2018-03-07 00:04:46 (edited by miziziziz 2018-03-08 12:18:36)

Hello everyone, I'm a hobbyist game developer and just recently got interested in making audiogames.
I've put together a demo of my current project you can find here:  https://gamejolt.com/games/ptolemssingi … mbs/291087

It's a first person rpg, right now just a simple dungeon crawler.
Let me know what you think, how it could be improved, and if there are any games (preferably free) I could play for inspiration. I'm pretty new to the audiogame scene.


Controls:

WASD - movement
Mouse or Q E keys - turn left and right
LMB (hold) - attack
Space - echolocate
Shift - align to nearest cardinal direction
T - open/close inventory
R - use interactable or pick up loot
H - sound current health amount
Esc - close game

Inventory Controls

WS - scroll up and down
AD - switch tabs
Q - drop item
E - equip/unequip item
R - examine item

--Mechanics--

Audio Compass:

Your character's heartbeat indicates direction. It pitches up and down the more north and south you face and pans right and left the more east and west you face.

Echolocation:

Echolocating plays syllables of sound. There are tiers of distance that correspond to these. 'aa' means something is 0 to 2 meters in front of you, 'ee' means 2 to 8, and 'oo' means 8+. Notice they are in alphabetical order. These syllables play more rapidly the closer you are to something. Also, consonants are added if something interesting is in front of you; 'n' for enemy, 'f' for friendly, 'k' for interactable, and 'l' for loot. So, for example, if an enemy is 3 meters in front of you, echolocating will play the sound 'nee' repeatedly.

Side Awareness:

An ambient windy sound plays in your ear if there is an opening that way. E.g. a corridor to your right and a wall to your left will result in the sound playing in your right ear.

Footsteps:

A footstep sound plays every meter you step.

Combat:
if you're wielding a melee weapon and an enemy is within 2 meters of you, hold LMB to auto attack. If you're holding a range weapon and an enemy is in front of you at any distance, hold LMB to auto attack.

Inventory:
Inventory has four tabs: current equipment, backpack, stats, and journal. stats and journal have no functionality at the moment. When you open your inventory you go to your backpack. Each tab has a unique sound that plays when you switch to it. Backpack is a bag opening, equipment is a clicking/ snap sound, stats is a chanting sound, and journal is a page turning.
When you scroll rows using W and S, a series of sounds is played indicating the item you're currently on. A sword would play a slash sound, file by a number indicating damage, followed by a 'whoosh whoosh' sound followed by a number indicating attack rate. A bow would play a bow firing sound followed by a number for damage, then the 'whoosh ' sound and a number for attack rate. armor would play a cloth/chainmail sound followed by a number indicating armor value. Picking up loot will play just the id sound of all the items in the bag. e.g. sword slash and bow fire. Same with dropping and equipping items.

Numbers:
numbers are sounded one digit at a time with quick one syllable sounds that are typically a consonant followed by a vowel. Here is the complete list of numbers:
'ze' for 'zero'
wuh for one
two for two
thrih for three
foh for four
fah for five
sih for six
sah for seven
eih for eight
nah for nine

The number 154 would sound like this: wuh fah foh
32 like this : thrih two
80 like this: eih ze

2018-03-07 05:17:54 (edited by Haramir 2018-03-07 06:04:57)

Hello folks! First, welcome aboard smile Secondly, rpg, wow! Downloading now. Expect some feedback soon.

Hello again smile I've played the game for a few minuts now and before I make any considerations, I'd like to know more about what kind of game you intend to have when the project is complete. For example, will it be imersive or you intend to focus more on game mechanics like in Diablo 1? Have you considered a way to use screen reader or even sapi on the game? We don't have much action rpgs like the one you're creating, so please, keep up with the plans. I'm asking all the questions because it will be easier for me to give you a precise feedback. With that in mind, if you can use any translator, google should do, I'd recomend you take a look at Shadow Line, or Shadow Rine, as it is pronounced. It is a japanese action rpg, it may give you some ideas.
Here's a link? http://www.mm-galabo.com/sr/sr_download.htm
Sometimes it is difficult to follow the audio notations regarding numbers and compass. The game responce is fine, also the sound to indicate open ways is working well. Pherahps we should add some more sounds to when things happen, like when an item drops to the ground. Or we don't have such sound, or I'm extremelly unlucky. sad
Would you mind adding a few contacts to skype or a prefered chatting program of your choice to dinamically work on testing the game? Please let me know about all this info I've posted.
Best regards, Haramir.

