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Audyssey Issue 33
Audyssey;
Games Accessible to the Blind
Issue : 33
Edited by Michael Feir and Rebecca Sutton
Temporarily Edited by Alyssa Jolley
Fun, Friendship, Knowledge, Charity
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Welcome
Welcome to the Thirty-third issue of Audyssey. This magazine is dedicated to the discussion of games which, through accident or design, are accessible to the blind either with or without sighted assistance.
Note: This magazine uses plus-signs as navigation markers. Three plus-signs are placed above any articles or sections. Within these sections, two plus-signs denote the start of a new sub-section. Smaller divisions are marked by a single plus-sign. This allows people to use their search capabilities to go quickly to the next division they are interested in. For instance, the "Letters" section is preceded by three plus-signs. Each letter within it has two plus- signs before it. Answers to letters have a single plus-sign before them.
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Distribution Information and Submission Policies
This magazine is published on a quarterly basis, each issue appearing no earlier than the fifteenth of the publication month for its quarter. All submissions to be published in an issue must be in my possession a minimum of two days before the issue is published. I use MS-Word to produce Audyssey, and can therefore accept submissions in pretty much any format. They may be sent either on a 3.5-inch floppy disk, or via e-mail to my Sympatico address. I will give my home address and my Sympatico address at the end of the magazine. Please write articles and letters about games or game-related topics which interest you. They will likely interest me, and your fellow readers. This magazine should and can be a highly interesting and qualitative look at accessible gaming. To insure that high quality is maintained, I'll need your written contributions. I reserve the right to unilaterally make changes to submissions if I deem it necessary to improve them
grammatically or enhance their understand ability. I will never make changes which will alter the spirit of a submission. All submissions must be in English. However, people need not be great writers to have their work appear in Audyssey. Many of our community come from different countries. Others are quite young. Where possible, I try to preserve their different styles of expression. The richness that this adds to the Audyssey experience far outweighs any benefits gained from having everything in prose so perfect as to be devoid of life. Audyssey is a community and magazine built on the need for blind people to have fun. There are no formal structural requirements for submissions. Within reason, they may be as long as necessary. Game reviews should all clearly state who created the game being examined, where it can be obtained, whether it can be played without sighted assistance, and any system requirements or other critical information. Although profanity is by no means banned, it should not be used gratuitously. Submissions not published in a current issue will be reserved for possible use in future issues if appropriate. Those who are on the Audyssey discussion list should be aware that I often put materials from the list in the "Letters" section if I feel that they warrant it.
Anything posted to this discussion list that in some way stands out from the common and often lively ongoing discourse will be considered fair game for publishing unless it
contains the author's wish that it not be published. Until now, this practice has been commonly consented to. From now on, it is now officially a policy of the Audyssey
community. This magazine is free in its electronic form, and will always remain
so. Due to a lack of demand, PCS Games is no longer making Audyssey 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 via E-mail, or 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 unless you are their creator or have obtained permission to do so. 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. 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 can send and receive attachments with ease. 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. There are now several ways of obtaining Audyssey. Thanks to ESP Softworks, there is once again a distribution list for those who want to receive Audyssey via E-mail. To subscribe to the distribution list so that you receive all future issues, the E-mail address to the subscription form is:
Audlist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com You may also refer a friend and pass onto them the current issue as well as an introduction e-mail explaining the magazine in detail. Then, if they wish to subscribe they may do so.
This list facilitates discussion about games accessible to the blind between the publication of issues of Audyssey. All are welcome as long as they respect their fellow community members and keep in mind that the topic of the list is supposed to be games. Other topics are allowed within reason as long as they don't begin to monopolize the list traffic for too long. Newcomers should be advised that traffic is frequently fairly heavy. To help those who are swamped with E-mail cope with this, there is a digest mode available which
sends one large E-mail per day containing the day's traffic. Anyone participating in the discussion list will have issues of Audyssey automatically sent to them via E-mail. Representatives from all major developers of games for the blind are actively participating on the list. All staff members of Audyssey are also participating. If you want an active role in shaping the future of accessible games, this is where you can dive right in. To subscribe to this discussion list, send a blank message to:
blindgamers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To post messages to the list, send them to:
blindgamers@yahoogroups.com Should you wish to unsubscribe, send a blank message to: Blindgamers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com To change your subscription to digest mode so that you only receive one message per day, send a blank message to:
Blindgamers-digest@yahoogroups.com To go back to receiving individual messages, send a blank message to: Blindgamers-normal@yahoogroups.com There are more options at your disposal. To find out about them, send a blank message to:
Blindgamers-help@yahoogroups.com
Stan Bobbitt has made Audyssey Magazine available in HTML format for easy on-
line browsing. To take advantage of this, you are invited to visit:
http://www.geocities.com/sbobbitt21
People can easily and quickly navigate through the various articles and reviews, and directly download or visit the sites of the games that interest them. This will be of especial benefit for sighted people who wish to make use of Audyssey and/or join the growing community surrounding it. The Audyssey community thanks Mr. Bobbitt for his continued efforts on its behalf in this matter.
You can also find all issues of Audyssey on the Internet on Paul Henrichsen's web site at:
www.henrichsen.org J.J. Meddaugh has long been famous in the Audyssey community. He has now started his own web-site called The Blind Community. All issues of Audyssey are there in zipped files in the file centre.
Kelly Sapergia's site has unfortunately closed down for the moment. We'll hopefully have better news in the next issue of Audyssey regarding this. He can still be contacted via E-mail with the recently changed address you'll find in the Contacting Us section of
Audyssey.
