Audio game
Encyclopedia
An audio game is an electronic game
played on a device such as a personal computer
. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual.
Audio games originally started out as 'blind accessible'-games and were developed mostly by amateur
s and blind
programmer
s. But more and more people are showing interest in audio games, ranging from sound artists, game accessibility
researchers, mobile game developers
and mainstream video gamers. Most audio games run on a personal computer
platform, although there are a few audio games for handhelds and video game console
s. Audio games feature the same variety of genres as video games, such as adventure game
s, racing game
s, etc.
It was not until 1974 that Atari
released the first audio game, Touch Me
. Housed in an arcade cabinet
, Touch Me featured a series of lights which would flash with an acompanying tone. The player would reproduce the sequence by pressing a corresponding sequence of buttons and then the game would add another light/sound to the end of the growing sequence to continually test the player's eidetic memory in a Pelmanism-style
format. Although the game featured both a visual and an auditory component, the disconnect between the two enabled both the seeing and the visually impaired to equally enjoy the game.
Based on the popularity of Touch Me, in 1978 Milton Bradley
released a handheld audio game entitled Simon
at Studio 54
in New York City
. Whereas Touch Me had been in competition with other visual-centric arcade game
s and consequently remained only a minor success, the allure of a personal electronic game allowed Simon to capture a much greater share of the market. Simon became an immediate success eventually becoming a pop culture symbol of the 1980s.
In the decades following the release of Simon, numerous clones and variations were produced including Merlin
among others. Beginning in 1996, Milton Bradley
and a number of other producers released the handheld Bop It
which featured a similar concept of a growing series of commands designed to test eidetic memory. Other related games soon followed including Bop It Extreme (1998), Bop It-Extreme 2 (2002–2003), Zing-It, Top-It, and Loopz (2010)
Before graphical
operating system
s like Windows
, most home computer
s used text-based operating systems such as DOS
. Being text-based meant that they were relatively accessible to visually impaired users, requiring only the additional use of text-to-speech
(TTS) software. For the same reason, following the development of TTS software, text-based games such as early text-only works of interactive fiction
were also equally accessible to users with or without a visual impairment. Since the availability of such software was not commonly accessible until the inclusion of the MacInTalk program on Apple Computer
s in 1984, the library of games which became accessible to the vision impaired spanned everything from the earliest text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), to the comparatively advanced works of interactive fiction which had developed in the subsequent 8 years. Although the popularity of this genre has waned in the general market as video-centric games became the dominant form of electronic game, this library is still growing with the freeware
development by devoted enthusiasts of new interactive fiction titles each year.
Accessibility for the visually impaired began to change, some time prior to the advent of graphical operating systems as computers became powerful enough to support more video-centric games. This created a gap between electronic games for the seeing and games for the blind — a gap that has by now grown substantially. Due to a strong market bias in favor of the seeing, electronic games were primarily developed for this demographic. While seeing gamers could venture into 3D
gaming worlds in such video game titles as Myst
, Final Fantasy
and Doom, blind gamers were relegated to playing more mundane games such as Blackjack
, or Battleship
.
As video games flourished and became increasingly common, however, amateur game designers began to adapt video games for the blind via sound. In time audio game programmers began to develop audio-only games, based to a smaller and smaller degree on existing video game ideas and instead focussing on the possibilities of game immersion and feedback with sound.
Specifically, 3-dimensional positional audio (binaural recording
) has been developed since 2000 and now figures prominently in, for example, such audio games as BBBeat
. To effect this, a sound is played in the left, center, or right channel to indicate an object's position in a virtual gaming environment. Generally, this involves stereo panning of various sound effects, many of which are looped to serve as indicators of hazards or objects with which the user can interact. Volume also plays a major role in 3D audio games primarily to indicate an object's proximity with reference to the user. The pitch of a sound is often varied to convey other information about the object it symbolizes. Voice talent is used to indicate menu items rather than text. These parameters have allowed for the creation of, among other genres, side scrollers, 3D action adventures, shooters, and arcade style games.
users, however the game market at large is gradually taking more notice of audio games as well due to the issue of game accessibility
. Commercial interest in audio games has steadily grown and as a result artist
s and student
s have created a number of experimental freeware PC audio games to explore the possibilities and limitations of this gaming form. Recently, audio games have also become very interesting for the mobile gaming market since no screen is needed.
In the field of console-gaming, there has been very little in the way of audio-games. One notable exception has been the innovative incorporation of strong audio elements in several of the games produced by the Japanese video game company, WARP
. WARP (formerly EIM
) was founded by musician Kenji Eno
and consisted of a five-man team including first-time designer Fumito Ueda
. In 1997, WARP developed a game called Real Sound for the Sega Saturn
which was later ported to Dreamcast in 1999 and renamed . This game featured no visuals at all and was entirely dependent upon sound.