The true blind is the one who refuses to see.

2018-03-07 06:18:15

Hi,
Downloading it, I'll soon give you feedback.
Regards,
Amit

There once was a moviestar icon.
Who prefered to sleep with the light on.
They learnt how to code, devices sure glowed,
and lit the night using python.

2018-03-07 17:21:12

Would be nice to hvea a command to snap to your nearest cardinal direction so we could move in straight lines better. Also, the turning is slow when using the keyboard. Would also be nice to have the left control to attack, so that you could play totally from the keyboard.

I like to sleep, Sleep is good,
This is how I do it: Lie on a nice warm cozy bed, and dream dreams about how to rule the world!
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2018-03-08 02:14:23

Haramir wrote:

...

Definitely something along the lines of Diablo 1. I want to avoid tts as it's just too hard to implement in the engine I'm using, but also it's not very immersive imo.  I don't know if a screen reader would work in it either.
I'll take a look at drop sounds, I thought I had one but I guess not. Sounds definitely need work, I'm just using public domain sounds I find right now.
I'll check out Shadow Line thanks for the recommendation.

I don't use Skype but I'd be happy to chat with email ([email protected]) or  on discord (my tag is miziziziz#5547 )

keyIsFull wrote:

...

Good ideas! I actually have the snap to cardinal direction implemented but I switched it for an auto lock when you're facing  near a cardinal direction. I think manual snap works better though so I'll switch it back. And I'll add left control for attack right away and speed up keyboard turning.

2018-03-08 12:17:55 (edited by miziziziz 2018-03-08 12:18:05)

Ok, just updated the demo:
pressing shift now aligns you to the nearest cardinal direction.
keyboard turning has been significantly sped up, let me know if I need to speed it up more or anything.
pressing control now attacks as well.

There is a placeholder drop sound currently, it's just a metal clink sound, like a sword dropping. I'll add custom drop and pickup sounds eventually.

2018-03-08 18:04:16

Hello folks! Great news! smile I'll grab the latest demo. I'm not sure how difficult will it be since you already told us implementing screen reader access would be hard, but would it be possible to add in selfvoiced content instead? I'm sure we'll even volunteer to record needed sentenses. Again, just brainstorming, I guess I can get used to the game's current notations regarding numbers and directions.
Best regards, Haramir.

The true blind is the one who refuses to see.

2018-03-08 21:54:53

Self voiced would be easy to add, but a lot of work to record all of it ha.
I'm using the Godot engine, i could try to find a way to have it output text to a command line that you could then attach a screen reader to. I don't know how user friendly that would be though.

Another thing I could do is export the game with a text to speech python script included and have that do the voice. But then you would need to have python installed for it to work. Again, I don't know how user friendly that is.
What's your thoughts on this?

The best way would be a c++ based text to speech library that's cross platform because then I could include it in engine, but the only one I've found is festival, which is extremely complicated and I can't make sense of at all

2018-03-08 23:55:31

Tolk is a free library that helps you send text to various screen readers or SAPI.
It is Windows only, but you could include or exclude it using preprocessor macros that detect if you are building for Windows or Mac.
Find it here:
https://github.com/dkager/tolk

For Mac you could tie into the Voice Over API directly, but I don't own a Mac so can't give more guidance than that.

HTH

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2018-03-09 01:22:44 (edited by cartertemm 2018-03-09 01:23:35)

at the moment, my c++ knowledge is less than ideal. However in python, this is a simple matter of using AppKit's NSSpeechSynthesizer. If nothing else, I guess you could use say.

For output to voiceover, you'd use applescript.

2018-03-09 07:30:23

Does anyone have experience with voce? http://voce.sourceforge.net

It's c++ and cross platform

2018-03-09 08:18:28

For recording speech, you don't have to do all the numbers, just 1 through 0, or if you want it to sound more natural, then you can do 1 through 19, then all the 10s through 100, then 1000, then 1000000 ETC.
For the first option, you'd have it say 1, 0, 1, 4, if the score was 1014, prefixed by a message like (your score is) so you know when it starts.
For the second option, you could do 5, thousand, 3, hundred, forty, 8, for 5348, or even fifty, 3, forty, 8, depending on what you want it to sound like.
Either way you don't have to record nearly as many samples as you may think, and as long as you try and do it at night when their is less traffic, with a (decent) mic and trim the silences, then it should sound fine.
Just make sure to check and see if your mic levels are okay before wasting your time recording all of them when your mic is too loud and distorting or something.
If you can't get good enough silence without background noises like wall clocks and air conditioners, than you could consider going into a closet with clothes in it, or a room with lots of fabric covered furniture, it can help allot...