Another site has recently added Audyssey issues to its resources. We welcome:
http://www.blindhelp.com to the Audyssey community and hope that visitors to this site find our resource to be of value to them.
If you have ftp access, all issues are also available at Travis Siegel's ftp site: ftp://ftp.softcon.com Look in the /magazines directory.
And finally, Darren Duff has recently placed all back issues of
Audyssey on his site at: http://www.angelfire.com/music4/duffstuff/audyssey.html
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Contents:
Welcome
Distribution Information and Submission Policies
Contents
From the Editor
Announcing AudysseyMagazine.org!
Classic Games, New Games, and Originality
News From ESP Softworks
News From ZForm
News From Danssoft
News From PCS
News From MindsEye2
Game Announcements and Reviews
Contacting Us
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From the Editor
Greetings everyone!
First off, on behalf of the community, I'd like to welcome Michael and Rebecca back to the discussion list, and congratulate them on their wedding.
I wish to apologize beforehand that after going through the archives for the past three months, I was unable to find any material to place in the letters section of the magazine. However, I only scanned them and might have missed something. My own family, me included, has been very ill, which contributed to the last-minute rush and this issue
coming out later than I had originally planned.
But on the bright side of things, there are two great reviews by Jay Pellis that some might enjoy. Though it does require sighted assistance, The Longest Journey (one of the games reviewed) is a great game. The little I was able to play without assistance was very
interesting, and both the sounds and the storyline are incredible.
Michael also sent in a review of Monkey Business, and Stan Bobbitt wrote an informative article on Monarch Business Systems, which was wonderful since I was beginning to think that there would be no magazine this go-round due to what little material I had received thus far. It also appears that all can look forward to ESP's next two releases, as well as one from Mindseye2 in the near future.
Hectic as it was editing everything that was coming into my inbox at the last minute, it was great to see Audyssey, which I was fondly referring to as "the pamphlet," form itself into a small, yet reputable and informational magazine. I would gladly volunteer to edit it again without hesitation in the future if it was ever needed, and would like to both thank, and send my gratitude to Michael for allowing and entrusting me with this opportunity and experience. But... Enough about me, right?
I hope all of you find this as enjoyable to read as I did when reading the various Articles, reviews, information, etc. as it was sent to me.
-Alyssa
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Announcing AudysseyMagazine.org!
the official Audyssey web site.
Article by Stan Bobbitt
At last, the Audyssey community has a home on the web that it can call its own! For so long, the resources for such a site have been just out of our grasp, but no longer ... now all we need are ideas from you, the community members, to fill the site with the content you want, and of course, volunteers to put that content together.
Back in March, Mr. Luis Difut of Monarch Business Systems http://www.pc1source.com
came forward and offered, for free, the resources to house and develop such a web site.
Below is part of a message that he sent to Michael Feir concerning the offer:
"We have here in my office a T1 line with our own web servers & email servers. What I would like to do is house your site along with FTP and email for your domain on our system with no real size limit to you for free. I have taken your suggestions in several occasions on games and I want to give back some to the community.... Let me tell you a little about our system. It runs on the Windows 2000 server platform with Front page 2000 access. Also we house our own mail server so you would not need to keep changing your email address since we could give your domain its own email that can be accessed via POP3 mail or web mail. FTP is just that, simple and easy and that would go along with it. We are working on migrating to an exchange server within the next year to add many more uses to our server and services. We are also looking into adding a chat service to the system, but I don't just want to have any
chat server. For chat, I want one that will work with speech software like
JAWS, since that is what I use currently. This way We as the blind can participate in live chat. Also, since you are connected with many blind programmers, a collaborative
effort on some of these things would be cool."
Following is what Michael Feir, editor of Audyssey had to say about the offer:
"Of course, I had some questions for him. The first was how long they had been in business. My experience with Campus2day has certainly given me a sense of caution. Happily, they've been around since 1990 and have done numerous web-sites. Their business deals with repairing computers and developing sites for customers, so they are clearly deriving their income from sources outside the blind community and games. All in all, I think they would make an ideal neutral party which could offer much to the
community. In turn, the community could potentially offer help to our host in terms of
information. Running a small business means that there isn't always time to look into accessible ways of doing things. However, game developers and possibly other community members have done so and could provide that information. They could also have a place to post demos and other material without having to worry about band width or transfer limitations. Mr. Difut is quite open to having such features as surveys, voting poles, etc as long as we can determine how to do these things accessibly. Currently, he
doesn't know how to go about that in a universally accessible manner. What we make
of this home would be up to us. It can be as large as we want and as good as our collective knowledge and willingness to pitch in can make it. No compensation is expected. There wouldn't be any ads outside of those we actually might appreciate like those from game developers. All that Mr. Difut would possibly receive in return is ready access to the latest info on gaming as well as a possible tax deduction."
Luis Difut's first step was to set up a discussion forum. This discussion forum is for discussing how best to develop and use the resources offered to the Audyssey community by Monarch Business Systems. Everyone who wishes to can post messages here for all to read. In this manner, we can proceed with ideas on what we're after and what we can
achieve. Being a forum for the specific topic listed above, people are expected to stick to that topic. Also, respect for other contributors to the forum is a must and no personal attacks will be allowed. To post a message to the forum go to: http://www.pc1source.com/audyssey
His next step was in securing the domain, audysseymagazine.org. As of the date of this announcement, the front page for the site has been set up and there is an archive with current and back issues of Audyssey Magazine. We have a long way to go on the site but the archive in several different formats are ready! http://www.audysseymagazine.org
Ok, who is Luis Difut? and what is this Monarch Business Systems? And what are his motives for such a generous offer?
