Hi Darren. true, you can use Sapi in windoes like systems, but my friends point was that in non-windows like systems, ----- such as the operating environments of game consoles, it isn't there.
Of course, if we could approach a company making Pc games that would be great, and make their job easier, not to mention being cost effective for people who haven't already got a Ps2, wii or whatever. Perhaps someone with a lot more technical knowhow than me could let us know how much the Xbox is modeled on Windows, and whether Sapi and other windows accessibility aides could be used in games for it? Certainly, I've had a lot of interested comments about accessibility related game creation issues on sites like Retroremakes.com, and a couple of them have come off I was on the Beta team for developing archaist, though at the moment that's a low vision accessible game with Sapi providing speach as well as a lot of variation in difficulty setting). But ultimately the independent game developing community are mostly people like our dedicated bunch of chaps here, ----- ie, people with lots of tallent, but not a lot of resources. it seems to be a general truism that the larger the group of people you have to deal with, the less friendly things get. One reason I suggested Sarah, is that the minimal graphical interface is actually quite helpful for anyone who's more used to looking at the screen. Shades was my first audio game, and I certainly found the display a nice way of intigrating my various senses. In fact, now, if I'm playing a non-audio game, I will try and listen for sterrio panning effects and audio clues. it is not just me though, sinse I've tested shades on a few friends, who got on relatively well once they understood the concept, ----- perhaps they'd get on even better with Terraformers, though i really need to investigate that game a litle more. then again, one friend of mine actually found the graphics destracting, sinse he said the audio view being close to the character and the graphical view not showing the same information were hard to put together, and he was happier with just the audio on it's own. He is however a very serious musician and so used to dealing with panning and sterrio mixing. but there is however, advantage I think as well in showing a full audio game with no graphical assistance, sinse this will also give people a perspective of how fine tuned a sense of hereing can be, and how simple everyday graphical effects like sterrio panning, which are only stuck into mainstream games usually to add a bit of extra atmosphere, become vitally important in an audio game. beware the Grue! Dark. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darren Harris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Gamers Discussion list'" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 12:38 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Electronic Arts games > Well even if they just integrated sappy in for the extra speech for now. > Lets face it sappy is already there and with vista there's even more > accessability options so this should make things somewhat easier still. > The technology is there, but it's a question of knowing where to look > for it and making sure that people hear about it. I have said this > before, this list is good. The audyssey mag is good really good. But it > goes to a very small number of people. It really needs to be posted > elsewhere other than blindness related sites. It's great I will say that > there's all these conventions going on and people like Richard are in > there doing their bit. Richard do you take any of the audyssey mags with > you? That would indeed help somewhat I think. The only thing and this > isn't a criticism it's just plain fact, the only real thing that's going > to cause a problem with getting the points across is the fact that a lot > of the blind friendly games don't have any form of graphical interface > with them. Even if the graphics were added in later on somehow then that > would make the idea of accessability and graphics working together a > much more presentable idea. A lot of people love sound but if you can > see sound with no visual content is very difficult to grasp. So put it > in a context that they can understand and physically see and audibly > hear for themselves, and we may just get somewhere. Even when I started > to play audio games for ages I was trying to look at the screen to see > where I was going. It's a very difficult concept to get to grips with. > People who are totally blind cannot and won't be able to understand it. > Which is fine. Why should they. But the point of this is, if we are > wanting to present the idea to the mainstream gamers out there that hey > we play games just like you lot do, then it needs to be done in such a > way that it can be comprehended. The only real way to do that, is to > have some if only limited graphics on some of these games. Like I say I > loved gtc and lw. I wish they did have graphics because it would totally > enhance my gaming experience. Not even because I could react quicker. > But because my brain wouldn't be constantly looking for something that > isn't there. In saying that though it doesn't stop me from playing them, > but on the other hand I can understand why a blank screen and a speaker > full of sound and speech alone just wouldn't cut it. Which is a shame > because like I say there's some real programming talent here. Again it's > not a criticism. It's just a fact. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
