Hi Steve, Well, as I am both a game player and a software developer I'd say I am definitely in a position to help you and your friend here. If you have any questions you would like to ask me specifically I'm certain I may be a big help. Anyway, here are the questions and answers to the questions you asked.
Question: 1. What is the best combination for accessibility within a visual environment. E.g, Java (graphics) and self-voicing? Flash (graphics) and self-voicing? Java (graphics) and a client TTS based program? etc... Answer: All of these questions are asking about specific programming languages such as Java and Flash. Either one could work for a game if the developer knows how to add accessibility to the program. However, I will say that Java can be problematic as not all screen readers support swing, and there for if the developer uses Java there should definitely be some way to self-voice the game that way the screen reader is not an issue for the gamer. Fortunately, you can use prerecorded speech files that get played back as needed as I do with my games, or the Java developer could use something like FreTTS for speech output. It isn't the best quality speech system, but it does work. Question: 2. Would 1 approach be more difficult than another? E.g, screenreader over self-voicing? Answer: Not really. However, as a developer and a gamer I prefer the program self-voice itself rather than depending on a screen reader. The reason I say this even though some screen readers like Jaws and Window-Eyes can directly be supported through their individual APIs not all screen readers have this ability and there for your screen reader support would be limited to whatever screen reader/screen readers you decided to support. If you use a language like Java accessibility is dependant on if the screen reader supports the Java access bridge. Jaws and NVDA do, but Window-Eyes does not. Therefore once again your accessibility is very hit and miss using a screen reader. The only way to make sure everyone can play it is to make the game itself provide the speech output via tts engine or by using prerecorded speech as needed. Question: 3. Are there any examples of such a graphical game which offer a good gaming experience to both the blind and sighted, which incorporate audio accessibility? Answer: A few. However, this is something that has largely not been done since most accessible game developers don't care about graphics thus don't include them. One game I know of that has graphics and is accessible is Teraformers. That's one of the only examples I can think of in terms of an action game that does this. There are other games such as those created by 7128.com that have graphics and speech output, but those are mostly turn based games where you answer questions such as in the Inspector Cindy games, or word puzzles. Not exactly what you are looking for here as they are rather simple examples of how accessibility can be applied to a graphical game. there are also the All In Play card games that are accessible to blind and sighted alike, but once again it is a rather simple example of a graphics based game being made accessible to the blind. I'm not sure you can find anything complex where graphics and accessibility were designed into the same game. HTH --- 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].