Luis Difut is a 35 year old blind business owner and gamer from Elkton Maryland. Just out of high school, he suffered a tragic traffic accident in which he lost his sight. Having the grit and determination to over come this tragedy, in the spring of 1988, he enrolled in college and received a BA in Business and a BS in Computer science.
In 1990, he started Monarch Business Systems, a Maryland based company that
Builds new computer systems, does repairs, networking, and houses the local communities Internet access point. After 12 years as a business, I would say that Monarch stands on pretty solid ground.
As far as motives? Well, I'll let Mr. Difut answer that in his own words:
"I have taken your suggestions in several occasions on games and I want to give back some to the community...."
Other concerns were brought up about Mr. Difut and/or Monarch Business System's possible motives for offering to house the audyssey web site for free. Again, I think Mr. Difut sets things quite clear below:
"Hello Everyone,
As a blind business owner and gamer I made an offer to the community that I thought was a good one: to house the Audyssey Magazine web site on my companies servers at no cost to Audyssey or mike at all. There was no mention of my company hosting other game companies for profit, just an offer for them to place there demo files in the archives of the audysseymagazine.org web site on my server. I have donated the domain name to this cause and the software and resources needed but haven't asked
For anything ... I don't do programming ... I wouldn't know the first part in developing a game; however, I do know the Internet and networking along with systems design and implementation. I enjoy the games as much as the rest of you out there and don't see where all the chest pounding is coming from. In good faith, since I have the resources to give, I gave back to the community. I don't want to sound off, but it seems like my step
forward has rubbed a lot of people wrong. I am not backing down or giving up anything, but I will state my stand again. My server is open to those who wish to further the audysseymagazine.org world. If developers wish to have a copy of there software on my server that is fine. There is no implied charge for this, just a wish that they not hog the space. My wife and I have no problem working with the staff and getting the site up
to par but we can't do it our selves. If content is sent we will put it up but we
do not do this alone."
Well folks, there you have it. Audyssey magazine now has an official home
on the Internet. Aside from the magazine archive, it is now up to us to come up with ideas for other content. Many things have already been suggested such as:
"a top games countdown which players could either vote for a single favourite game or rank their favourite games"
"a message board where people could post their high scores would be a good idea"
"How about combining the forms with a search feature to allow people to post and answer questions regarding the magazine and games."
"A downloads section containing as many game demos and so-on as we can put on for people"
"a guide for newbies would be good"
"It would probably be good to have a section for editorials and articles which people could submit."
I'll close this article with a final quote from Luis which leaves us ending on a positive note and caps things up quite well.
"We would like your ideas to come forth so we may see about implementing these things on the site. Mike had said to me that it was the readers who grow the magazine, so how `bout the readers send us some fertilizer and lets see what we can get growing here!
So all you developers out there, keep pumping out your games and let the so-called politics that are not there go by the way side. Do what you do best, and the community will grow fine on it's own! For us gamers, we love to play games. But I don't hear a lot of
Politicians out there with any elections going on. Just lots of people with the want to play more and better games!"
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Classic Games, New Games, and Originality
By Zhi Huang
After reading an article from the last issue of Audyssey by Didier Vanoverbeke, a lot came to my mind. I must first thank him for inspiring me to want to write. With a little time, I decided to write an article on classic games, new games, and originality.
Some might think the above three things can be easily and simply explained. However, I believe that there are a few explanations of all three, and I will list some of them. I will also give my point of view of how or why they are important in the game industry.
According to www.dictionary.com a few definitions of the word `classic' include: Having lasting significance or worth; enduring, having historical or literary associations, Simple and harmonious. Although not all "classic games" are written in stone, it is pretty
unanimous that some of them include Packman, Space Invaders, the Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, and one of the first and perhaps even the first game created, Pong. Due to the historical significance of these games, manufacturers constantly try
to remake, create sequels, and translate these games to make them suitable in
another language. Some will say, "Ok, it's a classic game. Who wants to play that
now that we have new games out?" Never the less, it seems that a significant amount of people are still willing to play different renditions of them because they are historical, bring back a lot of memories, or perhaps the latest release has just been made available in their area or language.
During the past few years, revisions of games like Pong, Pinball, Doom, And Space Invaders were released for the visually impaired community. Although there are some who say that some of these games for the blind are not good, horrible, or bad games, there are still supporters of these games, because it brings back memories of when people played them with sight, or they heard of these classic games and want to check them out
now that they have the opportunity to do so. Therefore, individuals like Mr. Didier Vanoverbeke cannot say that these games are bad games simply Because he still plays sighted games---and just because he thinks they are. He can say he doesn't like the games, but how can he say classic games which have been enjoyed by billions over the ages are bad games? That's just like saying the Beatles, Duke Ellington, and others who are classical musical artists stink and are awful. You might not like them, but how can you say that and back it up? Well, it's the same concept with classic games. You do not have to like them and don't have to play them, but it certainly doesn't mean they are bad games.
I know that there are people who say that members of the blind community shouldn't defend a game just because it is made for the blind. However, this is not what I'm doing. After all, there are plenty of sighted games that is still played today, so its not like blind people are the only people playing classic games. For those who don't know, when you install windows, you have the option to install games such as hearts, minesweeper, solitaire, free cell, pinball, checkers, and others. The reason for games like those
Being included? Because the majority likes at least one of them. In my opinion,
many classic games for some reason or another will always have some replayability.
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News From ESP Softworks
Greetings, gamers!
