If I was asked to come up with a list of my favorite articles we’ve posted ever on TouchArcade, this post by Shaun Musgrave on blind gamers would definitely be up there. As a sighted person, the challenges that blind people experience on a daily basis just isn’t really something you likely spend a lot of time thinking about. In said article, Shaun digs into what a complete game changer Apple’s VoiceOver functionality is when it comes to not only giving blind folks access to technology and connectivity they never had before, but also on-the-go gaming experiences which weren’t really possible before. (If you want to dig deeper into this world, I highly recommend bookmarking AppleVis which is basically the site for Apple product using blind and low-vision people.) Anyway, even thought VoiceOver is fully baked into iOS and reasonably simple for developers to use if they spend a little time implementing it, it’s still fairly rare for developers to do so- Or at least spend any amount of effort promoting the fact if they do.
James Senter, however, is a developer who has taken the opposite approach in developing engaging, text-based games that are not only fun for sighted people, but also 100% playable using VoiceOver. His previous titles, Nano Empire ($0.99) and Friends of the Prince (Free) are both delightfully clever games. Nano Empire is a different spin on empire building, kinda sorta in the same vein as King of Dragon Pass ($9.99), another game that totally works with VoiceOver. Meanwhile, Friends of the Prince is sort of like if you took the vague premise of Reigns ($0.99), but instead you interact with the game by engaging with a prince’s social media feed. In fact, I think if a publisher like Devolver picked up Friends of the Prince and gave it a total graphical overhaul to actually look like a Facebook feed or something, it’d have a weird amount of mainstream appeal. (Sadly, screenshots sell games, regardless of how good they actually are.)
Senter is hard at work on his third game, A Few Minutes of Glory which is currently available for pre-order at a discount. Ahead of its launch on (or around) February 4th, James is looking for beta testers on our forums. While I haven’t dug into the beta myself yet, I love the premise. Basically, it takes the rough idea of RTS games like Age of Empires and distills it down to its basics to work with a text-based interface. Instead of micromanaging all your units, you’re more focused on the big picture of the strategy your units will take, with the details of the battles handled in a more abstract fashion. I love the elevator pitch, because I’ve always really enjoyed RTS games (and am particularly fond of Age of Empires 2) but never have the actions per minute to really do anything beyond durdle around in easy games versus the AI.
Anyway, I just wanted to signal boost this whole thing (and the developer) because this sort of stuff is really cool. I love the accessibility baked in, and games like A Dark Room ($1.99) have more than proven that you don’t need to have any graphics to still have a wildly captivating game. If any of this has even remotely interested you, be sure to join the beta.
from TouchArcade http://bit.ly/2Rv7s9g
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