Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Audyssey Issue 47
Audyssey;
Games Accessible to the Blind
Issue 47: First quarter, 2006
Edited by Ron Schamerhorn
Fun, Friendship, Knowledge, Charity
+++
Welcome
Welcome to the forty-seventh 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.
Audyssey is now gearing up to celebrate it's 10th year in publication! This issue is well packed with information and reviews for just about any taste in gaming. Some super news in the letters section both thoughtful and informative, news from many of the developers, and reviews of the latest releases/discoveries On the gaming fronts. Along with a pole we hope everyone will participate in details below!
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
The Ultimate let-down
A few puzzles
Our upcoming pole
News From Game Developers
Game Announcements and Reviews
Contacting Us
Distribution Information and Submission Policies
+++
From The Editor:
Firstly let me say I'm sorry for the delay in the current issue of the Audyssey magazine. Presently Yahoo and my ISP don't seem to be working together all that well. Thusly I've resubscribed about once a week to the various Yahoo lists I'm a part of. Between that and of course other obligations in life it's been difficult to get everything together for this issue.
I feel this again has become a nice mag for my #47!
I really hope that people take part in the survey, as the talley will be completely based on what the readership thinks of various games. So send it along.
There's a couple of neat ideas around for Audyssey's 10th anniversary! Possibly new directions or additions to what is already there. I hope you all enjoy it.
+++
Letters
Allow me to mention that the last few days have provided some intriguing posts to the discussion list. I'm not attempting to post all that has been said, rather selecting a few that raise a point or two worth pondering. There are a couple of topics which I'll mark in the usual manner of Audyssey with the 2 + signs. I hope the discussion of these points continue in the community.
++
Hi Chris (and everyone else),
Maybe you missed my post about this year's GDC and the Game Accessibility
project (look for "Get heard at the 2006 Game Developers Conference!"). In
this post, I ask everyone to write down their experiences, ideas, thoughts,
wishes so I can collect those and put it on the CD which will be handed out
at the GDC, as well as be put on a page on the Game Accessibility project
website. For you to get heard, there hasn't been a better time. Take that
chance to communicate your ideas and thoughts on accessible gaming to the
professional game industry.
For more, please look at:
http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?id=527
Deadline is somewhere in the first week of March.
++
Hello,
Speaking of ants and elephants, has anyone tried this. Instead of talking
to game companies, try to talk to gaming magazines for the sighted.
The fact of the matter is, these magazines are constantly in the bid for
reviewing and interviewing games and games related news.
What's more, they usually have a bonus CD come with each issue filled with
old games from the past, and new demos of up and coming sighted games.
Perhaps the Editor of Audissey or some other word smith with a CD of maybe
the top five of accessible demos and games could write up a story, submit
the story and CD and see if any of those magazines would bite, and print it
and distribute some of the games and demos on their magazine Bonus CD.
I know, that if I was a sighted gamer I would be at least curious in
seeing what blind games are like. It would at the very least get some
coverage. These game companies might ignore some email, but they read these
magazines I would almost garantee it
So the anser to that question, If you want to get the attention of an
elaphant? Talk to the birds that land on the elephants back.lol
It might be worth a try, if nothing else.
I understand this is probably as likely as flying pigs to drop pots of gold
on my front lawn, but a teacher once told me this little saying.
If you ask, there is a chance they might say yes, if you don't ask, there
is a 100% chance they will say no.
Does this sound like a good idea, or has this been tried before?
Well that is my two cents for the day.
Thanks for reading,
++
10 functional games. This came from another list I'm on but thought perhaps someone might enjoy the link.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6464_7-6300449.html
++
I normally wouldn't post something like this here but this most interesting
article caught my attention. This is worth reading and you can read the
article at:
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070207
++
Hi gang. OK, I've launched the new
www.asmodean.net.
While the whole
site is not devoted to games there is a games section on it. In fact the
games page is probably the biggest shtml file there. From the games
section you can get to the Top Speed server page as well but that
address has not changed either. For Top Speed the address is still
http://topspeed.asmodean.net
but I have re-written this page as well.
If you are totally blind the next part of this email will not interest
you much. I've used cascading style sheets and tried to give the site a
nice contrasting color so if you do have vision or partial vision you
should be able to read it with no problems. For the main background I
use an antique white with dark blue lettering. The headers are maroon
with a white background. The links are still regular blue on white but
as you tab to them they will turn red. Hopefully the site will be cool
to you all.
++
Here Here. And it's not just blind people interested in older style
games. At Wal-Mart one can for $30 or so buy a little hand-held device
which connects to the A/V of a receiver or your television and one can
play the classic 80's arcade Pacman, MS Pacman, Space Invaders, etc.
There are about 4 or 5 games in each cartrage and one can buy more for
around $10 or $15. The unit runs off of 4 AA batteries. Not accessable
to a totally blind person yet these are selling a lot. Who buys them? I
bet you mainly people over 30 do but I have seen kids get them too. My
daughter has learned to appreciate the things which were popular when I
was a kid. Things from 80's music to 80's games are just a few of them.
Do we have one of these devices? You bet we do. Much better for the kids
I think than the violence-filled games out today.
+++
The Ultimate Let-down
By Michael Feir
During this past quarter, I've gone through an all-consuming experience
which has just ended in an utterly disappointing fashion. Nothing has ever
so completely hooked me in as the prospect of having the decades old dream
of playing a classic video game like Montezuma's Revenge be inches away only
to have some circumstance push the release back yet again. I can fully
understand what people awaiting the next Harry Potter book or Star Wars film
must have felt like. That sense of something delicious being just barely
beyond reach can be pretty overpowering. Other than that sense you get as a
kid on Christmas Eve trying earnestly to go to sleep in the hope that Santa
will then be able to deliver your presents, I can't think of anything that
comes close. It certainly prevented me from focusing on any of my projects
very much. Now, I know how it would feel like to all the Harry Potter fans
if the final book was nearing completion and somebody killed or
incapacitated J. K. Rouling so that she couldn't or wouldn't ever take up
her pen to finish her masterpiece. God willing, Mrs. Rouling will be able to
end the nail-biting suspense of her fans on a positive note and be rewarded
for her long patient efforts. I'm not, incidentally, a Harry Potter fan.
However, I can appreciate what she must have gone through to create such a
compelling saga. However, as luck would have it, the one game which has
consumed me so completely as Monty has is the one game I'll never get to
play. To say that I'm angry and disappointed at this turn of events is
beyond an understatement.
James North has finally run completely out of patience with the blind
community and has pulled the plug on all of the titles he's been working on.
I won't even attempt to describe the absolute dismay and disappointment this
is to me. As most of you know, I had a lot of personal reasons to be
especially keen for Montezuma's Revenge to be released. To have a classic
video game like that in a form I could play without sighted assistance has
been a dream of mine since around age ten. If anybody had the skill to pull
something like that off well, it's James North. He has consistently given us
games which bring true arcade challenge to blind players.
Pretty much all the way through this tortuous process, I've been able to
sympathize with both sides of the story. On the one hand, people certainly
had some legitimate reason for being annoyed with James. After so many
instances of being told that the game was nearly out and then being let
down, I can appreciate their frustration. I certainly experienced that quite
keenly myself. I spent a good chunk of New Year's Eve keeping watch hoping
to find that James would finally live up to a deadline he set himself.
Through it all, what sustained me was my faith that James would eventually
come through with a completed game as long as the community didn't give him
too much crap. To my utter anguish and fury, that's precisely what the
community has done.
