Hi Damien,
Well, unfortunately I think that is the problem for most blind game
developers. I hear audio game developers say that they can't think of
any new games to create, because everything has been taken. However, I
can think of several games that have never been tried in audio that
should be fairly easy to recreate.
For example, let's take the game Combat for the Atari 2600. As far as
arcade games goes it was pretty simplistic, but could easily be
converted into audio.
Basically, in Combat you have two tanks on the screen. Each player takes
a controller and the goal is to drive around the screen trying to
destroy the opponent's tank. After the opponent tank gets hit so many
times it blows up and you have to restart the game.
Now, as I said this is a simple game that could easily be converted to
audio. For starts we don't need a lot of sounds. Just some sounds for
the player's tank and a different one for the opponent tank or tanks.
For two-player mode we would add networked game play so that one or more
players can join a game and attempt to destroy as many enemy tanks as
possible. The player who survives the combat is the winner.
If someone wants to take it a step further they could add different maps
to the game for different types of environments like jungle, desert,
arctic, etc. This would actually end up being better than the original
arcade game because it wouldn't be hard to create new levels and
different maps to play on that would offer different environments and
challenges. Although, it would be a tank game it is totally different
from GMA Tank Commander.
Another simple game not done in audio is Chopper Command. Basically, you
are a single chopper flying through the sky and enemy choppers will
approach from the north, south, east, and west and will attempt to shoot
you down. The object of the game is simply to shoot down all the enemy
choppers in the sky.
Its different from the Space Invader games because you have full 2d
movement. You can fly forwards, backwards, turn left/right, hover in
place, and enemies will attempt to attack from north, south, east, and
west. I'm really surprised something this simple just has never been
tried before in audio as its a relatively simple concept.
That's basically my point of writing the article. I can remember several
games I've played from the Atari, Colleco, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, etc
that just haven't been tried before in audio. Its not that they are too
complex to create, but blind developers just don't know about them to
begin with. Just off the top of my head I wrote about two classic Atari
games that have no equal in audio games, and I think it would help to
start making blind gamers and developers aware of what is out there.
Cheers!
On 3/27/2012 4:04 AM, Damien Pendleton wrote:
Hi Thomas,
This would certainly be a good idea. I'm always struggling to come up
with interesting storylines and action, purely because I'm sick of the
kind of space invader clone that we are seeing more and more of and I
don't really know of anything else that hasn't already been taken in
audiogames. That's why it tends to take me so long to come out with a
new title - most of my time is spent thinking.
Regards,
Damien.
---
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://mail.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.
