@25 From my perspective I'd be asking why is the rock there? In a visual game, a winding path in a wilderness type setting makes more sense than a straight road, it creates a sense of the player traversing rough terrain. So a rock the player has to move around wouldn't be out of place.
In an audiogame, autopathing around a rock wouldn't make sense as you might as well just have a straight path; would they even need to know the rock is there?. If you're building a sense of rough terrain maybe add sound effects such as footsteps on bare rock or loose gravel and have the player's movement speed slow down, if the player is on a path, change the sound and speed the movement up. It's better for the player to follow the path to move quicker but if they happen to stray from it, it doesn't become frustrating like it would if they just walked into a rock and came to a standstill. Unless the rock is large and you want it to be some sort of puzzle, e.g. a rockfall blocks a narrow pass, then maybe a monologue hinting to the player either an alternate route or the stick of dynamite they found earlier might come in handy.
If your game is designed with graphics for sighted players as well and you want the rock in place, maybe include an option to turn off collisions with certain scenery e.g. the small rock but not the house. I wouldn't use autopathing here because it takes control away from the player, even for a few seconds when it isn't really necessary. I'd maybe use autopathing near the house as an option to find the front door easily or to go around the back and enter from a second entrance, maybe with optional monologuing.
These are just my thoughts though and others may have much better answers.
By the way, thanks for contributing to the conversation, it's great to see another game developer here.

@25, if there was a barrier blocking the path, with something you needed to interact with to get around it, such as a door or tree, it makes sense for auto nav or nav assist to not work. Just make sure that we can also interact with the things causing the blovkage as well. For example, you can examine the door and the tree, so you know its there. Maybe the door needs a key to unlock, or the tree needs an axe to vut down, before the nav system begins to work.

So a couple of things, as I'm just catching up on this.
One example I neglected to mention that actually does technically have auto-orient as well as objective switching is Dead Space 2.  The original and its remake had just a singular path, which was unfortunate as you wanted to navigate to shops, work benches, save stations etc.
However, the sequel, released all the way back in 2011 actually included a DPad navigable menu when holding down the "orient button" to allow you to select form a list including the aforementioned objectives.

Though it was worth mentioning here as I'm not sure if other people have cited similar examples.
@25
To your point about triggering dialogue on going round an obstacle, I don't know if it's needed, particularly with the kind of game you're building.  If you know where you're going and you've told the pathfinding you want to get there, having it just go around those elements that are in your way including larger objects would be much less frustrating for me than it would be to have to manually go round larger objects.

Monologing, for the record, is seen as an annoyance if too frequent by most, as well as if it is unable to be turned off or adjusted (see Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok for two recent examples).

I agree with @30, though would suggest instead allowing nav assist/auto-orient or any other pathfinding implementation to actually let you find whatever is you're meant to be interacting with, the "intermediate objectives" I referenced previously.

Happy to answer any further questions as well and excited by these very civil and potentially useful discussions.

I unfortunately have a completely different viewpoint/perspective.
I have moderate hearing loss. I hate audio queues. I remember trying out Acoustic shooting and finding it disorientating. I lost my sight at 16 in 2005 and even though I tried various audiogames, I rarely completed them. Last audiogame I played was Night of Parasite because i liked the game's navigation system. I haven't tried any other games apart from Pokemon.
After playing Pokemon Access, that system is my prefered system. When I could see, I enjoyed exploring the game's environment, but now I can't be bothered.
If the pathfinder list had a list of audio description markers and the only way to access the description was to go to the location and pathfinder would guide me, then I would go just out of curiosity.
I would love it if all games used pathfinder, but I don't think it's possible since it's computationally expensive.
For the past year I've been writing little test lua scripts and exploring different Roms. The DW1 overworld map is 255 x 255 tiles. My script is taking 6 seconds to generate the path from first location to third location. DW1 has 14 overworld warps. FF1 returned over 60 warps. No idea if FF1 really has that many. Games have evolved and moved away from grid based tiles. Games such as Mother3 and DQ 4-6 are pixel based so different pathfinding code is required.
A guy from Finland called Mikko created a open source library called Recast and Detour, which is used in AAA games to give their AI bots paths to follow. Developers use the Recast bit to input the 3D level geometry mesh and get out the walkable mesh areas. They then pass this to Detour which does the pathfinding based on the inputted start and end location.
The navigational mesh needs to be done beforehand, the bigger the map the longer it takes to generate, especially if you need to mark area. As for Detour you want to shortened the path to travel since it can take some time if map is big.
I can't figure out how to use this library, but I now understand why game developers use audio queues as navigational aids.

As I've said, I think a multilayered approach using many of the methods described is a good way forward, which methods used would depend on the game and what engine it's using, be it an already available engine or one coded in house by the developer.