People have to get rid of this stupid "it's a business" mentality where they
hold developers of accessible games as accountable as large companies. It's
simply preposterous. There just isn't the economic base in the blind
community to support such an enterprise. Kind and talented folks make
accessible games out of a sense of compassion for people who are otherwise
left out of a form of entertainment which has stimulated and enriched the
sighted world for nearly three decades. Some do it with the clear intention
to make at least some profit from their work. Others share their creations
for free. Regardless, they all at least start out with an honest empathy and
desire to provide us with new fun. People, that kindness and compassion
which brings them to our cause frankly deserves a whole lot more leeway for
mistakes than has been shown here. These people usually have to do something
else to support themselves and likely their family. If that isn't the case,
as in my unemployed circumstances, we still have the stresses, enjoyments,
and other elements of the rest of our lives to contend with. As people on
the Blindgamers list now know, James had a number of very difficult life
issues. He is a somewhat private man and didn't want them publicly known
about. Trying to defend and support him over the past year and a bit without
revealing any of the details of precisely what was delaying him was no easy
task. Now, somebody has gone and let quite a bit of that information out of
the bag. James originally wanted to end things on a high note despite all of
the crap life sent his way. He thought he was past caring about what the
community thought of him. This quite understandable attitude lead him to
make a number of bad choices which I did my best to warn him against. He was
going to finish three final games for his loyal customers and then close
down after doing what he said he would. All he required from us was some
much-deserved encouragement and more importantly patience. Sadly, despite
the best efforts of myself and many other supporters, the shrieks of spoiled
brats who didn't get their game pronto won out. A relatively small number of
very vocal people have wrecked things for the rest of us and essentially
made their suspicions reality. James isn't leaving on a high note. He's been
pushed just about as low as it's possible to go. He can't even leave with
his private life kept private. I can only hope that people get enough of a
sense of the torment James went through over the past six years to wake up
and realize how petty their cries of "fowl" sound next to all that.
Some people have remarked that it's better that James has decided to offer
refunds and call it quits. In a sense, that might well be true. It may let
the rest of the industry slowly build up trust assuming developers can avoid
the pitfalls James has encountered. I certainly don't hold him completely
blameless. After the first release date failed, I would simply have waited
until the game was fully finished and actually available before announcing
any more dates. That repeated experience of being let down, in my judgment,
set him up for a lot of the doubts and worse undeserved accusations of
wrong-doing he was then subjected to. It would have served him so much
better if he had kept people informed of what aspects of the game he was
working on and not given any specific timeframes. I tried to point this out
to him many times. However, he had already been so jaded and beaten down by
his detractors that he was essentially beyond caring enough to really accept
even gentle constructive criticism from one of his most avid fans. It's not
better at all that things ended this way. I doubt any developer is going to
try offering pre-orders any time in the foreseeable future. The faith just
isn't there. People will be able to point to this whole incident as an
example of why one shouldn't trust people failing to mention that the only
reason things came about like they have was their own collective uncaring
inflexible impatience. This community has lost three fantastic games which
would have been tremendous examples to new developers and heaping endless
fun for us gamers. They have also lost a lot of the loyalty and empathy of
game developers like me. I think this whole incident has made Ron's job as
editor of Audyssey a whole lot harder in the future. Developers are going to
read into this episode the wrong way and choose not to reveal information
ahead of time so they won't get dragged through the mud for it later.
Unfortunately, this will have the effect of causing less overall interest in
accessible games. They take so long to produce that there has to be some
information between games to keep people interested and aware that
developments are occurring. Fortunately, I've seen enough excellence and
enough appreciative people to prevent me from packing it in completely. I'm
going to take some time to re-evaluate my own level of commitment to this
community over the next while.
As utterly disappointed as I am with James's ultimate decision to pull up
stakes, I can't find it in my heart to blame him. There are doubtless more
thoughtful and deserving disadvantaged communities he can turn his limited
spare time and energy to. As this new year began, I felt that we had at last
finally collectively begun to learn from our mistakes. However, I was proved
wrong once again. Even after James released a playable demo of Monty, he was
still subjected to the same idiocy. Short of actually producing the finished
product, there wasn't anything else which could have been produced to prove
that there actually was a nearly finished fantastic game on the way. Even
that wasn't enough for people who felt they had been unfairly treated. The
doubts, criminal accusations and complaints continued. They were the last
straw for James. They were also the last straw for my ability to see both
sides of this whole mess. I could still have some sympathy for people's
impatience even after the manual was put out. However, once the demo was
released, that should at least have stopped the accusations of lying and
such that continued. I'm surprised James put as much effort into fixing the
errors in the demo as he did rather than just charge ahead with the final
product and call it a day once it was released.
The evening after I learned the bad news, I contacted James. Other than
having an interesting chat, I had three objectives. I had to know why, after
all he went through and all I had gone through in support of him, that he
had ultimately decided to prove his detractors right and not ultimately
release even one game. I was certainly bitterly disappointed and frustrated
with that decision. It's very hard not to feel angry faced with a final
let-down after so many smaller ones before it. Basically, he wasn't getting
a good enough return on the time and energy he was exerting in terms of both
cash and more importantly the good will of the community. All they had to do
was wait and he would have eventually come through. However, they couldn't
even do that and so we've all lost big time. A relatively small number of
bad apples have cost the blind gaming community the dedication of one of its
most innovative and skilled developers. I of course asked him if there was
any possible way he could at least finish Monty. He responded quite
reasonably that each of his other projects had their deserving and devoted
followers. My final objective was to make certain he knew that at least one
of his eager fans could look beyond the thunderous disappointment and still
cared about the man who let me down. I'm very thankful to him for releasing
the demo and will treasure that always. At last, I was able to show my
father a game just like the ones he used to help me have a sense of playing
as a child. He was able to experience for himself how the sound enabled me
to navigate the first temple. He could also share the excitement of knowing
what a treat I was ultimately in for when the full game came out. It was a
thrill beyond words to be able to do that. James has also inspired me to try
to develop my own accessible game. This community owes him more of a debt of
gratitude than is generally known. He did an awful lot to support both
myself and the community I was trying to start up. I thanked him for all of
this and made certain that he knows that he's still got a true friend in me.
That's not always easy to do when you've just been put through such a
rollercoaster ride ending in a fatal drop. I have no doubt that at least
some of his other supporters have done the same. I don't pretend for a
moment that it's reasonable to expect people in the community to go to that
length although I wish it was. However, I sincerely hope that the idiots who
have cost us so much good will with their insistence on getting a game out
in timely fashion regardless of other considerations have finally learned
something. James doesn't see a lot of hope for the kind of high-quality
games he would have provided us with in the future. Given the amount of
agony he's gone through, I can certainly see where his cynicism comes from.
He's always tried to make good and been very poorly rewarded for his
efforts. However, I don't completely agree with this outlook. We have a
small group of game developers out there who are always improving on their
work. There are also some developers whose efforts we have yet to
experience. James's departure, particularly under these excruciating
circumstances, does not signal the death of accessible gaming. It's a very
brutal wake-up call that those of us into instant gratification and
empowerment had better heed. Like it or not, we're a small market who is to
some extent always going to be relying on the good will of talented people
for our entertainment. Wining about not getting our fair money's worth just
won't do us any ultimate good at all. I'm glad that on balance, developers
try their best to honor commitments they make and treat their hobby like a
business. However, we who benefit from their efforts simply have to give
them more of the benefit of the doubt when things go wrong or "real life"
intervenes as it so clearly has in James's case.
