Mission: Extremely Difficult - Elite for the Blind
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:50 pm
I've been asked for something that might very well be impossible to achieve. This goes a bit beyond even the crazier projects I've been involved with.
Basically, the challenge I've been given is this: to determine if it is possible to develop an add-on for Oolite that would allow someone who is blind to be able to play effectively.
This requires two distinct things. Firstly, when on a space station (or any other dockable platform), all text would need to be spoken. Not a major problem. That's what Festival is for. But that's the trivial part.
The hard part is the space flight itself. Here, the scanner must not only generate a visual indication of where everything is, it must also generate an audible indication.
A "ping" sound would be a possibility, where the stereo position gives you the angle along the X/Y plane; the pitch of the sound gives you the angle along the Y/Z plane; and finally the volume gives you the distance.
Each target would generate one ping, and it would be up to the player to figure out which ping related to which target. Vastly more complex than the existing method, but derived from games that already exist for the visually impaired. What has worked will presumably continue working. A better method can always be figured out later.
I'm not saying it's the best way to do things, and it may well be that there's a better expansion module that already exists for Oolite that I'm not aware of. (If so, then as far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved in negative time.)
Thoughts/suggestions/recommendations for meds would be helpful.
Basically, the challenge I've been given is this: to determine if it is possible to develop an add-on for Oolite that would allow someone who is blind to be able to play effectively.
This requires two distinct things. Firstly, when on a space station (or any other dockable platform), all text would need to be spoken. Not a major problem. That's what Festival is for. But that's the trivial part.
The hard part is the space flight itself. Here, the scanner must not only generate a visual indication of where everything is, it must also generate an audible indication.
A "ping" sound would be a possibility, where the stereo position gives you the angle along the X/Y plane; the pitch of the sound gives you the angle along the Y/Z plane; and finally the volume gives you the distance.
Each target would generate one ping, and it would be up to the player to figure out which ping related to which target. Vastly more complex than the existing method, but derived from games that already exist for the visually impaired. What has worked will presumably continue working. A better method can always be figured out later.
I'm not saying it's the best way to do things, and it may well be that there's a better expansion module that already exists for Oolite that I'm not aware of. (If so, then as far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved in negative time.)
Thoughts/suggestions/recommendations for meds would be helpful.