Discussing Real Sounds production, Eno has stated that "I got tired of[ CG graphics
] . I didn't want people to think that they could predict what Warp would do next. Also, I had a chance to visit people who are visually disabled, and I learned that there are blind people who play action game
s. Of course, they're not able to have the full experience, and they're kind of trying to force themselves to be able to play, but they're making the effort. So I thought that if you turn off the monitor
, both of you are just hearing the game. So after you finish the game, you can have an equal conversation about it with a blind person. That's an inspiration behind this game as well.
So Sega
was asking for exclusive right
s to the game, and I said, 'OK, if you'll donate a thousand Saturns
to blind people, then I'll donate a thousand [copies of the Real Sound] game[] along with the Saturns.' And my condition was that if Sega would go for this idea, I would make that game Sega exclusive. So, that's how this happened. It's been several years now, and of course the contract probably isn't valid anymore, but the reason that I haven't done anything with this game is that I made this promise with Sega back in the day, and it's exclusive because of those conditions."
Following the release of Real Sound, WARP again made use of a novel employment of audio elements in the Sega Saturn
game, Enemy Zero
(1997) where the enemies of the game are invisible and can only be detected through auditory clues. Further emphasis on the aural environment derived from the game's inclusion of a soundtrack created by minimalist musicologist, Michael Nyman
. Audio-specific elements used in gameplay have been recognized in WARP's D series
(including D
(1995) and D2 (2000), which both incorporate soundtracks created by Eno).
WARP stopped production of video games in 2000 and changed their name to Superwarp following a number of problems with video game producers, mixed reviews of the games, and markedly mediocre sales. As a result, WARP games have become quite rare and have gained cult status as they are increasingly sought after. Superwarp's work focussed on network services, DVD products, and online music until 2005 when the company, still under the direction of Kenji Eno, was renamed From Yellow to Orange
(commonly abbreviated as fyto). Eno has hinted at E3 2006 that fyto is currently engaged in production of a new video game title to be released for the Nintendo
Wii
.
Nintendo
, as part of its shift to alternative gameplay forms, has shown recent interest in audio games through its own development teams. In July 2006, Nintendo released a collection of audio games called Soundvoyager as the newest member of its spare Digiluxe series. The Digiluxe series for Game Boy Advance
consists of 7 games (in 2 series) that are characterized by simple yet compelling gameplay, minimal graphics, and the emphasis, in such titles as Soundvoyager and Dotstream, on music. Soundvoyager contains 7 audio games (Sound Slalom, Sound Picker, Sound Drive, Sound Cock
, Sound Chase, Sound Catcher, and Sound Cannon). While the Digiluxe series has been available in Japan since July 2006, Nintendo of America have yet to announce whether they will release the series in North America.
) software and steady improvements in the field have allowed full audio-conversion of traditionally video-based games. Such games were intended for use by and marketed to the seeing, however they do not actually rest primarily on the visual aspects of the game and so members of the audio game community have been able to convert them to audio games by using them in conjunction with TTS software. While this was originally only available for strictly text-based games like text adventures
and MUD
s, advances in TTS software have led to increased functionality with a diverse array of software types beyond text-only media allowing other works of interactive fiction as well as various simulator games to be enjoyed in a strictly audio environment.
Examples of such games include:
Electronic game
An electronic game is a game that employs electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. The most common form of electronic game today is the video game, and for this reason the terms are often mistakenly used synonymously. Other common forms of electronic game include...
played on a device such as a personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual.
Audio games originally started out as 'blind accessible'-games and were developed mostly by amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
s and blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s. But more and more people are showing interest in audio games, ranging from sound artists, game accessibility
Game accessibility
Within the field of human-computer interaction, game accessibility refers to the accessibility of video games. Game accessibility is considered a subfield of computer accessibility, which studies how software and computers can be made accessibility to users with various types of impairments.With an...
researchers, mobile game developers
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
and mainstream video gamers. Most audio games run on a personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
platform, although there are a few audio games for handhelds and video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s. Audio games feature the same variety of genres as video games, such as adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
s, racing game
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
s, etc.
