Frankly, I'm glad someone from out in the world of sighted gaming is now putting their knowledge out there.
The reason we have so few games and so few gaming companies is that everyone has the DIY approach integrated into their activities. Yes, it's true that a single individual making a game from scratch may have a fuller understanding of their game and games in general. However, we have maybe one or two games a year due to this mindset. Nobody is willing or able to work together in a cohesive way to create games. Our developers are amazing because they do, in general, design and code a game from scratch. Most of them even collect the assets of the game. However, when a single project takes years to produce, and when that project is the only one that developer has in the works, we see the difficulties of making audio games. The closest comparison to our developers is the Indie start-ups out there. However, the huge difference between an indie startup and one of our developers is that the startup generally has an engine like Unity and a wide variety of tools. That's why an indie startup can literally create a game, albeit of dubious quality, in a week. They plug and play elements. Our developers create software from scratch. The difficulty is this. Indie games can be expensive, but that usually means a price of $15 or so at the most. Many indie startups, especially in the mobile space, charge much less. However, because our developers are making these games from absolute scratch, they are charging $30 or $40. Then, their work is being compared to the output of the Triple A publishers so many people have heard of. The casual player says something like "Well, Mortal Kombat has this feature. Why doesn't your game?" Not realizing that there were hundreds of people involved in bringing any of those games to fruition. We have very few tools in place at all for game creation. That's why anyone who wants to get things done quickly usually uses a high overhead programming language like Pithon. Now, fortunately, we have BGT. Still, if you want to make a game in BGT, you're still coding basically from scratch. You just have less to worry about. As an end note of a more personal nature, I wish you luck, Daniele. You are losing sight, something I never really experienced. You are being proactive, and I admire that. However, I must offer you this, though it pains me to do so. Many of our games are in 2 or 2.5-d. The audio interface doesn't, in general, lend itself to a fully 3-d experience. Ears just aren't that precise. Further, since many of our games are developed by companies of one person, there isn't a lot of call for level/world design on the scale you're used to working. Things don't have to be that way, but they are that way. I wish you all the good fortune in the world, and maybe your mainstream perspective can help us all. On 5/28/15, Daniele Casarola <casaroladani...@gmail.com> wrote: > First of all sorry for the duplicated mail. > Then I thank you very very much for your clear and precise answers. I > perfectly understand what you're saying. > > Let me spend just few words. > > I'm 32 and for 10 years I'm a freelancer 3D Artist for Architectural > Visualization and Game Design, you know... modeling, lighting, texturing, > scripting, dymanics, rendering, etc. > A disease is shutting down my sight toward blindness quite fast since last > year, so I'm looking around and trying to use my know-how and experience > for a new kind of job. > > That said, graphic videogames evolution followed precise steps during years > till now, and the same should happening to audiogames too. > The result of this "evolution" is the creation of 3 professionals: the > developer which set up the tools, the designer which uses the tools, and > the player which enjoy the final result. > > If I want to sell my products and gain money (in my case rendered images), > I can't start from programming a Render Engine software, or a 3D package > like 3ds max, or go in Africa and buy silicon to build my own 8cores > processors. > > So I totally agree with you Thomas when you say that I should learn more in > depth coding and program the application by myself, but only because in > this moment there's no chance. I hope you agree with me that this is an old > style. This happened for videogames in the 50s. > Nowadays if you want to do something you need an interface, an engine, a > software to work on in any kind of application, no matter if blind or not; > without that the audogames world (but not only) created by blind people > will remain limited to developers, it means no evolution, and in few > words... no money. > > Please consider also that a visual Game Engine hasn't stop his evolution; > as many mistakenly think, a Game Engine like Unity or whatever isn't used > only to create videogames. His flexibility allows a designer to create any > kind of interactive experience, not only into a 3D environment. A lot of > companies are interested to it, and they are creating a vast amount of > content/plugin/script to interact with it. For example the "3Dio Omni Free > Space" binaural microphones company creates a script to import your 3D > Space Audio records into Unity 3D space; you can explore and interact with > an environment just listening, similar to Ambisonic experience. > > So, even if I have yet a lot of things to talk about, and also a lot of > things to learn, I'd like to ask this simple question: > Do you feel the lack of a Game Engine with an accessible interface built > ad-hoc for VI? > > If yes we share the same ideas, and I want to inform that I'm moving my > first steps on both direction: > 1-Building a new Game Engine accessible only via Keyboard+Screen Reader, no > visual interface except for common menu bar. > 2-Making accessible yet existing Game Engine, after all NVaccess team > hourly rate to do that is only around $200... considering that in Italy the > same is around 250euros... > > Thanks for reading guys. > > Bye! > > > > 2015-05-28 7:03 GMT+02:00 dark <d...