Hi Bryan, I think you hit the nail on the head. The biggest and most fundimental problem for blind developers is general awareness of accessible games for the blind. One time on the agdev list we tried to figure out how big the blind gaming market is right now. Tops we guessed around 2000 current blind gamers world wide. That is a drop in the bucket of the potential market size. Another fundimental problem we face is trying to figure out how many blind potential customers have computers. I can say from personal experience I have met some blind people out there who didn't even know about screen readers like Jaws, Window Eyes, etc let alone accessible games. They basically attended some school, live at home with mom and pop, and are isolated from the rest of the blind comunity. It makes you wonder how many others are out there in total ignorence of the accessibility revolution going on around them. We also have the age factor to consider. It is a well known fact that the largest majority of blind and low vision world wide are elderly. This might seam stereotypical, but elderly people might be more interested in the kitchens Inc games or the All In Play games. You might see an 80 year old woman playing Black Jack, Monopoly, Yatzi, but it seams unlikely they would by Shades Of Doom, Tank Commander, or something along that line. Finally, even though there might be a potential of 2000 customers that will hear about your game there is no garentee they will like it. I admit I don't like every accessibl game out there, and my own collection is pretty small. As a result of having been sighted before I tend to buy or play games that show a similar degree of quality that I am use to such as the GMA Games, Rail Racer, Troopenum, etc. That happens to be my reason for not buying allot of games. Someone else might not like a game because it is too violent, it doesn't have enough replay value, it isn't exciting enough, bla. Basically, they don't like it for one reason or another and the game company loses sales.
Bryan wrote: > It is rather depressing. But you have to figure that there probably aren't > nearly as many people out there as we think who acually know that audio > games even exist. Up until about three years ago I'd pretty much given up > the idea of games for the blind. The ones I remember playin were for the old > Apple 2E and GS computers and they required that Echo synthesizer in order > to run properly. Anybody remember that thing? I've been looking for sound > clips of it but haven't had much luck. True the speech quality is crap, but > since it was the first synth I was ever exposed to I've got sort of a soft > spot for the thing. > Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. > --- 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]