Audio game history
The term "electronic game" is commonly understood as a synonym for the narrower concept of the "video game." This is understandable as both electronic games and video games have developed in parallel and the game market has always had a strong bias toward the visual. The first electronic game, in fact, is often cited to be Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device (1947) a decidedly visual game. Despite the difficulties in creating a visual component to early electronic games imposed by crude graphics, small view-screens, and power consumption, video games remained the primary focus of the early electronic game market.Arcade and one-off handheld audio games - the early years
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
released the first audio game, Touch Me
Touch Me (arcade game)
Touch Me is an arcade game first released by Atari Inc. in 1974, and later as a handheld game in 1978. It can be described as a Simon-like game that involves touching a series of buttons that light up and produce sounds. The player must observe a sequence of blinking lights and repeat the...
. Housed in an arcade cabinet
Arcade cabinet
A video game arcade cabinet, also known as a video arcade machine or video coin-op, is the housing within which a video arcade game's hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the JAMMA wiring standard...
, Touch Me featured a series of lights which would flash with an acompanying tone. The player would reproduce the sequence by pressing a corresponding sequence of buttons and then the game would add another light/sound to the end of the growing sequence to continually test the player's eidetic memory in a Pelmanism-style
Concentration (game)
Concentration, also known as Memory, Pelmanism, Shinkei-suijaku, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards...
format. Although the game featured both a visual and an auditory component, the disconnect between the two enabled both the seeing and the visually impaired to equally enjoy the game.
Based on the popularity of Touch Me, in 1978 Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
released a handheld audio game entitled Simon
Simon (game)
Simon is an electronic game of memory skill invented by Ralph H. Baer and Howard J. Morrison, with the software programming being done by Lenny Cope and manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley. Simon was launched in 1978 at Studio 54 in New York City and became an immediate success. It...
at Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Whereas Touch Me had been in competition with other visual-centric arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s and consequently remained only a minor success, the allure of a personal electronic game allowed Simon to capture a much greater share of the market. Simon became an immediate success eventually becoming a pop culture symbol of the 1980s.
In the decades following the release of Simon, numerous clones and variations were produced including Merlin
Merlin (game)
----Merlin was a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s...
among others. Beginning in 1996, Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
and a number of other producers released the handheld Bop It
Bop It
Bop It toys are a line of audio games based on concepts originally patented by Dan Klitsner. Bop It was licensed to Hasbro and further developed there by a number of designers including Bob Welch....
which featured a similar concept of a growing series of commands designed to test eidetic memory. Other related games soon followed including Bop It Extreme (1998), Bop It-Extreme 2 (2002–2003), Zing-It, Top-It, and Loopz (2010)
TTS software and the PC - the second wave
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s like Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, most home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s used text-based operating systems such as DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
. Being text-based meant that they were relatively accessible to visually impaired users, requiring only the additional use of text-to-speech
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
(TTS) software. For the same reason, following the development of TTS software, text-based games such as early text-only works of interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
were also equally accessible to users with or without a visual impairment. Since the availability of such software was not commonly accessible until the inclusion of the MacInTalk program on Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
s in 1984, the library of games which became accessible to the vision impaired spanned everything from the earliest text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), to the comparatively advanced works of interactive fiction which had developed in the subsequent 8 years. Although the popularity of this genre has waned in the general market as video-centric games became the dominant form of electronic game, this library is still growing with the freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
development by devoted enthusiasts of new interactive fiction titles each year.
Accessibility for the visually impaired began to change, some time prior to the advent of graphical operating systems as computers became powerful enough to support more video-centric games. This created a gap between electronic games for the seeing and games for the blind — a gap that has by now grown substantially. Due to a strong market bias in favor of the seeing, electronic games were primarily developed for this demographic. While seeing gamers could venture into 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
gaming worlds in such video game titles as Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
, Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
and Doom, blind gamers were relegated to playing more mundane games such as Blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
, or Battleship
Battleship (game)
The game Battleship is a guessing game played by two people. It is known throughout the world as a pencil and paper game which predates World War I. It was published by Milton Bradley Company in 1931 as the pad-and-pencil game "Broadsides, the Game of Naval Strategy".-Description:The game is...
.
As video games flourished and became increasingly common, however, amateur game designers began to adapt video games for the blind via sound. In time audio game programmers began to develop audio-only games, based to a smaller and smaller degree on existing video game ideas and instead focussing on the possibilities of game immersion and feedback with sound.
Specifically, 3-dimensional positional audio (binaural recording
Binaural recording
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments. This effect is often created using a technique known as "Dummy head...
) has been developed since 2000 and now figures prominently in, for example, such audio games as BBBeat
BBBeat
BBBeat is an audio game designed for the visually impaired. As such it has no video display. The player wears a pair of headphones and must use sound to locate a bee and then swat it. Sensors attached to the wrist indicate whether or not the "bee" was swatted. The game was developed by Makato...
