Re: Keyboard Learning Software for Non-Visual Users
@Dom, appologies for the games, I can see your frustration and I appologise for the annoyence, yes, I should've checked these.
Regarding galaxy ranger, to run the demo mode you need to first add your details to the configuration program, then copy the temporary registration code to the clipboard and use the "regsiter game" option to active the demo.
the temporary code is:
1359753179
you might also want to check the manual as well.
Regarding fast2type, I'll contact the developer and see what has happened to the game.
My point however wasn't about those games specifically, but about audio games in general. The vast majority of audio games use the keyboard, and the more complex the game, the more of the keyboard is used, heck, the recently released audio fps swamp uses literally every alpha numeric key plus nearly all the modifyers.
I know myself how much a person can learn just from playing games, whether or no t those games are intended for education, ---- indeed on at least some occasions games "for the disabled" have been less than flattering in their approach and often of significantly less quality than what has ujust been produced by developers who happen to like creating audio computer games just for the heck of it.
For example, I can think of one company (who shal remain nameless), who proudly unvaled their "collection of word games" at a ridiculous price, aiming athem at "novice computer users" aka the poor feeble blindies without realizing that all the games are actually already available elsewhere often in a far more feature rich and well put together form, (a couple of said companies games even missed basic things like keeping score).
I don't say that your software is like this or that this is your intention, indeed I'm going to go and try out your demo now, but before I considder whether to contribute financially to a project I'd be interested to know what is distinct about that project as compared to what is already available from hobby developers.
Another key fact to remember, is that the way visually impared people are often forced to perceive computers and information technology is not the same as everyone else.
A sighted child is introduced to a computer as a device that can do many things from playing games to write documents to brousing the internet. A visually impared child however is introduced to a computer purely as a work device, often because the computer and screen reading software has been directly bought by some sort of agency, purely for the purposes of school work.
I myself learnt to touch type (actually on an electronic typewriter not a computer), in the early 90's at my truly horrible specialist school. needless to say that never particularly made me want to do it. Even when i got a propper laptop running Hal 3 and windows 3.1, I only ever used it for basic word processing for school work. Indeed the most fun I had with that machine was using it to write D&D character sheets for tabletop games.
Even when I started on the internet when i first went to university in 2001, I only ever used it for basic fact finding, it never occurred to me it'd be something that would actually be fun, much less useful for anything outside work, not until I discovered first internet brouser games and then interactive fiction, (which also vastly stretched my knolidge of my screen readers' capabilities).
So, while I fully agree that games are a great learning method and I'd definately! hope that other kids didn't have as dire a time learning as I did, equally I'd be interested to know what your software has to offer over the other audio games that are available, even though they aren't intended! for education.
Edit: okayI have tried the software out, and other than having to exit with alt f4 rat her than the exit command it worked well. I liked the full explanation of the keys and it is true that is something you'd not get from another game which would assume that you have knolidge of the key's position before playing.
I'd be interested to know what plans you have for the software, particularly in terms of advanced lessons or games to improve accuracy and familiarity.
Also btw, I was a little confused initially by the term "pinky finger" it's not usually used in Britain, it'd just be called the "little finger" over here.
You might want to slightly amend the text, eg, "your pinky, or little finger" the first time you mention it, so that people who aren't familiar with the term know what you mean for future reference.
If you could create an example of one of your planned games for the demo, I'd be glad to post some news on the front of site about this, since at that point we're into audio games, and as I said, educational games are something we deal with, that might well help with your promotion.
You might also considder contacting www.7-128.com, since they have a lot to do with vi kids and educational institutions as well as creating games, and m could likely point you in the direction of parties who could be interested in backing your project.
URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=149336#p149336
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