Well guess what guys. We can either make our own, or make those that are already made accessible, sort of like the mario the audio edition.
Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 15, 2015, at 1:33 AM, Thomas Ward <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Mohsin , > > I can definitely understand where you are coming from because I was > where you are now a few years ago. I was a sighted gamer up until my > mid teens when I went blind, and when I went to college I had some > idea I'd get a degree in computer science and be a computer > programmer. My initial idea or dream was to write accessible computer > games equivalent to those I had ben exposed to before I lost my sight. > Stuff like Quake, Doom, Tomb Raider, Jedi Knight, Soldier of Fortune, > etc. I was convinced all I needed to do was learn to program and from > their it would be easy. As it turned out it wasn't as simple or as > straight forward as I thought. > > Interesting enough I personally did not find learning programming to > be that hard. I know we are all different, some learn things easier > than others, but by far learning to develop games was actually easier > than other aspects of the process. There are a lot of problems I had > not even imagined or considered when I decided to specialize in game > programming. Things that were in my opinion much more difficult than > the programming required to write a game or accessible product. > > One issue I see as a problem for audio game developers is advertising. > Sure there are a few hundred blind customers on Audyssey and the Audio > Games Forum, but the reality is they are just a small minority of the > thousands perhaps millions of blind people world wide who are not > connected with any audio gaming venue. Let's face it advertising via > TV and radio can get extremely expensive. So expensive that it would > take incredible financing to market a product that way. News Papers > are a cheaper method of advertising games and other products, but > there we have the problem of its not an accessible means of > communication from an audio game developer to his/her potential blind > customers. We can assume the majority of blind people do not read the > morning paper and if they do an aid or family member reads it to them > meaning that the best we can hope for that a friend or family member > brings it to the blind persons attention. Regardless of the method and > means a developer looks at it is going to cost a lot of money to get > the word out about their product, and there does not seem to be a good > method to market a product to the blind community at large at this > time. > > Another difficulty is just demographics and age. It is a well known > fact that the majority of people with vision problems today are senior > citizens who are 60 or older. In other words people who are > grandparents who likely have different interests than their grandkids > in their teens or early 20's. As a result a young developer might > spend years writing a blockbuster equivalent to the latest and > greatest mainstream game aimed at his or generation only to discover > it has absolutely no market value beyond his generation. The older > generation of senior citizens, who make up the majority of the blind > and low vision market, aren't interested in that type of game. So > while it sounds exciting and fun to create accessible versions of our > favorite mainstream game or games it turns out it might not be > marketable outside of a handful of enthusiasts our own age. > > There is a way to offset both of those problems and that is to create > games that can directly be sold in the mainstream market as indie > games. The problem there is the game developer will have to compete > with other indie games of similar quality by hiring a graphics > designer, learn how to do proper graphics animation, and will involve > more time and overhead in adding lots of visual effects that won't aid > the audio games community. Thus potentially distracting the developer > from other concerns. > > Bottom line, I see where you are coming from. A lot of younger blind > people have this dream of having accessible audio games equivalent to > the mainstream games they know and love, but as you can hopefully see > it is not that simple. There are an entire host of issues unresolved > in terms of marketing, of developing games for the right age group, > and so forth that need to be discussed. Programming the game we want > is only half the story because after some developer does it he or she > still needs to find a way to market it to the community at large and > find like minded gamers in the right age group. > > Cheers! > > >> On 6/14/15, Mohsin Ali <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi Thomas, >> >> I see your point now, yes, you are right on both accounts, and I agree >> that those are all valid reasons. but, you cant fault a man for hoping >> of better future. we all must put some effort to accomplish this task. >> although, I am studying history, but I did my intermediate in computer >> science, and am trying to make the heads and tails of the game >> programming. the first step is always the most difficult and I hope >> that one day the audio games would be able to compete in normal >> market. >> >> cheers. > > --- > 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].
