2018-09-10 08:02:44 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-10 17:26:03)

I found the game called Star Traders in the list here on this website, and...I just MUST HAVE IT!
It features literarily everything I like, and expect from its genre, (which is my all time favorite), while does not feature things I don't like, like for example colonizing planets, build buildings, crafting, etc.

So, whatever it takes, I must have that game, please, do help me!

My problems, which are hindering me from getting the game are the following:

1. I noticed, that it's accessable version is for Apple and Iphone, so for IOS devices, which I never had, nor wish to have, plus, I don't even know a single thing about their handling, nor am interested in it.
I have a "traditional", desktop PC, and am perfectly satisfied with it, with no intention to change to anything else.
Is there really no way to emulate, to apply, to use those IOS applications with a PC?

2. I have also noticed, that a new, PC version of the game got published this year, but it's "normally" on Steam.
I wouldn't have problems with that, I have bought, and played lots of games on it before, in my sighted period, but as far I know, games running on Steam are not accessable...at all.
However, there is a part of the game's description on steam, which says: Interface: Full audio.
I wonder what this actually means?
Is it possible,, that I could, would still be able to play this one game even on Steam?

If not, then again, please aid me, let's try to gather interested VIP-gamers, and contact Trees Brothers, the game developers, asking them to make the game accessable for PC too, I would gladly financially support it, as far my modest financial position will allow...just please, I am begging you, I..must...have...that...game!!!

Never even hoped being able to play such a game without my vision, and now I found an existing one, but am prevented from playing it merely due its platform, and the lack of accessable version for PC...damn, help me, PLEASE!!!

2018-09-10 08:16:36 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-10 09:04:21)

If only there would exist a way to somehow...convert...IOS applications to PC...
And I can't see any hinderance of that, after all PC is still a much more advanced, sophisticated platform than IOS devices, with much larger memory, and better capabilities...

(just remember all those commodore 64 and amiga emulators for PC, aren't IOS devices a similar case to those?)

2018-09-10 09:09:06 (edited by JasonBlaze 2018-09-10 09:10:56)

you have an android device? , you can play with that , I think the android version is the most updated one, and completely access with talkback,
they took down star traders on the appstore  while ago, anyways.
remember, it's star traders RPG, the other star traders isn't accessible as far as I know.

2018-09-10 11:11:46 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-10 11:17:54)

But that is my problem, I don't have any IOS device, nor android, if it's different from those.
And I never knew a thing about such devices, have no idea how they function at all, nor am interested in it, traditional, desktop computers were, and will always be enough to me.
But I still MUST HAVE that specific game!!!

Is there really no hope for me to get it?

2018-09-10 11:27:16 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-10 11:45:16)

Oh God, why is it, that games are mostly made only for portable and mobile devices nowadays, while classic desktop PCs, which can be the most appropriate, best configured for gaming,  have become totally neglected???
(even in case of accessable games, phewww)

2018-09-10 17:59:06

Hey!!!
I just found some free android emulators for PC Windows!
What do you think, would those work ffor Star Traders?

If there is a chance of it, please instruct me what to do, I have never done Android emulation so far, and without sight I am not sure I could make it on my own...

2018-09-10 18:41:44 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-10 18:52:37)

Damnit, now I am getting confused...I just found an option to play Star Traders RPG with Google play, which means, I can play it on my PC, without using any Android emulator even, it has a price of only 3 bucks!
Btw I already have a Google account too!

Will it really be this easy?
I just pay the 3 bucks, start the game with Google play, and voila?

Come on guys, please, do advise me on this, before I do something real foolish!!!

2018-09-10 19:08:04

Because there is no money in developing large complex games on PC's or consoles compared to the mobile market.  The Shift of videogame markets to the mobile market is mostly fueled on how profitable micro transactions are, and how many more people actually own mobile phones and tablets over computers.  Also oh how short-sighted developers are in developing games, ignoring the desires of the consumer base as they release call of shooting 22.  Then they get surprised when old-style games like Octopath Traveler, Hellblade, and Resident Evil 7 sell extremely well, while they're new style offerings with little imagination flop.



    Also I'm not sure an emulator is going to work unless you can somehow configure it to also run talkbalk on your computer.  You're going to probably have to fight through setting up a few dozen work-around to actually get the game to run, but not at the same level of accessibility.  Not sure on the Steam version, and I think the google play version is just the android version download that needs to be on the phone.