You're receiving this special promotional offer for our next scheduled game release entitled 'Alien Outback'. This title is scheduled to be released mid-June and so far everything looks like it's right on target. This is our first arcade-style title and, without a doubt, it's proven to be tons of fun in the spirit of our previous two releases! It won't be long before ESP Raceway is officially released, but this game will keep you well
Occupied until then and very well worth the price! As a special promotional
introduction, we're offering 'Alien Outback' to our valued customer - that's you!--for just $24.95 plus S&H through May 26th, 2002.
Alien Outback features all of the truly high-quality sound effects you expect from ESP releases as well as our special brand of innovation and unbeatable customer service bar none! That's right--no bounced technical support e-mail or excruciating licensing requirements. Once again, ESP Softworks delivers the best in high-quality accessible gaming entertainment direct to the accessible gaming community and beyond.
_Alien Outback_
Busha Bob was settling back having a Foster's with Duncan after a safari adventure when all of a sudden there was a commotion out by the billabongs. Crikey, Jolly rancher! It looks like the outback's been invaded by alien vermin! They can take our women and they can take our Foster's, but they won't be taking our bloody sheep! Throw on your waders and drop your feet into Busha Bob's world as he takes on alien invaders from out of this world and help save the outback!
Alien Outback Features:
- Over 20 levels of out-of-this-world arcade-style shoot 'em up fun!
- Many way cool, high-quality sound effects!
- Real-time score reporting--to and from the game via a dedicated high score server!
- Monthly contests on the AlienOutback.com website!
- Compete with your friends and foes on the high scoreboard!
- Extra bonus levels!
- The unmistakable brand of ESP humor you've come to expect in our games!
"Who needs the Men In Black when ya got Busha Bob out in the outback?"
Alien Outback is scheduled to be released in June 2002. The non-promotional
retail price will be $29.95 plus $4.00 shipping/handling and ships on CD.
Shipping and multiple title discounts apply. See order form for details.
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News From Zform
Hello Audyssey Community,
Some of you have been following the progress of ZForm since our earliest days when we were two crazy kids in a college dorm room. And after five years of learning and uilding, I am proud to announce to you that our first game, ZForm Poker, is now completed and
available online!
ZForm Poker is a multiplayer, online version of five-card draw poker that you can play on your PC. It uses sound cues and intuitive keyboard commands for game play, making it easy to learn, fun to play, and accessible to blind and visually impaired players. The game also includes a slick graphical interface that is accessible for those with low vision and attractive to sighted friends and family.
Some of ZForm Poker's other cool features include:
* Unlimited Play - Play ZForm Poker online as much as you like!
* Chat - Shoot the breeze with (or taunt smile) your friends while you play.
* Chips - Poker wouldn't be poker without something to bet with! Each player gets a pile of fake poker chips to bet with when they create their account.
* Score Boards - ZForm tracks how well people are doing at our games so that you can see whom the top players are in a variety of categories (and see if you're one of them!).
* Community - ZForm has a vibrant online community composed of blind, visually impaired, and fully sighted.
* Self-Voicing - ZForm Poker is self-voicing, meaning that it does not require a screen reader in order for it to work (though it works with many existing screen readers)
Interested in playing ZForm Poker? You can download a 15-day FREE
trial version at:
http://games.zform.com/signup.php
Interested in learning more about ZForm?
http://zform.com
Everyone at ZForm would like to thank the editors of Audyssey and this community for your continued support as we have grown from an idea into a reality.
Cordially,
- Paul G. Silva, Cofounder and President, ZForm "Games with Vision"
(http://www.ZForm.com)
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News from DansSoft
Greetings Gamers!
Boy do we have some excellent news for you this month. DansSoft has teamed up with www.blindsoftware.com to make one of the most entertaining, fast-paced accessible games out there. The game is called Troopanum...
Its complete chaos, as you attempt to shoot down enemy ships using your laser, before they land and destroy your base. Wave after wave of enemies infiltrate the area, but you manage to defeat them all. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, boss ships appear, as well as different ship types! Think you can handle ships that move just as you are about to destroy them? Or how about those that take multiple hits before they go down? It won't be easy!
The game can be played by all gamers, as there are three difficulty levels to choose from. Is easy not a challenge for you? We dare you to try insane! Think you can match up to other gamers around the world? Post your high scores real-time from within the game to the blindSoftware.com top ten using an active internet connection and prove it!
The game is extremely simple to play. All sounds can be learned using a very intuitive sound demonstration menu.
The game is completely self-voicing--no screen reader necessary! With its amazing sound effects, music, and voice-overs, you'll wonder where the time has gone!!! Things get even more interesting when you obtain special items. When do you use your super laser? Do you dare attempt to portal to the next level? Do you use your smart bombs now,
or hold off until the boss ship appears?
We have used a new technology for our sound files and our setup file!
No other company has ever done this so we are the first! Let that be known! Our entire setup file is 5.1 MB and we have over 130 stereo sound files in the game! so forget about downloading multiple large files or downloading a 20 to 30 MB setup file! You can yank this entire game in 20 minutes using a regular dial-up modem or in seconds using cable or dsl! How's that for a time saver! Please remember, blindsoftware.com and myself came up with this idea! Sorry, we are a little proud of this accomplishment! grin.
A playable demo is available! Visit
http://www.blindsoftware.com
for this download, as well as ordering information...
News From PCS Games
Congratulations Michael and Rebecca on your wedding!
PCS Games is completing work on our first self-voicing Windows 3D sound game called "Packman Talks". It uses the game creating engine from GMA games. A Packman Talks Demo is also nearing completion, and we will keep you posted on its development and where the demo will be located in future Audyssey magazines and on the Blind Gamers list.
Phil will be at the NFB Convention in Louisville, Kentucky July 2002.
Hope to meet all the Audyssey gamers there!
