Hi list, I believe that few and far apart in this list have had the luxury of playing dead space. A game which is in the horror-survival category of shooters. When i still had sight, this game was played in pitch darkness, preferably with surround sound and a bag of chips. It was the most intense game i ever played, from the horrific scenes that suck you into the storyline, the rythm of action and investigation, operating and reading space logs left from dead people turned necromorphs, the whole experience just took an entire week throughout morning to evening. The guys even made an animated movie out of it, a sequel dead space 2 which i am sunking into depression for lack of words, and the developers have released dead space for iphone which apparently takes a completely different storyline from a different character in the world of dead space.
This game is capable of giving heart attacks to weaker individuals, and truly scared the s***t out of me. If anyone has a sighted friend who has the original game, just ask them to pop the intro movie and you will understand when i state the word terror. Now to get to the point of this thread, i know for one that the game, though it was entirely reliant on visuals, 3D and exploration, there were two aspects which i recall which lead me to make a point of the possibilities of games in 3D made for blind gamers. The first one is the sound, rich and fully 3D audio in an adult sci-fi environment packed with details, from glitchy computers to outside hazards like meteors grinding against the hull of the spaceship, cries in the corridor, guts, screams, everything to make your spine chill. This is actually very suitable for blind users to navigate around. There are many corridors and wide spaces are usually made such as compartments in any big buildings apartments or anything created by humans for humans. To the second point, there was a button in the original which created a light beam on the floor showing the gamer where to go next with a simple sound giving the directions. The idea for this guiding thread just like in the minotaur's labyrinth could be an interesting starting point for creating tools for the blind user in navigating games such as this one, and i am sure enough that it will engross the player into the game with just a few functions which would provide necessary awareness of the environment. Sound cues are good, but since this is a sci-fi game, why not even a character in the game which is a blind professional working on the spaceship who works with an A.I based system which gives him necessary information such as alerts for nearby important or intriguing objects, for walls or chasms high falls or levels. A handicap setting could be toggled to allow the blind gamer to automatically aim at specific limbs on a monster as well as an extra shield from the A.I ship-wide botnet. I think i will download the game, figure where the important buttons are such as walk and fire, and try exploring the environment in the iphone game and perhaps report back if there are any interesting outcomes. Best regards, -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
