Hi Ari, Perhaps I should have introduced myself sooner, I'm Steve Crawford, the guy who runs Azabat Software.
You've raised a lot of questions, I'll try to give you some answers. 1. The games are self-voiced and sound exactly like NeoSpeech Kate - I just love that voice. They were designed to be played by computer novices so they don't require a screen reader or speech engine and they are designed to run off the CD. The idea is that a blind person with little computer experience could receive a disk in the post, pop it in a computer and play the games without needing to install or configure anything. The games have a display, so they are suitable for sighted people as well. I had feedback with the earlier games (volumes 1 and 2) from blind people who enjoyed playing the games with their grandchildren so volumes 3 and 4 contain games that can be played competetively - players taking turns on the computer. In the draughts game, you can either play against the computer or against a second player on the same PC. If you play against the computer there are about 6 levels. You use the cursor keys to move around the board and Kate tells you the co-ordinates and if there are any pieces there, you hit enter to pick up a piece, go to where you want to place it and press enter again. The Sudoku game has zillions of generated puzzles or you can type in your own. You move around the grid and it tells you what's in each square, or you can change the view to row, column or box and have it read out the digits in whatever row, column or box you are in. There is a demo of the Hangman game you can download and use for free. It will give you an idea of how I've designed my games. 2. I've been doing games for just over a year and have had quite a lot of publicity in the UK. I did Sight Village last month and also last year, and do lots of other shows - SoundSite, Reveal, Vision Support, etc. I've been interviewed on Soundings and Play-Back a couple of times, and also on Radio 4's In Touch. I also have around 20 distributors, including the RNIB. In fact, I think I'm the only vendor of computer games that supplies the RNIB. 3. Well, I won't try to tell you that cost is relative and that I have to eat and my distributors want to make their margin. Instead, I'll point out that each volume typically contains 4 games for that price and that individual games are available at 20 pounds each. I'm aware that many of the earlier titles are available elsewhere for free but I don't think the games in volume 4 - Backgammon, Dominoes, Draughts and Scrazabat (accessible clone of Scrabble) - have been done elsewhere. I may do some downloadable versions on my site and sell registration codes to unlock all the features at a later stage. For now, the majority of my clients are either just getting started with computers or computer games and many don't use the Internet. In some cases I'm selling to people in their 70s and 80s who are buying computer games for the first time in their lives and they love playing the games with their grandchildren. If you have any more questions or want to send me your address to [EMAIL PROTECTED] I can post you a demo disk with all the games. Cheers, Steve -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of ari Sent: 27 August 2006 19:56 To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: [Audyssey] azabat software Hi everyone, I'm not really sure how to put these points across, but I'll try. I read the news in Audyssey about this new company called Azabat Software which produces 4 games CD's. I'm interested in the type of games they produce, one CD has Sudocu and some other games, and another CD has games which I really like such as Draughts and Backgammon. Here however are my problems: 1. The site doesn't give proper information like how the games would actually be played. How would you play their Draughts and Backgammon, how much control do you have over the game, also with draughts, are their different skill levels? And how is Sudocu? Their are no demos, sound files, etc of these games. 2. This company, if it's a company making these games, is not well-known. It is not a Code Factory, which has a huge organisation like Once as it's backer, and since you can't test the product, you really don't know about the quality of the games. I'd never heard, for example about USA games, GMA Games, etc, but since they'd let me test their products, I knew they'd be good and fun. 3. My biggest problem is that each game CD costs 50 pounds, a huge amount of money here, the exchange rate is 13 to 1. To give you guys an idea, one CD is more expensive than Terraformers, ($60), or even Time Adventures (also $60). I've never seen such an expensive games collection, it's nearly as much as a one month's dissability pension in SA. Even for people in the UK and the USA, this is quite expensive, since even sighted games on CD are around 20 to 30 pounds. I really like Draughts and Backgammon though, as a real passion, so I'd consider saving up and buying such a game CD, but I just don't know what to do, since I really feel as if I know too little about the product, and if I buy it it will really have to be quite a bit of saving, not a throw-away amount of money. Can you guys give me some advice? have you guys played these games? Is their a recording available? Thanks Ari _______________________________________________ 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. -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 268.11.6/427 - Release Date: 24/08/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 268.11.6/427 - Release Date: 24/08/2006 _______________________________________________ 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.
