games™ talks to Incus Games about building videogames for the blind, the under-appreciation of sound design in the industry and the challenges that come with stripping away the graphical interface players are used to.
Marcus Estrada writes: "Every month Kickstarter is full of wild successes, and depressing failures. While some are always going to have that massive fan push behind them to see hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding others barely make it to the finish line. Due to the nature of Kickstarter, there's simply not enough money to go around to fund every worthwhile campaign. The purpose of this post is to shine a light on those campaigns that had the chops for success, but for one reason or another failed to make their goal this time."
Audio games aren't new, but what about if an "audio only" adventure was based around a fantasy RPG? A Kickstarter campaign for Three Monkeys has just begun with UK indie Incus Games asking for £28k.
Marcus Estrada writes: "Over the dozens of years that video games have existed, all types of players have fallen in love with this unique form of media. Many blind and visually impaired gamers enjoy the same titles as everyone else, but experience them in a slightly different fashion. There have been a few games which provide audio-only experiences, which prove an interesting experience for sighted gamers, but not nearly as many as there should be. A Kickstarter for a new audio-only, Three Monkeys - Part One: Into the Abyss, has just launched and looks like an exciting new title."
Yes, check out Papa Sangre II - http://georiot.co/PapaSangr... - it's a game you play with your eyes closed on an iPad. Its narrated by Sean Bean (from Lord of the Rings) and it has him trying to lead you in the afterlife. Pretty cool.
I know a game that doesn't have graphics, every gamer right now is playing it until March, it's called, "The Waiting Game".
There is a blind gamer that plays the original Oddworld.
That works because there is a sound for every action, also when you hit a wall, etc.
At the eurogamer expo i played an audio only game which was quite interesting, cannot remember the name though.
There were games in the early 80s that only used text. No graphics... except for your imagination.