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Audyssey Issue 50
Audyssey;
Games Accessible to the Blind
Issue : 50 1st quarter, 2007
Edited by Ron Schamerhorn& Sylvia Alvaro
Fun, Friendship, Knowledge, Charity
+++
Welcome
Welcome to the 50th 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.
In this publication I've attempted to pack in a whole bunch of great
information about gaming and the ongoing developments that are taking place,
also I'm pleased to say as far as I'm aware this time we have an Audyssey
first! So read on!
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.
+++
Contents:
Welcome
From The Editor
Letters
Dreaming Games
Phil's Funnies
Classic Board Games
Word Puzzles
Audio Games and Windows Vista
A tribute to Judgement day
News From Game Developers
Game Announcements and Reviews
Contacting Us
Distribution Information and Submission Policies
+++
From the Editor
Gretings all
Now I present to you Audyssey issue #50. It's funny to think it's been
that many issues. Most of which were put together by Mike, but I'm now on
the tenth one myself and time has indeed seem to have flown by.
This issue I think has a vast amount of great content. You'll find some
very interesting word puzzles, a review of Sryth written by yours truly, and
to the best of my knowledge an Audyssey first! That's right! Gaming
poetry! A tribute to judgement day.
One thing I'd noticed more this time around was that even though there's
lots to be read, #50 somehow appears smaller. Maybe the fonte size is
microscopic? Just kidding.
On the developers front the shorter list would seem to be those we don't
have some sort of update from. This first quarter has brought quite an
array of both free and commercial titles to the community.
One in our midst has made the jump to the new Microsoft Vista OS, and
graceously written about his findings on compatibility with the various
titles and what tweaking can be done by the user to have the games work.
There are some very informative reviews, and also several announcements in
the appropriate section for the reading.
I realize this issue is a couple of days late and apologize about this.
Life is hectic presently due to scheduling having my apartment painted, new
carpet installed, and most importantly wedding planning. Which is just
under two months away. On this note I'd also like to thank my fiancé Sylvia
for helping me with editing this issue.
My mailbox is always open, all right now without further ado I bring forth
the current magazine!
+++
Letters
In this section the content is taken from the list primarily, but may also
include something I receive directly. Generally these are of course game
related, but perhaps not a review or announcement as such. Sometimes it
might just be someone's thought's about a game or genre of game. I hope
these prove interesting and informative.
++
Ron,
You can print this if you like, but it's mainly a bit of encouragement and
feedback. I will not be alone in being a silent but appreciative reader of
Audyssy. While I enjoy reading Audyssey, I find I have no contribution, in
terms of a review, that could not have been made a year ago. While I am
interested in reading about all accesssible games, I only have the time and
motivation for games with a heavy strategic element. There is a lack of
such strategy games, and I quietly await the next release.
Keep up the good work,
Martin.
+
Martin thanks muchly for the above letter, it's always good to have feedback
from my readers. I'll also say that even if a game has been reviewed before
there's no rule about doing another. Reading about your perspective on a
certain game would be great. Hope you enjoy this issue of Audyssey.
++
Do you play the Jim Kitchen Golf game?
Hi. My name is John Snowling. I am a member of the FGA For The People Golf
Association Committee on the chat site for-the-people.
On the site, we have quizzes, music, movie theatre and of course golf.
We host a golf tournament each month. Members use a small program called
quickmix which helps in saving configurations of their sound cards to allow
others in a golf room to hear their game.
if your interested in learning some tips and tricks to a good game of golf
or you've never played but are interested in getting started visit
www.for-the-people.com
<
http://www.for-the-people.com/>
and become a member.
My handle on ftp is Snowy Owl.
Hope to see some of you soon.
++
You know, there are a few blind people who have never heard of accessible
games. They just play mainstream games, and I think that if the developers
were to make there games accessible, then a lot more blind people would
jump at the chance to play them, me being one of them.
++
But it goes back to convincing devs to make their games accessible, since
they're not just going to do it. We'd have to find out just how many blind
gamers there are out there, how many of them would play games that
mainstream devs made accessible (and probably a whole lot of other
information), then get someone who's actually interested enough to consider
what we found out. Even once we get all the statistics you have to have
someone willing to learn, and not all mainstream devs are. They're either
afraid of how much it would cost, or they don't want to be known as an
"accessibility company," whatever the heck that means. They seem to think
that making accessible games, even if they built a toggle into their game so
that each player could have it set up the way he or she wanted it, might
tarnish their reputation or make people take them less seriously.
++
You can't force accessibility, for the reasons mentioned by Che and because
"accessible" is a subjective term. What is accessible to you may not be
accessible others. I make games for blind and partially sighted people but
they won't work with a Braille display so people who are Deaf-Blind can't
play them.
Game companies respond to the market but gathering a few dozen signatures
isn't going to change anything. Everyone here knows that the market is tiny
and few developers are managing to sell more than a couple of hundred copies
a year. Yet, there are 2 million people registered blind in the UK, I don't
know how many more in the US, and I've just read that India has almost half
a million blind children. The potential market is massive but until game
developers can penetrate this market, it's going to go unnoticed.
+
The previous letters were part of a very good talk we had on list about
accessible games and the mainstream market.
++
Hi Folks,
NPR.ORG has a stereo version of the blind game story you can listen to at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6669943
Phil
++
HI all
I've moved to a new boarding place so it will take a while for my
telephone line to be transferred so I have to use my work computer to
send posts for a while . I find it more often that sighted people
sometimes don't understand blind people properly. The need to be
educated how to understand and handle blind people.
Something which really bothers me is that my mom thinks I'm wilfully
breaking my keyboard. Sometimes when she visits me, and I'm playing pipe2
and I'm hitting my control keys very fast to shoot the thugs, she will
say:
'Be more carefull with your keyboard, son. Don't smack it'.
The more I try to explain to her that it's the way I play the game, the
more she tells me:
'Its not necessary to smack the keyboard'.
Have you also experienced it that sighted people think you are smacking
the keys? What is the correct way of explaining this? I'm sure sighted
people that play games on a play station will also hit the joystick
buttons hard when the enemies appears speedily.
Sighted people need to understand that we are using our computers as
play stations, to play games. If I'm in the middle of a battle
especially with dark destroyer, I'm immersed into the game world. AT
that stage I'm not thinking of it as keys on a keyboard that I'm
hitting very hard, I'm imagining it as a gun I fire forcefully to
kill the enemies more efficiently.
When I type a document for example then its wise not to hit the keys
too hard, but in a game its something different.
How can I explain this to sighted people that think I'm trying to break
my keyboard?
+
I can completely agree with the prior letter. I've not had anyone tell me
about breaking the keyboard but I know I'll hit the buttons with more force
when launching a rocket at my nearest adversary, or avoiding incoming
ammunition.
++
Has anyone experimented with the different versions of Sudoku that are
designed with the blind in mind? I would like one that can be used with our
screen
readers so that I can hook a 40 cell braille display to my desktop PC and
look at the puzzle using it rather than relying on speech. Suggestions??
Thanks.
+
This came from one of the discussion members, and I'm not sure if an answer
was ever found or not. Perhaps someone knows a workable solution.
+++
Dreaming Games
By Brandon Hicks - hicks.brandon2 at g mail dot com
HardCore Audyssey readers may remember that I wrote an eppisode of Adam the
Imortal Gamer a fair few issues back.
Well, now I'm back to explain about my favorite genres of accessible games,
and ones I hope will come out.
I think how I'm going to do this article is to state a favorite genre, then
give some examples of games I wish could show up in it. Keep in mind that
these are just my wishes. I realise that there aren't any mainstream
development companies in the accessible game market, that it's 3 or 4 people
coding games so some of these are no where close to possible. I also think
that there would be more of a chance for some of these games if more
developers like PCS and GMA colaborated on a game. For example, Draconus
Entertainment, GMA, USA and PCS could get together and work on a game,
putting all their experience together to make one wapper.
I'm a big fan of first-person shooter games like SOD and, if I could get it
to work, Kill All Zombies and Technoshock. Although I'm not having much luck
with that one either. I like that there's things that test your reflexes,
you have to aim and avoid traps and such. They're, for the most part,
fast-paced action and you don't need to figure out tricky puzzles. You just
shoot and keep going. I don't particularly like or dislike the violence part
of it, that's not why I play them. It's more just because they're easier for
me. I've never been all that good at problem and puzzle solving, so these
are good games to play.
A few games I wish could be ported, or changed a bit and put into the
accessible game market are older games like Blake Stone and
Wolf'nStein. I like those ones because you have to go along the rooms
hunting for more than just data wafers and killing monsters. You get
treasure, lives and all sorts of good stuff. Another thing I find exciting
about those games is that there are secret levels. For example, on the copy
of Wolf'n Stein that my cousin and I used to play, you could go to level 1
and find a specific secret passage. In that room there was a further
passage, which contained an elevator to level 10. I wish there was a game
out there that contained secret passages, secret levels, treasure, money,
ammo, and interesting stuff like dog food.
Something that I liked about Blake Stone was the variety of monsters.
There were ones that didn't really die unless you used a specific weapon,
others that you had to shoot before they hatched, stronger ones and weaker
ones. Another unique thing about Blake Stone was that there were informants.
These were just random guys that you could find. They could give you
messages about the composition of the level, where a weapon was located, how
many enemies there were and I think there were other messages. I don't
remember them all, but no game, especially in the Blindness market, has that
type of feature. I'd love to be able to play something similar to these old
favorites.
Another of my favorite genres is racing. I really enjoy Top Speed 2. I think
the folks at Playing in the Dark did an awesome job on it. I also enjoy Mach
1 from Jim Kitchen. I'm really looking forward to USA Raceway. That's the
racing game I wish could be possible, and soon will be. I'd also like to see
a game where you race motor bikes specifically, so there were all sorts of
tricks and stunts you could do on your bike and, depending on the bike, some
would work well and some wouldn't. The better and more stunts you do, the
more points to go along with your finish position in the race. This sounds
similar to a game for the Play Station called Road Rash.
Before I go further, I'd just like to say that my personal opinion is that
we should, if the mainstream market has or had a good idea for a game that a
lot of people like, recreate it as an audio game for the visually impaired
if it's able to be done. I recognize that this isn't the creative way of
doing things, but most of us have never gotten to play these types of games,
so this would be a first for us, or in my, and probably some others' case a
better version of an old favorite game.