You'll doubtless notice that there's no Fearless Flin developer diary this
time. I felt pretty bad about that for a while having a perhaps
overdeveloped sense of responsibility to this community. I've made something
like forty or fifty small changes to the design document, but certainly
haven't accomplished anything noteworthy. Largely, that was due to being on
the edge of obsession waiting for Monty to come out plus the holidays plus a
bout of insomnia. Thanks to the demo James released, I've been freed from
the paralysis of not knowing how the game would work. It might seem odd to
people that having experienced the demo, I nevertheless find it at least a
little easier to deal with not ever getting to play the full product. I find
it somewhat counter-intuitive myself. I guess there's some truth to that
saying about "better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at
all." Over the next while, I'll be more focused on efforts to change
community dynamics and hopefully interest some newcomers to join up. We have
to tip the scales more in the game developer's favor. I think we've all
clearly seen how unrestrained consumerism can shoot us in the foot. At
least, I sincerely hope we have. Against what is perhaps better judgment, I'll
take it as fact that we've collectively learned the right lesson and are
ready to bring in new blood. We need their fresh patience, thankfulness,
input and new ideas. Perhaps, we can attract some new talent who will then
find a more patient more positive audience for their efforts.
At times like this, it's all too tempting to lash out or distance myself
from such an active position in the accessible gaming community. Indeed, my
first draft of this article could have peeled paint from walls. I was so
crushed and justifiably furious that I wrote something which didn't even
attempt to channel my feelings constructively. However, I refuse to let the
death of one deeply held dream be an excuse to willfully destroy another. I'm
working on my game as much for myself as for the community at large. I also
have a vested interest in seeing the community improve and mature. Whether I
ultimately succeed in making my own game or not, I want to be certain that I'll
have more games to play during the rest of my life. I also want to have
fellow people interested in sharing their thoughts with me. Games are so
much more powerful, even single player ones, when there's a community to
share one's experiences with. To that end, I'll continue my efforts to help
this community grow and become stronger. Ron has a lot of plans for making
this year, the tenth year for Audyssey Magazine, a special one. I'll do
everything I can to see that come to pass. It'll take precedence over even
game development. I've said my piece and let go of my monty mania as best I
can. I still have a faint hope that somebody else will one day try to bring
this classic game or an even better sidescroller to fruition. It won't be
the same as what we could have had, but I can live with that. Until next
time, happy reading.
Michael Feir
+++
A few puzzles
1. Grab a calculator. (you won't be able to do this one in
your head)
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (not
the area code)
3. Multiply by 80
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2
Do you recognize the answer?
++
More puzzles
Puzzles Galore
1. The Flight Around The World
A group of aeroplanes is based on a small island. The tank of each plane holds just enough fuel to take it half-way around the world. Any desired amount of fuel may be transferred from the tank of one plane to the tank of another whilst the planes are in flight. The only source of fuel is on the island, and for the purposes of this problem it is assumed that there is no time lost in refuelling either in the air or on the ground.
What is the smallest number of planes that will ensure the flight, non-stop, of one plane around the world on a great circle assuming that each of the planes has the same constant ground speed and rate of fuel consumption, and that all planes return safely to their island base?
2. Who Is The Engineer?
Smith, Jones and Robinson are engineer, brakeman and fireman on a train but not necessarily in that order. Also riding the train are three passengers with the same three surnames, to be identified in the following premises with a "Mr." before their names.
· Mr. Robinson lives in Los Angeles.
· The brakeman lives in Omaha.
· Mr. Jones long ago forgot all the algebra he ever learnt at High School.
· The passenger with the same name as the brakeman lives in Chicago.
· The brakeman and one of the passengers, a distinguished mathematical physicist, attend the same church.
· Smith beat the fireman at billiards.
++
The Solutions
The Solutions
1. The Flight Around The World
Three aeroplanes are sufficient to ensure the flight of one of them around the world. There are many ways in which this may be done, but the following seems to be the most efficient.
Planes A and B and C take off together. After going one-eighth of the way, C transfers ¼ tank to A and ¼ tank to B. This gives A and B full tanks and leaves C with a ¼ tank sufficient just to get back to base.
Planes A and B continue a further one-eighth of the way when B transfers ¼ tank to A. B now has ½ tank left, sufficient just to get back to base.
Plane A meanwhile, with a full tank continues until he runs out of fuel ¼ way from base (¾ way round the world). Here A is met by C which has been refuelled at base. C transfers ¼ tank to A and both planes head for home.
A and C run out of fuel one-eighth way from base where they are met by refuelled plane B. B transfers ¼ tank to A and ¼ tank to C and the three planes then have just enough fuel to reach base with empty tanks.
2. Who Is The Engineer?
· From 2 we see that Mr. Robinson lives in Los Angeles.
· From 3 and 6 we can deduce that the distinguished mathematical physicist lives in Omaha.
· From 4 we see that Mr. Jones cannot live in Omaha (6) or Los Angeles (2) so he must live in Chicago.
· From 5 we now know that the brakeman's name is Jones.
From Smith cannot be the fireman; he cannot be the brakeman (5) so he must be the engineer.
+++
Our upcoming pole
Recently the idea came up on the gamers list about having a pole regarding games. I felt that informing everyone via the mag would give us the most extensive range of opinions possible.
Since the idea is recent, the idea of questions and catagories is pretty wide open at this time. I'm hoping to collect some ideas and with the aid of a few other people finalize a question form to be sent out in the next issue.
To this point we have ideas such as. Taken from an email.
*snip*
Rules for voting:
you can only vote once
developers can vote, but can not vote for their own games.
If you can, you should try not to pick games all from one developer, since there is also a best developer catagory listed here.
Voting for games:
They must be accesible, meaning that they were specificly made for the blind and visually impaired.
you may vote on any accessible free or purchased game. In addition, you may vote for a demo, beta, or other format that was intended for consumers to sample in order to consider purchasing.
The item to be picked must be owned by a viable company or developer still active in the community.
The catagories are:
Which is the best online game that blind people play?
Note: if there is alot of these this could be spread out to the top three.
Which is your preferred accessible developer / game company?
Which accessible game has:
The Best sound/ voice?
The best control / controller support?
The best replay value?
The best features? example such as save option, multiplayer, scoreboards support chat functions etc.
Which game genre do you prefer? examples rpg, puzzle, first person shooter, side scroller, arcade, table top games such as board, card, dominoes etc, simulation games such as driving, flight,, war games.
Which accessible game would you choose to show to another person as an example of gaming in the blind community?
finally, your top three picks for accessible games? Of course put your top pick as number one.
All votes will go to my email address so as not to influence the vote, and will be tabulated and the results, after a decent amount of time will be listed
In the mag.
*end snip*
So that's what we have up to this time. Send in thoughts on catagories, questions and most definitely your votes! Remember the final questions will be in the next issue! Let's see a whole lot of people respond to this one! Feel free to send your emails my way as well! The address can be found in the Contact Us section further in the mag.
+++
News from Developers
++
News from Blind Adrenaline
Booga booga!
I am pleased to announce that Blind Adrenaline Simulations has gone live
as of this evening.
Blind Adrenaline will be the home of Rail Racer, a futuristic racing
simulation for the visually impaired, as well as links to other game related
content.
Right now, you can download an audio demo of Rail Racer. There aren't
many bells and whistles there yet, but you will get an idea of how the game
play will be.