The answer to your question is forum.audiogames.net/search

2018-09-10 19:25:18

So...even if I buy the game, and try to play it with Google Play, I will still have to emulate it, and hope it will remain accessable enough?

Oh God damnit...

2018-09-10 19:50:52

So, what do you guys suggest, what should, what can I do now?

Contact Trees Brothers, and inquire about these things from them directly?

2018-09-10 23:02:45

I mean, you could just like... And I know this might be crazy... But maybe... Just stay with me here... Maaaaaaaaybe.... You could like..... Just... Get... An... Android... Or... IOS... Device..............

...................

...

2018-09-11 05:53:11 (edited by Caccio72 2018-09-11 05:54:36)

Yes, I agree, that is the most simple solution.

However, since I never used such a device, nor have any knowledge regarding it:
1. I don't know how it works, how to use it, and, above all, how to make it accessable.
2.I don't have an idea of its price, nor about where I can purchase one.
I don't even know, if I can afford it at all.
3. After I still manage to buy one, and adjust it to screen reader, or make it accessable somehow, it will probably take a longer time until I will learn to properly use it.

So, considering all these hinderances, the best solution would still be a well working, accessable android emulator...I guess.

2018-09-12 08:12:01

Hi.
well, even if you would get your hands onto an android emulator, you won't be any more luckier because Star Traders has been removed from the stores a while ago, some apps like star traders 4x remained in the store, but they are not accessible anymore and 4X is basically your civilisation type game again.
Also, you won't possibly find any APK's for the game around because these are mostly found just for the big titles.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2018-09-12 09:32:02

Actualy, Star Traders is still available in the Google Play Store. And finding the APK was pretty easy.
Klick
I agree about the emulator though. If you really want to play it, you should try to get an Android phone. There are some cheap ones out there, which are still pretty good.

2018-09-12 10:16:17

Wait...I have also found a forum thread here in these forums, with the title "accessible android emulator".
There is a user called Gamedude, alias Florian,  who wrote a 14-step guide, for accessifying android virtual device on our PC.
How about that alternative, is it worth a try in my case?

I mean, if I could make it work, and then buy the game via google-play, since as one of you said, it can still be purchased from there...

2018-09-12 10:32:25

http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.p … 4#brd-main

Post nr 4 of this thread.

2018-09-12 10:59:21

well trees brothers pretty much ditched accessibility a while ago so now i just wouldn't support them.

2018-09-12 11:00:12

Hi.
Hmm, you might be successfull with that one, you just have to check if the new android versions will work with that.
I mean we are talking android 2 or 3 here, now we are at Android 8 which just came out recently.
You might have luck with it, or maybe not.
The easiest thing anyway would be, get a cheap Android phone or tablet and go with that one.
Ukitel has some decent phone with huge batteries, up to 10000 MA, even though the power 5 still has the bigger batterie with 13000 MA.
Motorola moto G phones are also worth a look, or, if you can find, Samsung galaxy models since the s6 have dropped pritty much in price and you might be abel to snag one of Ebay.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2018-09-12 15:06:19

Ok, since more of you are advising me to buy an Android device, I will try to explain my problems with that solution:

So, let's say I have enough money to buy one.
(I probably don't, as I mentioned, my financial situation is very modest, but let's just say I can still buy one)

Let's ignore even my general antipathy towards mobile phones, which I, with my old fashioned views and principles, consider to be meant primarily for urgent communication, and should serve to that purpose only, but nothing beyond that.

Ok, so here I stand with an android phone, without knowing a single thing of its usage, functions, being a totaly beginner, a clumsy newbie with mobile phones in general.

1st of all, it would take me some time, to even learn to use, to handle it right.
Even after that, I will still have troubles with it, due being extremely clumsy with small keys, so, I doubt I would ever be able to play a game on it.

And another problem:
It will be a traditional Android phone, so an unaccessable one, for sighted people.
(I highly doubt I could find an, initially, already accessible one to buy)

So, I will have to make it accessible, without having the slightest idea how?

I suppose I should somehow install a screen-reader onto it...have no idea how, nor who could do that for me...my 76 years old mom is excluded, she knows less about mobile devices than myself.

So, that phone must be made accessable, I won't be able to use it at all before that happens.

Then, I will still have to plug it into my computer somhow, I have no idea how, nor where, in which way to connect it...then I have no idea how it will function once plugged in, how it will be recognized, and what to do, which steps to perform after that happens...