The third and pretty much final genre of games I enjoy and have a lot of on
my computer, well the few possible to play anyway, are simulators. By this I
mean something that accurately recreates the experience of commanding a sub
or a tank or some other vehicle. I really enjoy Tank Commander and Loan
Wolf. I've also got somewhat of a space ship sim, that being an old
dos-based game simply called Space. There's a note taker version of this one
available from BPC Programs.
What I'd really like to see is some sort of space sim, maybe based off
Robotech or some such idea, Star Wars maybe, and a flight simulator, for an
F14 Tomcat or FA18 Hornet. I think the cool part about these games would be
that, especially in the case of the Tomcat, you need to have either a player
and an A I or two players, one pilot and one Radar Intercept Officer, so you
could do an online game or a network game. I'd definitely shell out 80 bucks
for a game like this that I could play.
+++
Phil's Funnies
Written by Phil Vlasak
Games we'd like to play.
Invasion of the Scren Readers.
The planet Earth is invaded by a race of small impish creatures who's sole
purpose in life is to sit on the shoulders of blind people and tell them
what is in front of them.
Unfortunately the Scren have a lisp and can not pronounce all the letters
of the English language correctly.
Human: "What is on my screen, Scren ?"
Scren: 'It shays, Welcomz to Windowsh."
Human: "What did you say?"
Scren: "I shays, Welcomz toz windowsh."
Human: OK, what does it say below that."
Scren: "It shays Yoush musht updatesh yours driversh befogs thish programsh
wilsh worksh."
Human: "Uhha, OK, How about making me a sandwich instead?"
++
Games we'd like to Play:
Judgment Glory Days.
After saving the world from a group of countries bent on destruction for ten
levels, you enter the Boss level.
You stand in front of the Boss in all his glory,
And backing him up, the E street band.
>From the first note he plays on his guitar you realize that all hope is
lost.
The room is surrounded by ten foot speakers blasting
Born to Run all around you and you can't hope to hear him walk towards you!
With one quick smash of his guitar on your head you are defeated and crumble
to the feet of the boss,
Bruce Springsteen.
smiles,
Phil
+
This was sent in by a list member by the name of Dark, however this would be
the correct section for it to be placed in considering all the ongoing
discussion about the Sara game. Those who have read the HP series should
find this amusing.
++
Dear audeasy list.
It has come to our attention that at 29 minutes past 6 on the 23rd of March,
the possibility of the actual, real or otherwise tangible existance of
wizards and the wizarding comunity has been discussed on this mailing list.
Such behaviour on the part of muggles, is in contravention of the Statute of
Secrecy, and the reasonable enforcement of unsolicited speculation act,
section 35-B, paragraph C.
Obliviators will be arriving at your places of residence directly to effect
memory modification, and a nastyvirus charm will be placed on all eclectic
or self-thinking computerized devices to remove all such information.
Have a nice day.
Yours sincerely,
Empathicus Dark,
Internet restriction and monitoring office,
Department of magical lore enforcement,
The Ministry of magic,
London.
+++
Classic Board Games
by Thomas Ward
All, at least most, of us can remember a time when we sat around the
kitchen table playing board games like Monopoly, Risk, Life, etc with
our friends and family. Which resulted in many hours of enjoyment. As
Audio and Video games become more popular many of these time-honored
games are rarely being talked about on gaming lists such as Audyssey,
or in magazines such as the magazine you are reading now. So let's
talk about board games for a moment, and hope many of them will become
accessible audio games in the future.
One of the earliest and time-honored board games is an ancient Chinese
game called Go. Most often the game is played on a 19x19 board with
one player taking a group of white stones and the other taking a group
of black stones. Some modern variants may use chips rather than stones
and some modern variants use board sizes of 9x9 or 13x13. No matter
which variant is played the game is basically the same.
The game of Go is a strategy game, and is today still one of the
harder board games to master. Unlike Chess black always starts the
game first, and once placed stones can not be moved. The primary
objective of the game is to capture as many territories as possible by
surrounding vacant areas of the board with your own colored stones. It
is also possible to capture enemy territories by surrounding your
adversaries stones with your own stones. The player who captures the
most territory, and enemy stones is the victor.
I'm often surprised as challenging and fun is the game of Go is I
haven't seen really any accessible versions of the game out there for
those of us with disabilities. Sure we can adapt a sighted copy of the
board and stones to our needs, but I'd like to see a really good audio
game version with a reasonably good AI player. even better yet a
network based version where I could compete with others interested in
this game.
Perhaps the most popular board game of all time is the game of Chess.
Chess is over 1300 years old, and has been played more than any other
game in history. It is a game easy to learn, but you can spend your
entire life mastering it.
The game of Chess is played on an 8x8 board of 64 squares of
alternating colors.Each army gets eight pawns, two bishops, two rooks,
two knights, one queen, and one king. The objective of the game of chess
is to play until the opposing king is positioned where the next move
would result in the king being captured by the opposing army.
Fortunately, for us Chess fans there are accessible Chess boards out
there, and a few accessible computer games exist. However, I think it
would be awesome to have a PC Chess game with realistic battle sounds
and network game play where we could hear the actual sounds of lances,
swords, and the clash of armor on a realistic battle field.
Another extremely popular game is Monopoly. Growing up it was
certainly one of my favorites. I own several additions of the game
myself, including: Star Wars Classic, Star Wars Revenge of the Syth, Lord
of the Rings, Disney, and the classic Monopoly game.
While Monopoly is nowhere as old as Chess or Go, it is a favorite among
families for group play. The object of the game is to own more property,
money, and assets than anyone else in the game. All player's begin at go
and the game does not finish until there is one player left with a
substantial amount of assets, a monopoly, and the other players are
bankrupt. More modern games such as the Lord of the Rings addition offer
special rules which will speed up game play and end the game earlier
than the typical Monopoly game.
I'm sure most of you who are reading this have no doubt heard or even
played Jim Kitchen's accessible Monopoly game. I myself have played it
for ours on end, and do enjoy the game. However, I do see areas where
even that version could be improved if Jim Kitchen were ever inclined to
make some updates.
One of the major features about Jim's Monopoly is a player can make any
board he or she likes and drop it in the game. That is really cool, but
falls short of completely converting the different additions into one
audio game.
Most additions have different tokens which match the board being
played. For example, the Star Wars classic board comes with Obi-Wan,
Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader, and other Star Wars tokens. The
newer Revenge of the Syth eddition comes with Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan,
General Grevious, Yoda, and so on. While the tokens make no difference
in game play it is kind of nice to play with the actual tokens rather
than the classic dog, cannon, battleship tokens.
Another feature I truly wish for is a chance card editer. Many of the
different additions have matching chance cards that also match up with
the board. For example a Star wars eddition chance card might say,
"Captured by Imperial storm troopers go to jjail," and the Lord of thee
Rings eddition chance card might say, "captured by an army of Orcs go to
jail." The differences are small, but none-the-less adds fun and realism
to the game for true Monopoly fans.
Last of all some Monopoly games have unusual rule sets. I can certainly
understand why Jim Kitchen would decline to put them in, but they are
kind of interesting to play. As mentioned above the Lord of the Rings
version has a couple of unusual rules. Since I mentioned it I'll go with
the LOTR extra rules.
In the Lord of the Rings version there is an extra ring token that looks
identical to the one in the movies. If this token is played every time
the eye on the dice comes up the ring will move onn the board. When the
ring reaches Mount Doom the game is over weather or not a Monopoly has
been reached. the player with the most assets wins. It is a very fun and
interesting way to play the game, and often speeds up game play.
Another popular strategy board game is the game of Risk. It was
introduced in France in the 1950's and has gone on to be a very popular
game in it's own right. Amazingly there hasn't been any accessible
versions of this game produced that I am aware of.
The game of risk is played on a board with six continents and a total of
42 territories. There are a total of 6 armies and it can be played by 2 to
six players. For a two player game cards are drawn and used to determine
where the player's first territories are, and where he/she can begin
placing troops. the objective is simply to defeat all opposing armies
and take control of the world.
For you Star Wars fans there is a special addition of Risk called Risk
Star Wars Clone Wars. This version is played very similar to the classic
Risk with some aesthetic differences. In stead of infantry troops you
can command clone troopers, Jedi Knights, battle droids, etc. The board
contains a total of 6 planets and 42 territories in which to carry out
your galactic campaigns.
However, like many strategy games Risk can take between 1 hour to eight
hours to play depending on the skill of the players involved. Between
two skilled players Risk is one of those games that is very challenging,
and very fun.
Sadly, I've looked for accessible Risk games and they haven't been
designed. Perhaps I or another one of the accessible game developers
will produce one someday. Until then we will have to buy and modify the
boards and cards on our own to play this wonderful game.
The main reason I am writing this article is it seams so often we get
excited and caught up in the new games like Judgment Day, Sarah, and no
longer discuss older time-tested and time-honored games like the classic
board games. While I understand the accessible game developers want to
produce something new and interesting to play I also think some care
should be taken in producing some of the true classics and make them
as good as they can be. I've generally found some board games played
against a skilled player such as Go, Chess, and Risk have far more
replay value than Shades of Doom, Tank Commander, Judgment Day, Sarah,
which are good and are fun but are not quite the same as the classic
board games of yesterday.
One of the reasons I think this is so is the fact games like Chess and
Go stimulate deep thought processes and problem solving. Anyone can
learn to play in a few hours, but can spend the rest of his or her life
learning, getting better, and never fully mastering the game. It is that
learning process that makes the game addictive, and the replay value so
high. Hopefully, each game will be different and finding harder players
to match gives Chess, Go, and Risk some long hours of serious challenge
that new audio games just can't match.
+++
Word Puzzles
This issue I'm glad to yet again bring some hopefully interesting and
brain teasing word play to my readers. These aren't all from any particular
list just one's which I've managed to find in my email, and hope I'm not the
only one who can't always figure out the correct answer. Enjoy and good
luck!
++
This is pretty cool!!
now don't feel real bad if you can't figure it out - it's not obvious
See if you can figure out what all of the following words have in common:
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo
Assess
Are you peeking or have you already given up?