. To effect this, a sound is played in the left, center, or right channel to indicate an object's position in a virtual gaming environment. Generally, this involves stereo panning of various sound effects, many of which are looped to serve as indicators of hazards or objects with which the user can interact. Volume also plays a major role in 3D audio games primarily to indicate an object's proximity with reference to the user. The pitch of a sound is often varied to convey other information about the object it symbolizes. Voice talent is used to indicate menu items rather than text. These parameters have allowed for the creation of, among other genres, side scrollers, 3D action adventures, shooters, and arcade style games.
Console audio games and the modern era
Most audio games are now developed by several small companies (consisting of only a team of 1 to 4 people). The main audience remains primarily visually impairedBlindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
users, however the game market at large is gradually taking more notice of audio games as well due to the issue of game accessibility
Game accessibility
Within the field of human-computer interaction, game accessibility refers to the accessibility of video games. Game accessibility is considered a subfield of computer accessibility, which studies how software and computers can be made accessibility to users with various types of impairments.With an...
. Commercial interest in audio games has steadily grown and as a result artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s and student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s have created a number of experimental freeware PC audio games to explore the possibilities and limitations of this gaming form. Recently, audio games have also become very interesting for the mobile gaming market since no screen is needed.
Superwarp
WARP is a now-defunct video game developer. Founded by Japanese musician, Kenji Eno, WARP was composed of five members and was dedicated to creating interactive cinema. Their most successful series of games, the D series, featured the same lead character, Laura, and were known for their musical...
. WARP (formerly EIM
EIM (video game developer)
was a Japanese game development company established in 1989 by programmer/musician Kenji Eno, who later started WARP and fyto.-Games:*Casino Kid 2 *Juuouki...
) was founded by musician Kenji Eno
Kenji Eno
is a musician and video game designer based in Japan. He is best-known for his cult survival horror series, the D games and his audio game series, Real Sound.-Childhood and early years:...
and consisted of a five-man team including first-time designer Fumito Ueda
Fumito Ueda
is a video game designer born in Tatsuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan in 1970. Ueda is director and lead designer of the PlayStation 2 video games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus....
. In 1997, WARP developed a game called Real Sound for the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
which was later ported to Dreamcast in 1999 and renamed . This game featured no visuals at all and was entirely dependent upon sound.
Discussing Real Sounds production, Eno has stated that "I got tired of
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
s. Of course, they're not able to have the full experience, and they're kind of trying to force themselves to be able to play, but they're making the effort. So I thought that if you turn off the monitor
Video monitor
A video monitor also called a broadcast monitor, broadcast reference monitor or just reference monitor, is a display device similar to a television set, used to monitor the output of a video-generating device, such as playout from a video server, IRD, video camera, VCR, or DVD player. It may or...
, both of you are just hearing the game. So after you finish the game, you can have an equal conversation about it with a blind person. That's an inspiration behind this game as well.
So Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
was asking for exclusive right
Exclusive right
In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto, non-tangible prerogative existing in law to perform an action or acquire a benefit and to permit or deny others the right to perform the same action or to acquire the same benefit. A "prerogative" is in effect an exclusive right...
s to the game, and I said, 'OK, if you'll donate a thousand Saturns
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
to blind people, then I'll donate a thousand [copies of the Real Sound] game[] along with the Saturns.' And my condition was that if Sega would go for this idea, I would make that game Sega exclusive. So, that's how this happened. It's been several years now, and of course the contract probably isn't valid anymore, but the reason that I haven't done anything with this game is that I made this promise with Sega back in the day, and it's exclusive because of those conditions."
Following the release of Real Sound, WARP again made use of a novel employment of audio elements in the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
game, Enemy Zero
Enemy Zero
is a 1997 video game for Sega Saturn, developed by WARP and directed by Kenji Eno. After its Saturn release, it was ported to Microsoft Windows. It was the second game to star the digital actress Laura.-Gameplay:...
(1997) where the enemies of the game are invisible and can only be detected through auditory clues. Further emphasis on the aural environment derived from the game's inclusion of a soundtrack created by minimalist musicologist, Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
. Audio-specific elements used in gameplay have been recognized in WARP's D series
D (series)
D is a series of video games that follow the events of "digital actress" Laura and were published by now-defunct WARP. Officially, the series includes 1995's D and 1999's D2, though 1996's Enemy Zero is considered part of the series...
(including D
D (video game)
is a survival horror puzzle-oriented adventure game released in 1995 by WARP. The first entry in the D series and one of the first games released by the company, it dealt with taboo content such as violence and cannibalism, featured 3D CGI full-motion video and a first-person perspective, and...