Also, the site features some back story detailing the setting of the game.
If you download the demo, please write me and tell me what you think about
it, good or bad.
At this stage, I can still incorporate your ideas into the game if they
are good ones.
The link for Blind Adrenaline is
http://www.blindAdrenaline.com
I look forward to hearing from you,
Che Martin
che@tridigitalbb.com
Ok kids, those of you looking for a fresh game won't have to wait much
longer.
Rail Racer will be in beta stage hopefully in a few weeks, and I think
folks will dig what they hear.
This is a racing game set in a future when most of the Earth's inhabitants
are blind, and Rail Racing is the primary source of entertainment.
Using your mouse to control your racer, you will compete on a variety of
tracks, leaning into the curves, smoothly shifting gears and accelerating to
produce the best lap times.
Additionally, you will have to disengage your driving wheels and fire your
jump jets to launch your racer over obstacles on the rail. If your jump
timing is off you will lose precious seconds , or worse, damage your racer.
You will have to monitor your vehicle systems, and pit for repairs and
fuel as necessary. Your racer computer as well as your pit crew will keep
you informed about the performance of all systems, as well as your pit stop
needs. For instance, you might decide to forgo repairs and limp through the
race if only a few laps remain to save the repair time in the pits.
It is all up to you.
These are the features that are locked down at this point, others,
including force feedback steering wheel control and keyboard control will be
integrated before full release.
At this point, the game is in alpha stage, and I need three or four
testers to see how the driving system works on various computer setups. The
testers will require a mouse to drive.
If you are interested in being a tester, email me and tell me why you
would make a good team member of the Rail Racer crew. As well, if any
developers out there have worked with beta testers in the past and have
reccomendations for individuals, please let me know.
I think you are really gonna dig this one. I have spent hours playing
with the driving system, trying to get my lap times down, and I can tell
you, it is quite challenging to get into a smooth driving rhythm.
I will be setting up a new website for the game in the next week, and will
update the list when it is ready for public consumption.
At this point, I am wide open to suggestions for the game from the
community, so if you have any ideas you might like to see incorporated, let
us know here on the list. If the concept would add to the fun of the game,
I will try my best to include it. I want this to be a game from one of us,
for all of us.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Che Martin - Developer of Rail Racer
++
News from Draconis Entertainment
Greetings gamers,
We have several notes for you, but first the big announcement.
Draconis Entertainment is proud to announce the release of our newest game: The Ultimate SounDoku!
As the Sudoku craze sweeps across the world, young and old alike are discovering the addictive fun of this brain-busting puzzle game. Though it exists in
many forms, the basic concept is always the same: fill in every square on the puzzle-grid without repeating any value in any row, column, or region.
Draconis Entertainment brings this puzzle game to a rich audio platform, designed to encompass Sudoku in all it's many varied incarnations, while realistically
emulating the pen-and-paper charm of the classic game. It's more than Sudoku...it's more than SounDoku...it's The Ultimate SounDoku!
Choose to use letters, numbers, or sound effects in varied audio themes, just as printed Sudoku games use numbers, letters, or symbols. Can you beat the
clock and solve the puzzle before time runs out? Or would you rather take your time and defeat the puzzle on your own schedule? The Ultimate SounDoku
offers all this, and much more.
Other features include:
. Millions of automatically generated puzzles.
. Both 9X9-grid and 16X16-grid puzzles.
. Seven levels of difficulty.
. Eight entirely different audio themes to use as "symbols" as you play!
. Three modes of play: Puzzle, Clock, and Custom.
. The ability to create and save custom puzzles, or copy puzzles from Sudoku puzzle books and newspapers for play with the Ultimate SounDoku.
. Keyboard layouts for both desktop and laptop computers.
. The ability to save a game in progress and resume it later.
. Two methods of navigation and feedback: Basic and Advanced.
. ...and much more!
The Ultimate SounDoku can be downloaded from the Draconis Entertainment Download Center. The game will function in a demonstration mode for fifteen days,
after which time you will need to register the game.
Find out more, buy the game, or try out the demo at http://www.draconisentertainment.com
Be sure to keep an eye on the Draconis Entertainment web site for the launch of the all new Draconis Score Servers which will be going back online very
soon. The new score servers will not suffer from the extended periods of down time that the previous servers did, and will include some new features that
were not available on the old ESP Score Servers.
For those of you requesting replacement registration keys, we have been working on a solution for you that we hope to make public very soon. Keep an eye
on the Draconis News from our web site to be aware of when this option is available to our customers.
Lastly, we are continuing work on new titles. As is evident with the Ultimate SounDoku, we have found it preferable to save announcements of future titles
until the title is ready or nearly so. Just remember, if you haven't heard news from us, that doesn't mean we're not working to provide you with new games.
Watch for new games from Draconis Entertainment soon.
Draconis Entertainment
"Feel the power...wield the magic..."
http://www.draconisEntertainment.com
http://www.dracoent.com
++
News from Kitchens Inc.
Hi,
I have put a new version of my Football game up on my web site.
File name winnfl3.exe File size 2.8m bytes
In version 3 I fixed the volume of the one sound file, added a save game feature and you can now change the names of the players on your team.
The file can be found on my free windows text to speech games page.
Hope you like the new version
BFN
Jim
+
Several folks have come forward with differing versions of the monopoly board. Using various themes, and genresMost of which are easy enough to send via email. Some very good ones might I say. . It's a bummer you aren't able to change the Community Chest or Chance cards to fit in more with the type of game. Though I've had fun playing it. Guess I'm not all that good at Monopoly.
++
Lighttech Interactive News
dear gamers,
we're happy to announce Lighttech Interactive is now on the map of accessible gaming and software!
Lighttech Interactive is commited to deliver high quality, entertaining accessible games! We at LighttechInteractive put all hard efforts and thought, needed
to create the best, fully featured product
we hope to bring severall happy years of entertainment with some great and accessible Interactive Games!
some of our games are available for download, while other titles are still in development -- as well as implementing a fully featured Lighttech Interactive
score server
you can visit our website at:
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
"light locator" is out now!
in Light locator you play as detective henry johnson as he trys to save a whole city by deactivating the mega radioactive bomb a group of terrorists has
planted in it's main sky scraper!.
features include:
totally self - voicing (no screen reader required)
3 skill levels to play on
the ability to view your local top ten scores for the 3 difficulty levels
authentic sound effects
and more!
list end
you can download light locator by going to
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
and going to the light games page
it is only 3.5 mb in sys, and should not be a pain to download even with a dial-up conection
the horse racing game pach
we have released a new pach for the horse racing game, that fixes lots of bugs from the previous release
current version is 1.3.2
download and enjoy!
happy gaming!
yakir arbib
Lighttech Interactive
http://www.lighttechinteractive.com
++
News from PCS Games
Sarah and the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is still under development
and a new public beta is very close to being released. Since the first beta
release in late December, I have removed most of the synthesized voice of
Sarah and have replaced them with a human voice.
I have also fixed several bugs and added some features suggested by testers.
In this game you can explore a fantasy castle
inspired by JK Rowling.
Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry transports Sarah into a world of
corridors and secret passageways. she travels through the castle searching
for magical items, fighting creepy creatures knowing at any minute,
disaster may strike.
So, take a trip 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 Dobby; go out
for a spot of spelunking in the chamber of secrets, gasp in awe
at the speed of the golden snitch, pick up plenty of coins and
spells, try to hide from the Goblin, but
always remember - the malevolent Dementors may not be what they seem!