Give It Another Try
You'll kick yourself when you discover the answer. Go back and look at
them again and think hard.
OK Here you go hope you didn't cheat
This is cool
Answer:
In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter place it
at the end of the word and then spell the word backwards it
will be the same word. Did you figure it out? Most people do not.
+
Now for 3 trivia questions posted to the discussion list from Rich. Thanks
for these!
++
Question 1
A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms.
The first is full of raging fires,
the second is full of assassins with loaded guns,
and the third is full of lions that
haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?
Question 2
What is black when you buy it,
red when you use it,
and gray when you throw it away?
Question 3
A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5
minutes. Finally, she hangs
him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful
dinner together. How can this be?
The answers below...
Answer one
The room with the lions. As it was pointed out the lions would be dead after
not eating for three years.
Answer 2
Charcoal
Answer 3
The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed
it and hung it up to dry.
+++
Audio Games and Windows Vista
by Thomas Ward
Late in January 2007 Microsoft unveiled their newest operating system,
Windows Vista, to the general public. This new operating system has
allot to offer in areas of security, multimedia, a better web
experience, but how about audio games?
In this in depth article for Audyssey I would like to fill in the blanks
about audio gaming under Vista, from a Vista user's point of view, and
let you know in advance some of the technical aspects you will have to
over come to make Vista a good accessible game platform.
In Late February I purchased my own copy of Windows Vista Home Premium,
installed Vista from scratch, and then began testing games. One major
issue I was not yet aware of is that Windows Vista does not ship with
the DX8VB.dll file which most accessible games depend upon. So therefore
initially some of the games I tried such as Draconis Entertainment's
Aliens in the Outback and Pinball Classic failed to run. Once I
installed DX8VB.dll most of the accessible games I had installed began
working properly.
While I may have solved the immediate issue of how to get audio games to
work under Vista there is a lot of issues that are left open. If not met
head on by our accessible game developers this could have dire results
for the audio games market, and the future will be uncertain as long as
VB 6 and DirectX 8 are employed by our accessible game developers.
From ample testing and research on the Internet I have learned that
Microsoft has dropped support for DX8VB.dll which is a major dependency
for most accessible games. It does not ship with Windows Vista, it was
not tested by Microsoft under Windows Vista, and future DirectX upgrades
will no longer come with this dll. As a result many VB 6 games and
applications will suffer under Vista and newer operating systems from
Microsoft.
In order to have this support under Windows Vista game developers will
have to ship a copy of DX8VB.dll with their applications. While this
will solve the immediate crisis of getting VB 6 based games to work
under Vista it does have some undesirable consequences attached.
According to the Microsoft DirectX ULA, end user license agreement,
DirectX components can not legally be shipped with a third party product
and must come packaged in the original Microsoft software installation.
However, Microsoft is already removing that dll from future upgrades of
DirectX for 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista. Making the option of simply
running a DirectX upgrade to get DX8VB.dll impossible. Leaving the end
user to copy the files to his or her system folder manually, or an
accessible game developer to pack the files as part of the game
installation. Both which are considered illegal by Microsoft, and are
paradoxically in violation of the ULA.
If the DX8VB.dll was the only thing to worry about accessible game
developers could probably just pack the file, and hope Microsoft never
says anything about it. Which would solve everyones issues, but that is
not all that needs to be addressed for operating systems beyond Vista.
This missing dll file is the start of what is to come from Microsoft.
As it currently stands Microsoft's new Vista os does not have prier
support for existing audio games. In order for existing game devs to
support Vista they have to break the ULA, an illegal act, which means
they are illegally running games on Vista, irony that it might be.
In 2008, ten years after the introduction of VB 6, Microsoft is going to
discontinue all support for VB 6. That means any support for 2000, XP,
and Vista for VB 6 will be all that remains for VB 6 based applications.
Many VB 6 applications no matter how new or old will be reaching end of
life cycles and must be upgraded to VB.NET or another language that
directly supports Vista and beyond.
For developers seeking to go .NET picking VB.NET may not be an ideal
solution either. For one thing current DirectX upgrades have mainly
targeted C++ and C#.NET with no examples and almost no technical support
for VB.NET other than that provided for through the common library
runtime and common managed interface.
As a result our current game developers best choices will be to go C++
or C#.NET to stay current with the times, and to go beyond
Vista.Otherwise existing audio game companies will eventually slowly
reach end of life cycles one by one and be forced to upgrade sooner or
later.
As for the end users and gamers out there there has already been
statements to the effect he or she won't upgrade to Vista until this or
that is changed. Unfortunately, sticking our heads in the sand and
refusing to upgrade won't make the issues go away, but only prolong
them. Newer computers are already shipping with Vista, and there are
roomers newer hardware will have a much closer operating relationship
with Vista. Such as new chips on video cards to add a greater layer of
security to video content and media. If true older operating systems
will become obsolete in a matter of a couple of years, though this is
just speculation.
What is known Microsoft is removing support for a lot of older
technologies, and this is going to continue throughout the life cycle of
Vista and on into the next os from Microsoft. We as blind developers and
blind gamers can not afford to be left too far behind in the technology
race.
For those of you who are ready to move to Vista, before upgrading, be sure
to back up your DX8VB.dll files and copy them to your
Windows system folder before installing any accessible games. While this
is not technically legal it will allow you to have the best gaming
experience for the moment in Vista. Most games work well in Vista and
here is a summary of my findings provided the DX8VB.dll is installed.
The Draconis Entertainment Games passed. The BSC games Troopenum and
Pipe failed but free games like Bobby's Revenge passed. Kitchen's Inc
games passed. GMA Games SOD and GTC passed. PCS Games Sarah, Packman
Talks, and Super Dog Bone Hunt passed. GMA Lone wolf fails when using
screen reader support but works fine using Sapi 5 support. The USA Games
passed. Blind adrenalin Simulations Rail racer passed. Drive passes from
Audiogames.net.
In short most games should work provided you install the DX8VB.dll, but
developers really need to address this issue sometime in the next couple
of years. VB 6 is reaching it's end of life cycle, and such games built
with it are facing the same dire fate.
+++
A tribute to Judgement Day
By Everett Elam
Twas a hallowed night of december or so,
When guns and rockets fired.
I had to beat judgement day on hard,
Victory I desired.
My mind and soul were set on this,
My every fiber bent,
I'd rock Ather's world this night,
And survive without a dent.
So to the start menue I did fly,
To the L-works group I sped.
I pressed enter on Judgement day,
And in eight minutes I was dead.
Again and again I struggled,
Again and again I tried.
But thus at the end of an hour and a half,
All I'd done was die.
Then the lord did speek to me,
Victory is at hand, sir!
I entered on hard, heard my weapons load up.
My fingers were a speeding blur.
Level 1, level 2, level 3 went by
I fired without a worry.
Bang and boom and chchchchchcbang said my gun,
My rockets were a shrieking flurry.
When things got worse my nukes had some fun,
Hurry! hurry! hurry!
A supernova lit the sky as ather was defeated,
I leapt and cheared and mooed.
I won Judgement day and hadn't even cheated,
Time for some much-needed food!
+++
News from developers
++
News about Audio Game maker
01/31/07
I'm really really sorry to have to post this, guys:
***
Audio Game Maker Delayed Until Further Notice
In the night of the 25th of January a huge fire destroyed all of the offices
of the Accessibility Foundation. Fortunately Accessibility was able to move
into a new office in the city of Utrecht on Monday the 29th, where we are
gradually building up our service to the usual level. Our
new contact information is available on our websites.
A beta-version of Audio Game Maker was supposed to be released on Thursday
the 1st of February 2007. Unfortunately this release date will be postponed.
Although the Accessibility Foundation is operational to a certain degree, we
are still in the process of gathering the necessary equipment and software
that is needed to continue the work on the Audio Game Maker.
We will continue development on Audio Game Maker as soon as possible but
have decided to delay the release until further notice. Future
information about the release will be posted on
http://www.audiogamemaker.com
and
http://www.game-accessibility.com.
On behalf of the team of Accessibility.nl,
Richard van Tol
More information and pictures (in dutch):
http://www.accessibility.nl/algemeen/nieuws?id=136
Richard
http://www.audiogames.net
++
News from Axe Software
03/09/07
Hi
I have just released Quest 4.01, a system for creating and playing text
adventure games. You can download it now from
http://www.axeuk.com/quest.
In this release I have made some improvements to the support for JAWS and
Window-Eyes, following the feedback I received from this mailing list. Quest
now automatically speaks its text via the screen-reader, instead of SAPI.
This release also includes a few games from the new Quest games website
www.textadventures.co.uk. You can download more games from the site. (The
site includes a "play online" feature, though this doesn't work at all well
with screen-readers - JAWS doesn't spot the text being written to the
Internet Explorer window. If anyone has any ideas how this could be fixed,
please let me know! Until then I recommend using the Quest software to play
the games)
Thanks
Alex Warren
Axe Software
alex@axeuk.com
http://www.axeuk.com
++
News from Blind Adrenaline
03/08/07
Hi all,
Just a quick update to let you know that Rail Racer is nearly done.
Unfortunately, my wife and I are in the process of buying and then moving
into a new house, so the project has been delayed.
I hope to have the full release of the game ready in April.
Also, there will be a demo of the game released at the same time that will
allow you to race a test track to get a feel for what the game is about.
I will post another update as the game nears release.
In the meantime, you can get more details about the game at:
http://www.blindAdrenaline.com
Take care all,
Che
++
News from BPCPrograms
12/20/06
Greetings Gamers,
BPCPrograms has returned, and orders for Treasure Hunt are once again
being accepted. Please do not
Email me asking why I had shut down; I will not answer your post. I have
received quite a few questions along those lines over the past six months
or so.
I hope this does not happen again however, and will take every precaution
necessary to prevent it in the future.
http://www.bpcprograms.com
Sincerely,
Munawar
++
News from Draconis Entertainment
12/03/07 --
There are multiple pieces of news to announce, so let's get right to it.
Introducing BlindSpots.net
Draconis Entertainment is proud to announce the launch of its newest
free service.
www.BlindSpots.net is a social networking site devoted to the blind,
visually impaired, their friends, and families. At BlindSpots you can
showcase your talents and wares, keep a blog, and make new friends.
