Hi Dark, I think this article is what you are looking for: Audyssey; Games Accessible to the Blind Issue 32: First Quarter, 2002 Edited by Michael Feir and Rebecca Sutton
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to have the surprise I promised ready in time for inclusion in this issue of Audyssey. It will be ready shortly. The surprise was a game I have nearly completed which is a board-game equivalent to a classic side-scrolling video game. Two dice are all that is needed to play. Called Sparkle, the game puts up to six adventurers in a complex of stacked levels full of goblins, ghosts, trophies and other items. Players have to clear all levels of trophies in order to win. Goblins also try to obtain trophies. At the top of the complex are two exits where trophies must be deposited and where a dragon waits to destroy the incautious player. As a sort of consolation, I have written down a proposal on how a side-scrolling game could be made for blind people using stereo sound. Designing Sparkle has re-shaped and clarified my ideas on this so that I am now confident that they are feasible. I hope one or more game developers out there can put them to use, and that readers find my theories to be of interest. How A Sonic Side-scrolling Game Could Work By Michael Feir To make a game which offers all the challenge that sighted people experience would require a vary careful use of sounds. The basic scenario would take place on a line extending from left to right in front of the player. As the player moved along the line, sounds representing monsters, objects, obstacles, and so-on would pan from left to right or vise versa depending on the direction travelled. The volume of sounds could also be used either to denote the height of objects or make more obvious what is in the immediate vicinity and what is further away on either side. Pitch of sounds could be another height indicator. Each item in the game would generate a sound as long as it was within a certain range. For example, a pit which had to be jumped over might have a vast echoing sound associated with it. As one approached the pit, the sound would move closer to the centre of the line in front of the player. If the player did not jump at the right time, he/she would fall into the pit. Multiple layers of sound would be required for such a game to work. There would probably have to be at least two layers of sound for representing stationary features such as pits, water, raised platforms which could be jumped onto, etc. There would also have to be channels for object sounds. A good example would be a heart beeting as a symbol denoting a healing item which would increase health. A magic sword might have the whisper of its name as a locater, or a sound of a sword being drawn. A chest might have a thumping sound. When it comes to enemies, things don't necessarily get all that much more complicated. Enemies would have their own movement and identification sounds. A monster might breathe heavily or growl. Flying enemies would have flapping sounds and/or different chirps. Combat would work similarly. An attacker would swing at a player from the side where it is located. A monster on the right might attack a player, for instance. The attack approach sound might be a swoosh or fierce roar. The player would have an instant to dodge to the left out of the zone which would be hit by the attack. The player's attacks would similarly extend a certain range at a certain speed. The player would have to learn to judge how far and fast his/her attack moved and make certain that the enemy wouldn't move out of range in time to avoid the attack. A flying projectile could be blocked by moving slightly in its direction so that the player's shield was facing the right way. As a more complex option, different pitched attack approach sounds could represent different heights which could be matched by players using the arrow keys or joystick to raise or lower their shield. Players could attack along a few levels of height represented by pitch and attempt to score a critical hit or shoot at flying enemies represented at higher pitches. These approaches have been used in other games for the sighted, and with modern technology, it should be possible to represent all this sonically. Shades Of Doom and Monkey Business certainly prove that the capability exists. In the case of the game Sparkle which I have almost completed, events might happen on different levels of a multi-level complex. Depicting events outside the level that the player is on would be somewhat problematic. The best approach would likely be to have a voice similar to those in games like Gauntlet. In the case of my game, it would say things like: "The haven on level three is under attack!", or "A goblin on level four has rolled a magic boulder." The number of players would be pretty much limited to two on a single computer. Each could have separate controls on the keyboard or use joysticks. The tricky part would be making certain that there was no confusion and that both had access to information relevant to them. Having a game playable over the Internet simplifies this since each player would be in front of their own computer and speakers and would logically hear things from their character's point of view. It's possible that a static view might work better in a level with two players on the same computer. Each player might have different footsteps denoting their characters. With a non-static view, both players could tell relatively where they were on a given level. An aspect that would present problems would be how to locate obstacles. In the single-player example I gave above, volume and having sound move based on the player's location was used. That is, the pit was stationary but the sound got closer to the centre as the player approached it. If a side-scrolling game was made for two players, the problem would be that without two separate sets of speakers, the viewpoints of both characters couldn't be represented in a non-confusing manner. The player near the pit couldn't hear it coming nearly ahead of him/her if the other player heard the same pit but was far to the right of it. At present, therefore, it would be possible either for a single-player side-scroller or a multi-player Internet-based side-scroller to be made. One could not, however, have a two-player game of this type which needed only one set of speakers. Having a game use two dimensions instead of three in this manner should be pretty straight-forward. It would be less taxing to develop than something like Shades of Doom was. Strangely enough, nobody has attempted it yet. With ever-popular games like Super Mario, Pitfall, and a whole hoast of others for the sighted, I would think such a natural translation to stereo sound would be fairly successful. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
