Here is an article from 2002 about the All-in-Play game company that used to be namedZForm
Company builds game plan to help blind
By Gareth Cook,
Globe Staff, 6 July 2002.
Spitzer's Northampton-based company, called ZForm, also built
a prototype of Quake, an intensely visual game where players cruise a maze delivering mayhem. Quake turned out to be quite difficult to modify for the blind. Players see the world
through the eyes of a heavily armed character who navigates a perilous maze. Hallways branch left and right. The floor is littered with extra weaponry and packs to heal wounds. Vicious enemies appear suddenly and begin attacking. To make Quake work for a blind player, the team had to create a world of aural cues
that evoked the complex visual world of Quake. When a hallway comes up on the right, for example, the player can hear a slight rushing of air off to the right. Other
things in the game - objects like guns or competing players - were programmed to give off characteristic sounds, their direction indicated by their relative volume
in the ears.
One of the greatest moments came this winter when the team was showing off its sound-only
version of Quake to other game designers. Keenan, whose blindness started them on
their quest, took on the other game designers, all old hands at Quake. ''Tim,'' said
Spitzer with a laugh, ''just slaughtered them.''
Gareth Cook can be reached at
[email protected]
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 7/6/2002.