True Assault freak, by beat em up I'm usually meaning the old school deffinition, ie, one on one fighting. it is true there are some wonderful 2D, ----- and I suspect, very good 3d beat em ups as well. I agree though that a game with diversity would work very well.
for original 2D prince, I actually thik the traps would be incredibly easy. the Gillotenes as Brian said, could be timing exercises, just as they are in the sited game. Ditto with the falling waits and rising and falling flames on later levels, ----- though of course your also having to time a jump with the flames, sinse they're coming out of gaps in the floor.
the vast majority of traps in oringal Pop though, were either falling tiles which you could walk on, or jump up and have one hit you in the head, or spikes that activated as you got close, and would kill you if you were running, but not if you were stepping slowly. the spikes as Bryan mentioned would be easy in audio. As for the falling tiles, once you jump, simply have a tile vibrating sound at whatever distance the tile is away from you (and in Pop, distance if very! precise).
the fights in Pop are also very easy, as they work on a basic parry and attack model. All you need to do is listen for the enemy's attack and then parry and attack yourself, very easy in audio I think.
To be fully accessible assault freak, i'd rather have ranges in beat em up, ---- even in beat em ups wih comparatively few moves like fireballs, indicated. In soul calibur 2 for example,without checking a faq, how would you know that Killik has a longer weapon than Tallim, and that for tallim to win, she has to get in close. Also, in something like the old streetfighter 2, there wer every different properties of moves depending upon where you hit your enemy, ----- for instance if you jumped too close to them with a heavy kick, they could retalliate with a throw (the computer always used to do this to me). This is why i think basic range indicaters on a one on one beat em up would be a good idea, ---- I don't mean something intrusive like bleeping, simply a set of punch and kick sounds that was recognizable.
Well John, I won't deny that there is already a certain amount of interactive fiction games, ----- a couple of specialist accessible ones as Bryan mentioned, and a laaaaaaarge variety of text adventure games (quite playable with a screen reader, or even without in the case of Zcode format games these days), already available, and mostly for free, see http://www.whitestick.co.uk/text.html for details.
there are two main advantages of the 7-128 games that occur to me however. firstly, they work on a very easy interface. The majority of old style I.f. works on a typing in commands interface, ---- Eg, get brass lantern, talk to dwarf etc. this can be rather cumbersome, especially when you arrive at guess the verb puzles.
there are comparatively few games with a relatively easy interface. A few online gamebook style adventures, ---- sometimes in the Fighting fantasy tradition, but not many of those.
but with all of these games, there is no audio, music or sfx, just you reading in a synth voice. Extra atmosphere is always a good thing imho, and thus far, only desent into madness I believe, has included more sounds and recorded speech.
Something like treasure island, with the various audio that could be added for locations and characters (methinks Long John silver would be smart as paint with some good acting). Unfortunately I haven't spent enough time playing with the 7-128 games to say, but it's also possible that the atmosphere and acting would give you a reason to replay the game after you'd finished it.
then, As I said there's no typing of commands, and it's not even necessary to muck about on the internet to play your games. As you said yourself, we here are a relatively hard core gaming bunch, and also, we are generally more computer literate than some other visually impared people. another factor is that the majority of people with visual imparements tend to be eldily, and ----- at least some of them, will not be as happy with using synths or complex interfaces. Steve Crawford of Asabat games provides Cd's of self-voicing accessible games such as Draughts (checkers), Scrabble, connect 4 and backgammon, particularly considdering of people who are less computer orientated. I am not sure where he advertises his games, but perhaps it worth checking with him, sinse your games might appeal to this audience, where some more complex audio games wouldn't. you can find his site at http://www.azabat.co.uk/
I will also admit though, that sinse the format of your interactive fiction games has thus far been mysteries, one concern I have is how much lastability the games involve. I'll be able to tell better though once I've tried the full 7 day demo of the Gamebook. though as somebody who loves exploration of different environments and settings in games, this might be different for me in a game like treasure island.
as for your puzle games, i need to try them again reallyt to form an opinion. I found Kim's game slightly too easy, sinse it only seemed to give me a maximum of 6 objects to remember, even when I got to level 9 and 10, ---- but I don't know if I'd accidently put it into easy mode or something while generally playing around with the gamebook.
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.)