Not that I'm saying you shouldn't try to add screen reader support if you can or anything, just that this is an idea for if that would be too much work to fit into your schedule.

2018-03-09 22:38:14

also if you don't want to record messages yourself, rocky waters has made a little program that will output text to wave files using your sappi engine. www.rockywaters.co.uk.

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-03-11 16:10:04

Ha yeah I somehow forgot that...
"Balabolka" does it too.

2018-03-12 13:34:18

Hi miziziziz, I was trying to play that game but somehow I am just able to go two steps ahead then I am hearing some sound ahead but I am not able to go and then I am hearing a wind in my right. When I am trying to turn right with my shift key then it's not working then I am trying by the q key but I don't know why I am not able to move.
I wanted to give you a cupple of suggestions,
1. If possible then you can change the movement to the aero keys.
2. Map a key for going back from the inventory cause then we have to press escape and the game closes.
I wish you good luck with this game! smile

I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons. Drew Barrymore
Follow me on Twitter, Discord and Instagram

2018-03-16 13:45:26

Hi, if there's wind on your right that means there's an opening there, try turning to face it and walk. If you can't walk forward try echolocating around to find an opening. Currently shift just snaps to the nearest axis and you can't rotate while holding it. I'll change that so you can turn next update.
You open and close inventory with the same key 't'. exit is reserved closing the game currently.
I'll make arrow keys move you as well in the next update, no problem to add.
Thanks for the feedback.

Currently working on adding text to speech support to the engine I'm using. So no new content for a while.

2018-03-17 12:57:01

Thanks! Now I was able to play easily! And I would like to tell that this will be a very nice and interesting game because I have never seen games like this in our audiogames community. Keep up the good work! smile

I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons. Drew Barrymore
Follow me on Twitter, Discord and Instagram

2018-04-05 00:18:27

alright, I'm back finally. I've made a lot of changes to the game and curious what you all think about them:
Movement is now grid based, you move one tile at a time, currently can only move in cardinal directions. May make so you can move diagonally in open spaces. I found I was getting stuck too often while playing so made it grid based so I could know exactly where I was moving.
turning now auto snaps to cardinal directions and you can hold shift to free-look. snap turning also plays text indicating which way you're facing.

a lot of audio sound effects are now word based using recorded audio (gave up on text to speech, just was taking too much time)

worked on stats:
killing enemies gives exp which levels you up and gives skill points.
completed stat screen in inventory (need to add something for health still)
skill points can be spent by pressing 'E' while over a stat in inventory to increase it by 1.
there are three stats: ranged, melee, and magic.

armor now reduces the amount of damage you take from attacks

Still need to add spells, probably just a fireball that has splash damage so you have to be careful not to shoot it too close. Also need some way to heal still.
And some sound that indicates when you enter a large open space.

Let me know what you think

2018-04-05 01:13:07

Are you having difficulty finding good sounds? Or is that not an issue for you.
If so I have a ton of good resources for you, lots of creative commons and public domain stuff with mostly simple licensing, high quality, good selection, and even the ability to use it in a commercial project.

2018-04-05 12:53:18

Nice! I am going to try it now!

I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons. Drew Barrymore
Follow me on Twitter, Discord and Instagram

2018-04-11 22:31:57

@defender sometimes, I've been using opengameart for sounds but it doesn't have a lot of what I need. What do you suggest?