Other features are already available, and more will be coming soon. To
learn more, sign up, or read our first BlindSpots editorial, (an
entertaining look at one blind man's adventures at Disneyland), please
visit www.BlindSpots.net
We want to hear from you. Be sure to use the Contact Us page if you
have suggestions on how we can improve the service, or if you are
interested in submitting articles for the Editorials column.
BlindSpots, as a more robust and multi-purpose community portal, will
superceed the old Draconis Community, which has been discontinued,
effective immediately.
Changes to Technical Support
All Technical Support queries should now be submitted using our new
Technical Support Form. When submitting a technical support problem, be
sure to fill in all fields on the form. Technical support requests will
be attended to in the order they are received.
The new support form will allow us to more quickly and efficiently
respond to inquiries. You can find it by clicking the, "Tech Support,"
link at our web site.
Draconis Entertainment
"Feel the power...wield the magic..."
http://www.DraconisEntertainment.com
http://www.DracoEnt.com
+
The below is copied in this section since Draconis is assisting PCS with
taking orders for the new game SCWW.
23/03/07
Greetings all,
We're getting drowned in countless emails about ordering this title, so
we thought we'd post and make a few things a little more clear. Please
pass on this message to anyone you feel may benefit from it.
When you order Sarah, it is important to realize there are three
companies involved in the processing of your order. Draconis processes
the order initially. Once we receive verification that payment has
cleared, we pass the order to PCS Games, who in turn have GMA Games
generate the key for the game. This entire process takes a little
longer than if it was just us generating key and processing orders for
our in-house titles.
If you order through PayPal, it may take a little longer to get
clearance for the payment. Until we get that, the order is held. Once
we do get it, it is passed to PCS Games.
++
News from Dreamtech Interactive
10/01/07
Enemy attack and Wrecking Ball are up again. Here is the link. Thanks,
Kara.
http://tbrn.net/modgirl/Ken'
s%20games/
Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
++
News from Kitchens Inc
03/19/07
Hi,
I have put a new file up on my site.
File name wingolfx.exe File size 1.7m bytes
In version 10 I have improved the way that the pitching wedge and irons work
in the sand trap. Also it now announces the distance that your shot went
even when it lands on the green. We have added 100 new descriptions that
you can use when creating a golf course. I have separated the two programs
into the golf game and the golf course maker program. When creating a golf
course you can now say if you want a pond next to the green or not and you
can now type in your own custom descriptions.
There are now 242 golf courses included with the game.
The file can be found on my free windows text to speech games page.
BFN
Jim
Check my web site for my free blind accessible pc dos and windows games.
jim@kitchensinc.net
http://www.kitchensinc.net
+
03/14/07
I have recently added a couple of files on my free windows text to speech
games page. One is SpeechXP.exe. This will give you the free Microsoft
Mary and Mike voices if you are running Windows XP.
The other files are SpeechFull.exe. This will install the sapi5 text to
speech engine and the three free Microsoft voices if you are running Windows
98, ME or 2000. And I have put the sapi5 repair program deluserlex.exe on
my site as well.
HTH
Jim
+
03/04/07
Hi,
I have put a new file up on my site.
File name wintgf5.exe File size 78k bytes
Three new trivia files, arthurian legends, Harry Potter 2 and macbeth
The file can be found on my free windows text to speech games page.
BFN
Jim
Check my web site for my free blind accessible pc dos and windows games.
jim@kitchensinc.net
http://www.kitchensinc.net
++
01/04/07
Hi,
I have put a new file on my website.
File name winlad2.exe File size 569k bytes
In version 2 I fixed the midi file player and added features such as
a save game feature, a selection of sounds for when you move etc.
The file can be found on my free windows text to speech games page.
The Snakes and Ladders game shows up as ladders in the Kitchensinc game menu
program.
File name winsim.exe file size 4.2 meg
The game of Simon with 26 sets of sound files and much more.
The file can be found on my free windows sapi5 text to speech games page.
Hope you like it.
BFN
Jim
Check my web site for my free blind accessible pc dos and windows games.
jim@kitchensinc.net
http://www.kitchensinc.net
++
News from Lighttech Interactive
03/30/07
Hello all,
over the passed month, we received a number of bug reports on several of our
games.
so we compiled new setups for Light Cars, Blankblock, Treasure Mania1 and
Light Locater, which hopefully fix the reported bugs.
check out
www.lighttechinteractive.com
to get them.
Happy gaming,
Lighttech Interactive
+
03/24/07
Hello gamers,
We're very pleased to announce, our new game, "Treasure Mania 1: Hunting for
lost treasures" has been released!
Treasure Mania 1: Hunting For Lost Treasures is the first game in the
"Treasure Mania Series", Developed By Lighttech Interactive.
Take on the role of Guillermo Marsalis, as he is being sent on an expedition
to try and uncover the great treasures which are believed to be held
somewhere
in south america, in an island called the "Moajuba Island".
Sail with your boat in the Moajuba Golf, try to hook up as many treasure
chests as possible getting tons of gold and coins, avoid fish, sharks, bees,
clifs,
and most of all, try not to be spotted by the Moajubian locals as they will
get upset and start shooting their arrows at you!
Features Include:
" this game is the first ever Lighttech Interactive game to take advantage
of 3d sounds!
" the game includes a number of different dinamic weather conditions.
" Play the game on 3 difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, and Crazy.
" the ability to save your game.
" View the local top ten scores for all difficulty levels on your machine.
" The ability to send your gold to the Lighttech Interactive score charts!
you can download Treasure Mania 1: Hunting For Lost Treasures by visiting
our website:
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
Regards,
Rob
Lighttech Interactive
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
++
News from L-Works
12/12/06
Finally, the wait is over. You can download the demo of LWork's newest
game Judgment day. Visit www.l-works.net/judgmentday.php to read more about
the game and to purchase it.
It is the year 2015 and the world is at war. Two powers are fighting for
control: the Allies and a group of nations calling themselves the Supreme
Evil.
Little is known about The Supreme Evil and its motives but one thing is
clear:
this group has advanced weaponry. Over several months, the Allies have been
slowly destroyed by The Supreme Evil. Supreme Commander Ather, commander of
the
Supreme Evil, has quickly dispatched several countries in the span of a few
months. In one last effort to retain any hope, the Allies have gathered all
their forces in one area. A defensive station was built and plans were made
to
finally lay the Supreme Evil to rest; however, this task may prove to be
harder
than one thinks. This is where you come in. Your job is to fend off the
Supreme
Evil and Supreme Commander Ather.
You command the only Allied defensive post left. Compared to the Supreme
Evil,
your weapons are primitive; however, they can be effective. You are given a
machine gun with unlimited shells, a supply of rockets, and a small supply
of
sky-clearing nukes. Your crew will do their best to keep the base undamaged.
If
there's no damage, they may even find time to replenish your nukes and
rockets.
Liam Erven
liam@l-works.net
++
News from PCS Games
03/14/07
Sarah and the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Late in the evening of July seven, a young female was spotted entering the
Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Instead of reading about the intruder in a story, why don't we actually
follow her around the castle?
This is what you can do in the new game from, PCS,
Sarah and the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
In the game you are Sarah, an American teenager, visiting it for the first
time.
She discovers that a mischievous poltergeist picked the pockets of the
students leaving for the summer holidays and sprinkled money and magical
items throughout
the castle.
Somewhere in the castle, she will be able to find and use wands that
increase her powers,
a two-way mirror, Extendible Ears, racing brooms, a
Time Turner Necklace , and a very expensive invisibility cloak. With all
that and more, Sarah won't have to go through the corridors of the castle
unprotected.
The Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry game transports Sarah and you into a
world of fantasy filled with secret passageways and hidden chambers. she
explores
the castle searching for
magical items, fighting creepy creatures knowing at any minute,
disaster may strike.
So, take a trip with Sarah to the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry and pay
a visit to the ghost's Deathday party in the dungeon, pop into the kitchen
for a chat with the sometimes helpful House-Elf;
slide down a pipe for a spot of spelunking in the chamber of secrets,
try to hide from the cranky caretaker,
pick up plenty of coins to buy sweets at the sweet shop, ,
spend some time in the library learning new spells,
and finally, hold on tight as you fly on a broom trying to catch the golden
snitch,
You can Download the Sarah game from two sites.
http://www.pcsgames.net/sarah.htm
The file name is, Sarah10.exe, and it's size is 176.4 MB.
Or you can also download the game on the,
Draconis Entertainment site.
http://download.draconisentertainment.com/
You can try out the first game chapter which includes the Ground floor, and
Basement.
You can play this chapter as many times as you wish.
A registration key will unlock all 14 chapters.
Sarah and the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is sold through a
collaboration with Draconis Entertainment.
The price for a registration key that unlocks the full game is $31.95 US.
If you have any questions, E-mail Phil Vlasak,
phil@pcsgames.net
We make games that tickle your ears.
++
News from Spoonbill Software
01/03/07
Hi,
Ian Humphreys from Spoonbill Software here. You are receiving this email
because you have previously requested a Blind gamers game. This is to
announce
the release of Blind gamers Yahtzee 1.0 - BG Yahtzee for short.
BG Yahtzee is the accessible version of the popular dice game where you roll
5 dice and score in 13 scoring categories, attempting to get the highest
score
possible. It is suitable for both blind and visually impaired players, and
like all Spoonbill games in the Blind gamers series, it is self-voicing.
The first release of BG Yahtzee is restricted to a single player game using
the rules of the original Yahtzee game. It is possible in the future that a
new version will feature options to play other variations of the game such
as Triple Yahtzee, Scandinavian Yahtzee, and even allow you to play a game
against
the computer.
Remember all games from Spoonbill Software are completely FREEWARE with no
restrictions on their use.
If you would like to try a copy of BG Yahtzee, just email me at:
irhumph@omninet.net.au
Regards
Ian Humphreys
Spoonbill Software
Albany, Western Australia.
P.S. You can browse all eleven games in the blind gamers series by following
the link:
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm
++
News from USAGames Entertainment
Montezuma's Revenge News
3/22/2007
Hello gamers,
A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that we would be putting out a demo
sometime in the month of April. However, some very recent discussions with
the test
team have revealed a desire to make Montezuma's Revenge as close as possible
to
the original classic Atari game. After some thought I have agreed to do
this, but it
does require some substantial changes in the game core to do this.
