2023-03-09 17:14:58 (edited by Lirin 2023-03-22 16:42:10)

It is with great pleasure and great pride that I would like to announce that the game in which I, together with the creator (CowCatGames), put all my heart and all the skills I have acquired so far. Many days, many hours of hard work on accessibility are coming to an end today and I want to present to you the game BROK: The investigator! Accessibility has been added in the latest version!

It's an emotional journey in a slightly cyberpunk atmosphere combining a point-and-click adventure game with Beat em up and RPG elements.

I hope you will spend long hours having fun!

I wish you a lot of fun and remember that you can report any bugs here and ask for help about the game itself. I will be happy to answer all your questions! smile
Official description of the game below along with links

Narrative-driven adventure game that blends action and investigation in never-before-seen ways. Will you use your brain... or your brawn?

In a futuristic "light cyberpunk" world where animals have replaced humans, privileged citizens live under a protective dome from the ambient air pollution while others struggle to make a living on the outside.

Brok, a private detective and former boxer, lives with Graff, the son of his deceased wife. Although he could never elucidate her accident, recent events may shed some light on an even more tragic outcome... one that may be linked to their own existence.

Will they be able to withstand the threats of this corrupted world and face their own destiny?
Features
A deep and emotional narrative-rich experience filled with characters reminiscent of classic 80s/90s cartoons. The first game to combine a "Classic Adventure" with "Beat'em up" and RPG elements!
■ Solve puzzles with your wits... or muscles!
■ Make choices impacting gameplay and/or story
■ Easy mode for pure "Point & Click" gameplay (fights can be skipped)
■ Level up to beat enemies and bosses
■ Combine clues to uncover the truth!
■ In-game hints
■ All controls supported (mouse, keyboard or controller)
■ Two playable characters, switch at any time
■ 15 to 20 hours long on first playthrough
■ Multiple distinct endings to unlock
■ Text fully translated into 10 languages
■ Full english voice acting (23,000 lines)

BROK the InvestiGator is the first full-fledged classic adventure game that blind players can fully play through!
■ Fully narrated via quality text-to-speech and audiodescriptions (characters, locations and scenes.)
■ Puzzles adapted for blindness.
■ All puzzles and fights can be skipped.
■ Adapted tutorials.
■ Buttons to repeat the last voice speech and instructions.
■ Positional audio for fights, which of course can be skipped.
■ No online connectivity required (after the download).
■ No specific device required: play with keyboard or a controller.
■ Additional options: larger fonts and increased contrast (backgrounds and enemies.)
■ Compatible with all versions of the game (Steam, GOG, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox - patches coming)

To enter the accessibility menu, press SPACE (or Y on a Xbox controller) on the title screen, then follow the audio instructions.
For best audio prompts, choose your type of controller in the options.

Accessibility has been added from version 1.3.0.

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/9494 … estiGator/

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2023-03-09 17:34:46

sounds definitely interesting.
The only problem is that I'd hate to spend 20 Euro on a product I haven't tried before. Or is there a demo version?

2023-03-09 17:44:38

This sounds really good, but one thing I do want to know is how accessible the fight sequences and rpg parts of the game are.

the description mentions "position audio", for fights, but are there actually audio kews to tell you what is happening?

Since the rpg and action parts of this are primarily what I'd be interested in, I'd like to know how those sequences of the game work before I go dropping money.

If not a demo, any chance of hearing at least a gameplay recording?

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2023-03-09 17:45:16

Wow, does this mean that accessibility will come to the console version as well? I'm not much a pc gamer for modern games, but I will definitely pick this up for either switch or ps4 if so.

2023-03-09 17:52:31

The game is more focused on adventure but there are beat em up segments which are fully accessible.

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2023-03-09 17:53:51 (edited by Lirin 2023-03-09 17:54:53)

@#4 The game will be out for Switch with full accessibility soon! The accessibility will be rolled out for all of the platforms so Xboxes, PS4 and PS5.

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BattleTAG: Lirin#21759

2023-03-09 17:57:33

@#3 There are simple RPG elements like boosting stats and levelling and that's it/ The combat is side scrolling style with enough info to play fully. The story, puzzles and exploration / minigames are most important in the game but beat em up elements are important too!
On easy difficulty it's possible to skip every action part to concentrate on the story, puzzles and exploration.

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2023-03-09 18:04:14

hey everyone!
I can definitely recommend the game, I'm sure Lirin and the developer have spent countless hours to achieve this level of accessibility!
the descriptions for places, scenes and characters feel like the game was designed with accessibility in mind from the ground up.
the voice is very responsive.
everything in the game works and is accessible! the rpg parts, the fights, puzzles, and if you get stuck, the hints will help you to progress.
this is definitely a masterpiece.
voice acting is great, the story makes you feel connected to the characters.
not to mention the fighting part with combos, jumping, and you can learn the pattern of enemy attacks.  there are many different ways to progress, so the game is replayable.
here's a link to purchase the game in different platforms.
https://linktr.ee/brokgator

contact info
email:
matrheine at gmail . com

2023-03-09 18:27:06

A game getting overwhelmimgly positive on steam is far from easy. I haven't seen any accessible ones after the case of Rhythm Doctor. Now that sounds like fun. Let's see if I can grab it next sale or something.