@MusicFairy in many cases you could have a map, especially in a 2D game. @KenshiraTheTrinity gave an example of playing an arcade adventure style game and being able to pause the game and bring up an audio camera to look around your surroundings to plan your next move. I'd see this as an additional feature that doesn't have to be used if the player didn't want to.

I think if a developer has the technology and knowledge to implement binaural sound then why not? But there should be other options too.
@dbm is full autopathing something you would prefer in a game? I'm thinking if it was built into a game from the start but there was an option to toggle it, it's there for those that want it but can be switched off for those that don't.

I think autopathing and nav beacons don't need to be used to plan an A to B to C guide to an objective, but maybe a way to prevent the player getting lost. Imagine again a Diablo style RPG. You're following a path through a dangerous swamp or whatever, you come to a crossroads with signposts. You want to leave the path to explore. Now after a while you can't find your way back to the path. A nav beacon at the crossroads and an autopath back to it allows the player freedom to explore their surroundings and way to prevent them from getting lost.

@Sightless regarding monologuing I think it would need to be used sparingly and it's use to try and bring parity to what a sighted player would see when in the same situation. To use your previous example of an object up high on a ledge in the distance, a monologue could be useful there to notify the player and/or provide a hint.

Sighted people get lost too, so I don't necessarily think that we should be immune to that just for the sake of accessibility. Often, its an intentional design of an area of the game to add challenge, such as in a difficult maze or dungeon. This goes back to what i said about just how easy and trivial it was to solve the maze in stardew valley, and why it frustrated me.

I'd rather something be baked into the game itself to give us a point of reference when we do get lost. A lot of games have some form of recall which takes the player back to specific checkpoints. For the pokemon rpgs, you can buy an escape rope, or have a creature learn the dig skill, which takes players out to the entrance of a dungeon from anywhere inside. In a lot of Japanese rpgs, you can only save at designated checkpoints, so there are multiple such locations in a big dungeon, and often there is a spell the party can cast to take them back out. Asking the player to find  the way to go should absolutely be a design choice of the developer, it just isn't fair if the player isn't given the tools to reorient themselves. For me, that's when a game becomes frustrating, when there isn't a point of reference I can fall back on. Take my compass if you like, but leave something else in its place.

@KenshiraTheTrinity I agree, I amended my comment before I posted it regarding the crossroads and swamp example. My original post would have read: A nav beacon at the crossroads and an autopath back to it allows the player freedom to explore their surroundings and way to prevent them from getting lost. Unless you intend for them to get lost.

It was a very simple example, if I was to implement it in reality I'd probably have something like a rotten log somewhere in the swamp, If the player got lost, they could autopath back to the log but it wouldn't lead them out of the swamp, they'd have to find their own way out. I mean, in RPGs what are swamps for if not to get lost in?

I think a compass that can be called upon if needed is essential to help orientate the player. I wouldn't have it on all the time but it should be available in some form, whether some sort of sci-fi device or the position of the sun, moon or stars, or whether there's lichen growing on the wall of an underground passage, just some way to allow the player to know which direction they're facing.

You're absolutely right, a player should be encouraged to explore and therefore be provided with the tools to do so. Part of that toolset should include careful design of the environment, sounds that can help you orientate yourself.

I'm torn between saving at certain points only or saving whenever. The former prevents save-scumming but it can make a difficult encounter tiresome if the lead up to it has to be replayed everytime the player fails. I think if checkpoints are placed carefully I'm more in favour of this than just a save-whenever system.

I'm absolutely in favour of portals, bindstones, some way of allowing the player to return to base or a checkpoint, as in Diablo's portal system, so if all else fails you can port out. Except if you were in a location designed to challenge orientation skills, i'd maybe limit it but absolutely make sure you have the necessary tools to complete the challenge without the need to port out.

No clue about how to handle this in games with more free flowing types of movement or where the player has to interact reflexively to objects moving in the environment, but an idea came to mind for traditional top down RPGs where the player moves on a strict grid that has a fixed orientation.

Consider a playstation style controller with duel sticks and  two pairs of shoulder buttons. The left stick moves your character as normal while the right stick moves a screen review cursor. Depending on configuration, the game will read the kind of tile under the review cursor, perhaps it's screen position, and with commands mapped to the shoulder buttons, you can get extra information.

Using a game like pokemon for example, the review cursor might identify things like ground, grass, tree, fence, wall, person, or item tiles, and pressing the more info button on a tile might provide info like:

Ground: whether the ground tile is paved street, dirt road, sand, short grass, stone, tiled floor, etc.

Grass: Whether the tile s normal tall grass, extra thick tall grass, swampy grass, etc.

