2018-10-28 19:58:26 (edited by FallingSquirrelGames 2018-10-28 21:41:54)

Hey there AudioGamers.

A few months ago I posted here about The Vale - an all audio game being made by Falling Squirrel. The Vale is an all audio adventure game with real-time combat, RPG mechanics, a fully voice acted story, and explorable soundscapes. Created by experienced Indie and triple A developers, The Vale is aiming to be one of the highest quality audio games that delivers a mainstream gaming experience to players of all levels of vision.

We received great interest from some of you and had a nice discussion on the narrative tropes of blind protagonists as well as common pitfalls of audio game development.  I’m happy to say that after months of hard-working development and progress - including some collaboration with Ubisoft -  we have a great beta build that we’d love feedback on.

We are gathering a group of people to answer some questions and get access to our beta build. If you’d like to be one of those people, be sure to sign-up for our mailing list here http://www.fallingsquirrel.com/blog/tes … ting-1-2-3


If there are accessibility issues with this mailing list form, please let me know so that I can fix them or find a better service to use.

    If you want to find out more about The Vale and Falling Squirrel, please check out our blog at http://www.fallingsquirrel.com/blog ask questions here, and/or find us on Twitter @FallingSquirrel.

Thanks,
Jamie Roboz

EDIT: I've fixed the blog link and changed the sign-up form to be embedded on the blog. Thanks for the heads-up and keep letting me know if more changes should be made.

2018-10-28 20:19:44

Hello.


@FallingSquirrelGames I managed to sign up but there are accessibility issues with the form:


1. I can't tab to the comment box. my screen reader skips over it. The only reason I know it's there is because I arrowed through the page and found it.


2. I don't understand why I have to put my name, then first name and last name.


3. The capture service is usable but I had to wait for about 20 seconds for the checkbox (tickbox) to show up. I don't think there's anything you can do about that.


I'd recommend moving to google forms as that's a lot more accessible in my experience.

I'm gone for real :)

2018-10-28 20:34:41 (edited by brad 2018-10-28 20:35:28)

Hello.


@FallingSquirrelGames from what I hear of the combat demo, the combat is kind of a press the down arrow to block left to stab left, right to stab right, kind of thing, is this true? If so, it seams kind of simple but even if that is the case,, the fact you can choose your own gender and skills is awesome.


/edit/


By the way, your blog link doesn't work. It gives me a 404 error.

I'm gone for real :)

2018-10-28 20:40:40

to sign up for beata testing all I have to do is subscribe right? it looked accessible to me but I didn't look at the sight or anything, also this probably belongs in general game discussion.

----------
“Yes, sir. I am attempting to fill a silent moment with non-relevant conversation.”
“You don’t tell me how to behave; you’re not my mother!”
“Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.” – Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

2018-10-28 20:43:03

hi there, I could sign up without a problem smile really excited about the game!

2018-10-28 20:49:17 (edited by Luel 2018-10-29 08:17:04)

Hello.

I can confirm about the screenreader skipping the comment field after pressing TAB key.
I use NVDA and it keeps skipping over the comment field and one of the fields for typing e-mail address.
I found these fields by using arrow keys.

I would be interested in playing the game.

The blog's website is:
http://www.fallingsquirrel.com/blog
(a comma slipped in the original link).

2018-10-28 21:00:11

I also looked at the sign up form. I can tab to name and email but, i can't shift tab from email back to name and it also skips the comment field.

PSN ID: AvidLitRPGer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AvidLitRPGer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AvidLitRPGer
leave me a message saying how you found me.

2018-10-28 21:51:29

Thanks for the feedback. I updated my first post to correct the broken link to our blog. As well I changed the sign-up form to be embedded to our blog and it should be much more tab-friendly now, but please let me know if it's not.

You can find the specific post here http://www.fallingsquirrel.com/blog/tes … ting-1-2-3

2018-10-28 21:52:45

@redfox Should I close this thread and make a new post in game discussion?

2018-10-28 22:03:41

Hello.


@FallingSquirrelGames that form is perfect. I am able to tab through the boxes with no problems.

I'm gone for real :)

2018-10-28 22:17:32 (edited by Luel 2018-10-28 23:47:03)

The new form works fine for me as well.
The TAB key moves through fields correctly.

Do I need to subscribe once again?
I did it in the first form, but so far did not received any e-mail.

2018-10-28 23:04:04

I'm sure if you post a message on hear asking the addmins to move this to general game they could do it.