Why do ghost hunters have to hunt ghosts? Well, there's a fear of being ghosted out there. They may need therapy as well as their ghost hunting kit.

2023-03-09 18:29:20

Awesome! I will pick this up for something once accessibility rolls out. The switch has yet to see a game with full blind accessibility implementation that I know of, so there is real reason to be excited for this one. Looking forward to peoples pc impressions in the meantime.

2023-03-09 18:44:29

Hi,
This is amazing, I will definitely be picking this up.
Do we know when the ps5 and xbox patches are coming?

2023-03-09 19:45:33

I really enjoy the game so far! Haven't gotten very far though. I'm struggling a bit with navigation as things seem to move from where they normally would be. Focus seems to change a lot. But I do enjoy it!

Heroes need foes to test them. Not all teachers can afford to be kind, and some lessons must be harsh.

2023-03-09 20:07:00

Sounds awesome! I'm definitely picking this up. Thanks @lirin and everyone else who may have been involved in bringing this together.

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2023-03-09 20:10:38

Nice, I just got my  Steam deck just a moment ago from fed ex, so will install this game on it when I get windows installed on it. 

And nice we got another game that works from steam so I can use the steam deck as my gameing device.  Now if we can get VG Games to port their games to the steam market and add controller support then we be all set.

2023-03-09 20:42:01

I don't know if I'll buy this game.
the main menu is not spoken and I do not know how to play the game with the keyboard and what are the keyboard controls?

2023-03-09 21:01:33

Nick. Press space on startup, and it explains the controls to you as you go.

Heroes need foes to test them. Not all teachers can afford to be kind, and some lessons must be harsh.

2023-03-09 21:15:55

Yeah, if you want to make a game accessible, menus must be spoken. Is there a release date for the Xbox version? Because if so, I can't wait.

2023-03-09 21:35:32

I did press space on startup and the keyboard controls do not speak so I can't tell what control does what so you'll have to post the keyboard controls since I'm blind and I cannot tell what it says because there is no ingame speech.

2023-03-09 21:42:19

First, it's 1.3 that accessibility is a thing. If you have an older version than that, it's not on the game, it's on you. And steam is the best platform for it anyway. If you're going to be a stubbornhead and go oh steam is blah blah blah, then it's on you again, just saying. They did specify clearly how to turn on accessibility along with the version it was implemented and available.

Why do ghost hunters have to hunt ghosts? Well, there's a fear of being ghosted out there. They may need therapy as well as their ghost hunting kit.

2023-03-09 21:49:07

Sorry, itch got updated just now.
False alarm.
Hey I just never cared for steam myself is all.

2023-03-09 22:08:53 (edited by arceus 2023-03-09 22:10:42)

hello,
my most sincere congratulations for this achievement! I  will buy this  asap. a developer who supports accessibility and comunities, be them small or large, gets a very very big w in my book. working to adapt your game and  make it inclusive is awesome. can not wait to play this!

"Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man's will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself."

2023-03-09 22:14:06

Yeah... I'm playing the game on steam and I'm pretty far into chapter 1 so... It works here.

Heroes need foes to test them. Not all teachers can afford to be kind, and some lessons must be harsh.

2023-03-09 22:35:05

This really sounds interesting. I will definitely pick this up on pc when i am able to. And congrats to this achievement.

2023-03-09 22:44:03

Well false alarm, that will teach me to download before breakfast.
Ok, so I have a few issues.
Would be better to ask the player what disability they have and turn the appropriate options on.
I am fully blind for example.
Next I'd like an option to change my tts voice please.
I mean microsoft david is nice and all but if I wanted to use my code factory voices for example I mean the game is fine as it is but still.
If I exit or quit the access options keep appearing in a loop.
Again not a big issue as I can alt f4 out of the game.
Next version patching.
I'd really like a way to patch the game with the latest version rather than downloading, extracting and transfering the entire 2 gb or so of game files.
Now granted I'll forget about the first one because I was a premature git at 6.30 but in the future, I'd like a way to patch the files that like need it, either via internal update or patch downloads to get updated to version x.
Now I realise on steam that just works but on gog and itch I need to download the entire game.
I like itch for what it is because no hassle etc.
However on the other side well.
Next why was the make demo actually in the game folder, there is a batch for that.
Next shrinking the game if I am a total, I do wander if there could be a version of the download without graphics, I mean I do enjoy the full experience for playing with friends but its a big thing with big files and so on.
Now I realise xbox games are bigger than this.

2023-03-09 23:13:55

loving it so far.

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