You can contact PCS Games in any format at
PCS Games
666 Orchard Street
Temperance, MI 48182
phone (734) 850-9502
E-mail Phil Vlasak phil@pcsgames.net
Check out our New Web site!
www.pcsgames.net
+++
News From MindsEye2
MindsEye2 is currently working on another word game you may enjoy when it is released. It is a hidden word puzzle or circle the word puzzle game.
You are presented with a grid of letters and a list of words to find among the grid of letters. For example, the grid could be 12 letters across by 12 letters tall. Many words could be hidden on this grid of letters, and your activity is to search in all directions to discover where the words have been hidden. Words can go left to right, right to left, top to bottom, diagonal etc. The words can be in any of the eight directions. Also words can
overlap each other and cross each other.
Finding hidden words is fun, and since all words to find are given, you do not need to figure out what words are in the puzzle using clues like in a crossword puzzle.
In our game you use the digits 1 through 9 on the numeric keypad to move around on the grid of letters easily. When you discover one of the words, go to the first letter of the word and press the enter key to indicate that you have found a word. Then press
the numeric keypad key (1 through 9) to show which direction the word continues in. If correct the word speaks and a reward sound plays.
Use up/down arrow to review which words are left to find. Each time you correctly find a word it is removed from the list. When all words have been found, a reward tune plays, and the game automatically continues to the next puzzle.
As with our other games, we plan on including a visual interface, so sighted players can enjoy the game too. The game will also include background music and will be self-voicing and run on Windows 95, 98, ME, and XP. We will probably release several games each with different size grids of letters. When the grid size is small, such as 4 by 4 letters, only a few words can fit on the grid. This is great for younger children since there are few words to find in each puzzle and only a few letters to examine. Children in first grade may be able to handle these smaller grid puzzles.
When the grid size is very large, such as 30 by 30 letters, more then 100 words will easily fit on the grid, and it will take much longer to search everywhere for these words. So these would be best for older players who really enjoy these puzzles. We may sell several games with different grid sizes so one can start with one and later get another which is easier or harder. Each game will include a number of puzzles. The games with smaller
grid sizes will probably include more puzzles. I have not decided how many puzzles to include with the games.
I thought you might find the hidden word search games interesting and want to watch for us to release these games. Hopefully MindsEye2 will be able to mention more about these in the next issue of Audyssey.
If you think you would enjoy word puzzles like this and would like to check out the user interface, then drop me a note and when I get far enough along with the games, I may be able to let you try a puzzle out to see what it is like.
Below is a sample circle the word puzzle with 6 words hidden in it. The words are:
help
play
new
race
car
game
Here is the puzzle. Try to find the six words if you like.
w r r y
e m a g
n l c c
p l e h
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Game Announcements and Reviews:
Above the full reviews which appear in this section, any new games which have not been fully reviewed yet will be announced in the hopes that readers and/or the Audyssey staff will try out and review these games for us. Reviews of games will not appear in any particular order. The only exception to this will be when we have more than one review for a game. In this case, reviews will be placed consecutively so that it is easier to compare them. As with Anchorhead a few issues back, I may wish to interject my own thoughts on a game should it provoke significant reaction or otherwise prove itself especially noteworthy. When I choose to do this, you'll find my remarks above
the review or reviews for the game in question. Should a game have more than one review, two plus-signs will be placed above the first review and/or my remarks. This policy will hopefully encourage people to try both the latest as well as some older games which may have been overlooked. Just because something isn't hot off the presses
doesn't mean that it is any less worthy of a gamer's attention. Also, remember that it doesn't matter if a game has been reviewed before. If you have a different take on the game than has already been published, send in your review and I'll consider it for publication. If a review fails to interest you, simply skip to the next plus-sign.
It's that simple, folks.
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Announcement: Haptic Device
Contributed by Roger Myers
Editor's Note:
Roger planned to write an article on this particular product, but never got around to doing so. However, I thought that this information on it that he sent me after testing it might be of interest to some of you.
I had a chance to test drive a really fascinating hardware device. It is the Haptic Device, a $15,000 force feedback device which hooks up to a computer.
If there is some time, I thought of writing an article for Audyssey about the device partly because it is so interesting and futuristic, but also because it has ramifications for future
game development.
With it one holds something like a ballpoint pen and uses this probe to examine virtual objects in front of him. There are really no objects there, but with the pen, it is exactly like the objects are present.
For example, there was a sphere which felt exactly like probing a rubber ball. The lady helping me then changed the ball's texture to be sandpaper, and it felt like scraping the pen over a ball with a rough surface. Next she changed the ball to be molasses, and its surface felt sticky. I could press on the ball with the pen, and the pen would slowly pass through the ball.
In another program she had an empty room with a cube box in it. I could find the walls with the pen and run the pen up the corners of the room. I could find the box and feel all sides of it with the pen. Also by scooting the pen under the box, I could lift it, and it felt like a weight on the pen.
She also had a program which let one type in any math equation, and the graph of that would be carved into a virtual wall so one could trace the groove with the pen. With proper sounds, this all could be quite a powerful tool for blind users.
She showed me the three dimensional tic tac toe game some one had put together for the Haptic Device. With the pen I could easily find the 9 cubes suspended before me. Scooting around these I could easily find the middle nine cubes behind the first nine cubes, and then behind those were nine more cubes, totaling twenty-seven in all. I could feel with the pen that each cube was cube shaped. By pressing harder on a cube, it would suddenly change into the letter X suspended in the same location. I could feel the lines of the letter X. The next cube I pressed on turned into the letter O. I could put the pen in the center of the O and also trace around it to determine that it was an O. This continues until all twenty-seven cubes have changed into letters. At that point the computer announces the winner. That is right! There is a winner because the game can be played over the Internet with another person who is using a Haptic Device. Both players feel the new
letters on their Haptic Devices as the game progresses.
