HI Thomas, Very much agree here. :)
this is really a close topic to my heart in that adapting some earlier arcade games into audio is something I am really thinking about of late. Even adapting some of these simple games proves to be a serious task. As an example, how would we here, consider adapting a game like Tempest? for those not familiar with this title, you start the game with your view facing down the length of what is essentially a tube. You are looking down the inside of this tube. Your ship is also facing down the tube but is located on the top edge of it, which is the edge nearest to your point of view. So when you move left or right, your ship actually moves counterclockwise or clockwise respectively, so it travels around the top edge of the tube. When you fire, you are firing away from you down the length of the tube. the enemies which are attempting to dispatch you are traveling up the inside of the tube toward you. So you need to move clockwise or counterclockwise to maneuver your ship in front of them, and fire on them. While you do this, you can see in the distance, at the opposite end of the tube, several very small dots which are flying around. These dots are actually the enemies very far away which move to the areas on the tube where they will then travel up toward you. So it is possible to see and avoid these enemies before they even begin their ascent. While it is technically not necessary to see these enemies at that stage to play the game successfully, I describe all this to present this as an audio question. I am trying to think how I would possibly adapt any of this scenario to preserve any part of this style of gameplay without dumbing it down to the point of inanity. ;) I do have some ideas and am very interested in hearing what you all think… I thought there was a project in the works from a developer on this list over the years, emulating this type of gameplay, but have heard nothing about this of late so thought this would be an interesting thought experiment… For those of us really seeking a particular type of gaming experience, it can be very important to preserve a proper type of game mechanics. -Or at least be able to bring something special of that experience over into audio. Thanks, Cara :) --- iOS design and development - LookTel.com --- View my Online Portfolio at: http://www.onemodelplace.com/CaraQuinn Follow me on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ModelCara On May 20, 2014, at 2:42 PM, Thomas Ward <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Dark, Well, the problem I see with that is simply this. While not precisely replicating mainstream mechanics might be helpful from an accessibility point of view it still does not give us a comparable experience. What we end up with is a different experience or challenge entirely which may or may not be favorable depending on the game. Take Montezuma's Revenge for example. That's a game based on a mainstream video game. I'd assume for authenticity sake a developer would keep the traps and challenges as much the same as possible. Changing the behavior of the gems to fall from the ceiling like the falling items in Q9 is interesting but not necessarily favorable in that particular game because the original mainstream game had its own unique and interesting challenges which I for one would like to see replicated in audio not changed. I certainly agree with you to a point sometimes if something can't be done in audio then changing the mechanics to suit an audio game should be done rather than replicating mainstream mechanics, but I also see reasons why that should not be done. Its okay if the game is an original idea written for an audio game market to use new and interesting mechanics, but if it is a retro remake of a classic game I think it should attempt to imitate the game it was based upon as much as possible. Cheers! On 5/20/14, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > Interesting thoughts and I will agree problems with depicting hight have > provided major issues for 2d games in audio. > > That being said, maybe this is a case where adapting some of the mechanics > to be more challenging in audio rather than explicitly trying to replicate > the mainstream ones would be helpful. > > For example, instead of trying to make the sound of fireballs which hit the > > player out of pits, have the fireballs loop out of pits and land on the > ground creating temporary burning flames that damaged or killed the player. > > Effectively this would mean instead of ducking or jumping fireballs, the > player would have a floor hazard (the burning section of floor), to time > their way past in addition to jumping the pits, and a floor hazard who's > appearance was dictated by the different sounds of fireball landings. By > varying the rates you could keep the player needing to take note of when the > > fireballs hit and the floors near the pits burned, rather than just timing > things statically > > For the gems, well instead of having the gems at different hights, why not > have some of the gems initiate a small rock falling from the ceiling Indiana > > jones style which the player needs to dodge, or maybe have some gems on > sliding shelves so that the player needs to grab them at a given point, > (both of these could be varied to provide different challenge). > > Noo, this does not address the problem of showing hight in a 2D game, in > audio which is quite another matter, but rather than just missing out the > fireballs, making them static, or having the player grab gems, you insert > another factor for the player to be aware of in the game which will increase > > the level of challenge in the audio. > > of course, these are just rough ideas and doubtless would need thinking > about, but this is the sort of thing I mean in terms of creating more > challenging and in depth audio games that are not just the simple boppit > affairs, working on the mechanics of what is possible to show in audio and > working to making those mechanics have a similar level of challenge and > interest to the mainstream game rather than replicating it exactly. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > 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]. > --- 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]. --- 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].
