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Huddersfield student develops game for the blind
Ed Fear May 7 2008, 2:24pm
Comments (5)
XNA-based game uses sound to portray game elements
A final-year student on the University of Huddersfield's Computer Games Programming course has developed an XNA-based game for the blind.
22 year-old Craig Burgess (pictured left) made the game after considering the impact that disabilities have to interacting with games, and picked blindness because games are a massively visual medium.
The game uses pitch and volume of sounds to portray oncoming enemies in a game resembling Atari classic Tempest, and also features graphics to aid partially-sighted players.
“My hopes for the game are really quite big – I think over the last couple of months it has moved from being my dissertation project to thinking about how it could be implemented into the mainstream gaming community," said Burgess.
"One of the ideas we had was to use an iPod as a means of playing it. So I'm not really sure what the future holds, but I'd certainly like to see it being played by a lot more people.”
Duke Gledhill, senior lecturer in Informatics at Huddersfield's School of Computing and Engineering, said: “I think just the fact that Craig is approaching this subject matter is unique. There is an online forum for blind gamers, but nobody really concentrates on making comprehensive games that can actually rely on audio alone. I look forward to seeing how the game will develop in the future.”
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Comments
“Game for the blind.”
Posted by: Claire OPM Response - May 8, 11:18am
That is great, well done Craig it is fantastic when Programmers look outside the box!!
This look like a great idea that could be big keep up the good work... ;]
“Re: Game for the blind.”
Posted by: Willem - May 8, 12:29pm
Good job.
“Double strike”
Posted by: Henrique Olifiers - Jagex Ltd. - May 8, 2:31pm
Very well done, Craig. I'm eager to see it moving from XNA into the iPod soon, this is a brilliant idea that strikes two scores at once: help widen the game media for the blind and might open a whole new genre for audio devices.
“Re: Double strike”
Posted by: Martin - May 8, 10:51pm
Great Idea at first...but.... blind people cannot use the Ipod... or any other device that uses touchscreen :)
“Re: Double strike”
Posted by: Thomas Hawkins - 2 hours 45 minutes ago
Mr Burgess - this is a fantastic idea. I cannot wait to see how it grows in the future.
Good luck and see you soon!!!
Thom