You can find out what is in store at PCS Games by going to the PCS web site
at:
http://www.pcsgames.net
E-mail Phil Vlasak,
phil@pcsgames.net
We make games that tickle your ears.
++
News from Spoonbill
Hi,
Ian Humphreys from Spoonbill Software here. This is to announce
the release of Blind gamers LAP - BG LAP for short.
BG LAP is the accessible version of the game of LAP. It is suitable for both blind and visually impaired players, and like all Spoonbill games in the Blind
gamers series, it is self-voicing.
BG LAP is played as follows. You are presented with a board of 64 tiles arranged in 8 rows of 8 tiles each. At the start of the game all the tiles are blank.
But the computer has secretly colored each tile with one of four colors, red, yellow, green or blue. Your task is to determine what color has been assigned
to each of the 64 tiles, accumulating as few penalty points as possible. To help you on your way, you know the following:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->There are exactly 16 tiles of each of the four colors.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->The tiles of each color form a single contiguous area of tiles joined along their edges.
You can get a hint of the colors assigned to any 2 by 2 square of tiles. A hint will cost you 1 penalty point. You can guess the color of a blank tile.
A correct guess will reveal the color of the tile. An incorrect guess will cost you 5 penalty points. When the colors of all the blank tiles have been
revealed, the game is over. You try to score as few penalty points as possible. Your lowest score is always remembered in the statistics.
This is to announce
the release of Blind gamers 15 Puzzle BG 15 Puzzle for short.
BG 15 puzzle is the accessible version of the famous sliding block puzzle made popular by Sam Loyd, arguably America's greatest puzzlist. It is suitable
for both blind and visually impaired players, and like all Spoonbill games in the Blind gamers series, it is self-voicing.
BG 15 puzzle is played as follows. You have 15 blocks or tiles, each labelled with a number from 1 through 15, arranged in a 4 by 4 square. The sixteenth
position is empty but can be used to slide an adjacent tile into. At the start of the game, the tiles are shuffled in random order and it is your job to
rearrange them into ascending or from 1 to 15, finishing with the empty position in the bottom right hand corner. The less moves you take, the higher your
score. Your high score is remembered and replaced should you get a higher score in subsequent games.
Regards
Ian Humphreys
Spoonbill Software
Albany, Western Australia.
++
USA Games News
2/28/2006
Alchemy Transfer Updates
I am sending out this update to keep everyone abreast of the changes in
the Alchemy transfer. As you all know Friday of last week James North
had verbally agreed to turn over the source for the mouse demo, Raceway,
and Montezuma's Revenge. Now, that the weekend is over James has been in
contact with us, and has communicated how and when the transfers will
take place.
James has sent us legal documentation via email which signs all rights
to the above mentioned titles over to USA Games. We have printed, read,
and have signed the documents. Once it is mailed and received by James
North he will sign it, and then send us the source code, sound effects,
etc to the above titles. As you might guess this could take anywhere
from a week to a couple of weeks to complete this deal.
Final Conflict Updates
for those of you waiting on the 1.0 beta we have discovered a couple of
low-cost solutions to our security issues with .net and Final Conflict.
This security measure is absolutely necessary, not only for Final
Conflict, but for the safety and protection of all other future USA
Games titles using the .net technologies. We feel assured that this
security measure will aid in our desire to prevent piracy.
We hope to have a release up on site soon, but as we can't give a
specific day and hour we won't. Just know we are working on it as fast
as possible, and none want to get this game done and ready to go more
than I.
Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
Developer for USA Games Entertainment
http://www.usagames.us
Yesterday I created a totally new trailor for Montezuma's Revenge
featuring the new game, and what the USA Games version will be like. If
you want to take a listen go to
http://www.usagames.us
and click the downloads link. From there it is in the audio trailors
section. Let me know what Y'all think.
++
News from VIP games Zone
Hi all!
We will start our new multiplayer game testing this month. We need some volunteers for our testing team.
If you want to take participation in our testing team, please visit our page
http://vipgameszone.com
Best wishes
Vipgameszone
+++
Game Announcements and Reviews:
Above the full reviews which appear in this section, any new games which have not been fully reviewed yet will be announced in the hopes that readers and/or the Audyssey staff will try out and review these games for us. Reviews of games will not appear in any particular order. The only exception to this will be when we have more than one review for a game. In this case, reviews will be placed consecutively so that it is easier to compare them. As with Anchorhead a few issues back, I may wish to interject my own thoughts on a game should it provoke significant reaction or otherwise prove itself especially noteworthy. When I choose to do this, you'll find my remarks above the review or reviews for the game in question. Should a game have more than one review, two plus-signs will be placed above the first review and/or my remarks. This policy will hopefully encourage people to try both the latest as well as some older games which may have been overlooked. Just because something isn't hot off the presses doesn't mean that it is any less worthy of a gamer's attention. Also, remember that it doesn't matter if a game has been reviewed before. If you have a different take on the game than has already been published, send in your review and I'll consider it for publication. If a review fails to interest you, simply skip to the next plus-sign. It's that simple, folks.
++
Want to play chess against a computer online? This one is speech friendly, and it thinks ahead 2 moves for each side. You tab to, and activate, a link
to the move you want to make, or, (I think?), you can enter your own move. The next move made by the computer will be shown. The URL is
http://pine.cs.yale.edu/cgi-bin/chessplayer
If you are interested in learning the game from the very beginning to the point at which you can win games by using the 4 principles of the game and some
advanced strategies, check out the 2 correspondence courses from the Hadley school for the blind. In oredr to take the second, more advanced, course,
you must first pass the first one. Lessons are available on audio cassettes or in braille. If you don't have a chess set that is adapted for the blind,
or even if you already have one, one is provided for
your use during the first course, "Chess for Beginners". After completing the course, you may keep the course equipment and material for your own use.
The URL for the school is
www.hadley-school.org
and I think these 2 courses are very good training as well as providing a structured method of learning the game. There is a lot of insight as to how a
Grandmaster of the game reasons out the best moves, which will provide you with a very good foundation on which you can build your chess skills, even if
you currently know absolutely nothing about the game and want to learn it.
++
Sorry, I have not yet found a character generator that can easily be used
accessibly. I did find an Npc generator you could download but that is not
really the same I guess. It is online, and also downloadable.
http://www.aarg.net/~minam/npc2.cgi
For myself, I made lists of just the names of the feats and skills for easy
picking. I also made a document with a racial breakdown listing only the
relevant information.
I did the same with character classes, weapons, armor, cleric domains,
spell lists (dividing them by class into diffrent docs), and the bonus
spell level chart for high attributtes.
I suppose you could make a diffrent doc for basic info for the classes at
first level, that is actually a good idea, I think I will try that.I am also
considering seperating out every single monster and spell into it's own
document, listing them in their prospective folders and making it easier to
look forspecific things in a long document. It is easier to find fireball
than all spells that start with F.
I could never figure out how to use the Find option, lol
In the end this doesn't prevent you from looking up the information, but
what this will do is make looking for information that much easier.
hope that helped you,
PS: Here is a link for searchable SRD in HTML.
This might help if you dont want to do all that work.
http://www.andargor.com/
The below link is for the three point five manuals for download. I believe these might be easier to download as well.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35
++
The Ultimate Soundoku
Reviewer: Charles Rivard
Available from: www.draconisentertainment.com
This game is self voicing. Turn your screen reader off before starting the game. It is totally accessible to totally blind players.
