Hi Dark,
Being a game developer myself I think I can understand the lead
developer's reasons well enough. It is pretty easy to get disenchanted
and out right discouraged when creating audio games. I'm obviously a lot
older and more seasoned than the lead developer for Dragon Slayer Games
was, but even I feel like hanging it up from time to time. Although, my
major gripe has to do with licensing issues.
When I first started writing accessible games I imagined writing games
like those I use to play in the good old days when I still could see. I
figured as the common person does that I would be able to make my own
versions of Double Dragon, Castlevania, Tomb Raider, Star Wars,
whatever, and the mainstream companies would leave me alone. No such
luck. i found out the hard way when I got threatened with a law suit
over Montezuma's Revenge, and now i feel pretty bitter about that.
Especially, considering the fact that current laws grants these
companies nearly godlike control over their copyrights, trade marks, and
creations regardless of accessibility concerns. That alone killed many
of my hopes and dreams for creating audio games.
Then, there is the technical aspects to deal with. If a developer wants
to specifically program for Windows the sky is the limit. However, over
the passed couple of years I have joined the ranks of blind computer
users that use alternative operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS.
This makes writing games tricky because it is hard to find any
programming API, specification, that is supported on Mac, Linux, and
Windows. There are some good ones out there like the FMOD Audio API, but
it isn't free for commercial developers. Licensing can be steep, and a
certain percentage of all sales will have to go into licensing the API.
This isn't necessarily an acceptable situation given USA Games doesn't
make all that much off our games to begin with. Basically, enough just
to properly license, sounds, music, and perhaps an API like FMOD if we
can afford it.
Finally, after all that there are complete jerks out there that will
happily crack and redistribute the game to every disreputable blind
person on the planet. To them it doesn't matter how long it took to
create the game, how much it cost the developer to license this or that,
and so on. All of that means nothing to them. Instead the game is
something they can hack, crack, and pass around like bubble gum cards.
So, bottom line, there is a lot a developer can get disenchanted about.
It is hard work for very little financial gain, and sometimes little
recognition. I do it because I generally like the work despite the
troubles, bologna, and other crap I have to put up with.
Cheers!
---
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