----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Pattison" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "GUI Talk" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 7:53 AM
Subject: Fwd: audyssey: Sighted developer seeks assistance


If you decide to respond to Tim's questions please address your message
to [log in to unmask] and not to me, thanks.  -Steve.

From: Tim Chase [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]

 Dear Blind and VI gaming community:

 As a sighted programmer, I have a drive to try and make a gaming
engine
 focused at the BVI community, providing an auditory-only game engine.
At
the
 moment, I'm just in the planning stages of the game, but need your
input
to
 determine where to take my ideas. Seeing that, with rare exception,
the
 majority of the games on the market accessible to the BVI community
are
 games that I wouldn't want to play (card games, board games, gambling)
or
 have a limited toleration for (interactive fiction), I set out to make
an
 engine to provide audio cues and text-to-speech to dynamicly describe
 worlds. Due to my ethical stance on software, the engine would be
released
 as open-source under the GPL.

 There are a number of questions that I have as to how best to reach
the
 broadest BVI gaming audience and meet the interests of a wide
audience.
Many
 of which are "what is your computer like" questions, while some are
personal
 preferences for what a "good" game should be like. You can email me
with
 your responses at [log in to unmask] which I would most appreciate.  I
will
 gather any and all comments emailed to me on my website as a resource
for
 anybody else developing games for the blind and visually impared
community.
 The questions follow at the end.

 I'm looking at storing the game definition format in possibly XML,
making
my
 own DTD or Schema, as well as a fist full of tools to create the game
files.
 Things like sound effects and music, as well as actor voice
definitions
 would still be up to the author using the engine, but I'm afraid I
can't
do
 everything... [grin] The final product would most likely (from what
I've
 learned so far of various development environments and target
platforms)
be
 Java using the latest JDK which provides XML, audio, 3D audio, and
 text-to-speech (with the open-source FreeTTS package on the back end
of
 things) fairly out of the box or with minimal effort, all of which is
 platform independant. Unfortunatly, Dos and Win3.x users might not
have
the
 ability to access the latest and greatest Java environments. After
speaking
 with Michael Feir (of Audyssy), I feel that Java is a good direction.
I
 could easily be persuaded to switch to C or C++ as that is what I use
for
 work. It would just make porting to various platforms more difficult,
but
 abstracting the hardware and funtionality would make it a lot easier.
Using
 C or C++ would also make the game run far faster compared to Java
because
it
 executes on the bare metal, not under a Virtual Machine--this would be
most
 noticable in the audio rendering functions.  Additionally, anybody who
 enjoys playing with audio editing software or who wants to use their
foley
 skills in producing free sound effects (or knows of good sites
providing
 free sound effects like www.freesounds.com) is welcome to make a
 contribution, but I have limited web space at the time to gather them.

 I have a full time job as a programmer, so this would have to take
back
 burner (especially releasing it as free open-source software, it's not
like
 proceeds would support me and future developments) to work, and I'm
only
one
 programmer so progress would be slow. None the less, I have high hopes
for
 the project and would love to make something that would be fun for not
just
 the blind and VI communities. I subscribe to the Audyssy magazine, the
agdev
 list (the "accessible game developers' list"), blind-gamers list, and
the
 Zform newsletter, so you may see me there. Thanks for your interest
and
 support!

 Tim Chase
 [log in to unmask]

 A copy of these questions can be found at
 http://cs.messiah.edu/~troll/bvigames.html

 Question:  What platform/OS are you using? (Dos, Windows 3.1x, Windows
 95/98/ME, Linux)

 Question:  How are you connected to the net? (Dial-up, broad-band, T1
at
 work)

 Question:  If the game were written in Java, would you be willing to
 download the latest run-time environment from Sun? (Can you tell I
favor
 Java?)

 Question:  Do you prefer just a few simple keys to remember, or do you
 prefer having short-cut mappings occupying much of the keyboard?

 Question:  Would you be interested in an audio-only adventure (no
visuals)?

 Question:  Should the engine include support for projectile weapons,
or
 melee weapons only?

 Question:  Which would be easier: controls like "up arrow always means
go
 north, left arrow always means go west", or controls like "up arrow
always
 means go forward, left arrow always means alter my heading by turning
to
the
 left"

 Question:  If the game takes over the sound card to mix audio and
 speech-synthesis, how should external events be handled/signaled?
(anything
 from "unable do read the disk" to "you've got mail" or "modem
disconnected")

 Question:  What genre or genres would be of interest? Futuristic
cyberpunk?
 Knights and fairies? Modern techno-thriller? Horror or psychological
 thriller, perhaps set in a given time period like Sherlock Holms or a
 monestary on the bluffs of England? An attempt to create a world in
which
 sight never existed (much like the world in Madaline L'Engle's A
Wrinkle
in
 Time)? A time traveling genre? As the design is an engine that can
play
 games of all these genres, it's not as important, but I am interested
in
 what directions would be of interest for a first game on the system.

 Question:  My original idea for this was pure audio with no visual
component
 (other than perhaps a splash-screen window, as display managers tend
to
like
 to give a particular window display focus for receiving input). Would
any
 sort of visual element be a good thing or a bad thing?

 Question:  How should multi-player work? Should people be able to razz
each
 other with sampled voices (voice instant-messenges) or should it just
be a
 text message that gets spoken by the text-to-speech processor. While
the
 former is more personal, the latter could be comfortably played over a
 dial-up connection. At this point, multi-player network support is
still
 just a long-range goal, but I might as well think ahead.

 Question:  If up and down become playing directions (6 degrees of
freedom,
 rather than the limit to two degrees like Doom or Wolfenstein 3d),
what is
 the best way to represent the altitude of a sound? With a head
tracking
unit
 or possibly a well configured 5.1 surround-sound system, audio could
adjust
 accordingly, but with merely a pair of speakers or headphones
adjusting
for
 the vertical becomes difficult.

 Question:  I assume that, by sticking to basic key control
(alpha-numerics,
 punctuation, space, enter, escape, arrows) that no conflict will occur
with
 screen-reading software. I don't have any screen readers to ensure
that
 keyboard commands don't conflict. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 Question:  What sorts of things do you like about the games you like?
What
 sorts of things annoy you in action games?

 Question:  Quality of audio: to get quality sounds, this may require
large
 ammounts of disk space to store. Additionally, audio rendering can be
done
 either quickly with straight-line audio clipping or far more slowly by
 rendering the travel of the waves. This would be noticable if a sound
was
in
 an adjacent room with a wall separating you from the noise. With the
first
 method (straight line), you would not be able to hear this sound,
however
 the sound could be rendered to model reflecting off surfaces in that
room,
 making it audible. The first method could be broadened so that you
might
 hear sounds in adjacent rooms at a muffled volume. Accoustic accuracy
versus
 fast responses (which also allow for more sounds to occur in the
world)--any
 preferences? Likewise, diversity in sounds--things like footsteps
rarely
 sound the same, but often games for the sighted only use one sample
for
 every footstep. Should a handful of samples be available for
variations in
 walking? Not just walking on various surfaces, but at various speeds
and
 even walking in a straight line on the same surface tends to sound
different
 from step to step.

 Question:  Any other tid-bits that occur to you that might be helpful
in
 making a game engine would be most helpful.

Regards Steve,
mailto:[log in to unmask]
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