[games_access] Deaf-Blind Computer Games: Braille or Morse - food for thought

Sun Sep 21 13:07:12 EDT 2014

On the catch the car idea... You could maybe use a warmer/colder method of
finding the car using Aliens type motion trackers and adjusting the
rapidity of the buzzes the person feels. Maybe you move once. The car moves
once as a variation.

Puts me in mind of customised R/C cars with Electro Luminescent wire
wrapped around them to light the whole car up:
http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/1/tumbler-tron.htm in a dark room (without
things to bash into ideally).

So if they have a tiny bit of sight, the person has a chance of seeing the
car. You could try a reflective helium balloon and shining a torch on the
balloon too.

Barrie

On 17 September 2014 18:47, Richard David Gordon Hayden <rdghayden at gmail.com
> wrote:

> If I was personally working with a blind person wanting to have more stuff
> to do, and they were inquisitive about programming, games, interesting
> stuff, I would teach arduino and robots. I just built a feisty little car
> that could provide a fun "reality meets gaming" So, let's say the blind
> child starts with a noisy (from the motors) little motorized car that likes
> to jerk around (making it hard to catch) but is in a loop where it slows
> down and can be caught. When the child is older and actually programming,
> the game could increase to include raised contained platforms, narrow
> enough to make grabbing a malfunctioning robot from the playing field.
> There could be audible pings from the front of the cars to give an angle of
> direction. There would be a sensor that would be in the back that would
> have to be protected. This could only be triggered if another player
> "snuck" up behind player and crashed into back of the car. Each car would
> have a different beeping sound, so each player could detect his own car.
> If integration of blind children with other children, the game could be
> adapted into a team concept, where there was a degree of protection
> involved, the blind child's car would "be the flag" and team work would be
> taught, and the ability to recognize we all have differences, inabilities,
> and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. I am building a new keyboard that
> would be a good controller for this device, and actually built the car
> robot two days ago, and it is feisty and noisy! It reminds me of r2d2.  If
> you guys think we can get me kickstarter funded lol i could build all kinds
> of interactive "real world + computer " games, one a day!  =)
>
> On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 7:08 AM, Barrie Ellis <
> barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for that info. Potentially very cool. Seems a good fit with this
>> kind of stuff too:
>> http://switchgaming.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tangible-media-deaf-blind-gaming.html
>>  and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZplTj8th0bE
>>
>> It had me wondering if anyone plays a game in binary one-switch style.
>> Morse input, and morse output. Would be fascinating to find out.
>>
>> I dropped Sense a line too prior to your message. They'll get two in one
>> day. I wonder what they'll make of it. :)
>>
>> Barrie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 17 September 2014 14:32, Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> One that I know of that has been designed with that in mind is
>>> sightlence:
>>>
>>> http://sightlence.com/
>>>
>>> That has been played by profoundly deaf-blind adults and children . The
>>> adults he tested with had never played a game before, I don't know whether
>>> the children had. I'm not sure if Mathias Nordvall is on the mailing
>>> list or not but he'd be able to give some more information.
>>>
>>> If anyone reading isn't familiar with what Barrie means by braille
>>> output, this what braille displays look like:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.blinksoftinc.com/Products/Refreshable-Braille/Brailliant_in_use.jpg
>>>
>>> There is a game that has been made specifically for braille displays, a
>>> version of Tetris where you can feel the objects moving down the display:
>>>
>>> http://www.audiogames.net/db.php?action=view&id=Dotris
>>>
>>> Braille displays work with screenreaders, the text is just output to the
>>> pins instead of to speech synthesis. But reading speed is far slower than
>>> audio screenreaders. So there are a fair few screenreader compatible games
>>> that are suitable for people who are deafblind, but anything involving
>>> dynamic notifications etc is probably out.
>>>
>>> As far as how many people with very little vision/hearing actually do
>>> that or not I don't know, I've dropped Sense a line though, they should
>>> have an idea.
>>>
>>> Ian
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:14:05 +0100
>>> From: barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk
>>> To: games_access at igda.org
>>> Subject: [games_access] Deaf-Blind Computer Games: Braille or Morse -
>>> food for thought
>>>
>>>
>>> Does anyone out there have any knowledge of any deaf-blind computer
>>> games that exist and/or methods to play?
>>>
>>> I'm aware of Morse Code based data-entry systems for switch / sip-puff
>>> users. I'm aware of modern day braille output for computers. I've heard of
>>> Morse buzzers so people can feel messages coming through.
>>>
>>> I'm not aware of any examples of people actually playing computer games
>>> who are deaf-blind (I'm thinking almost no sight, and almost no hearing).
>>>
>>> It seems text based adventure games would be quite possible. But do
>>> people actually do this.
>>>
>>> It seems grid based games that are tactile could be played over the
>>> internet, using braille+keyboard or morse entry and morse buzzer...
>>> Probably lots of other methods too.... Things like whack-a-mole seem
>>> plausible.
>>>
>>> You could even have hybrid action + text games (obvious survival horror
>>> thought.... describe an environment.... you can hear foot-steps.....
>>> prepare to defend yourself...... - then recreate the foot steps in gentle
>>> buzzes that get a bit louder... when you hear a panic buzz - mash your
>>> button to fend off the attacker)... then go back to text description and
>>> maybe an interface as simple as one tap for yes, two taps for no or braille
>>> for yes/no. Here's some weird-stuff slightly related:
>>> http://www.enigmaresearchgroup.com/article023.htm
>>>
>>> Being less obvious, you could recreate anything in a text adventure with
>>> action / randomising elements, a bit like Regret of the Wind for
>>> Dreamcast/Saturn.
>>>
>>> Any idea if any of this has ever taken place/takes place today?
>>>
>>> Seems like a logical progression for some of Eelke's V.I. work, maybe?
>>> Maybe with hybrid display for those who have partial sight (and could aid
>>> in the learning of braille / morse)....
>>>
>>> Barrie
>>>
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>>
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