible. Things *do* get lost or damaged in


the mail, and disks are not immune to these misfortunes. If you


have a particular game that you need help with, and you are sending


your questions on a disk anyhow, include the game so that I can try


and get past your difficulty. If you can, I recommend that you send


e-mail. I have acquired a copy of the UUencode software, and can


send and/or receive files which are encoded via this means. This


way,


no money will be wasted sending me a game I already have, and


you'll get my reply more quickly. You are responsible for shipping


costs. That means, either use a disk mailer which has your address


on it, and is either free matter for the blind, or is properly


stamped. I can and will gladly spare time to share games and my


knowledge of them, but cannot currently spare money above what I


spend hunting for new games. I encourage all my


readers to give my magazine to whoever they think will appreciate


it. Up-load it onto web pages and bulletin board systems. Copy it


on disk for people, or print it out for sighted people who may find


it of value. The larger our community gets, the more self-


sustaining it will become.





++


contents:


From the Editor


Letters


Prerequisites for Sightless Fun


The Latest finds


News from PCS


Contacting Me





++


From the Editor:





Hello, everyone. You might notice that this issue is particularly


short. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, I


have received no articles at all for this issue. This shortage of


material, combined with the heaviest load of academic work I've


ever faced within two months, has contributed largely to the


substandard length and quality of this issue. Remember, everyone,


that it is vital that you send me articles, letters, and reviews to


put in this magazine. I simply can't come up with everything


myself, especially during a university term. This magazine is


supposed to be a forum for the exchange of information, ideas and


concerns about accessible games, not simply a vehicle for me to


voice my own thoughts which I'm already quite familiar with. Give


me your thoughts, and I'll be happy to add my own, and organize


everything into a diverse and qualitative magazine. Without your


articles, I cannot continue with Audyssey indefinitely. Also, there


have been no submissions of episode ideas for Adam, the Immortal


Gamer, and ideas are running low. This month, there will be no


episode at all, since I haven't had the time to put one together.


We're now reaching into at least eleven countries, according to


J.J. Meddaugh, our excellent internet expert. That's only counting


the people who actually subscribe directly, and don't just down-


load the magazine off of bbs's and the various sites that it can be


found on. With all of you out there, I find it hard to believe that


none of you have views, concerns, or opinions you'd like to share


with the rest of us. If I continue to receive little or no


material, I'll be forced to turn this magazine into a quarterly one


in order to insure that enough news occurs to build the magazine


out of. I would very much prefer not to do this. There is plenty of


material out there waiting to be discussed and commented on. the


experience which a game can offer depends as much on the outlook of


its players as on the game itself.





Another event which has taken a good deal of my time is the arrival


of a new computer. I am now the proud owner of a Toshiba laptop.


This computer is proving most excellent, but learning to use it


effectively has meant hours of training and reading manuals. I have


Jaws for Windows, which is a very good tool to make Windows


accessible to blind people. if anyone out there knows of a speech-


friendly game which is written for Windows, please let me know


about it. I see no reason why this operating system might not


produce high-quality speech-friendly games.





Because of my constantly having to use both of my computers, and of


a lot of experimentation with various communications packages, I


have misplaced at least two messages that I received. To those who


sent them, you have my sincere apologies. Now that everything is


back onto one computer, no more losses are likely. The idea for


starting a section for game developers grew out of one such


message. Eventually, I hope to turn what develops in this section


into a guide for developers seeking to make their games accessible


for blind players. My input will be from the perspective of a user.


If programmers have suggestions to offer, I would be very grateful


for them. Also, if players have thoughts on what would make games


more accessible, I welcome your submissions as well. Hopefully,


together, we can build a guide which will make a difference and


expand the scope of the game universe currently open to us.





Well, everyone, that's about all I have to say for now outside of


the articles in this issue. Please send in your articles, letters,


and reviews. I have enjoyed making this magazine, and hope to


continue it indefinitely. I can only do that with your help.





++


Letters:





+





From J.J. Meddaugh:





In case you didn't hear, WSBB, the World Series Baseball Game and


Information


System has a web site now.


http://users.deltanet.com/


tdb/wsbb/wsbb.htm


The page was started by Tom Baccanti who incidentally does not


subscribe to


Audyssey.


J.J. Meddaugh





+


Nice timing, J.J. Great way to celebrate the start of the Baseball


season. I've seen one early version of the World Series Baseball


game, and although I'm not a big fan of the game, I can appreciate


how it was done. I trust that those of you out there who are more


familiar with the intricacies of the game than I am can furnish us


with a review or two about the latest version. As you'll see in the


update from PCS, one of their projects is an update to this program


set complete with sounds.





