Hi Jeremy, Those are some very good points. In many ways when I joined the audio games community I had similar observations and I guess ideas where the community could go. That was about 10 or 11 years ago.
I was sighted for the majority of my early life, lost my sight officially in the 90's, so I had a pretty good idea of what had been available for the sighted mainstream market at the time. When i started reading the mag so I could find out what games I could play or expect to create I saw that most people were playing text adventures or simple Dos games like Monopoly, Hangman, and things of that nature. The only developer who captured my immediate attention was GMA because they had a real time submarine simulation, Lone Wolf, and they were creating the world's first audio based first person shooter, Shades of Doom. Coming from a mainstream background as I had those were the games I naturally were most interested in because it wasn't so different from games I already knew and enjoyed before I lost my sight. In other words if we want to communicate and open dialog with other mainstream gamers its something like Shades of Doom or Tank Commander they will be interested in discussing. Anything less will seem to them as not very advanced or worth while. At least that's how I see it coming from that background myself. It is because of that background I have the opinions and attitudes I do have towards audio gaming. There is a reason I spent two years developing a 3d game engine I call Genesis 3D, and there is a reason I've adopted a number of features seen in the GMA Game engine. That reason being over the next five years or so I plan to create games on par with Halo, Tomb Raider, Jedi Knight, and any other game that has had some commercial success in the mainstream market. Not necessarily because it will make a lot of money but because it is a style and standard of gaming that is rarely achieved by audio game developers accept for a handful like GMA who are trying to reach the same goal as I am. What you are doing for this community is no less valuable. Castaways is the best game I've seen since I don't know when. True it needs some better sound effects and things like that, but as Dark said it is the closest thing to Dwarf Fortress and games like that we have at the time being. It is getting us headed in the right direction as far as I am concerned and I'm all forward to bigger and more complex games of this nature. Cheers! On 7/31/11, Jeremy Kaldobsky <[email protected]> wrote: > Clearly I'm the "new guy" around here, so I frequently ask dumb questions, > surprise everyone by not knowing common things, and fail miserably while > playing most audio games, Hahaha. In one way, this is a good thing since I > am still able to see things in this community from the perspective of an > outsider. As a new guy coming in, I was very excited to go and read the > back issues of the magazine when I first heard about them. I wasn't > actually all that long ago either. > > The old magazines were quite old, but I still enjoyed the articles. Game > reviews were interesting, but by far, the most interesting things were the > articles that gave insight to the community, what it had been doing, and > where it was planning to go. Perhaps this was only so interesting because I > was viewing past issues, and I could compare those goals with how things > really turned out, but I still believe I would be just as interested in > those types of articles today. > > Some have suggested that the magazine should keep in mind, the possibility > that mainstream gamers will read it, and so it should paint the community in > the best possible light. I agree, that is something we should consider, but > I have to ask the question, what is do we hope to gain by mainstream readers > that we impress with the magazine? If our concern is audiogames being taken > seriously, then we could accomplish that by including only the more unique > games, as has been suggested. I have a feeling that we need to broaden that > goal. I would suggest that a secondary goal is to attract people TO! the > community, that would be able to help it continue to push forward. > > The articles are the best way to do that. By getting insight into the > community, where it was, how it has changed, what it hopes to accomplish, > and what efforts are currently trying to move us forward, it encourages > people to theorize their own solutions. As an example, my buddy Hatred > recently joined up with the community. Through conversations, he gradually > learned the current state of the community, and where it wanted to go, and > eventually he started sharing ideas with me for helping it get there. Stuff > that would pop into his mind simply because there was a problem to solve, > and he is the type of person who enjoys looking for solutions. Like myself, > he became excited by the challenge of moving the community's games in some > new directions, and now he is actively developing his first audio game. > Lol, Hatred is going to kill me for pulling him into this post. :) > > Anyway, the point I was aiming to make is that openly discussing where we > want to go, and how we are trying to get there, is a great way to attract > new problem solvers. If the magazine reaches the right kind of people, who > get excited about what is going on here in this community, it could lead to > more good things. > > --- > 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]. > --- 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]. 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