When James North set out to create his version of Montezuma's Revenge it
was not a total authentic clone of the game. There were large similarities,
most
was the same, but some major things were not the same. For example, the
temple
layouts were not at all the same. When I took up the project I more-or-less
used his
layouts and not the classic Atari ones.
Now, though the test team and I have been discussing this, and we are
beginning to agree that classic temple layouts would be the way to go, and
that will
require some additional time to complete.
Some other notable changes between James North's version and the classic
game were the number of keys and doors. In James North's version there were
four
keys and four doors. In the classic there were several blue, green, red, and
white
keys as well as several matching doors. So the number of keys and doors will
have to
be increased to make the game more-or-less authentic.
We know that many of you truly want a copy of this game soon, and we
have worked hard to put out something as soon as possible. However, we also
feel the
game is based on a classic game, and should imitate the classic game as
close to
the original without too many additional changes. So please bare with us a
little
while longer as we work hard to put out an even better version of the game
than we
already have.
At this time we now have decided to call off the April release, and we
do not yet have an idea for another target date for Beta 1. It will largely
depend
on how long it will take us to work on the new temple levels and make
changes to the
game core.
++
USA Games Entertainment
3/15/2007
Introduction
Hello gamers,
We at USA Games are very happy to make some exciting announcements in
this spring 2007 addition of the Audyssey Magazine. A lot of work has
gone into our products this quarter, and here is a sneak preview of what
is to come.
Montezuma's Revenge
Last March USA Games took over production of Montezuma's Revenge from
Alchemy Game Studios. The original game was written in Visual Basic 6
which is nearing it's end of life cycle. To best support newer operating
systems such as 2000, 2003 server, XP, and Vista we decided to write the
game engine from scratch in C#.NET 2005. Now, a year later we have an
all new stable and working game engine for Montezuma's Revenge. We have
scheduled Montezuma's Revenge public beta 1 for April 2007 if all goes
to plan. Here is a current look at public beta 1.
Thanks to the efforts of our testers Montezuma's Revenge now supports
lightning fast keyboard support via DirectX direct input. You can now
use the control arrow keys to jump, alt arrow keys to run, as well as a
built in laptop keyboard layout where you can use control or alt j, k,
l, or i to jump and run.
As of the March 14, 2007 build of public beta 1 Montezuma's Revenge now
officially supports the use of most Sapi 5 compliant tts engines rather
than using wav files for speech. You can go to the Monty options menu to
change voices, set speech rate, and speech volume, and save your settings.
Through early testing the Realspeak voices, from scansoft, seams to work
best with Monty public beta 1. However, the game still does work with
the Neospeech voices, MS Sapi, Cepstral, and others speech engines that
meet Sapi 5 compliance.
For those interested in playing the public beta the first two game
levels will be offered free of charge for demonstration purposes. During
the first two levels you will be able to jump over and attack rolling
skulls, slithering snakes, and giant spiders. Find swords, whips, and
torches to aid you on your quest. Discover lost gems and gold which will
add to your score. Use color coded keys to unlock doors. Avoid deadly
traps such as fire pits, lava pits, and electric walls. Climb, walk, or
run over a variety of surfaces including ropes, vines, sand, dirt, mud,
and stone staircases. New and dark theme music and temple ambiance to
provide a more realistic audio environment.
If you would like more information about Montezuma's Revenge or keep an
eye on release dates for public beta 1 check out
http://www.usagames.us
and read our news section.
USA Raceway
ladies and gentalmen start your engines and brace yourself for the best
racing simulation for the audio games market. Put your peddle to the
metal as you race at speeds of 250 miles per hour against 9 other cars
for the USA Raceway golden cup. Race it out over a 26 game season,
choose sponsorship, and a driver to take you to victory. In addition,
race it out in different weather conditions ranging from sunny and clear
to snowy and icy, to rainy and cold.
We at USA Games know this is among our most desired titles. Therefore
after the release of Montezuma's Revenge beta 1 we plan to begin doing
more work on the Raceway engine and hope to have something out there for
you sometime around mid to late summer. We have scheduled features we
would like to add before Raceway goes to testers.
At the current moment in time we are now beginning to add Sapi 5 support
to the game for checking fuel status, gear status, speed, etc. However,
radio messages, and other announcements are still human announcers.
Unfortunately, do to the fact we are tied up with Montezuma's Revenge
public beta 1 we don't have a whole lot to report yet. More will be
coming as it happens.
Changes in technical support
As of April 2007 we are making changes to our technical support that we
hope will not effect too many users out there.
In January 2007 Microsoft has released it's Windows Vista operating
system which we are currently updating our games to directly support.
Now, that Vista is out there we feel it necessary to officially drop
support for Windows 98 and Windows ME. We recognize that continuing to
support older operating systems such as Windows 9x will only hinder our
efforts to provide better support for 2000, 2003 server, XP, and Vista
users.
That said it still may be possible to run our games under Windows 9x,
but USA Games will no longer garentee 100% compatibility. Our ability to
run our games on Windows 98 and ME will be totally subject as to long as
the .NET Framework and DirectX updates are compatible with 98. When
Microsoft drops support for those operating systems we will not be using
older versions of the technology to extend support for those operating
systems beyond their life cycles.
We therefore recommend for those end users who are still running Windows
9x to upgrade to Windows XP SP2 which seams to be the most hassle and
error free environment for our games. Although we expect Vista support
to be equally error free soon.
++
News from X-Sight Interactive
03/03/07
hi gamers!
some of you may or may not be aware, that my team of 17 lazy rebels are now
working on bomb blaster. this will be a game where you follow different
buildings deactivating bombs, picking up items, fighting guards, being a
total utter rebel yourself, smashing up unwanted objects, taking other
useful ones, punching and kicking and flogging the ever living daylights out
of people, and just totally taking out your frustrations on everything in
the building.
each level is its own building, with different rooms and floors.
we have just started on the game code, and are currently unsure of release
dates.
if you guys have any suggestions, please feel free to either reply or email
or msn me off list.
my email and msn address is
sadlerman@randylaptop.com.
hopefully i can come up with a game that you'll enjoy.
also, if you have any suggestions for other games and software, then please
also email/IM me. i always like to get people's feedback and suggestions.
thanks.
regards,
damien
http://x-sight.brandoncole.net
+
12/07/06
Hi gang.
i'm pleased to release Blind Man's Bluff, the open-source project i was
telling you about, developed by tony sales.
coded in vb, installer coded in inno setup.
the game already includes the sapi4 engine along with microsoft mary.
visit:
http://x-sight.brandoncole.net/games
to have a look at it.
if you have any feedback, please contact me or tony.
my email:
sadlerman@randylaptop.com
tony's email:
asa@rncb.ac.uk
enjoy!
regards,
damien - x-sight interactive
+++
Game Announcements and Reviews:
Below are some of the new games available. Though an old treasure or
two may be discussed also. It's noteworthy that in some cases it's only
an announcement of a game, taken from the email list, and may not be a
full review, or an official notice from the developer. 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.
++
Greetings:
I tried this audio trivia game. I was able to get it to work with
Window-Eyes. You have to switch off browse or MSAA mode to press the
numbers to answer the questions.
When I tried it with JAWS, I am not proficient enough to know how to get
into forms mode without there being an actual form. There might be a way to
bypass pressing the numbers one through four without JAWS thinking I want to
get to that level of heading.
http://www.pressakey.net/tv/
++
Underwater
Amongst other things, Sander and I (of AudioGames.net) also teach a seminar
"Game Audio" to game design student at the Utrecht School of the Arts. Here
we have given the students the assignment to develop a small audio game. I
say small since they only have several weeks to come up with a game concept,
create the sounds and program and test the game. In a few weeks time the
students will present their work and the results will be published in the
Expe
rimental
Audio Games section at AudioGames.net PlayCenter
http://www.audiogames.net/playcenter/index_exp.php
(so here you can download all games)
Three students have already finished their (mouse-controlled) audio game
entitled "Underwater". Here's a description:
*quote*
In this audio game you command a submarine and are exploring the deep sea.
With your sonar you navigate, and locate treasures.
Use the mouse to move to the left and right.
Press the right mouse button to move forward.
Press the left mouse button to use your sonar. Now listen carefully!
When you hear a low ping back, it means there is a wall. When you hear a
high ping back, it means there's treasure! When you get near a treasure you
will
hear it tinkle. Find them all and dive deeper in to the sea!
But be warned... There are rumors of sea mines in the sea. Some say you only
hear them by a beeping sound... so watch out!
*quote end*
The students are very interested in your feedback and comments and tips to
improve the game in the remaining time. You can download "Underwater"
through
this link:
http://www.drawingnightmare.com/games/Underwater.exe
Since the students are not members of this list, please post all your
comments and tips in the "Underwater"-forum thread at the AudioGames.net
forum:
http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?id=1203
This way other students might also benefit from your feedback.
Have fun!
Richard
http://www.audiogames.net
http://www.game-accessibility.com
++
Hows That!: A review of Battrick
By Ari Damoulakis
Game found at www.battrick.org
Fully playable without sighted assistance.
Battrick is an online cricket management game. It is, for me, one of the
most adictive and exciting games around. At the moment, due to three day
games not being implimented yet, the game isn't that fast-paced, but it
still requires strategic decisions and, of course, the fact that you're
competing against thousands of human players makes it more interesting.
How do I play?
The game is online, so you'd need an internet connection, but, even for
people using dial-up, it really can be played by just logging on about once
a day. You also need an email address to confirm your registration.
Registration and navigation is easy with JFW 6.0 and IE 6. I have noticed
that JFW 7.0 structures the site in a weird way.
Once you confirm by email, depending on the number of teams in your
country, you may be put on a waiting list till the next season. When you do
get your team, you can log in to your account and read the rules.
Squad
You are given a squad of 23 players, as well as a start-up sum of money in
your account. you can trim your squad to as few as fourteen players if you
wish.