While the $15,000 price tag is high for a toy or game, the price should be coming down over time. I would like to see what could be done with force feed technology when combined with the Direct X 3D sounds, music, etc. to enhance our games.
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The Longest Journey
Developer Funcom
Available in computer software stores
Requires sighted assistance
Review by Jay Pellis
In 2000, the adventure game genre wasn't doing that well. A drought was occurring, and only a trickle of games were being released. Most of them never hit US shelves, and they only saw the light of day in Europe. However, one game, the Longest Journey, was released there in 1999, and after much quibbling about publishing rights by various
companies, it finally got released in the US and Canada around the middle of 2000. Adventure gamers rejoiced at its release, as it is one of the best adventure games of all time, and it has won many awards from computer game magazines.
*the story*
This game takes place a few years in the future, and the story tells of the balance of 2 worlds. They are Stark, the world of science, and Arcadia, the world of magic. You play April Ryan who is your typical college student, trying to make it in the world as an artist. She has a bunch of friends and what seems to be a normal life but soon all that will change. The game opens with a narrator telling the story of how the worlds became balanced, and this sets the scene for what the game is, essentially a huge flashback telling the story of the worlds. April has been having nightmares recently, and in this particular one she is told to seek a way in to Arcadia. She has no clue what the person who tells her this is talking about and ignores what they say for the moment. She soon meets an old man named Cortez who explains more about the worlds to her, which slowly changes her mind about the situation. You, as April Ryan must stop an evil man and his henchmen from bringing magic from Arcadia in to the world of Stark, thus destroying both worlds in the process. You will explore locations such as the huge city that April lives in
And docks by an ocean. Once you find a way in to Arcadia, the locations will
change to more of a fantasy setting with you exploring temples, a marketplace, and a forest populated by mythical creatures.
*the interface*
Like most adventure games, the interface in the Longest Journey is completely mouse driven. As you move the mouse around the screen, a cursor will change color and shape to let you know you can do something. For example, it may turn in to an arrow to let you know you can walk in a certain direction or maybe it will turn in to an eye to let you know you can look at an object. The left mouse button is used for all actions such
as looking at something or taking an object. Whenever you look at something, April will describe it to you in great detail before either ignoring it or picking it up. Objects are contained in an inventory which you access via the right mouse button. You can combine items, as well as look at them and have April describe them. If you click on a person to initiate a conversation, you are presented with a few dialog choices to choose from. You can usually find out lots of info just by talking to characters, and most of the time, they will have different things to say if you return to them after not talking to that particular character for a while. Dialog is a very big part of this game.
*the sound, music and voices*
This game gets top marks in all 3 categories. There are various sounds for every location in the game to really immerse the player in the game world. From the hustle and bustle of traffic noise in the city, to the quiet sound of birds singing outside of Aprils house, to the sound of waves hitting the dock near the ocean, it is all here in glorious stereo.
Most if not all the music is performed by a symphony orchestra, and it is appropriate for every situation in the game in which it is played. Dramatic sweeping strings help start off the game introduction, while fast music can be heard during the more tense moments. The music is definitely up to the standard of any film score. To top it all off, the best part of the game is the voice acting. Not only do the actors portray their character roles perfectly but as stated before, there is a lot of dialog in the game. Conversations make up the bulk of this game. I spent 10 minutes talking to the first character I met, and most of the information was background info on that particular character. You can have these long conversations with every character in the game when you first meet them if you wish. You can find out things such as their history, and how they feel towards April and her quest as well as how they feel about other characters.
*conclusion*
This is one of those games where if you start playing it, you'll just want to play a little longer to see what will happen. Like a good book, once you pick it up, you'll never want to put it down until it is over. With a massive complex story spanning 4 cds, this is definitely a long journey but an interesting one all the way through.
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Monkey Business Review
Game by ESP Softworks
Review by Michael Feir
Available commercially for $34.95 US from:
www.espsoftworks.com http://www.espsoftworks.com
Fully accessible without sighted assistance.
After much anticipation, Monkey Business has proven to be more than worth the long wait. Packed with action and rich sound effects, it kept me going for around three weeks of intensive play. The experience is a completely new and refreshing one even for experienced gamers like myself.
*Design: Overall, The game is well plotted out and paced nicely. The first level acts as a kind of tutorial to the game. Joining your employer in his lab, you discover that the evil Dr. Wobble has been at work. During your stay in the lab, you must learn to use the
controls in a safe environment. There are no time limits or threats on this level, and you are free to explore. Following the professor into the lab is a bit tricky, and I've had occasions where it has seemed that I should have been within the lab but was not. The
entrance is a bit narrow. After the second or third time through, the lab becomes somewhat dull. I wouldn't have minded having more to do in there. For instance, perhaps points could be lost if the monkey let loose for you to catch ends up damaging equipment or knocking things over. Something like that would not, I think, be a bad addition for the medium or hard levels of difficulty.
Other levels I found particularly impressive were the Aztec temple, the wild west level, and the final confrontation with Dr. Wobble. In the temple level, you must avoid snakes, jump over pits, and duck arrow traps among other things. These obstacles are very well thought through sonically. I was never made to feel that extra sound was put in for my benefit as a blind gamer. Things sounded quite natural. When jumping over pits, I was impressed that you could hear the bubbling of the acid they contained as if you flew over it. James North has performed miracles with stereo sound that are not to be missed. The rumbling of approaching boulders was another very neatly executed touch on that level. The wild west level featured everything from gun fights to whipping barrels. It was quite exhilarating and fun. The saloon was especially well done with a good dose of humor.
