Hi all,
When I was first introduced to the realms of accessible gaming I discovered plenty of concepts that I had never seen before. However based on today's standard of accessible gaming they seem to be the middlemen.
Now, in the 2010's we seem to be facing a shift in direction. There are plenty of top-notch games that we could all spend hours and hours playing (Manamon, the BK series and Crazy Party, just to name a few). But then we also have the other extreme. Games that have either been explored countless times before, or some that aren't even proper games.
I won't name any names, games or shames in this latter category, for starters because it wouldn't be fair of me, but for second because I do understand what it's like to learn how to tell your computer exactly what you want doing and to feel the thrill and excitement of getting it to do your own thing.
However, I feel distinctions should be made between a worthy game, and a personal sample project (which eventually could even turn into a game).
Sad though it is, it is also a fact of life that there is no real comprehensive resource for the discussion and/or learning of accessible game development (whether audio, video or text). Though there are plenty of tutorials for learning to develop videogames, learning how to incorporate some kind of accessible feedback in them is a totally different art altogether. There are also separate sites discussing text-based game development. Never yet have I found such a resource specifically for audiogames, except perhaps here.
Thus, the concept of DAG is born. Developing Accessible Games is a mailing list group I have set up last week. It is intended for the discussion of the design and development of any kind of accessible gaming. I feel that only then can we bring new, interested people on board and so hopefully more and more games, at least from independent developers, will become accessible to us. We can hopefully bring our game development skills together to provide a better gaming experience for everyone, sighted and blind players alike.
So to clarify. The list is for the design and development of any kind of accessible gaming (audio and/or plain text, with or without graphics, animations or video etc), for anyone to learn what is involved. It is free for all who are interested in this topic, regardless of skill level. Beginners can ask questions, intermediates can learn better techniques and gain clarification on skills they may already know, and the experts can also hopefully learn more, try and help out people of lower levels and help to shape the tutorials, examples etc.
The list is not concentrated on any single programming language, again because languages, compilers, styles of development and project management vary from person to person and from team to team. This is another reason why it's important that people of different skillsets of both design and development can be present.
If enough interest is generated I may set up a dedicated website for submitting code snippets, useful libraries and tools for download, code checking features etc. However for the moment it is a simple mailing list.
If anyone is interested, you can visit groups.io/g/dag to find out more about the list and subscribe.
Cheers.