If my question should not be answered here, you can answer either off list
or not at all. I don't want you to give anything away. As far as you can
tell, where would you say that Raceway will compare with other racing games
on the blind gamer's market when it comes out? I know you've still got a
ton of work, or should I say, a track load?, and I will patiently wait.
Thanks.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] The other side was drastic change for audio games
Hi Ron,
Definitely. When i first started playing accessible games my attitude
wasn't all that different from Yohandy's. At the time there were
basicly text adventures like the Infocom games or the Dos games
produced by Jim Kitchen and PCS Games. GMA was just getting started
with Trek 99 and Lone Wolf 1.0. It was a huge disappointment for me.
However, all of that has changed, we have grown, and I can truly
appreciate how far we have come in such a short amount of time.
Just look at GMA Games. At the time I came onto the scene Lone Wolf
was the best thing around, the only game of its type. Right after that
David put out Shades of Doom that was totally revolutionary from an
accessibility standpoint as nothing like that had been attempted
before. David then went on to release GMA Tank Commandr which was also
revolutionary for its time, and now Time of Conflict. David continues
to impress me with the quality of work he does compared to other games
out there. He alone has made a huge contribution to accessible gaming
as we know it.
Back in 2006 or so Che showed up, a brand new developer, and he
cranked out Rail Racer for his first official title. To this day it
blows me away with features and the skill level it takes to play the
game. Currently it is the best racing game on the market for us
considering all of its features and so on.
Now, we have Entombed. That game simply rocks. I don't think it quite
compares to Final Fantasy, Xenogears, or anything like that but for an
accessible game it deserves a big thumbs up. It is a very long way
from where we started and in a very little amount of time Jason has
single handedly set a new standard for roll playing games for the
blind. A developer wishing to break into the roll playing genre will
have to compete with Entombed or be considered an infurior product. So
let's not cut the game and developer short of their deserved
acomplishments here.
Then, I've got something of my own in the works. given the fact I too
have a mainstream background my next game in the Tomb Hunter series
will be full 3d all the way. Not just a 3d audio soundscape but a
true 3d environment with stuff above you, below, you and all around
you. Not to mention cut-scenes and other things of that nature. So
even though it isn't here yet such things are in the not too distant
future.
On 5/28/10, Ron Schamerhorn <blindwon...@cogeco.ca> wrote:
Hello all
Okay here I go wading in to the optomistic side of such a discussion.
True our community lags behind the mainstream market when it comes to
gaming. The points on this have been made by others so I won't repeat
them
here.
What I would like to point out to everyone is rather the achievements
which have been made in accessible gaming. SOD was quite a pioneering
venture at the time, nothing like it had been attempted before. We have
online play against other people with titles like Sound RTS, Rail Racer.
Chatting [granted it's text] with RR, All In Play, Expansions and
improvements it's covered with ongoing updates from Final conflict, and
the
Pinball party pack. User creation TOC, and it looks as though Entombed
will
soon have such a feature. Other devs continue to improve their games,
squashing bugs or improving aspects of the game.
The point I really would like to drive home here is that we've damnwell
come a long way in a much shorter period of time then mainstream. Pong,
or
the old console TeleStar, even the Atari 2600. That is surely the
70's/80's. Our devs have only been going at this for what? The answer
being about 15 years give or take. This compares with 30 or so?
I believe the gaming for the blind has moved alot quicker in the
overall
scheme of things. I suggest instead of always looking at what isn't
there,
look upon the distance which has been covered in such a short period of
time.
Before it's said yes there is lots of room for improvement. I believe
it
will happen, but there will be some time taken for this evolution.
One last point online scoreboards. It didn't take long for those to
happen.
Overall I'd rather encourage the inovation and envolope pushing of all
accessible devs rather then pointing out the shortcomings.
Thanks for reading
Ron
P.S. see other arguements on things like budgets, teams and such.
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