There haven't been very many puzzle oriented games for the blind, but now, Draconis Entertainment has come out with one that puts blind puzzlers on an even keel with sighted puzzlers. We can work Sudoku puzzles and discuss them with sighted puzzlers. What are they? Here's a brief history:
Sudoku was originally drempt up by a man named Howard Garns, a retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor, and first published in 1979. Most likely,
Sudoku was inspired by the Latin square, a mathematical invention of Leonhard Euler.
Garns added a third dimension (the regional restriction) to the mathematical construct and (unlike Euler) presented the creation as a puzzle, providing
a partially-completed grid and requiring the solver to fill in the rest. The puzzle was first published by Dell Magazines in the magazine "Dell Pencil
Puzzles and Word Games", under the title "Number Place".
The puzzle first surfaced in Japan in the paper "Monthly Nikolist", in April 1984. In that publication, it was entitled "Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru", which
translates to "the numbers must be single". Note that "single" in this case literally refers to the marrital status of the numbers. So be kind, and take
your Sudoku puzzles out on a date every now and then. Later, the name was shortened to "Sudoku", which is a common practice in Japanese.
In 1989, "DigitHunt" was released for the Commodore 64, which was the first computerized version of Sudoku.
"Ka is a wheel", and now Dell Magazines also publishes two Sudoku magazines. Sudoku appears in countless puzzle books, newspapers, and other periodicals
around the world.
Sudoku's surging popularity in recent years can largely be attributed to the United Kingdom, where puzzles began appearing in a wide variety of newspapers
and magazines in 2004. Sudoku has been accredited with the upswing in sales of these periodicals to such a degree that papers actually argue over who was
the first to print the puzzles. From tabloids to the BBC's "Radio Times" publication, Sudoku has become an amense success in Brittain. In the summer of
2005, a television gameshow based on Sudoku aired in the UK.
Sudoku has been called "The Rubik's cube of the 21st century".
As the Sudoku craze sweeps across the world, young and old alike are discovering the addictive fun of this brain-busting puzzle game. Though it exists in
many forms, the basic concept is always the same: fill in every square on the puzzle-grid without repeating any value in any row, column, or region. Draconis Entertainment brings this puzzle game to a rich audio platform, designed to encompass Sudoku in all it's many varied incarnations. It's more than
Sudoku...it's more than Soundoku...it's The Ultimate Soundoku!
Choose to use letters, numbers, or sound effects in varied audio themes, just as printed Sudoku games use numbers, letters, or symbols. Can you beat the
clock and solve the puzzle before time runs out? Or would you rather take your time and defeat the puzzle on your own schedule? The Ultimate Soundoku offers
all this, and much more.
Here are some of the game's features, along with my comments on them:
. Millions of automatically generated puzzles. You won't get bored because you don't have any new puzzles to play, that's for sure!
. Both 9X9-grid and, for more of a challenge, 16X16-grid puzzles.
. Seven levels of difficulty (from beginner to expert. Don't let the designation of "beginner" fool you into thinking that it is easy, though!
. Eight entirely different audio themes to use as "symbols" as you play! These add to the challenge and enhance the enjoyment by adding variation to the game. Sighted puzzlers use symbols or numbers, the blind can use numbers or sound patterns.
. Three modes of play: Puzzle (in which you try to solve an automatically generated puzzle), Clock (in which you try to solve a puzzle before the clock time reaches 0), and Custom (in which you solve a puzzle that was created by a human, whether that human was yourself or another gamer. Share puzzles you create with others and solve those passed on to you by other gamers for great replay value).
. The ability to create and save custom puzzles, or copy puzzles from Sudoku puzzle books and newspapers for play with the Ultimate Soundoku. You can use the feature to create a puzzle and simply fill in the squares with the numbers or symbols found in other puzzles, then try solving the created puzzle.
. Keyboard layouts for both desktop and laptop computers so that you can play when traveling or at home.
. The a bility to save a game in progress and resume it later. This comes in handy when using a laptop PC and you have to turn the machine off for some reason.
. Two methods of navigation and feedback: Basic and Advanced. The advanced feedback gives you less information, but give it more quickly. This is good for after you have become familiar with the game, and also saves time when time is running out when trying to beat the clock.
System requirements:
The Ultimate Soundoku requires a Windows computer with Windows 98 or later and DirectX 8.X or later installed. The game may operate on older versions of
Windows, but it is not recommended.
Other requirements include:
. Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP
. Microsoft DirectX 8.X or later
. 500MHZ or better processor
. At least 32MB of RAM (64 or more is recommended)
. 40MB or more of free hard disk space.
. Windows and DirectX compatible sound card
and, as with all of the games from Draconis Entertainment, a good sense of humor.
If you want to try out the game before you buy, you may do so for fifteen days. Note that many features, such as saving a game in progress, etc, will not
be available in demo mode. The game will automatically expire after fifteen days and you will need a registration key to unlock it.
The demo can be downloaded and unlocked with the purchased key which unlocks it to become the full game from
www.draconisentertainment.com
The key is $19.95.
A typical Sudoku puzzle is a nine-by-nine grid. Imagine a chess board with one extra row and column added to it, and you will have a good idea of what it
looks like.
This nine-by-nine grid is further divided into nine "regions". These regions are three-by-three mini-grids, consisting of nine squares of the entire puzzle.
For example, the first region of a Sudoku puzzle is in the upper lefthand corner. It encompasses the first three positions of the top row of the puzzle,
the first three positions of the second row of the puzzle, and the first three positions of the third row of the puzzle. The second region includes the
next three positions on these same rows, and so forth. If this is difficult to imagine now, don't worry. It will become more clear as you play and practice
solving Sudoku puzzles.
At the outset, some of the positions in the puzzle are filled in with a number from one to nine. These are called the "givens", and may never be changed
by you during the course of the game.
Your job is to fill in the blank spaces with the numbers from one to nine, without creating duplicates on any row, any column, or within any region. Positions
that start out empty at the start of the game can be changed as many times as you need to in order to complete the puzzle successfully.
A successfully completed Sudoku puzzle will have all positions on the nine-by-nine grid filled in with a value from one to nine, with no repeated values
in any column, any row, or within any of the three-by-three regions. Believe me, it's harder than it sounds!
I've been searching for puzzle games to take up my spare time during evenings or rainy days, and this one is excellent! It's a real brain buster, even on the easy difficulty. Give it a try!
+
Again though this was an email it fits here it's an example of a solved puzzle
Phil sent me a finished puzzle and asked that I send it to the list because he has been having sporadic problems sending and receiving to and from the list.
Note that what he sent is a puzzle that has been completed. Each digit is a square. He has divided it into regions. Notice that the same number only
appears once in each column, once in each row, and once in each 3 by 3 region. When you play a game, try to accomplish this. There is not only one solution.
As long as you meet these 3 requirements,
you will get credit for correctly solving the puzzle. Here is his puzzle:
Hi Folks,
Here is a finished Ultimate SounDoku Puzzle
413_627_895
627_895_134
589_341_726
______________________
372_156_489
954_782_361
168_934_572
___________
236_418_957
791_563_248
845_279_613
++
Greetings everyone:
Adrift is a text based adventure game run time environment. These are modelled after the original text based adventures that were written for computers
back in the days before a graphical user interface. Since these usually involve solving the puzzle, I thought some on the list might be interested.
i don't know how the software works with JAWS, but with Window-Eyes it is workable when using the WE mouse keys. I suspect the Jaws cursor will work in
much the same fashion if it doesn't automatically read the text as it appears. It is possible to set up a Window in Window-Eyes to read the text as it
changes automatically.