2018-04-14 07:50:23 (edited by defender 2018-04-14 07:57:51)

Opengameart is pretty good for your type of game, especially the packs from "Vehicle" and "Little Robot"
Otherwise, I would suggest Sound Effects Plus and Zap Splat for a wide general selection, or this pack from Airborn Sound for something more specific.
Free SFX is also another good resource, being that almost all of their sounds are sourced legally from "Sound Ideas" which is the biggest name in professional commercial sound effects.
Additionally, the following samples and packs from freesound.org may be useful, though keep in mind that you might have to do some (basic) editing, and some hunting for the best ones may be necessary with the packs.
Pack "11433__32cheeseman32__sword-sounds"
pack "19074__shnur__knive-blade-vibrations-and-glitches"
Pack "23789__glaneur-de-sons__sword-swings"
Pack "94__lostchocolatelab__sword"
Pack "9083__timmy-h123__uni-sound-library"
pack "12143__qubodup__free-whoosh-sound-pack"
Pack "13289__lukesharples__battle-sounds"
Pack "13597__taira-komori__kung-fu"
sample "342392__christopherderp__swords-clash-and-slide-1.wav"
sample "342393__christopherderp__swords-clash-and-slide-2.wav"
sample "364529__christopherderp__swords-clash-high-quality-1.wav"
sample "364531__christopherderp__swords-clash-high-quality-3.wav"
sample "342452__christopherderp__dropping-sword.wav"
sample "342453__christopherderp__dropping-sword-2.wav"
sample "27826__erdie__sword01.wav"
sample "27856__erdie__sword02.ogg"
sample "35213__abyssmal__slashkut.wav"
sample "65733__erdie__bow01.wav"
sample "66487__robinhood76__00793-long-knife-blade-4.wav"
sample "77611__joelaudio__sfx-attack-sword-001.wav"
sample "91696__timbre__cartoony-clangs-hit-with-spade-16bit.wav"
sample "104328__jobro__sword-clanks-1.wav"
sample "127987__cgeffex__saber-clang-05.wav"
sample "127984__cgeffex__saber-clang-02.wav"
sample "175950__freefire66__swordbattle1.wav"
sample "351372__wilhellboy__lightringingclang.mp3"
sample "362349__beerbelly38__knife-slash-2.wav"
sample "362348__beerbelly38__knife-slash-3.wav"
sample "362350__beerbelly38__knife-slash-1.wav"
sample "365159__jack-freedom5712__sword-fight.wav"
sample "394338__denys__drawing-a-sword.wav"
sample "390774__d00121058__fx-018-sword-unsheath.wav"
sample "403235__crawfordjohnb-bellsouth-net__katana-sword.wav"
sample "415144__smukey9__sliding-metal-rob-against-copper-pipe-sounds-like-sword.wav"
sample "415145__smukey9__sliding-metal-rob-against-copper-pipe.wav"
sample "415146__smukey9__quickly-sliding-rod-metal-against-pipe.wav"
sample "415147__smukey9__best-sliding-metal-against-pipe.wav"
sample "416985__thescarlettwitch89__knife-being-sharpened-minus-background-noise.m4a"
sample "417194__timbre__before-after-after-remix-of-417033-funwithsound-slow-sword-draw.flac"
sample "424181__keng-wai-chane-chick-te__sharpen-a-knife-kengwai-chanechickte.wav"
As you can tell I haven't really gathered much in terms of UI or magic, potion, clothing ETC, but I'm sure it's their. The problem is finding it...
Their are also the four free GDC Libraries from "Sonniss.com" 2015 through 2018 so far, but they require lots of space and data, about 70GB.
2015 isn't hosted by Sonniss any more, but I put a link up on the forum, here in the dev room.

2018-04-16 20:20:10

thanks, @defender I appreciate it.
Do you have any ideas where I could find environmental sounds for puzzles like for a stone pressure plate/button, doors, levers?

2018-04-17 12:27:53 (edited by vaibhavbhandari 2018-04-17 12:28:43)

Try freesound.org or soundjay.com maybe they can help you.

I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons. Drew Barrymore
Follow me on Twitter, Discord and Instagram

2018-04-17 22:15:12 (edited by defender 2018-04-17 22:16:04)

No I have nothing in particular to suggest, aside from maybe checking Soundgator and yeah, Sound Jay in addition to the aforementioned Sound Effects Plus.
This is because they have overlaps do to being owned by the same parent companies, so I would just browse all of those for categories that seem likely to have that kind of thing and go from their.
Freesound requires significantly more trial and error, as well as editing most of the time so I'd use it only if those other sites don't have what you need.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help, as I would usually go to open game art for the types of sounds you mentioned anyway.
The Adobe Audition Sound Effects Library may be of help as well, you can find it here.
I know that "Sound Ideas" has some of that, so freeSFX.co.uk is probably a decent bet as well, and I forgot to mentioned soundbible.com which is similar to freesound.