Thanks Richard, It took us some time and effort to arrange the funding but in the end it was all worth it. With the Game Accessibility project and the GA-SIG (and let's not forget the AudioGames.net website) we're finally making contact with the mainstream game industry, which actually is quite interested in a potential 7% increase of revenue (about 10% of an average Western population has a (minor to major) disability and about 75% of this group uses computers). Although it will take a lot of time and effort (we've been busy for the past 5 years actually) there are more and more accessible games initiatives each year. Next to that, the markets of casual games, experimental games and serious games are growing exponentially, and these markets benefit the most from game accessibility. Casual games because it is often easier to make these games accessible due to their simplicity (not always though!), audio games fit the field of experimental games perfectly and the field of serious games actually has many disabled gamers in their target group.
There are a few more conventions coming up in May and September which we hope to attend. We want to do another "What blind gamers want the game industry to know"- document, as well as get a few more companies on board to share their (demo)games on a CD-rom. And we are also looking for participants in the Game Accessibility project (http://www.game-accessibility.com - under construction). This is knowledge reservoir website for gamers and developers which provides resources on game accessibility. We can always use a couple of people to help out with articles (any developers who wish to share their experiences) and news, as well as moderate the forum there. The important thing is to be out there, and I think we're gradually getting there :) Greets, Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Sherman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion list for blind gamers" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 2:33 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Developers Conference 2006 >I just want to take a few seconds and say a very big Thank You to those >that > attended the GDC. I really appreciate what you did. I admit I am very > grateful for you taking the time to attend and get the word out *clap! > clap!clap! clap! clap!*. > As for the notable mention in the newsletter I am sure that it was just an > error on Ron's part and not to overlook it. To err is human, but to > forgive > is human also. > I am just glad to hear that it sounds like the conference was a great > success. Once again Thank you very much. > > Rich Sherman > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: AudioGames.net > To: Discussion list for blind gamers > Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 1:15 AM > Subject: [Audyssey] Game Developers Conference 2006 > > > Hi Folks, > > AudioGames.net just got back from the GDC'06 in San Jose where we, > amongst > other things, have actively been promoting game accessibility and audio > games. We will write all about it on AudioGames.net and you can also find > more about the meetings of IGDA's Game Accessibility Special Interest > Group > at http://www.igda.org/accessibility as well as > http://www.game-accessibility.com . Thanks to all the people (although > only > *very few* people from *this* list - come on, community!) who submitted > their games and "message to the industry"-writings for the CD that was > handed out at the GDC. Amongst the CD-receivers was the legendary > developer > Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims, upcoming game Spore) : > > *Quote* > "Audio games? Wow, that is a GREAT idea!" > *Quote* > > He received a copy of both Drive and the Game Accessibility CD (which was > sponsored by Terraformers' PinInteractive - also present), which included > WinPong, WinSpank, Terraformers, Demor, AudioQuake, Troopanum 2 and Pipe > 2. > During our presentation we let the crowd hear some examples of other games > like Shades of Doom and Sudo-San. Although I will post more about what > happened at the GDC, we did find one professional game company which has a > blind tester testing their upcoming (blind-accessible) online game. > > That's all for now. > > One note though (mostly directed at Ron Schamerhorn but to anyone who it > may concern): I was a bit disappointed to find that our game Sudo-San > (http://www.audiogames.net/sudosan) was not included in the latest issue > of > Audyssey Magazine, amongst all the other accessible sudoku games, > especially > when ours was released first (1st of februari, 2006), is free (!) and > features graphics and animations (as well as authentic auditory yaks - > which > game got those, right?). Now, it must have slipped through by accident, I > am > sure, so could anyone add it to the next Audyssey Magazine instead? > Thanks! > Look up both release-messages on the list for any info... > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] > To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can > visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make > any subscription changes via the web. > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] > To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can > visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make > any subscription changes via the web. _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