Look around carefully in there, folks. I won't spoil some nifty little extras he's tucked away in the saloon. The final level was extremely well done and has the feel of a cartoon-style battle between a hero and arch villain. You duke it out with rockets with a bunch of robots and then Dr. Wobble himself. There is a non-violent way to handle the robots for those clever enough to figure it out.
The only level which I don't like at all is the cliffs area. I've never been one for mazes, and until I got help from James North, I don't think I would have ever solved the area. There are those who are more inclined toward mazes who doubtless found it an excellent
challenge. It was pure frustration for me though. Other than that and my above remarks about the lab, I don't think there's much James North could have done better with the levels. The puzzles presented in them were fair, but I only thought so in hindsight. Nothing like this has been done before. The temple area had me confused for a
while as to how to avoid snakes and then how to solve the puzzle in the central chamber. The arcade feel is incredible. It was quite a sensation to be playing the kind of game I had been wishing for since my teenage years.
*Sound: Nothing short of splendid, the sound work throughout Monkey Business not only enables you to suspend disbelief. It flings skepticism aside like so much dust in the wind. Right from the opening scene, you're drawn into the adventure. As you move around and turn, the sound shifts in direction and volume just as it realistically should. The atmospheric touches are designed so as not to interfere too much with navigation. For instance, there are many such sounds in the jungle level. Different animal noises are played, and objects like quicksand patches give off warning sounds that seem natural to them. The saloon has everything from bar fights to piano music in its soundscape. However, it's all at a level which still allows you to hear more important sounds. Overall, I'd give Monkey Business top marks for its sound work with no reservations at all.
*Controls: Movement and navigation in Monkey Business is handled entirely with the keyboard. The layout is good and can be mastered without too much effort. Be aware that this is a game of some complexity and that it pays to be familiar with all options available
to you. This is especially true in later levels where the scanning commands are pretty much necessary to solve levels. The look-ahead keys are very handy and should be mastered by players before they get too far in the game. Take the time to do this in the lab and jungle levels.
Basic movement is handled with the arrow keys. Much like Shades of Doom, your character turns left and right as you press the left and right arrows. The up-arrow moves you forward. The right control key causes you to jump. Other keys allow running and sharper turning. While this is typical for sighted gamers, it is still rare for blind gamers and may take new players a bit of time to adjust to. However, now that the pioneering moves have been made, I would say that mastering Monkey Business will better prepare you for other games likely to emerge in the near future.
*Overall Comments: To date, there has been no game which makes such optimal use of current sound technology to draw its players into its world. The learning curve is fairly high compared to other games for blind people. However, this comes with the territory. Action games such as Monkey Business take a while to master and new players should
try not to get discouraged. Effort and patience are both generously rewarded with lavish excitement. James North has the right approach in the mechanics of making this kind of game sound accessible and fantastic at the same time. No corners are cut for the sake of ease of play, and that's just how things should be. If you're having trouble hearing the footsteps of a monkey near a raging waterfall, that's not inaccessible. It's just real life. It's about time a game with such values came along. Also, James has made a good game for all ages. There is some violence such as fighting robbers in the wild west area or shooting rockets at robots in the final level. However, the violence all makes sense and there is nothing gratuitous about it. For the price, Monkey Business provides excellent value currently surpassed by no other fully accessible game. Even playing it again at the same difficulty level is not dull as it can be in other games. Having three levels of difficulty and ten levels to the game means that you have excellent replay value. There is also a bonus level which I have yet to experience. Collecting all the bonus coins seems to be necessary and I haven't quite managed that yet. When time permits, I'll have that motivation to return to this wacky world of monkeys and shallow but likeable characters and give it another try. I give this game a ten out of ten.
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Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Developer Sierra On-line
Available at computer software stores
Requires sighted assistance
Reviewed by Jay Pellis
Back in the early 90's, Sierra On-line and Lucasarts were the kings of commercial adventure games. While Lucasarts concentrated more on creating light-hearted humorous adventures, Sierra's games sometimes had much darker subject matter. The Gabriel knight series of games created by Jane Jensen combines fact with fiction to create a riveting and sometimes suspenseful storyline that still captivates gamers even today, 8 years after the first game was released.
The series introduces gamers to Gabriel Knight and his assistant Grace Nakimura. Gabriel is a novelist and owner of a New Orleans bookstore called Saint Georges books. Gabriel is desperately trying to write a novel but his research seems to be falling flat. However he is fascinated by and soon starts to investigate some murders that have been going on right in the New Orleans town where he lives. His novel was going to be about
voodoo, and he soon discovers that the people who were murdered were killed in strange ways. The victims hearts were removed from the bodies, which have the police baffled. Gabriel suspects it is the work of a supposed to be mythical voodoo cult that lives in secret and is hidden in New Orleans. His investigations lead him from a voodoo history museum, to a new Orleans park in the middle of town, and even to other countries
such as Germany. Grace his assistant will help the investigation by running the shop while Gabriel is out Investigating and doing research on topics that Gabriel asks her to help him with.
*the interface*
This game has the typical sierra online interface of the early 90's, which was also displayed in Kings Quest 6 and similar games. The right mouse button will cycle through icons such as look, talk, walk, and use. When an icon is activated by pressing the left mouse button, either Gabriel will comment on something or the narrator will describe it. The interface is also used to pick up items that Gabriel might need along the way, and
He can then use items that he finds. For example, he can show a photograph of a victim's body to someone to try to get information out of them. The interface may be a little bit better then the interface of today's adventure games, since the look icon in particular is quite useful and extends the game play.