(1995) and D2 (2000), which both incorporate soundtracks created by Eno).
WARP stopped production of video games in 2000 and changed their name to Superwarp following a number of problems with video game producers, mixed reviews of the games, and markedly mediocre sales. As a result, WARP games have become quite rare and have gained cult status as they are increasingly sought after. Superwarp's work focussed on network services, DVD products, and online music until 2005 when the company, still under the direction of Kenji Eno, was renamed From Yellow to Orange
From Yellow to Orange
From Yellow to Orange, or fyto, is a Japanese video game developer. Kenji Eno, of D2 fame, is its president and CEO. When Gamasutra met with Eno at E3 2006, he revealed that he was working on a game for a next generation title for a console with a new control device. The game, entitled Kimi to Boku...
(commonly abbreviated as fyto). Eno has hinted at E3 2006 that fyto is currently engaged in production of a new video game title to be released for the Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
.
Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, as part of its shift to alternative gameplay forms, has shown recent interest in audio games through its own development teams. In July 2006, Nintendo released a collection of audio games called Soundvoyager as the newest member of its spare Digiluxe series. The Digiluxe series for Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
consists of 7 games (in 2 series) that are characterized by simple yet compelling gameplay, minimal graphics, and the emphasis, in such titles as Soundvoyager and Dotstream, on music. Soundvoyager contains 7 audio games (Sound Slalom, Sound Picker, Sound Drive, Sound Cock
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
, Sound Chase, Sound Catcher, and Sound Cannon). While the Digiluxe series has been available in Japan since July 2006, Nintendo of America have yet to announce whether they will release the series in North America.
TTS-enabling video games
The rise of text-to-speech (TTSSpeech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
) software and steady improvements in the field have allowed full audio-conversion of traditionally video-based games. Such games were intended for use by and marketed to the seeing, however they do not actually rest primarily on the visual aspects of the game and so members of the audio game community have been able to convert them to audio games by using them in conjunction with TTS software. While this was originally only available for strictly text-based games like text adventures
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
and MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s, advances in TTS software have led to increased functionality with a diverse array of software types beyond text-only media allowing other works of interactive fiction as well as various simulator games to be enjoyed in a strictly audio environment.
Examples of such games include:
- HattrickHattrickHattrick is an online, browser-based, football management game developed in Sweden. Currently the game contains 128 different countries, each with its own league pyramid, and 51 different language versions...
- (Extralives AB, 1997) - OGameOGameOGame is a text-based, resource-management and space-war themed massively multiplayer online browser game with over two million accounts. OGame was created in 2000 and is produced and maintained by Bioware.. OGame is available in multiple languages, and different nationalities have their own...
- (Gameforge, 2002) - Jennifer Government: NationStatesJennifer Government: NationStatesJennifer Government: NationStates is a multiplayer nation simulation browser game. It was created by Max Barry and was publicly released on 13 November 2002, based loosely on his novel Jennifer Government. The game has hosted over 3 million nations...
- (Max BarryMax BarryMax Barry is a contemporary Australian author. He also maintains a blog on various topics, including writing, marketing and politics...
, 2002)
See also
- Binaural recordingBinaural recordingBinaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments. This effect is often created using a technique known as "Dummy head...
- Dummy head recordingDummy head recordingIn acoustics, dummy head recording is a method used to make binaural recordings, that allow a listener wearing headphones to perceive the directionality and the room acoustics of single or multiple sources.Human perception of the direction of a sound source is complex, and consists of:#Simple...
- HolophonicsHolophonicsHolophonics is a binaural recording system created by Hugo Zuccarelli that is claimed to be based on the claim that the auditory system acts as an interferometer. The sound characteristics of Holophonics are most clearly heard through headphones, though can be demonstrated to be effective with 2...
- Interactive fictionInteractive fictionInteractive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
- List of gaming topics
- Music video gameMusic video gameA music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
- Video game genres
- Video game music
External links
- Game Accessibility Project, website of the Game Accessibility project
- PCS Accessible Game developers List, a big list of blind accessible games and audio games
- IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, working to make mainstream games accessible for all disability groups
- AudioGames.net, community website for audio gamers featuring a game database and a forum
- AudioGames resources, audio game resources and articles
- Accessible Gaming Rending Independence Possible (AGRIP), home of Audio Quake - a project designed to make Quake accessible for visually impaired individuals
- The Virtual Barbershop, a demonstration of multiple binaural sound effects. (NOTE: This is intended for use with stereo headphones)
- Audio only menus, Some recommendations for the design of audio only menus for audio games.