Players
In Battrick, there are 7 attributes which a player has, and each one is at a
certain skill level. Your job is to try and choose the best players for your
first 11. At this moment, it is OK to make your squad as small as possible,
but in about two seasons time, three day games will be introduced, which
will make it necessary to have a larger squad due to players losing their
fitness. At the moment, there is only a 50-over one day league competition,
and a one day knock-out cup competition. If you're not happy with your
squad, there are many ways of acquiring better players, such as through the
Transfer Market, where users buy and sell players, or you can invest in
your youth academy. You train your players to improve their skills, and it
usually takes about 6 weeks for a player trained on one net to improve his
skill by one level.
You make money by collecting the proceeds from your home games. To get more
gate money, you can decide to expand your ground, but be careful not to
over-expand it, as you also pay maintenence costs.
I could really continue on for ages about this great game, but this is just
a quick outline. You'll find much help by reading the rules, and there
really are great community forums.
A few very important things which the rules might not be clear on are as
follows:
When you are hiring coaches, you should hire only 10 coaches, more coaches
than that just wastes money.
Another very important thing for blind users, is to use Alt Down when
opening combo boxes in the orders section, choose the player, and then press
Alt Up to close it again. If this is not done, often the boxes are reset,
making it impossible to choose your best 11 for the match.
It is possible to follow the online action with the text commentary, which
is accessible using your screen reader.
Good luck!
++
Blank Block
Available from Lighttech interactive
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
Freeware
Hello, everyone. I've been messing around with Blank Blocks which I just
discovered from the Audiogames.net forum earlier this afternoon. Overall,
I'm actually quite impressed with this puzzle game. The sounds are good and
the mechanics are certainly easy to grasp. However, I get into situations
where it's simply impossible to make any further moves. At this point, there
really should be a system which realises that you simply can't solve the
puzzle and end the game giving you a final score or just telling you that
it's impossible to complete. Currently, you have to manually quit the game
yourself when in this circumstance. It's a fairly small gripe overall. The
presentation was very good for a free puzzle game. It's the best I've seen
from Lighttech Interactive so far.
Michael Feir
Creator and former Editor of Audyssey Magazine
1996-2004
++
HI folks
I'm working for a south african organization. They have put up a
cricket game on our intranet to encourage all personnel to strive more
towards the target. The game is an online flash game making use
of adobe flash player.The guy who made the game e-mailed me the shock
wave file, since attachments are not allowed on this list let me know if
anyone wants to have a look at this flash game.
I want to know if this is accessible for blind people. I tried the game
and I couldn't figure it out.
Would you guys like to give it a try?
Just let me know and I will send the file off-list to you.
+
Myself I know nothing of the game, but since flash and/or shock games have
worked well in the past perhaps this will prove to be screenreader friendly.
There certainly are those in the community who would like to play a cricket
game.
++
hello,
just wanted to let you all know about a game i found called world of legends
(those of you who go on the audiogames.net forum will know what i am talking
about.)
this is not to be confused with "legends", i think it's totally different.
for one thing, it's only 600 kb in size, but it's still rather large.
it's a text-based role playing game, and you must complete 15 quests.
the game's good for what it is, but it's annoying that it's number choices
instead of you going north, east, south and west there are things like town,
desert, great grass lands etc. but, i urge anyone who's interested to seek
it out on google, that way you will eventually find it.
If anyone is interested it's easy enough to send off as an attachment via
email. Drop me a line.
++
I had mentiond a few weeks ago that we were doing fantasy baseball. I
didn't have anything defined, but we've been working on getting teams
together for
a league on mlb.com.
Fantasy baseball takes real players and let's you make a team of them.
Depending on how well or poorly your players do in real life, you are
awarded points.
The league I play in is a head to head league. this means that every week,
your team will play another team. Depending on how well the teams do you
will
either aquire a win or a los. If my team scores more points than frank's
team, I get a win, and Frank loses. one of the nice things about the league
is in is that you don't have to constantly make line up changes. you can
set players, and then forget about them for the week till it comes time to
check
on stats. there's also the possibility of winning
10000 bucks, but I'm playing more for the fun of baseball.
If anyone wants to get in to the league we still have seven spots. The
league I'm in is what I'd like to call an adult league. It was started by a
fan
of an adult comedy and talk radio network for other fans to join. So if
this doesn't really put you off, feel free to email me at
liam@liamerven.com
and I'll give you instructions on how to join. It takes a few minutes, and
is very very easy to manage. Like I said, we have seven spots left and
really
want more people to play.
Liam
++
Any Final Fantasy Fans out there?
Hi,
Just figured I'd let you all know of this pretty awesome mud I've been
playing for some time. Its called Eternal Fantasy, and its an LPMud
codebase, pretty much completely recoded. Now if you've played a Final
Fantasy mud in the past. take whatever mud it was you played and toss it in
the garbage, along with every other FF mud on the net. This one's perfect.
Its got nice, slow combat, perfectly adapted to screen readers. The battle
descriptions are well-written for skills and spells, and there are even
limit breaks. You can get espers to summon that will fight by your side, and
even force them into doing their in game special attacks like they would
from any game before FF10. Its got a helpful playerbase, and though leveling
at low levels is hard, there are usually a couple of people on perfectly
willing to take you and get you to at least level 10, where the real game
starts. I recommend this game to any FF fans out there in the blind
community.
eternalfantasy.org Port 3333
I'm Talerous on there, feel free to ask me for any help you may need and
i'll see what I can do.
++
Harry Potter Chess
The step-by-step course for future champions
http://www.deagostini.co.uk/harrypotter/chessset.html
Harry Potter with his Snowy Owl Hedwig
Enjoy the exciting adventure inspired by the magical film!
Uncover the secrets of the ancient game of chess with this amazing new
collection. The board becomes a battlefield in this challenging game where
YOU are the general. You'll need all your skill, strength and stamina to
find a winning strategy to wipe out the opposition army, capture the enemy
King and
shout "Checkmate!"
Week by week, each issue of the magazine will help you perfect the skills of
the game. Uncover the secrets of chess, the game of kings!
In each issue of your HARRY POTTER CHESS manual, you'll find two sections -
Level 1: Chess Apprentice and Level 2: Chess Challenger. Your entire
collection will turn into a comprehensive
guide to chess.
Issue 1:
With this issue, your first black magnetic rook and your magnetic magic
wand.
Issue 2:
With this issue, your first white knight with sound effect, your first white
explosive pawn, chessboard and card playing pieces.
Issue 3:
With this issue, your first black explosive pawn and your chess timer.
Issue 4:
With this issue, your first black bishop with sound effect.
Magazine 1
Level 1
You don't know how to play chess?
Well now it's your chance to learn the game. Learn all the secrets of this
royal game of strategy.
Level 1 is for beginners and all those who want to recap important moves and
strategies. You'll learn how to place your chess pieces on the board and
move them, as well as clever techniques to attack to checkmate and defend.
Magazine 2
Level 2
When you're finished with Level 1 or if you already know the basic rules of
the game, you can start with Level 2 straight away. Here, you'll learn the
secrets of strategies and tactics to open the game and to use in all the
situations leading to checkmate - and what's more, find out the tricks of
the great chess champions!
Magazine 3
Test your skills
With original pictures from the Harry Potter films!
Each issue comes with exciting questions for you to check your chess
knowledge!
Don't miss out!
Chess pieces with incredible special effects:
Amazing magic wands to move the magnetic pieces
Unique light-up chessboard
Storage case for all your pieces
Chessboard and card pieces so you can start playing as early as Issue 2
Fantastic accessories from the magical world of Hogwarts
PLUS: Time-Turner, floating magic pen and other amazing accessories for your
magical chess set.
All the pieces come with fascinating special effects -
The rooks are magnetic and can be moved with the magic wand!
The king noisily lowers his sword at checkmate!
The knight and the bishop come with incredible sound effects!
The queen glows magnificently,
and the pawns are highly explosive!
Issue 1 is available for the special price of £1.99 (?2.95).
$3.90 US
Each issue thereafter costs £3.99 (?5.95)
$7.82 US
On sale every week from all good newsagents.
Alternatively, if you subscribe, you will receive 2 issues with your first 2
deliveries (sent fortnightly) and then 4 issues every four weeks.
Trouble-free home delivery: Your HARRY POTTER CHESS manual is delivered to
your home by mail. That way, you'll never miss an issue. And what's more -
you don't have to pay any postage as we'll send your magazines and chess
pieces for free!
get these four gifts for free
Mega poster (600 x 880mm) from the film
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Binder to collect and store your chess manuals
Baseball cap with the Gryffindor coat of arms
Exclusive watch showing Harry Potter playing Quidditch
De Agostini Harry Potter Chess:
Hotline: 0870 890 0021
De Agostini - Chess: The Step-by-Step Manual
Freepost NAT20038
Follingsby Park
Gateshead
NE10 8BR
Tel: 0870 043 6400
++
Judgement Day
Commercially available for $25.00 US from:
www.l-works.net
Fully accessible without sighted assistance
Reviewed by Michael Feir
What could yet another Space Invaders-style game have to offer which would
be worth any of my time let alone my money? Those were my initial thoughts
on learning that Liam Mervan was working on Judgement Day. I simply couldn't
imagine there was any new ground left to cover for commercial developers in
this oldest of sound conversions. However, Liam has managed to delight this
jaded old sceptic. The only sharp criticism I have left in my quiver is that
the demo really doesn't do the game justice. My impression after thoroughly
exploring the demo and after spending a week or so with the full game are as
different as night and day. To be sure, the basic game is well executed and
fast paced. Having three weapons of varying strengths and regenerative
speeds certainly doesn't hurt either. These virtues in and of themselves
simply aren't enough to make owners of Alien Outback or Troopanum2 shell out
cash for Liam's effort. However, what truly sets the game apart is its
surprising amount of extra content. You don't get to see any of that in the
demo which I believe was about the only error Liam made in the whole game.
Unlike other games which take ages to win and which offer the option to save
a game in progress, Judgement Day is a very short game. Win or lose, you'll
be at it for around twelve to fifteen minutes of frenetic action. Despite
this brevity, the game's extras including several bonus games give it a
fantastic amount of replay value. Through acquiring trophies and doing well
at the bonus games, you can increase your base's capacity in future games
and unlock fun extras like movies in the L-works Theatre and bonus games.
The demo doesn't give you any sense of that at all.
*The Interface:
The game is played with the keyboard. You move left and right with the
appropriate cursor keys and can use the up and down keys to switch weapons.