+





One of my lost messages was an inquiry into the origins of the


magazine, and why it was started. I'll offer a small response to


this inquiry now, and will ask all of you who are curious about


this to wait until the June/July issue, where I will offer a more


in-depth answer. Back in July of last year, I decided to act on an


idea I had thought about for a number of years. I wanted to start


a forum for the exchange of information and thought regarding games


which were accessible to the blind. Being an avid game player for


at least ten years, I had a lot of knowledge that I wanted to share


and expand on through discussion. I chose the name Audyssey because


of its pun on words, and because it sums up my philosophy about


games rather nicely. Games are journeys of discovery about oneself,


the subject of the game, and one's fellow players. Again, I will


offer a more in-depth answer in an up-coming issue.





++


Prerequisites for Sightless Fun


By Michael Feir





When games are made commercially, the objective is naturally to


satisfy the desires of as many people as possible. Most of these


people are visually oriented for the most part. They like


everything shown to them in eye-catching ways. This explains why


the Windows operating system was made. People found it bothersome


and alienating to remember Dos commands. They found it much easier


to simply point a cursor at a pictorial representation of what they


wanted to do. Conversely, blind people find graphics to be a


nuisance, if not downright troublesome. Since most games are made


to please sighted people, most of them are largely inaccessible to


blind people without sighted assistance.





To make games accessible to blind people, their needs must either


come first, or be dealt with by means of a special interface. This


is because graphics cannot be interpreted by speech packages or by


Braille displays. Sometimes, enough textual information is


available to make a game which contains graphics playable without


them, but this is rare. Even when a game could be played without


seeing the graphics in it, chances are that the text of the game is


written in a manner which cannot be understood by access devices.





To illustrate this, let us examine a game which was not designed to


be accessible at all to blind people. The game Begin2 has been


discussed before in this magazine. It is a simulator of combat


between two fleets of starships from the Star Trek universe. If


played in its ordinary way, it provides its players with a


graphical representation of the action taking place. Symbols show


the positions of ships, the directions of torpedoes, the strengths


of various shields, and a lot more. Speech synthesizers cannot read


the information which is sent to the screen because it is written


directly. In effect, the characters are drawn, like graphical


symbols, onto the screen. if one runs the game and adds the word


"text" on the command line, one can play the game in an entirely


different interface. The text mode of Begin is completely


accessible to the blind. There are still limited graphics, but


these are of a kind which do not interfere much with the text, and


don't screw up speech output. Less information is available for


players using this interface. There is no way of telling which


direction torpedoes are travelling. When ships are being boarded


while the game is in graphics mode, the number of surviving crew


and the number of boarding invaders are both shown. This


information is not provided while in text mode. The game is still


playable without this information, but blind players are clearly at


a decisive disadvantage.





The game of Nethack was also not designed for blind people. the


only reason it is accessible at all is because it is possible to


change the symbols which represent elements of the game into text


characters. Also, the text which the game writes to the screen is


written using the bios method instead of drawn directly to the


screen. The game is not dependant on graphics, although they are


available for sighted players who might wish to see them. It should


also be noted that Nethack is not time-based, but turn-based.





As PCS has demonstrated with its Bowling and Shoot games, it is


possible to have a time-based game which is compatible with


speech. In the two games mentioned, textual information is never


presented during time-critical moments in the game. One does not


need to absorb a lot of information and make a decision based on a


lot of variables in seconds. this aspect should be more fully


explored. It is quite conceivable that trivia or word-games, and


possibly even adventure games could have time-based elements. It is


only necessary for designers to bare in mind that accessing


information on a screen can be time-consuming for players.





the last issue that I will discuss in this article is that of menu


interfaces. During the past five years, a few games have surfaced


which would have been much more speech-friendly without menu


interfaces which depended on a highlighting system to choose


options. Many speech synthesizers cannot cope with systems such as


this, and will not inform the player which option he or she is


selecting. the option to use letters or numbers to select options


can go a long way to making a game accessible. PCS provides for


this in its games, and also designs their arrow-interface menus so


that they are speech-friendly. I have never had a problem using


their menus.





Hopefully, I have managed to raise some of the larger issues in


developing accessible games. In the months to come, I hope to


receive input from all of you on ways to make games more


accessible. I also hope that you who are developers out there will


share your experiences with those who might be considering making


accessible games.





++


The Latest Finds:





+





Perdition's Flames





this piece of interactive fiction is freeware. It is written using


the Tads system by the creator of that system, and makes good use


of the power of the development system. Basically, you have died,


and find yourself on a boat which eventually arrives in Hell. this


hell is nothing like it is depicted in various religious


literature. It has found itself in a position where it must compete


for your soul with Heaven in a free and open system. Accordingly,


it has been modernized and made a lot less unpleasant. You must


become a member of an adventurers' club by collecting certain


treasures and accomplishing certain tasks. All in all, the game is


fairly easy to play in terms of its ability to understand ordinary


sentences. You won't have to think of obscure ways of phrasing your


commands or anything like that. The puzzles are logical, if not


instantly solvable. The atmosphere is very well done. the level of


humour is exactly right, enough to keep the game amusing without


ruining it entirely. Perdition's flames can be found at:


ftp.gmd.de


It is located in the tads section of the if-archive. The solution


is also available on the same site.