PSN ID: AvidLitRPGer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AvidLitRPGer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AvidLitRPGer
leave me a message saying how you found me.

2018-10-28 23:42:18

hi, i signed up, but have not received an e-mail to welcome to the list, am i supposed to? also, i do hope the combat is not like that in a blind legend of just hear, and react. also, do we have to walk around the environment, to interact with it? look forward to try the beta.Will

2018-10-29 01:03:08 (edited by Dark 2018-10-29 01:55:55)

I was very glad to sign up too, and look forward to trying the beta.
It was a little odd that I didn't get a confirmation email,  but when I tried a second  time it told me my email address was registered so it obviously was.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-10-29 05:40:05 (edited by Dragons 2018-10-29 05:44:25)

Nevermind!!! It's work now.

Hearthstone Tag ID: RobotWizard#1265216

2018-10-29 09:34:41

just so i know, is this for windows, or mac as well? was hoping the combat would be more immersive but we'll see. any idea when those who signed up can expect to receive e-mails from the list please?

2018-10-29 09:46:16

Hey there!
I've signed up for the beta yesterday and from what I can gather I'll be looking forward to this one. There are just two things that concern me. The first is the combat system. Now I won't pretend this is an educated opinion since you're only able to hear about 5 seconds of combat, but it looks to me like it's another one of those blind legend style systems where you press one key (in this  case the down arrow for simplicity) to block attacks, and left/right/up arrow to swing at the right time, maybe having to wait for some enemies to cool down or become vulnerable. While this system definitely works, games like A blind legend, blind gladiator, or echoes from levia have thurrowly explored all there is to do with this type of fighting. I really don't want to have this be interpreted the wrong way, this is only supposed to be a friendly bit of advice from someone with years of experience playing audio games. Blind people are in fact able to handle more complex combat systems than those listed above. if possible, try to shift the combat system away from this trope of simply timing attacks in three diferent directions. Try to make it more interesting or tactical and less rhythmic and methodical. Attempt to include twists for different enemies or bosses, so the fights don't all feel the same. If the system is actually more fleshed out than I take it to be, I will take all of this back and commend you on a job well done.
My second point is taken from the combat demo video, speciffically the intro. "Video games aren't too popular with the visually impaired." Why, I beg to differ on this one! If we could play some of the tripple A titles out there, trust me when I say that most people would jump at the chance. I myself would love the ability to play one of Sid Meier's Civilization games, or for someone to make an accessible port of them. The goal of all audio game devs shouldn't be to make games by the blind for the blind, because segrigating ourselves from the majority isn't going to help us get good games to play. It should be to work together with mainstream game studios in designing the latest and greatest in game titles to be playable by as broad an audience as possible.

I used to be a knee like you, then I took an adventurer in the arrow.

2018-10-29 09:52:14

i do hope that the combat is improved, i believe that video was an early prototype. i'm interested maybe hear more of the gameplay now the game is closer to release for the beta?

2018-10-29 09:59:30

I have signed up as well, this sounds like an interesting game. Will look forward to exploring it.

2018-10-29 12:20:41

I've signed up as well. I'm so excited about testing the game!

2018-10-29 12:32:52

high guys, i've signed up as well. i'm looking forward to this game.
is the game for windows?

2018-10-29 13:40:38

I have signed up as well, and am very interested to see what happens here.

While I understand and agree with what's been said about simple arrow-based combat, this system might in fact be more fleshed out.
Example: The boss moves around steadily, or sometimes he'll jump over your head and attack from above, denoting a different type of overhead block. Or maybe some attacks have to be dodged outright instead of just blocked/counter-attacked. I definitely am not a fan of standing in the same place and tapping arrow keys in response to sounds, but there's a lot of dynamic possibility here.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-10-29 15:37:46

@jade, could you also move this to general game descuction?

----------
“Yes, sir. I am attempting to fill a silent moment with non-relevant conversation.”
“You don’t tell me how to behave; you’re not my mother!”
“Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.” – Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

2018-10-29 18:07:12

Hi @luel If you have subscribet correctly you will receive a message on the website, that you have subscribed to this list, if you will try to use the same mail as you have used before, so I am sure that you have subscribed to the list.
I have subscribed to the list without any troubles.

2018-10-29 19:31:21

I love these types of games, so also look forwards to seeing what's gonna happen! I have also signed up to the mailing list, naturally.

Prier practice and preparation prevents piss poor performance!