The control key is your fire button. The shift key emits a beep which
indicates your position. Other keys let you control the volume, pause the
game and receive status information. It doesn't take long at all to gain
proficiency with this setup. Menus are navigated with the up and down arrow
keys and the enter key for selecting choices. It's impossible for me to
think he could have thought it through any better at all. Liam gets full
marks for the interface of Judgement Day.
*Sound and Music:
Liam has given his Space Invaders-style game a very contemporary cartoonish
feel. Enemies include missiles, helicopters and jets which all have very
appropriate sounds. The panning is done quite well and it's pretty rare that
sounds unfairly mask each other. As with the interface, everything is very
intuitive. You can tell when you're scoring hits on each type of enemy,
detect which enemy type is destroyed due to different explosions and easily
keep track of what's moving where.
The music adds a very dramatic feel which somewhat crosses cartoon with epic
battle. Your fight with the forces of the supreme evil is backed up by a
rich orchestral score adding a lot of dramatic punch while not interfering
with your ability to follow the game. The cut-scenes where you hear from
your arch enemy himself are also similarly accompanied by ominous music.
Liam did a great job of choosing voices for the game. Supreme Commander
Uther is brought to life wonderfully and makes a great cartoon villain.
Despite him only having a limited number of monologs, you still end up
feeling like you've conquered a worthy adversary after the first occasion
where you beet the game. The general as well as the chief technician
supporting your efforts as base gunner are also well-played if a bit stiffly
portrayed at times.
*Game Play:
The game is divided up into waves of enemies. These get progressively harder
and the ramping up of difficulty is handled quite well. On the hard level,
it's still very challenging even after you get to the point where you've
beaten it. The duel with the laser satellite immediately followed by the
ultimate confrontation with the supreme commander give the game's end a very
penultimate feeling. Your choice of difficulty setting makes a very big
difference to every part of the game.
Your strategic use of weapons can often be the difference between winning
and losing a game. Using up too many rockets and nukes can leave you in
impossible circumstances particularly in middle to later waves in the hard
difficulty. Things can simply become impossible to accomplish with your
machinegun alone. Switching between weapons is easy and doesn't hold you up
much at all. It does add an element of strategy to the game.
The true lasting strength of Judgement Day is its extras. By doing things in
certain ways, playing at certain times, and even by sitting and doing
nothing, you can earn trophies. Once certain trophies have been earned, they
will unlock movies in the theatre or bonus games. These bonus games are a
lot of fun in and of themselves. Doing well at these games gives you more
trophies which can unlock yet more content as well as increase the overall
capacity of your base for future games. These are very satisfying and will
make a clear difference in future games. For instance, you can eventually
have far more rockets available at once than you initially can. Your base's
ability to absorb damage as well as the number of nukes can also be
improved. You can also unlock a top-secret weapon at one point. The movies
themselves are very fun to listen to and Liam has obviously put a lot of
effort into that component. Topics include things blind people just shouldn't
do, a drastic shortcut to the 99 bottles of beer song, and much more. No
other accessible game has offered nearly so much in terms of this type of
extra content.
*Conclusion:
While Judgement Day has a lot of fresh ideas to offer, the demo doesn't give
a good sense of that. It's certainly good enough to attract hard-core fans
of this kind of game. However, had I not obtained free access to the full
version, I would have missed out on a tremendously fun experience without
realising that fact at all. Had a few trophies and movies been unlockable in
the demo, that would have given sceptical potential customers a lot more to
go on when making their decision. For its price, Judgement Day is definitely
worth the money. While I personally hope we see Liam's efforts reach into
other genres, he has definitely demonstrated how much he's learned from
prior games with this surprisingly deep addition to his titles on offer.
++
'Sryth The Age of Igtheon'
online at
http://www.sryth.com
Fully accessible without sighted assistance
Reviewed by Ron Schamerhorn
The two excerps below are taken directly from the Sryth website in order to
provide some background about the game.
"
The Age of Igtheon
The timeline of the world of SrythT spans three great ages: Araludon,
Igtheon, and Thyreon. And, as you might have guessed, Sryth: The Age of
IgtheonT is
concerned with the middle of these three ages.
It is a time of gathering shadows, and encroaching darkness for the people
of Sryth. The demon Igtheon has completed the first phase of his
long-desired
conquest by having breached the fabric that separates the world of Sryth
from the shadowy dimension known as the
Neverness.
By way of
Shadow Paths,
(portals that allow passage between the world of Sryth and the realm of the
Neverness), Igtheon's minions have already begun their invasion, guided by
the
hand of their wicked master, and often aided by the insidious agents of the
demon native to Sryth. Unless the tide of evil is turned, Sryth will suffer
the same dark fate of so many worlds beneath the ravaging claws of the
demon.
The Age of Igtheon promises high adventure for those willing to join the
fight against the growing menace of the demon and its minions. The meek need
not
apply, for this is the age of the adventurer, upon whose shoulders rests no
less than the fate of the world!
If you haven't yet signed up to play,
Sign Up
today -- it's free! Start your adventures today!
Read a Special Introduction to the Age of Igtheon
"
and now for the special introduction.
"
An age long-prophesized has come to pass...
In the hour preceding dawn, in the city of
Asphyr,
a solitary figure stares out of a narrow window in the topmost chamber of
the
Tower of Anarain...
Carrinlar-Suth wasn't supposed to know fear.
Fear served only to shake the foundations of resolve, and crush burgeoning
hope. Fear cruelly haunted the mind with the spectre of dark tidings never
to
be heralded. Fear turned soldier against commander in the most desperate
hour, and sent the otherwise stalwart out of the night, seeking the safety
and
comfort of the fire. Fear was a monster, with a heart as black as any
troll's, and fangs as piercing as any serpent's. Fear begat intractable
doubt, spawned
mistrust, and crafted hatred. Fear was the unapologetic slayer of dreams.
Carrinlar-Suth shivered, and withdrew from the window out of which she
gazed.
"My lady, they have returned from Alnwin ere sunrise. Shall I send them up?"
The deep voice startled her, and Carrinlar-Suth turned to behold the stoic
face of her most trusted man-at-arms, his heavy frame nearly filling the
entirety of the doorway leading into her chamber.
"Dost thou fear me, Yisryn?" Steel-grey eyes peered out from behind the
cloth mask that concealed her face. The man in the doorway squared his
shoulders
and curtly shook his head.
"How might I hope to fear she to whom I have sworn undying allegiance?" he
asked, his response sounding more rehearsed than perhaps he had hoped.
"Anarain
remains a beacon of hope for the world, and you, my lady, are its..."
"Enough, Yisryn," she said, and a lengthy, awkward silence followed, broken
only when she again spoke. "Fear surrounds us, Yisryn. I have long studied
it,
and I am certain that, ultimately, none are immune to its potent grasp. Only
the utterly servile would bow unfalteringly before a master -- be that
master
wise and just, or a pitiless tyrant. The fearful, however, are quick to
adopt allegiance, even to that which they fear, clinging to the desperate
hope
that such an opportune bond shall afford them a moment's safety, where the
torment of their fears is, for a time, quelled."
Carrinlar-Suth adjusted her flowing grey robes and strode across the
chamber, taking a seat in a high-backed wooden chair set upon an ornate,
tiered dais.
Her piercing gaze scoured the walls and floor of the small chamber, and at
last came to rest upon the man who had, on two occasions, saved her life.
"No doubt, Yisryn, you have been made privy to the nature of their findings
in Alnwin?" She knew the answer to her next question before she posed it.
"What
was discovered in the ruins?"
"Shadow Paths, my lady," replied Yisryn, stepping forward and bending on one
knee as dictated by custom. "There were four open portals in the ruins at
Alnwin.
With deepest regrets I also relate to you that only Predrius and Neepsion
have returned. I know only that the others were felled in a battle at the
ruins
late last evening."
"And the Shadow Paths?" she queried, her gaze fixed on the kneeling soldier.
"All have been closed, my lady," he replied, "yet the small band we sent was
overwhelmed, and I am told that many of the creatures that had emerged from
those portals fled into the darkness before they could be properly dealt
with. I have dispatched a dozen of my best men to Alnwin to clean up the
scene
of battle. They will no doubt return bearing news, ere long."
Carrinlar-Suth did not immediately respond. Her mind raced. Her pulse
quickened. She struggled against the rising tide of fear that welled up from
the very
depths of her soul. The age long-prophesized had arrived at the doorstep of
the world -- an insidious whisper, in the desolate ruins of an ancient keep,
on the outskirts of the innocuous hamlet of Alnwin -- an arrival both
expected and unexpected in the same dreaded breath. She closed her eyes and
prayed.
"We have been idle fools," she said, opening her eyes and motioning for
Yisryn to rise, "but I, most of all. The signs of the coming of Igtheon had
risen
up around us, and yet I could not see the impending danger? How blind I have
been! Let initial lethargy and denial be all that we shall be guilty of, and
may it not prove our undoing! There is much to be attended to -- there is
still time. Convene the council, and make preparations for my journey to
Alnwin."
Yisryn bowed in response and promptly exited the chamber.
"The growing fear that has gnawed at my heart these many seasons has not, I
daresay, been unfounded, and indeed it now takes shape," she thought as she
returned to the window and gazed out at the shadow-draped landscape spread
out below. "The demon sinks its claws into the flesh of the world, and while
I have misjudged, and even ignored the prophecies that foretold it, there is
still time...yes, there is always time. The demon's hand has moved swiftly,
yet we must be swifter to the task. Igtheon's invasion must not go
unchallenged, and to that end, fear must no longer guide my hand."
Carrinlar-Suth placed both of her hands on the cold stone of the window sill
and stared out into the receding darkness of a late summer's dawn. She
closed
her eyes and began to silently prepare the stark words she would deliver to
the council.
Fear bred inaction and despair. Fear clouded wisdom and invited only havoc
and ruin. Fear was the unapologetic slayer of dreams. Fear haunted her
sleep,
and stalked her every waking step. Fear emboldened the wicked, and empowered
the very malevolence that sought to destroy her, and bring to ruin the world
she had sworn to protect. Fear was the greatest weapon in the demon's
formidable arsenal, and one that it wielded with devastating effect.