+


Frobozz Magic Support





This is another excellent game written with the Tads system. It


takes place in Infocom's Enchanter universe. You play the role of


a magic support clerk assigned to solve the various problems people


get into while using magic. You are joined by an animated burin [a


kind of magical equivalent to a pencil], in your quest to set


things right. The game is quite humorous, and comes complete with


a built-in walkthrough and hints. Novice players might find the


game a bit frustrating, but certainly not impossible. Descriptions


are quite good, although the game doesn't really lend itself to


developing a rich atmosphere since each task you must perform takes


you into different regions of the Enchanter world. The game can be


found in the same place that Perdition's flames can be found, at


the ftp.gmd.de site.





++


News from PCS


Sent by Phillip Vlasak





NEW GAMES BY PCS





PANZERS IN NORTH AFRICA. $30


Did you ever wonder what the difference was between the nation's


armories were in World War Two, and if you had to be supplied and


fight with one of the great powers. Which would it be?


Command a World War Two tank, and fight your way to victory. this


game allows you to battle enemy tanks from the great desert


campaigns fought in the north African theater. In this game you


will move your tank into battle, choose to fire smoke to obscure a


more powerful tank, or blast away with armor piercing rounds. The


game will worn you of trouble, such as being in range of your


enemy's main gun, running low on ammo, or if enemy forces are


moving beyond your visibility. you can be in a tank of four


nations. German and Italians are the Axis powers, and the Americans


and British are the Allied powers. this game enables a blind person


to use their ear and hand skills to aim at an enemy tank and fire


a cannon. it has over 60 multi media sounds.





CAR RACING CIRCUIT. $30


Feel the sweat run down your back wile you try to control your


super charged computer down the straight away towards the next


critical turn. Will you make it or will it be curtains?


you can race your car against opponents on five different tracks.


two races are two lap qualifiers. One is an oval and the other is


a figure eight. three long races are two ten lappers of the oval


and figure eight, and a road race course twelve and one half miles


long. The up and down arrow keys are used to control your speed.


the right and left arrow keys will allow you to turn right or left.


The space bar is the break, and will slow you up quickly. you use


your hear and hand skills to successfully navigate a turn. You can


use the function keys as a dash board to find out how fast you are


going, what lap you are on, your race clock, how far you have


travelled in the race, and gives the time difference between you


and


your nearest opponent. You are being challenged by 25 of the


world's best drivers and if you beat the record score, your name is


saved. Now you have the tools. Go out there and make them smell


your exhaust and let them hear your tires squeal.





WORLD SERIES BASEBALL SPECIAL EDITION.


Hear the ball come off the bat, and the crowd roar when your teem


rallies from behind. Even the organist gets into the game.


In collaboration with Harry Hollingsworth, PCS has added real


sounds to his World Series Baseball Game. it comes with 160 teams,


including the 1996 pennant winning Yankees and Braves and the 1996


all star teams. you will feel even more like you are really at the


baseball game. The sounds include ball meeting bat, ball hitting


glove, vendors in stands, and music, including Star Spangled


Banner, Oh Canada, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and charge music.


For those who already own Version 11 of World Series Baseball,


the Special Edition Update is only $10.





PCS DISTRIBUTES MICHAEL FEIR'S MAGAZINE AUDYSSEY;





a magazine on Computer Games Accessible to the Blind.


It is a bi-monthly released on Compuserve that we will make


available on 3.5 inch IBM format disk for ten dollars per year.


Each issue will contain the full text of the electronic edition


plus share ware or free ware games to fill out the disk.





Demos of our games are available from PCS for fifty cents each,


plus two dollars shipping per order.





Contact PCS in any format at:


Personal Computer Systems


551 Compton ave.


Perth Amboy NJ 08861


Phone (908) 826-1917.


Email pvlasak@monmouth.com





++


Contacting Me





I can be reached in two ways. The easiest is through Compuserve. My


e-mail address is as follows:


72712.3103@compuserve.com





alternatively, you may correspond with me on 3.5-inch disks,


provided you be sure to send them in returnable disk-mailers. I


don't have the money to pay for postage. My mailing address is:


5787 Montevideo Road


Mississauga, Ontario, Canada


Postal code: L5N 2L5





I have recently acquired a copy of UUencode and UUdecode for dos,


so you may send files to me via this means.

















* Internet in a Macro V2.60 Alpha


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