Hi All,
I can't claim credit for this game, sadly. That belongs to Nial, who
found mention of it on an internet forum and posted about it on
audiogames.net. Some people who frequent that forum might already know
what I'm talking about, in which case feel free to skip this message.
Aurora is a space strategy game in the style of games like Master of
Orion, Galactic Civilizations II, etc. The only reason it is accessible
for blind people at all is that it is written in Visual Basic 6, and has a
deliberate emphasis on gameplay over graphics. I need to put in a caveat
here. The game is not as accessible as it could be currently, nor are all
screens very speech-friendly. Nevertheless, it is possible to play quite
a large percentage of the game as it currently stands. The developer
seems to be quite willing to make changes to bennefit accessibility, much
like the developer of Smugglers was.
The barrier to entry is a bit higher for this game than for typical audio
games. There is a large amount of detail here, without a centralized
manual. The Aurora forums are a friendly place, and there is a lot of
relevant information for somebody who wants to dig. They can be found at
http://aurora.pentarch.org
Speaking of the forums, you'll need to visit them in order to get the
game. The current version is 5.14, but you need to get and apply a couple
patches to reach it. I believe the progression is 4.91, 5.10, 5.14. For
those who have applied Smugglers patches, the process is identical.
I highly recommend anybody with a serious interest in strategy games give
this one a look. It compares very favorably to commercial titles for
sighted people, and unlike almost all the current crop of accessible
strategy games for the audio market, it's single player. I'm willing to
answer any questions you all might have, and look forward to hearing from
fellow players.
Enjoy,
Zack.
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