Here is the URL along with the text from the about link.
http://www.adrift.org.uk/cgi/new/adrift.cgi
About Adrift:
What is a Text Adventure?
Text Adventures, also known as Interactive Fiction, are like stories where you control
the main character. You are put in a situation, and you have to solve a number of
tasks and puzzles before completing the game. Unlike many modern games, a lot of
thought and imagination is required.
How do you create one?
Most Text Adventure creation programs require you to write a type of program. This
makes it very difficult for beginners to get started, and even more experienced authors
may not know how to use the full functionality of the language. This is where ADRIFT
Generator comes in...
About ADRIFT Generator
ADRIFT Generator is a program written for Windows 95/98/NT/2K/ME/XP which allows
you to create your own Text Adventures. Instead of having to learn a new adventure
programming language, ADRIFT Generator takes all the difficulty away leaving you
with a simple, yet powerful game designer. Adventures are built up by adding rooms,
objects, tasks, events and characters. All you have to do is type in the descriptions,
and select how everything interacts with each other from pull down menus and lists.
About ADRIFT Runner
ADRIFT Runner is the application which takes the adventure files created with ADRIFT
Generator, and interprets them as an adventure. ADRIFT Runner attempts to recreate
the traditional adventure environment as introduced to computers when adventures
first came out, but it also improves on this by suppling extra functionality such
as a real-time map, optional control panel (to use the mouse instead of keys), general
point-n-click, colour customisation, automatic text completion, and a highscore table.
+
This generator is certainly new to me. Perhaps it will open the door to many more IF games. Adrift does work quite well with JFW. Though let's not forget Tads and Inform. As well as the developing TTS engine.
++
Blind Gamers Lap
Freeware
Available from http://www.omninet.net.au/%7Eirhumph/blindgamers.htm
Reviewed by Ron Schamerhorn
BG LAP is the accessible version of the game of LAP. It is suitable for both blind and visually impaired players, and like all Spoonbill games in the Blind
gamers series, it is self-voicing.
BG LAP is played as foll
ows. You are presented with a board of 64 tiles arranged in 8 rows of 8 tiles each. At the start of the game all the tiles are blank.
But the computer has secretly colored each tile with one of four colors, red, yellow, green or blue. Your task is to determine what color has been assigned
to each of the 64 tiles, accumulating as few penalty points as possible. To help you on your way, you know the following:
1. There are exactly 16 tiles of each of the four colors.
2. The tiles of each color form a single contiguous area of tiles joined along their edges.
You can get a hint of the colors assigned to any 2 by 2 square of tiles. A hint will cost you 1 penalty point. You can guess the color of a blank tile.
A correct guess will reveal the color of the tile. An incorrect guess will cost you 5 penalty points. When the colors of all the blank tiles have been
revealed, the game is over. You try to score as few penalty points as possible. Your lowest score is always remembered in the statistics.
After playing this game a fair bit I've discovered that it is awfully addicting! I've enjoyed it thoroughly! One of the very nice things is that it uses the TTS speech and therefore relies on no particular screen reader program. TTS should also work regardless of what Windows OS you are running. The text to speech voices are easily downloadable, and there are many outside of the offerings of Microsoft which will work equally well with this program.
To repeat I do have lots of fun with the game, and the nice part is that it requires only a few minutes per game session. I'm actually on the top 20 scores last I checked on Ian's site. It's a lot of fun.
To get the game even though it's freeware it's suggested to visit his site and request a copy directly. He's done some fun games and has quite a number considering the length of time he's been working at developing them. There is a method of putting in your vote for what you think should become a project as well. 8/10
++
Here is a Site I came across today. Some of the puzzles are accessible to screen reading software.
http://www.puzzlersparadise.com/index.html
++
Montezumas Revenge
By Alchemy Game Studios
Demo currently not available
Fully playable without sighted assistance
Introductions
Since it's early conception in the mid 1980's sighted people have been playing this classic arcade side scroller type game on Nintendo and other older systems of its kind
The object in the version for the sighted is simple, get through the temple avoiding adversaries and collecting as many gems as possible. Eventually, you would reach the master temple where you collect as much treasure as possible and walk away victorious
In Alchemy's version, you play the role of Arazona Smith. You will risk your hide trying to gather treasure during your explorations
The temples are full of goolies and nasty adversaries. Such as huge spiders to overcome, snakes, the undead, rattling skulls etcetra. Also the dangers include acid pits, electricity, quicksand, streams, and the list goes on
Sound and controls
There has been a lot of discussion, sometimes a bit heated maybe, concerning the interface of this game
Originally the layout was primarily for the numberpad set of keys, found on most desktops, like the one I am using to type this article on at present
However many laptops do not contain number pads. It was suggested to people to get a USB numberpad, which I felt was unfair
In the full version all the keys apparently will be configurable
However, no release date for the full version has been given
The demo contains a layout now for laptop.
In the numberpad version, one uses 4 and six to go backwards and forwards, as sounds pan from left to right as you are walking sideways, hence a side scroller. The control key is used to run, shift plus the directional keys enable you to look left, and right
Eight moves up ladders, 2 go down respectively, and the same for ropes.
Sound
The sound element of this game is stunning. Once the full version appears with music, that will be worth the wait. No music is in the demo at present.
The gameplay once used to the controls is a cool concept
Overall if you enjoy action adventure and are looking for something challenging, give Montezumas revenge a try. The trailer is also on the website
I would rate this game seven out of ten.
The reason being there will be no randomness in the full version, as in the classical incarnation
However, once you've played it once, I doubt it will have much replay value as you will know where the snakes and other enemies are.
For example, you know after going up that ladder avoid 2 snakes. It just seems to have no replay value, but not having seen the full version and the complexities I cant say.
Happy exploring!!
+
I'd like to refer everyone to Michael Feir's article, and the USA Games update to see further info regarding Montezumas Revenge. This review was based on an earlier incarnation of the above title.
++
Hi folks.
I just stumbled on this new text based rpg from Graham Nelson. I
was hoping somebody would create something like this. Here's the link to
follow. You can run the game with Winfrotztts.
http://www.plover.net/~emily/ROTA/
++
Rubik's Cube For the Blind
Gizmodo (Weblog)
Monday, February 20, 2006
Rubik's Cube For the Blind
This is a new twist on an old game. Why make a new version of a game
When few people
can master the
original anyway? Regardless, this cube features six different materials
that all have a very unique
texture: metal, wood, textile, stone, rubber and plastic. It can be done
like a regular style
rubik's cube or if you really have the cajones you can bust out the
blindfold and
really test your skills.
There are six different basic materials involved. They are Metal, wood,
textile, rubber, plastic and
stone. Different materials give people different senses, which thus
enabled the blind
men to play. And here we present the very example of this inspiration - The new Rubik's Cube.
(Description of Image, from the Yanko Design website)
Image shows a Rubik's Cube, which is a 9 x 9 x 9 cubic rotating puzzle.
