Post by Berserk X #33 on Nov 8, 2014 23:37:03 GMT
Hello good people. I like to search around for various efforts related to game design. A few days ago, I became interested on game design for blind people. Either games that features concepts related to being blind, or games that are made for blind people.
While searching for Blindness in Video Games I came across some very interesting things.
First, I would like to point out to 3 games that play around with the concept of eco-location, where you can only see through the reflection of sounds on the surfaces.
Devil's Tuning Fork: Homepage. Is a 3D puzzle plataformer where you play as someone lost in a world without light, and your only method of location is to send sounds with your pointer.
Lurking: Homepage. It's an horror game where you're locked in an asylum on total darkness and needs to escape the place.
-Blind-: Play. A 2D puzzle plataformer, you play the role of a blind person who can use a rubber ball to see the details of the terrain and help you navigate through the obstacles.
(Maybe later I can do full reviews on those ones)
Both games are interesting concepts and paints a nice outline for ideas that can be used in the future for the creation of games more focused on experimenting with blindness.
But enough of playing as blind characters. What about playing while being blind?
This is what the subgenre of Video Games called Audio Games is for.
Audio Games, as the name suggests, are games based on auditory feedback. Those games generally lack any kind of visual feedback, thus they need you to listen and play around the sounds you get as responces.
While they are still not that common, there're various groups that work bringing accessibility to blind people or people with numerous kinds of visual impairments. I found this subject interesting and wanted to share and discuss the viability, ideas, concepts and general interest on this specific focus.
For those interested, there's the AudioGames.net site that does a great job cataloguing various efforts around blindness. They have a big list of games that have special features to support blind players or are completely taylored for them.
While searching for Blindness in Video Games I came across some very interesting things.
First, I would like to point out to 3 games that play around with the concept of eco-location, where you can only see through the reflection of sounds on the surfaces.
Devil's Tuning Fork: Homepage. Is a 3D puzzle plataformer where you play as someone lost in a world without light, and your only method of location is to send sounds with your pointer.
Lurking: Homepage. It's an horror game where you're locked in an asylum on total darkness and needs to escape the place.
-Blind-: Play. A 2D puzzle plataformer, you play the role of a blind person who can use a rubber ball to see the details of the terrain and help you navigate through the obstacles.
(Maybe later I can do full reviews on those ones)
Both games are interesting concepts and paints a nice outline for ideas that can be used in the future for the creation of games more focused on experimenting with blindness.
But enough of playing as blind characters. What about playing while being blind?
This is what the subgenre of Video Games called Audio Games is for.
Audio Games, as the name suggests, are games based on auditory feedback. Those games generally lack any kind of visual feedback, thus they need you to listen and play around the sounds you get as responces.
While they are still not that common, there're various groups that work bringing accessibility to blind people or people with numerous kinds of visual impairments. I found this subject interesting and wanted to share and discuss the viability, ideas, concepts and general interest on this specific focus.
For those interested, there's the AudioGames.net site that does a great job cataloguing various efforts around blindness. They have a big list of games that have special features to support blind players or are completely taylored for them.