@xgam.org>: > >> Hi. >> >> If your specifically wanting to create different types of first person >> games, There is an alternative to just programming from scratch. That is >> swamp campaign scripting. >> >> The Swamp game has been one of the major expantions in audiogames, and >> has >> created an amazing first person shooter environment with a lot of sound >> sources, missions, other players etc. the campaign scripting part of the >> game can be used to make streight off swamp style missions with zombies >> and >> different maps, but can also be heavily modified, for example someone >> apparently on one occasion created a tower defense game, on another a >> proto >> rpg. >> >> If you go to http://www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/ you can find out about >> swamp, and you can ask about the campaign scripting on audiogames.net. >> >> Btw, and to forstall the barrage of questions, Cae jones created a swamp >> campaigns page which is >> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16520690/SCS.htm >> >> and you can ask about it and find out more in this topic: >> http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?id=15118 >> >> Hth. >> >> All the best, >> >> Dark. >> There is always more to know, more to see, more to learn. The world is >> vast and wondrous strange and there are more things benieth the stars >> than >> even the archmaesters of the citadel can dream. >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" >> <thomasward1...@gmail.com >> > >> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org> >> Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 2:08 AM >> Subject: Re: [Audyssey] info AudioGames Game Engine >> >> >> >> Hi Daniele, >>> >>> Unfortunately, there is nothing quite like Unity or Unreal for VI >>> audio game developers. The closest thing to it right now is the >>> Blastbay Game Toolkit, (BGT,) which of course requires a fair amount >>> of scripting and coding by hand. That said, you'll find the majority >>> of software development is that way for a blind or visually impaired >>> user anyway because graphical tools for software development and >>> design just aren't that accessible using a screen reader. If you are >>> wanting to design audio games the best way is to learn how to code it >>> by hand and forget the graphical designers like Unity or Unreal as >>> there just isn't anything accessible on par with that technology. >>> >>> I'll just use for example Microsoft's Visual Studio 2013 for standard >>> application development. While the software is usable after a fashion >>> for manual coding a lot of the drag and drop and point and click >>> designer technology our sighted peers enjoy just isn't accessible or >>> is a pain to work with a screen reader. I have found if I want to >>> design a standard control or design a dialog box I can do it quicker >>> and easier just by coding it by hand rather than spending my time >>> fighting with the inaccessible forms designer. It might mean a bigger >>> learning curve but it is often worth it as the VI programmer will know >>> more about the workings of the application than the average sighted >>> developer because he or she has more hands on experience with the >>> code. >>> >>> The same principles applies to games. If you want to design audio >>> games get yourself some good books on game programming and learn the >>> ins and outs of the fundamental principles of programming games rather >>> than relying on Unity and other tools like that. They aren't >>> accessible and I think you'll actually enjoy having a more in depth >>> understanding of how your game works anyway. >>> >>> Cheers! >>> >>> >>> On 5/25/15, Daniele Casarola <casaroladani...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Everyone! >>>> My name is Daniele, I'm 32, I'm visually impaired and I'm from Italy. >>>> This is my first mail in the Audyssey group; a user of audiogames.net >>>> kindly linked me to your website (most of website sections seem to be >>>> down, >>>> I hope that's not a problem on my side). >>>> >>>> I'm visually imparied since I was born but anyway I was able to work >>>> like a >>>> 3D Designer (Inot developer) for Architectural Visualization and Game >>>> Desing. >>>> Recently my sight starts to decrease, and I'm not more able to do that. >>>> >>>> So I've discovered the world of AudioGames and I'm wondering if exist a >>>> Game Engine accessible for blinds, a sort of Unity or UnrealEngine that >>>> can >>>> be navigated via Screen Reader. >>>> >>>> The final task is to create an immersive interactive audio game in >>>> first >>>> person. Something similar to Papa Sangre. >>>> >>>> During my research I've met Blastbay Studio application (BGT) but it >>>> seems >>>> to be more for developer then for designer; a very nice guy has created >>>> an >>>> Engine called "Heat Engine" on the basis of BGT. >>>> >>>> I'd like to know if there's something else too. >>>> >>>> Thank you very much in advance. >>>> >>>> Daniele. >>>> --- >>>> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >>>> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >>>> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >>>> 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/gamers@audyssey.org. >>>> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the >>>> list, >>>> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. >>>> >>>> >>> --- >>> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >>> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >>> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >>> 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/gamers@audyssey.org. >>> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the >>> list, >>> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. >>> >>> >> >> --- >> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >> 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/gamers@audyssey.org. >> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the >> list, >> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. >> > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > 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/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > -- Signed: Dakotah Rickard --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.