2019-07-05 23:20:34

hi
so, there is a game i am trying to make accessible, it is a mainstream game and the src is on github, but it is in a language that i have never seen used here, blitz basic, has anyone ever heard of it and does anyone know of how to use for example, speech or anything with it?

2019-07-05 23:24:35 (edited by Quin 2019-07-05 23:24:44)

Sorry, no.

2019-07-05 23:27:12

Blitz is a language for creating video games, I believe.

"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

2019-07-05 23:36:55 (edited by Slender 2019-07-05 23:37:44)

I've heard of Blitz Max, which may be related to it. After doing some research, though, it seems that the Blitz Basic website is down, though the Blitz languages are now on GitHub. Unfortunately I don't know of any speech libraries or audio games created with it, though.

Oh no! Somebody released the h key! Everybody run and hide!

2019-07-06 01:19:13

Oh... Well, that may depend on a few things. There are a few versions of the language floating around, and it never had any kind of TTS system or API. It might be possible to make a wrapper for Tolk or NVDA with BlitzMax, since it has wrappers for wxWidgets, Cairo, and Fontconfig, but otherwise it seems to have only the most basic of audio functions, for example in BlitzMax:

YourSound = LoadSound("boom.wav")
PlaySound(YourSound)

There's a beginners guides for BlitzMax [here]. There's also some forum's [here], but activity seems low and spread out over weeks. Where's this github? Given the challenges involved, it might be better to try and translate the game into another language that has better support and functions.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2019-07-06 01:40:06

This is the thing I was talking about, the source code of the game I found that I’ve heard a lot about
https://github.com/Regalis11/scpcb

2019-07-06 02:27:50

Lets see here, [SCP - Containment Breach], released in 2012, uses Blitz3D v1.108. Its a 3D FPS supernatural horror game, with the goal being to escape from the containment center during a containment breach of dangerous anomalies. Games feature procedurally generated maps made by connecting a random selection of pre-existing rooms and hallways together.

Hm, I've seen this floating around Youtube before, wasn't aware the source was available. Having a hard time digging up documentation on Blitz3D though, there's a paperback version [here] for 22$, and a crash course PDF [here]. It seems Blitz3D's audio is still rather basic, it has music and sound playing capability, looping, and volume control, but that seems to be it.

Considering were talking about a 3D FPS here, have you given much thought as to what kinds of accessibility features to implement? Pre Recorded speech, Cane System, etc.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2019-07-06 02:42:59

Maybe pre-recorded speech, I don’t know what else though, that’s still into consideration

2019-07-06 03:46:35 (edited by magurp244 2019-07-06 03:48:44)

Digging a bit more into the source it seems they're using an FMOD wrapper for the audio, could possibly use that as a basis for wrapping other DLL's like Tolk. Also means there's probably 3D audio available. Bulk of the codes in main.bb, mapsystem.bb, NPC.bb, looking at around 35,000+ lines overall. Porting it to another language would be troublesome, but it seems reasonably possible, with enough patience, to make modifications to the sub systems.

If you plan on going for it, think about what features and mechanics you want to add. Most of what your interested in is probably in main.bb, collision, player inputs, audio handling, etc. The crash course pdf I previously linked may be a useful reference, otherwise some trial and error experimentation is your best bet, that or hitting up the SCP forums [here] and see if there are any experienced Blitz users who can help out.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2019-07-06 03:56:50

Thank you so much