The six surfaces
of the cube are covered in different materials, and described as
Wood - Warm
Metal - Cold
Rubber - Soft
Plastic - Hard
Stone - Tough
Textile - W&S
The caption above the cube reads "Touch and Play. Games for blind men
With the aid
of material". A
Second image shows the puzzle in an unsolved state! being played by a
Blindfolded man. (LWG)
The product was released 17th February 2006. Product Link:-
http://www.yankodesign.com/product_info.php?products_id=773
Design: University of Zhejiang
http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/rubiks-cube-for-the-blind-155779.php
++
Pinball Extreme
Commercially available from
www.draconisentertainment.com
Ok. I did a review of pinball extreme way back in December of 2005. Hear is a link to it. Unfortunately you can't download the mp3. blah! O well, Hopefully
this won't be my last review. lol. the link is
http://www.gcast.com/u/marrie/main
Take care all.
Sarah Alawami
+
I hope Sarah isn't upset by me doing this but I think at least letting folks know about the audio review is another great way to publicize various games. In such cases not only is there a description but also a person is able to listen to the game itself.
++
I have a version of the dice game skunk that you can play online with
friends. I highly reccomend you use a voice chat program to talk with them as you play it.
The game and instructions can be found at
http://www.linksForBlinks.com
The game is entirely free and requires no download.
Have fun,
Che
++
Topspeed 2
Created by Playing In The Dark
Freely available at:www.playinginthedark.net
Fully accessible without sighted assistance
Review by Michael Feir
The slump in accessible games has well and truly ended and it couldn't have
ended in a more surprising way. Durring my time as editor of Audyssey, one
of the most frequent things I'd be asked was: "When will somebody make a
racing game for blind people?" We've certainly seen a number of racing games
with various tracks and obstacles to avoid. The most widely enjoyed one of
these would be Jim Kitchen's Mach1. I fully expected the next racing
breakthrough to be a commercially produced game. However, I was proved wrong
once again by this excellent free offering from Playing in the dark. They've
given us something with both substance and its own style showing what
dedication and passion for accessible games can do. While there are
certainly areas where Topspeed2 can be improved upon, the quality delivered
at no cost to the blind community is absolutely stunning. Before I set out
to pick the game apart in all its aspects, I'll first take this opportunity
to commend these good people for their tremendous gift to gamers. You've
completely changed my outlook on racing games for the better.
*The Interface:
Topspeed2 cators to pretty much everyone in this area. The arrow keys are
used to navigate menus. The enter key selects options. The escape key backs
out of menus. The menus are all completely self-voicing and operate quite
smoothly. People can also take advantage of joysticks, steering wheels, and
even force feedback versions of these devices to race their cars with. There
are menus which let you customise aspects of the interface such as changing
the keys used for controlling the car or the buttons on a joystick. You can
also adjust the ammount of automatic feedback given to you by the co-pilot.
As far as interface and configurable options go, Topspeed2 gets full marks.
*Sounds:
Topspeed2 has the sound and feel of an arcade-style racing game rather than
a gritty realistic one. The engine accelleration, breaking and crash sounds
give one a sense of classic arcade racing games. In multi-player races,
people can use their horns as a small way of interacting. While awaiting the
start of a race, they can toot at each other. The sound positioning is
excellent. I have a surround sound system and can hear where all the cars
are as the race starts. It's neat hearing them pass from behind to in front
of you or even better vise versa. You certainly get the sense of being in a
high-speed race. One small problem I found was that when you switch to a
different terrain type, there can be an instant's pause as the sound for
the new terrain kicks in and the co-pilot announces the different terrain
type. All the rest seems perfectly natural and well done in the sound
department.
*Game Play:
The mechanics of Topspeed2 are quite well implemented. You get a good feel
for how different cars handle and how terrain such as gravel or water
effect your car's performance. The computer controlled opponents are quite
good and you can adjust the overall game difficulty to determine how many
cars there are to race against as well as how well they drive. One area of
the game I haven't tried too much of yet is with the extra cars and tracks
which users are already starting to make for the game. For the purposes of
this review, I downloaded and installed a few to see how easy that was. It's
as easy as extracting the files into the appropriate "tracks" or "vehicles"
folder. Making tracks and vehicles is something I'll leave to the more
pioneering people out there to take a crack at.
Playing through a single race is an excellent way to spend a few spare
minutes and you certainly have a nice sense of acomplishment when you
actually win one. However, that's nothing compared to the thrill of a
multi-player race. There are a few areas here where improvements would
certainly be welcome. One irritant is the need to go to a separate tool and
input the ip address of a server you want to connect to. I envy sighted
gamers whose games usually have the capacity to search the Internet for
servers to play on. Alternatively, they'll have a central server where
people can join and play together. I hope that the people at
Playing in the dark are able to make some changes there. Once you've gotten the
IP of a server, you then have no way of knowing whether a race is already
underway. You can join, pick your car, and then just sit there until the end
of the race whereupon you have to pick your car again to join the next race.
Besides these two complaints, I've had a tremendously positive experience
racing online against other blind drivers. At long last, I've experienced
the thrill of playing an action-based game against other human oponents. I
very much look forward to more such races and to whatever other titles
Playing in the dark eventually releases. Their initial offering is absolutely
fantastic. I give it an eight out of ten.
Michael Feir
Creator and former Editor of Audyssey Magazine
1996-2004
E-mail:
mfeir@cogeco.ca
+
Though this isn't exactly a comment on the review, I feel it's a proper place to put the info for obtaining extra cars and tracks for the above mentioned game. I thank DJC for providing the space to download these. It seems to be an ever growing list, in fact I'd like to do one if I could find the proper sound recordings. Here it is
server: djc.my-net-space.net
username: PlayingInTheDark
Password: racing
Port 21
No Passive Mode
That should do it.
Currently 41 cars and 37 tracks available on the ftp.
Hello everyone. I just read DJC's excellent message regarding the
custom tracks and cars ftp site he is hosting. With his permission I
have posted the ftp information on my Top Speed web page located at
http://topspeed.asmodean.net
so if you lose the email then you will have
the information there. I realize I am encouraging laziness but hey,
let's face it. I'm lazy too. I'd rather have information freely
available on a web page so I don't have to bother with saving a message
<smile>.
In any case that is the latest update to the site
http://topspeed.asmodean.net.
Best regards all.
Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along comes a faster rat!!
Raul A. Gallegos
+
I'll also point back to Raul's site for server info, and if others are that interested I wouldn't object to including a list of hosts that one could connect to. I know on the list recently there have been many. I would have joined more but I am not an Andreti by any means.
++++
Contacting Us
All material to be included in future issues of Audyssey should be sent to me at the following addresses:
Ron Schamerhorn
1180 Dorval Dr. #303
Oakville On L6M 3G1
[905]-842-1933
blindwonder@cogeco.ca
rschamerhorn@hotmail.com
for MSN no email.
Thomas Ward is a list moderator and new at the position. He's only had the job a little while but is doing a fine job! His contact info is
sales@usagames.us
Raul Gallegos is the other new co moderator. His willingness to take the post on behalf of the Audyssey community are very much appreciated. He can be contacted at:
raul@asmodean.net
+++
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, it is now
officially a 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 site has recently added Audyssey issues to its resources. We
welcome:
Note the dash in the below address.
http://www.blind-help.com
to the Audyssey community and hope that visitors to this site find our
resource to be of value to them.
Also another place to find both the issues of the magazine and the links to the games is
http://www.audiogames.net/page.php?pagefile=audyssey
Again our thanks.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
to leave send a blank Email to: BlindGamers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
You can contact the list owners/moderators by Emailing blindgamers-owner@yahoogroups.com
to go nomail send a blank message to: blindgamers-nomail@yahoogroups.com
change "nomail" to "normal" to resume messages.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindgamers/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
blindgamers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
