Pioneers of game accessibility:
I'm trying to build an accurate picture of accessibility firsts:
http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/pioneers.htm
I would very much appreciate any extra information anyone may have. I've heard rumours of arcade games being adapted in 1980 for disabled gamers, but I'm yet to see any proof. Wondering about anything else too?
Cheers,
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Hi Brushbaron -
If you could find out, that would be much appreciated. I'm assuming it's properly subtitled with sound effects and so on explained in text?
All the best,
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Here is an article that was forwarded to me from the Australian Caption Centre when I started work on the Doom3[CC] mod.
[url]http://game.rbkdesign.com/articles/zork-grand inquisitor closed captioned article.doc[/url]
I believe that Zork Grand Inquisitor is the one of the very first computer games to feature closed captioning for both dialog and sound effects. As you'll read in the article, they didn't caption all sound effects but they at least were the first to start doing that. It came out in 1995, http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,3/gameId,1951/
-Reid
Thanks to Reid, and from scanning through AudioGames.net, I have added Zork: Grand Inquisitor (1997 Activision) and Kaze no Riguretto (1997 Warp) to the pioneers list.
Has anyone any more info at all, or corrections?
Thanks,
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Just updated my pioneers page:
http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/pioneers.htm
This now features a little information on Myron Krueger's work from the late 1960's on with "Videoplace" and "Videodesk" - decades before EyeToy.
There's also a small reference to the fictional book "Skallagrigg" by William Horwood, chapter 26, where the main characters in the book (all disabled) discover "Pong".
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Added some more small updates to my pionners of accessible gaming page. "Hunt the Wumpas", with thanks to Richard of Audiogames.net:
"This is a very old demo (which only runs in DOS on Windows 95) done by QSound. Being developed somewhere in the 1980's this game could be considered to be one of the earliest of computer audio games. The game involved "shooting a bear that would approach you from a particular direction; you could hear it coming (there was no graphical display, only sound) and the sound was in 3D, so you could turn and shoot it".
Thanks to QSound (http://www.qsound.com/) for the information (and good luck with trying to find the backup tapes for the game!)."
If anyone knows anymore about this, please get in touch with myself or Richard.
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Just curious, have there ever been board games or card games developed for person with disabilites?
Oh yes. Try this link:
http://onlineshop.rnib.org.uk/browse.asp?n=11&c=50&sc=0&it=1&l=2
Tons of traditional games have been made with blind and visually impaired people in mind, including braille Monopoly and so on. Anyone got any others?
Barrie
OneSwitch.org.uk
Please do not list HL2 has a pioneer of closed captioning video games. I thought Return to Zork was officially the "first" but I can't find anything on the web about it. I have a .pdf at home that I need to look at to confirm. Point is, HL2 isn't the first. With a little bit of research we can find out.
-Reid