So, even with an already accessible Android device plugged into my PC, I would still have no clue how to move on, what to do next...

There...I just wish to demonstrate, how this solution would be the most...the very most complicated to me, and it's unlikely I could manage to handle it on my own at all.
(yeah, would have to call for sighted help again I guess, probably right from the very start, right after buying the, so far, non-accessible device)

2018-09-12 15:32:08

Oh, not to mention, that I have literarily 0 knowledge of using screen reader on a mobile device.
(or using mobile devices with a screen reader)

I have an old fashioned, very basic cell phone, (never needed more than that), where I learned the most basic functions, aka using the most basic settings and options, making/receiving calls, and writing/reading SMS.
This exhausts all my knowledge of mobile devices.
And even this I could do only while I was sighted...

So yes, I fear I can, am able to play Star Traders, or any other game only on my PC, and eventually on some accessible laptop.
(I cannot even imagine playing a game on a cell phone, with all those small keys, when pressing 1mm more left or right results in a wrong control or function)

However, in my sighted period, I was quite adept with PC, especially with Windows OS, and I can still perform, if not all, but the most of the operations of those, which I could perform back then...even if with a slower pace, and by consuming more time.

So...this is the reason why I insist on a PC solution, any PC-solution possible so deliberately.

2018-09-12 16:24:41 (edited by the player 2018-09-12 16:36:24)

Um, I really don't want this to come across offensive. But I think, you make things a bit more complicated than they are. I mean, you have questions. Ok. But have you ever considered, just using Google, to find some answers? Because, if you really want to play this game so badly, you are far better off with getting used to a phone, than with this emulator solution. As Simba already mentioned, this article is roughly four years old. And it is very possible, that things don't work anymore, the way, they are described in there.
So, my advice for you is, to sit down, and do some research on your own. Yes, you might have to dig a bit, since for Android accessibility, there is no special website, like for IOS. But there is a lot of information out there. Enough, to give you at least a rough image, of what to expect, when buying into an Android phone.

Edit: I just checked the article again. I tried to follow the first step. It looks like, google moved everything regarding Android into something called Android Studio. So, no, I don't think, the emulator will work. At least, not with this guide.

2018-09-12 18:50:41

Well ok, but I guess it still won't hurt giving it a try, before I buy a...mobile phone, where I probably couldn't enjoy any game, for I would only struggle with it the most of the time, I got too much used of playing games only on desktop computers...

A mobile phone for a single game, (regardless of how badly I want to play it), while I was using my prehistoric model only for calls and sms even while I was sighted...phewww!

2018-09-12 20:52:27

hi, if you want an easy introduction to mobile phones and screen readers, you should go with ios. On applevis you can find guides to set up your first ios device. There's also a practicing tool for voiceover right within its settings, and the look tell voiceover tutorials. It's just something you have to try for yourself. On topic of trees brothers and their games, unfortunately contacting them won't get you far. It's not that they don't care, not at all, it's that they don't really have a choice concerning this matter. They made star traders rpg in a more textual engine that used a lot of native controls, so on ios and android at least, that game could be made accessible, and they did so. However, all of their later games like star traders 4x and star traders 2 were made in some weird cross-platform engine (probably unity) that doesn't exactly allow for screen reader support on any device. It's something they only noticed after development started, at which point they couldn't change things. They explained all of this in a blog post, and offered refunds to any blind/VI people who backed the project on kickstarter. So unlike other people in this topic have stated, trees brothers didn't stop caring about accessibility, the games industry just never started caring about accessibility, at least in terms of the mobile branch and using big game engines like unity or unreal. I've had very limited success with OCR on windows with st2, I was able to get through the main menu and game setup screen, but beyond that, nothing more worked.

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

2018-09-12 21:08:06

there's an android mailing list you can join, the subscription address is [email protected]
i was on it a while ago but left due to it being high traffic. i don't have an android phone but i joined it because i was interested to see how far android had come along especially when it came to accessibility. there are some quite helpful people on there so they could probably help you in advising you what to get and how to set up an android device.

2018-09-13 15:16:19

Wait, let's get one thing straight:

If I buy an Android phone, will I be sure able to play ST RPG?
I mean, some of you said, that it's removed from the apple store, but others said it can still be purchased via Google-play...
So, could I have a guarantee of some sort, that I won't buy that damn mobile phone totally in vain?