Category: Accessible Games
Hey guys, I'm starting a kickstarter for a 3D audio engine for the blind:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/daigonite/play-blind-dark-passage-and-the-
reless-audio-engin
It's for both the game and the engine. The engine is designed to be able to detect
collisions and takes this information into account while creating sound. It is designed
so that the blind can hear sounds change depending on various movement events.
In addition there will be a game I'm making from it. The game is about a guy on a
plane who gets in a crash that causes him to go blind. Everyone else dies. You have
to survive in the wilderness and find civilization before the madness kills you.
However this system is not just limited to blind uses. In fact the system I have in
place can be customized for the blind, or for realistic sounding 3D audio emitters. So
the goal is to try to inject this audio engine into the industry to try to promote better
accessibility in audio design, as well as improving 3D audio positioning in general.
I really want to be able to get this off the ground and running so I would really
appreciate any level of support I can get with this.
wow, that's a great project! thank ya!
Does anyone have any suggestions with whatever organizations I should try to receive
funding from? I'm located in the United States. I figured I could help spur funding by
trying to promote it to various blind organizations since it's a tool that is pretty useful
for the blind.
I'm not sure, but I think this is already possible.
You will probably get some feedback from the gamers here.
Well, it is already possible, of course. This is more about making it mainstream.
However, I want some funding behind this system since to put it very bluntly, this
could make 3D game accessibility something that could be a cinch to implement. The
game is essentially a wrapper for showing off that it is possible, and showing how
powerful a system built around 3D audio positioning can be.
The idea is that it will improve audio design from both the perspective of the blind and
the sighted.
Should I try contacting organizations like the NFB and the like for funding?
It can't hurt to try.
Here's the thing however.
A kick start works like this.
You put an idea up, and people look at your idea and say, yes, that sounds like something that is needed, or fun, or a good product.
Based on that, people put money on your idea so you can develop it.
Because it is possible for blind people to play games now using 3D or sounds that come from different directions in a headset, you'd need to convince enough people you've got something novel.
Because of your idea being solely aimed at the blind, that be the people to support your Kick Start.
Yeah, Kickstarters are for new things, but what this KS offers is a lot more than what
you think.
First, it is true that some 3D games are playable for the blind, but very few outside
of some dedicated projects are actually designed with proper audio positioning. Most
modern 3D audio positioning engines can do the following:
- Volume increases as you approach the object.
- Panning changes as you move around the object.
- For some, pitch changes as an object moves towards or away from you (Doppler
effect)
These audio engines are designed to mimic how sounds act in real life, however it's
from a sighted perspective, so some details are inevitably lost. Most notably, only
one direction of movement is actually detectable with this current system - panning.
What RELESS does differently is that it instead of designing it around trying to
emulate basic 3D sound, it instead is built around actually identifying locations based
on their sounds. All 3 planes of direction (x, y and z) have identifiers and collisions
can also be detected (walls).
What this means for the layman is several things:
- The relative nature of this system allows moving players to more accurately
discern their position,
- The system can easily be configured between a state of realism and accessibility
No current system offers these things.
In addition, to the sighted, the system offers high levels of customization that allow
for easy to produce and unique audio environments.
The game itself is just a neat wrapper for sighted folk to see the potential in the
engine.
Oh, and one thing that RELESS is that pretty much any 3D accessible game isn't - it's
an engine. This means that a developer could use this tool in their games, making it
easy to implement this system in the future.
Forget blind people. Okay, don't, because this is a good idea. but what I mean is, while blind people would benafit, having true Binaural 3D soundscapes in even mainstream games would be a fantastic boost to immersion for sighted gamers also. I wouldn't go so far to say the majority of gamers play games with headphones, but a great many do. This is a system which wou8ld, if properly itilized, benifit everybody. If you can widen the appeal to beyond the incredibly small blind gamer minority, you may have better results.
Well, part of the trick here is a bit of social engineering. Sure, blind people are a
small market, but people who like to look good by helping blind people certainly isn't
one (I'm sure you all know this quite well personally!).
The idea is to try to get joint support from the blind community, which I have some
pretty decent connections in and quite a bit of support from due to Braillemon, and
merge that with appealing to a larger sighted audience. A game like this is
completely unheard of in the indie gaming community and has stirred a bit of
interest on a few subreddits (unfortunately I haven't been able to get a large
audience, but hey, it's day 1).
I'm going to be updating the video tonight to be a presentation of the demo I made,
instead of that lecture with the birds in the background. Improving that part of the
presentation may help
The Kickstarter is oriented towards a sighted audience though. It's just that the idea
emerged while trying to build audio positioning for the blind (and it's easy to switch
between that and other modes)
I don’t know if this information can help.
The first is a publication that list new developments and such for the blind.
Maybe you could get information from them, or even post the link to your Kick Start.
http://www.flying-blind.com/
The second is an organization that builds software for the blind, or tries to.
http://getaccessibleapps.com/
A side note. I am happy to see you are using your blessing of sight to help the blind.
It is far better to do this then give it away.
Peace be on you.
Smile.
Hey, wondering what ever became of this?