Tree: whether it's a small tree, part of a large tree, a cut tree, a headbutt tree, a honey tree, etc. ANd if part of a large tree, how large the tree and where in the tree the tile is(e.g. ne corner of 2*2 tree)

Fence: whether it's a wood fence, stone fence, chain link fence, etc. Perhaps also saying whether it's vertical or horizontal and how long it is. Perhaps similar for walls.

Person: which direction the person is facing, and who they are if it's a character with a unique overworld sprite the player has met or the trainer class if its a trainer type the player has faced before.

Item: Well, in pokemon, there's no real classification, but for other games, it could be things like different classes of treasure chest or similar.

And perhaps other toggles for a game with such could include the option to keep the player in the middle of the screen and scroll the world by one tile everytime the player moves or to break the map into screens and whenever the player steps off the edge of the screen, the player moves to the far edge of the screen as the next screen of the world comes on screen, and a toggle between screen coordinates being relative to the player and relative to a screen corner, with several options for how coordinates are read(e.g. raw ordered pair, distance up/down/left/right or distance north/south/east/west). And I suppose the options to use the d-pad and face buttons to move the player and review cursor would be useful too. Of course, ideally, the descriptors would be short(I tried to stick to monosyllabic words in my examples, though no idea on monosyllabic synonyms for person and item) to minimize how long it takes to review the screen, and ideally, you'd want some logic for identifying large objects(e.g. perhaps a wall tile is the southwest corner of a 4*4 building), which could get tricky if the world isn't entirely made of rectangles... and for Pokemon, perhaps walls, fences, ledges, and other barriers could be grouped under the same category(part of the idea is to start with high level where the player can and can't move data, but to get into scenic details if the player is interested, and this post is mostly me brainstorming in public). And another idea is for the review functionality to be a toggle where the game is essentially paused in review mode.

Though I agree that there is no one size fits all solution, and it's probably better to err on the side of including too many options for a blind player to gather information about their surroundings in-game.. and I confess, I don't really have any experience with any of the methods mentioned that have actually been implemented in a named game.

@Jean Stiletto I realise blind players have completed Diablo IV but the methods they used are hardly ideal are they? From what I understand it takes a great amount of patience. Would these methods be for everyone? I don't think we are overcomplicating the problem, it's already complicated, if it wasn't most mainstream games would be navigable by a blind player.

I agree that a good navigation system needs to be as non-intrusive as possible. I disagree when you say 95% of sighted folk aren't bothered about finding stuff, in my experience playing online with other sighted players exploration and finding stuff is very important to them. You have to remember your experience of how you want to play a game and your abilities may well be very different to other players which is why as many solutions as possible should be included in the game design but with the option to switch off those you don't want to use.

I think there should be plenty of options for exploration, secrets to discover, a need to go off the beaten track for those that want it.

Sometimes it simply comes down to the design of a game will appeal to some but not others. Some might want to hear their character qualify that the grunting noises and heavy footsteps are trolls, others might prefer to examine them, see their attack rating, defence, hitpoints, AC etc. Ideally there would be a way to include both but sometimes, especially with a small development team or solo developer you have to make a choice of one or the other, and this applies to many things.

From the responses on here an audio camera system seems to be a popular method to look around your immediate vicinity, monologuing should be kept to a minimum.

Hey Graeme, I played your arcade game. So I thought it was worth chiming in.

In general, my experience in game navigation has been mixed. I will only provide audiogame examples here, though I will mention some mainstream games as well.

First, I played Manamon. I really liked its navigation system. It was very easy for me to get used to. Yes, I am aware that some people may call it strict, but that is the thing. Even when I was exploring the map, I managed to find my way back in that game after getting lost on purpose. It was also easy to progress in the game as a result, as it was not that difficult to find items and such. My only annoyance came from the fact that they added stelth-related hazards in the game, such as a laser that attacked you. Otherwise, solving puzzles, and catching monsters, or even finding a character was not that difficult for me.

I also played Paladin of the Sky by the same developer. Same navigation was also implemented in that game, but they used 8-bit sounds for the walls instead of wind, and that gave me a headache. Compare that to the wind sound, that was very suthing.

I played A Hero's Call, and this navigation was the most difficult for me. Partly because finding people was difficult in this game, and partly because the map kept changing depending upon which direction you are facing. It was also difficult to find my way out of a dungeon after getting lost, not so purposefully this time.

Having said that, I feel at least gamers who are not so smart like me, a strict top-down navigation is best. Other then that, I also feel some mainstream games have potential for including navigation for us, as in the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat Deception, the audio is in stereo, and sound changes based on the position of the character. There are different sounds as well, such as a river, stream, a burning torch etc. The only thing that lacks is the walls, and character and item beakens to find those.

I hope it proves useful. I notice you mention you like run and gun games. I personally think their navigation should not be that difficult, as this type of game is very strict and not open world. The only thing that might be a concern is speed, but I will let others speak about that.