*the sound, voices, and music*
As usual with an early cd based sierra adventure game, the voices are what make it shine. There is a narrator that will describe practically anything in the game out loud, whether it is something that you are looking at such as a bookcase or even if it is a sign that Gabriel is reading. Gabriel will also read things out loud such as books in his bookstore and even letters he receives in the mail. The conversations are also a new
Thing for these kind of games. In a game like Kings Quest 6, when you talked to
a character, you had to sit through scripted dialog. By that I mean, you couldn't choose what your character would say to another character. In Gabriel Knight however, you can do this. You can ask questions or ask about certain subjects like the voodoo religion or the murders. This is done by clicking with the left mouse button on whatever topic you
want to ask about. The conversations with other characters are quite long, and if you come back to the same character later in the game, they may have something different to say then they did the first time. As I mentioned before, fact is included along with the fictional story so you may get a chance to learn a little bit about voodoo. This game also includes a cast of Hollywood actors portraying some of the characters such as Tim
Curry playing the role of Gabriel, and Mark Hamill plays Gabriel's police friend Mosely. If you play your cards right, Mosely can be a valuable asset to the investigation. The music is another thing that Sierra games does right, and this game's soundtrack is no exception. It brings the New Orleans atmosphere to life with many good jazzy and blues sounding tracks such as a blues version of the Saints go Marching in that is playing when Gabriel enters a section of the park. The music played in the various locations is perfect for them, such as the haunting music that plays when Gabriel must negotiate a swamp
later in the game. Almost every location has a piece of music associated with it. There isn't a lot of sound in the game though. This is typical of older sierra games where the music and voice acting make up the bulk of the experience. You may hear the occasional sound such as Gabriel opening the drawer of his desk to retrieve something.
*conclusion*
If you thought the 2 Broken Sword games were good mysteries, then you will thoroughly enjoy the first game in the 3 part Gabriel Knight series. It has everything a mystery fan could ask for, investigation, a few plot twists, and a great story that will keep you coming back just to see what will happen next. The blind player will have a complete understanding of the story because of the many lines of dialog that are spoken and also
because of the narrator describing things. This game can be found in the Gabriel Knight Mysteries collection. This box set also includes the sequel Gabriel Knight 2: the Beast within, as well as a novelization of the first game written by Jane Jensen herself. I highly recommend reading the novel before playing the game because then you will know what many of the characters are like, and you will be able to picture the locations of the game in your mind. The novel is very well written with good characterization and descriptions of game locations. So if you have a sighted friend or 2 who enjoys a good mystery, why
not see if you can track down Gabriel Knight Sins of the fathers.
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Contacting Us
I can be reached in three ways. The easiest is via my Sympatico E-mail address.
My e-mail address is as follows:
mikefeir@sympatico.ca
You can also call me via telephone. I have voicemail, so you can leave a message if you fail to catch me at home and off-line. I'll do my best to return calls, but won't accept collect calls. My number is
as follows:
(905)-814-0608
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
Adam Taylor, star of Adam, The Immortal Gamer, and our resident ADOM
guru, can be reached three ways. You can send him e-mail at: blade@ican.net
Or, you can check out his homepage on the web: Blade's Armoury
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/9111
His page is dedicated to providing help, cheats and solutions to many games. Send him a request, and he'll do his best to find what you need. He also has sections on ADOM and Nethack available. Also, you can download the magazine from his page. Finally, if you wish to contact him at home, his address is: 3082 Bartholomew Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5N 3L1
Jay Pellis is an avid fan of graphical adventures and console games. For those of you wondering which Sega or Nintendo games are at all enjoyable to the blind, he's the one to turn to. He can be contacted at: jalucard@icontech.com
Justin Fegel has resigned his official position as an interactive fiction staff member. As such, he will be sorely missed. However, Justin plans to remain active in the Audyssey community. Therefore, those who need guidance with interactive fiction may still benefit
from his experience. He can be contacted at: Jfegel@earthlink.net
Kelly Sapergia is our expert in interactive fiction. He is a well-established reviewer of games for Audyssey, and has an interest in developing interactive fiction as well as playing it. He can be contacted at: kjsman2@sk.sympatico.ca
Randy Hammer conducts an ongoing search for worth-while mainstream games that can be enjoyed by blind players with sighted assistance. He will also review commercial games and shareware produced specifically for the blind, such as that from ESP Softworks, PCS, and eventually, Zform. He can be contacted at: RHammer@illuminet.com
Justin Ekis is our new web-based games expert. He will search for and report on on-line games like Utopia and Archmage. He is also going to keep a close eye on the re- emerging BBS scene. You can contact him at: j_ekis@onebox.com
Dave Sherman has become well-known on the Audyssey list and has now joined the Audyssey staff as our multi-user-dungeon expert. Interest in muds has popped up again and again in the Audyssey community and elsewhere among the growing net-savvy blind community. Thanks to Dave's efforts, newcomers will have another expert to turn to for
guidance. Dave will also report on the various different MUDs out there and steer us to the more blind-friendly ones. You can contact him at: drsherm@earthlink.net
Muds take a long time to become familiar with. Therefore, Maria Dibble joins Dave Sherman in his exploration of muds. They also make a great team to tackle interactive fiction games together. Maria can be contacted at: mdibble@pronetisp.net
David Lant has long been an active member of the Audyssey community. He is now one of our two moderators keeping things pleasant and orderly on the Audyssey discussion list. He can be contacted at: DLant@btinternet.com
Brenda Green is the new co-moderator. Her efforts on behalf of the Audyssey community are very much appreciated. She can be contacted at: bdgreen@tru.eastlink.ca
