From Fastcompany

How To Design A Video Game With No Graphics
For their game A Blind Legend, the French creative studio DOWiNO 
built a world based only in sound.




Throughout DOWiNO's new mobile game A Blind Legend, your screen 
remains dark, with only an image of dense fog across the screen.  
You assume the role of knight whose eyes have been gouged out and 
whose wife and daughter have been taken.  Using only your 
auditory senses, you must navigate the fantasy medieval world to 
get them back and seek vengeance.





To create the immersive, audio-only mobile game, the designers 
used a production technique called binaural sound that 
essentially creates a 3-D soundscape with music coming from 
different directions to help players navigate (it works best with 
headphones).  Players use the smartphone touchscreen like a 
joystick, swiping to move their feet or their sword, and rely on 
the sounds of the daughter's voice to navigate.  As the game 
continues, sounds layer, grow louder and softer, and a more 
intricate, engaging environment starts to emerge.
  The concept of "video-less" games is being adopted by a growing 
number of gaming designers who want to make games accessible to 
people across the vision spectrum.  In 2010, British gaming 
studio Somethin' Else launched Papa Sangre series and the video 
game BlSide launched in 2013.  Both are popular audio-driven 
thrillers for mobile devices.
  DOWiNO started developing A Blind Legend last year, and raised 
funds on French crowdfunding site Ulule to bring the concept to 
life.  Designed to entertain visually impaired players as well as 
those who can see, the game recreates the experience of being 
blind for the sighted.  It's also one more step toward building 
an accessible, inclusive future for digital technology.


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