And fear, terrible and paralyzing, was the one thing that Carrinlar-Suth,
the
Grey Mage,
keeper of the
Tower of Anarain,
master of magic on Sryth, solemnly vowed would never again enslave her.
"
Firstly I would like to extend my thanks to Matthew Yarrows, who is the
Game Master at Sryth.com for giving me permission to include the above and
some of the below for inclusion in this review for Audyssey! Thank you
Mathew and keep up the excellent work!
Sryth is an online role playing adventure game. These games can also be
known as RPG's.
This game has provided me with many, many hours of fun & entertainment. It
is a text based game and therefore it's playability by someone who is blind
or visually impaired with screenreading programs is extremely
straightforward. While playing the game, there are only a few types of game
controls. These are links, combo boxes, and buttons. It doesn't get much
simpler then that.
As is typical in a RPG, you firstly need to create a character [char for
short]. This character will have a given set of statistics such as "might,
mind, spirit, " and so on. In Sryth these are rolled randomly and if a
person doesn't like the roll it may be rolled over. However all stats are
rerolled each time so it's best to bare this in mind. From these stats then
comes a persons melee rating [MR] and stamina ppoints [sp].
Skills are then the next thing to be chosen when creating a character on
Sryth. The choices include, but aren't limited to, "archery, weaponry,
diplomacy, horsemanship," and a host of others. A beginning character will
have up to 4 skills in the game. It is quite possible during your
adventures to have the opportunity to acquire a new skill, for example the
skill of "woodsmanship".
Finally Powers are also a part of a persons character. As said above
there are various powers to choose from. "Necromancy, Illusion,
Elementalism, and Conjeuration" are but a few of these.
After this is done it is then time to embark on the adventure in the world
of Sryth! Your adventure begins in "Hawklore", a small town in the "Heart
Hills". Here you are presented with various options for what you wish to
do. You can visit a tavern, go to the stable, travel and more. after you
choose you are then told the outcome, and the links at the bottom of the
main frame will give further options. Let me use an example here.
*this example is only to provide an illustration of what was said
previously and not taken from the game.]
You enter the tavern and see some other patrons gathered at tables around
the room.
The links at the bottom might be like this:
Order something to drink'
Talk to the tavernkeep
Wander around the room
Leave the tavern
This may not be the most thrilling example but hopefully gives an idea of
how gameplay works in Sryth. I'm attempting to highlight things without
describing everything possible in this review.
There is also the nesecity of money. In the game, it is gold. This can be
used to buy food, better weapons or armour, some property, or even gamble.
The combat system is quite good as well. When your opponent appears you
are told how your character will fair in combat with a line like "Are you
sure this enemy isn't already dead". Then the link to "Begin combat". On
this screen you have the choice of three different combat styles, defensive,
normal, & aggressive. Each one has some benefits and drawbacks acordingly.
Here you may also decide to use a power, or special item in your possession.
This is done by selecting it appropriately from the combo boxes. Next the
roll is done and the details of damage inflicted or received is given and
similar choices are made for the upcoming round.
To be expected are creatures for the adventurous to engage in combat with.
I honestly can't say how many there are as I doubt I've come acrosss all of
them yet. A few that I have are goblins, skeletal warriors, rats, and water
elementals. One of the really intriguing points about this game is when
encountering monsters, there is always a link which opens a new window
describing that particular monster. However this link may appear for other
reasons too, to describe a plant as in 'Keptic Leaf,' a drink 'Pallo', or
even the 'All-Father'.
There are many quessts and adventures a person can play and again here I
will quote from the documentation as it is well-worded.
"
In some game sections you may encounter a special purple "action choice" at
the bottom of the action choice list titled "View Events for This Location".
When you select this choice you will be presented with a list of "events
adventures" that you can choose to embark upon. A small preview of each
event
adventure will be provided.
While embarked upon an "event adventure", you will notice a special purple
"action choice" at the bottom of the action choice list titled "Abandon This
Event". If you select this action choice you will be given the opportunity
to abandon the current event adventure and return to the exact point in the
game you were at before you embarked upon it!
"
Regarding the events, there are far too many to mention here in the
review. Suffice it to say there are some easy ones for the new player and
others that you will need to have some further experience in order to be
victorious.
it is now important to bring up the Adventurer's Guild membership. You
can have a free account on Sryth however some areas or adventures aren't
playable. A Sryth Adventurer's Gild membership [and this is indeed my own
opinion] is a fantastic deal! It's $9.95 [U.S. dollars] for a full one year
membership. Other membership packages are available as well.
Like in other RPG type games a player can progress by finding magical
items to increase your MR, better armour to give you more SP, and such. I
believe there is even some degree of multi-player gaming. Recently the
'Runeskin Adventure' has begun and there are now links to see what other
characters are in the area. But I haven't fully tested this out yet, as I'm
still trying to obtain the needed items.
There is certainly more to be said about Sryth and how extensive the lands
are. I've had my 'Adventurer's Guild' membership since October and believe
me when I say there's still no lacking new adventures to play, or things to
do.
All right, I think this covers some of the game. I could easily go on
about the powers, special items you can find, places to explore and my
favourite adventures I've had up to this point in the land of 'Tysa'.
If this has at all peaked your interest I encourage you to take a look for
yourself and form your own opinion about the fun to be had playing this
amazing online game!
Thanks again Mathew for allowing me to copy from the documentation and I
hope I've quoted everywhere that is from Sryth with either the ' or " I'd
add that the response about quoting from the documentation was sent and
promptly replied to.
I hope others enjoy this as much as I have over the past few months.
++
a new free audiogame : Tampokme
Hello !
Here is a game I write for the donation coder accessibility game contest
2006.
The name of the game is Tampokme. The meaning of Tampokme is : the audio
multi-players one-key mosquito eater, so it is an audiogame but also a one
switch game.
Here is a link to download the game :
http://www.donationcoder.com/Contests/agame/entries/Tampokme.rar
it is a free multi players game.
Please, just tell me about your feeling about this game.
Thank you
Thomas Gaudy
+
And this was sent in shortly after the original announcement.
Here is a link for downloading tampokme compressed in zip format.
http://www.axifile.com/?8295219
But this zip version is not on the donation coder server, so this link sends
you to a page where you have to wait a few seconds before another link
appears to download the game, and it seems that the downloadind speed is
slower. The game size is near to 75 mb : it can take a long time. I hope it
helps.
++
Top Speed cars and tracks
Ok on my ftp is a new car called the High Performence car.zip so pick this
one up.
Hello. I'm pleased to report that a New Track For Top Speed has been posted
to my ftp. This track is called Ride Through The Country Side. You can pick
it up on my ftp and I'd like to thank the person who designed it.
Please keep this message for your records:
It's on my ftp and for new people here's the information again. Also Please
use an ftp client. I get constant complaints from people who try to connect
with internet explorer. Internet explorer is Not a proper ftp client so you
need to download an ftp client. I myself use the free client filezilla
from:
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net
Site: djc.my-net-space.net
username: PlayingInTheDark and Note each word is Capitalized.
Password: racing
Note: if you log in and you don't see the directories I suggest that you go
to your options in whatever client your using and change it from say
default to active. I do not use Passive mode and if you turn Passive on
you'll never see the directories. I welcome you to use my ftp. I have high
band width and lots of space available. Thanks.
Don Coco, Sacramento California
++
Technoshock
Freeware
Hi.
I just checked audio games net, and a topic was posted announcing a new
audio game, Technoshock, obviously inspired by shades of doom (and I
believe, using
A similar engine).
The game release is listed as Beta, and a couple of things (like the scope),
don't seem to work (or didn't for me), stil here's the link:
http://www.tiflocomp.ru/games/ts/index.php?lang=en
Update pack for Technoshock 1.40b
The update pack is available. It fixes some bugs and adds a "Learn game
sounds" item in the Main game menu.
Note: Extract "setup_eng_update_pack.exe" from a zip-archive and install it
into the same folder, where the game was installed.
http://www.tiflocomp.ru/games/ts/index.php?lang=en#update
++
Howdy,
While extremely complicated and probably not what your looking for, the
game called Walstreet Raider, (or occasionally Wall$treet Raider, with a
dollar sign) is surprisingly playable. This is a full-on business
simulation--with mostly standard controls, though the tickers and such move
awful fast, they'd move fast for a sighted person, too. But it works, with
some effort.
www.roninsoft.com.
Have fun,
++
Hey, I played a game around a year ago called perfect competition,
which was pretty cool, but I didn't have the proper time to devote to it as
I was starting to program Rail Racer.
It is a multiplayer game, and the competition can be pretty cutthroat,
with you setting up companies and trying to out produce and out price the
other players. If you play it, let us know how you like it, as I am sure
they have made many improvements to it since I played when it was pretty
new.
The URL is
http://www.perfectcompetition.net/BusinessGame.html
Hope you dig it,
++++
Contacting Us
All material for inclusion in upcoming issues of Audyssey should be sent
to me at the following snail or email address:
Ron Schamerhorn
1180 Dorval Dr. #303
Oakville On L6M 3G1
[905]-842-1933
blindwonder@cogeco.ca
or
editor@audyssey.org
and to chat find me at
rschamerhorn@hotmail.com
for Windows/MSN messenger no email to this one please.
+++
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:
blindwonder@cogeco.ca
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. From now on, this is official policy
of the Audyssey community.
This magazine is free in its electronic form, and will always remain
so. 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 cd or 3.5-inch disk in a self- addressed mailer if you want your
media returned to you. 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. 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.
Those who want to receive issues of Audyssey as they are published
should send a blank E-mail to:
Audysub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The Audyssey discussion 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. 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. There are two moderators
keeping things civil and orderly. Be certain to read the Audyssey
Community Charter as all list members are expected to follow its rules.
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
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 our home-page. 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.
Darren Duff also provides a home for Audyssey.
http://www.angelfire.com/music4/duffstuff/audyssey.html
Where the issues can be read, downloaded individually or one zip file
of all the issues. Thanks Darren!
Another location to find Audyssey current and back issues is
http://www.audiogames.net/page.php?pagefile=audyssey
Thanks to Richard and those at Audio-games!
We extend our gratitude to Kelly Sapergia who has provided a place for all
the issues of the magazine. You can find them at
www.ksapergia.net/audyssey.html
