2015-04-07 20:19:59

Hello all, My name is Aaron Parsons and for the last 2-3 years I have been developing an audio only game console.
ww.sonusinteractive.co.uk

I have posted about this device on another forum category before I realized there was one for developers, never the less there are a different set of questions from my previous post I would like to ask and discuss with you all if possible.

Are all the audio games developed mainly for what operating system? andriod? IOS?
and if a universal platform came into the market would you find yourself considering making games for it?

I believe the benefits of a universal platform are that it would be more accessible for the visually impaired, something they could use more independently, but this is a simple assumption. I have never actually produced audio games before (which now looking back could have been a good starting point rather than jumping straight in and making a console).

If i could take some of your experiences as developers from this discussion I would be considerably grateful.

Are Smart tablets and phone already accessible enough as the platform for audio games?

Please share your thoughts,

Many Thanks,

Aaron Parsons

2015-04-08 00:32:34

Windows is probably the most popular audio gaming platform, but iOS has been doing well in the past 5 or so years. Android is improving, but Android accessibility is the weakest of the three, so it seems to have taken longer to take off. (You'll notice that the topic directly below this one is about Android development, though.)

The biggest difficulty getting an audio game console to succeed will probably just be getting it to a sufficient player base, with enough games to make it worthwhile. A new console from Soni, Nintendo, or Microsoft will do fine, because they've established themselves, have legions of fans, have their own game development teams, and have plenty of independent publishers who'd be eager to develop for them.
A console specifically for audio games needs to build up all of these from something resembling scratch. Audio Games are mostly popular among the blind, and the blind are generally not that wealthy, so supporting such a platform financially will likely be a challenge even with a couple dozen developers and a few hundred gamers wanting it to succeed.

Still, this would be cool and it's something I want to happen, and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people here who feel similarly. I'd certainly try to develop games for it, given the opportunity (and minimal frustration--I have no idea what developing for the Sonus will involve).

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2015-04-08 03:23:27

I'm actually working on such a game console, so yeah.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2015-04-08 11:30:25

Hi Ethin,

Your post has certainly intrigued me, I see you aren't letting much detail away. Could you elaborate more on your project, perhaps we can help each other. we obviously have a common goal. Is there anywhere I can get more detail about your project?

2015-04-08 13:09:53

There's a topic on Ethin's console here.

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2015-04-09 06:31:51

Hello Aaron,

Welcome to the forum. I'm glad to know you are working towards developing a blind accessible game console, but am unsure as to what kind of reception you'll receive as this is really uncharted territory.

As to your first question most of the accessible games out there on the market were designed for Microsoft Windows. Many specifically for Windows XP and were written in languages such as Visual Basic 6 since the majority of developers are not professionals and are only hobbyist developers.

As to your question about willingness to develop for your console that depends really on the developer in question. I myself might consider it as I'm a professional developer and have skills in a number of programming languages so am pretty flexible. I suspect though the majority of audio game developers might not since they are not professional developers and are use to newbie oriented languages like Visual Basic or Pure Basic. So some more specs on what operating system, languages, and APIs are available would help clarify the situation for me and others.

As far as tablets and phones goes that depends on the phone and operating system in question. At this point in time Apple's iOS devices are probably the most accessible. There are a number of games available for the iPhone and iPad and it is very accessible. Unfortunately, Android accessibility leaves a bit to be desired. It is possible to use Android tablets and phones, but they don't have all the accessibility bells and whistles as what Apple has to offer with their iDevices. However, to be short and to the point, yes there are some fairly accessible tablets and phones out there on the market.

Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com