WidowPC Gaming Computers - Computer Games for the Blind
Gamers are amazing people and are always surprising us. However, when I heard
about a company that makes computer games especially for blind and visually-impaired
people it really blew me away. At first, I thought it was a joke website because
I couldn't help thinking "how can it be possible for a blind person to play
a computer game?"
BSC Games, a
sub-division of blindsoftware.com LLC,
specializes in creating accessible computer games for the blind or visually
impaired. The games are created using the latest Microsoft DirectX technologies. "This technology makes our games top quality entertainment and allows us to
offer extremely competitive pricing," says BSC Games owner and operator
Justin Daubenmire, who is himself blind.
 As
owner and operator of BSC
Games, Daubenmire oversees all the work of the company�s dedicated
programmers, sound engineers, content writers, sales support, technical support,
technical writers, marketing, and beta testers�all of whom are blind.
Daubenmire has been developing software products for 7 years and brings an array
of programming experience to the visually impaired population. It is his deep
respect and personal identification with this community that fuels his desire to
bring games to the visually
impaired.
Daubenmire creates the exact types of games sighted gaming enthusiasts play�with
one exception: no graphics. "Not only does this cut back substantially on
development, but it forces us to be more creative with audio imagery. In other
words, we have only sounds at our fingertips to paint all the scenes of the
games in the mind of the blind gamer. If you think of it, next time you are
playing a game, close your eyes and just listen to the sounds. That is what we
do for our customers. We create audio
games with vivid sound imagery," he says with obvious passion for his
work.
Currently the company is developing a new first-person shooter game called
"The Void." The Void is centered on a star base station that is
completely overtaken by a mysterious and deadly alien race. In The Void,
the player is a military marine sent to the base to find out what has happened
since headquarters lost all communications with the base. The Void will
be a complete 3D surround sound FPS.
Says Daubenmire, "The Void will be something along the lines of Alien
vs. Predator minus the graphics. I�m sure that must be mind boggling to a
sighted gamer who is probably asking, 'how?'"
"Let me explain," he says with a knowing smile and a twinkle in his
unseeing eyes as he begins. "You�re sitting in front of your gaming
computer, a P4 with an Audigy 2 sound card, a Logitech surround sound
system, the gamepad
in hand, and your eyes closed�almost like sitting in a dark movie theater as
an eerie intro starts to a scary movie. You are walking down a long hall in
search of the elevator�you hear your own footsteps as sinister music plays
faintly somewhere in the background. You find yourself sitting on the edge of
your chair. You hear your footsteps begin to echo out of the speakers,
indicating a crossroad. You turn left and keep walking slowly, and listening,
with your attack rifle in hand. You hit the letter "H" for a report on
your current health status and the computerized voice says "35%". You
hit the letter "A" to hear how much ammo you have remaining and the
computerized voice speaks "9.""
"As you walk down the corridor," he continues and you realize you
are holding your breath. "You hear the various ambient sounds such as an
occasional water drip, buzz from electricity, and a hint of a hiss. You feel
like something or someone is stalking you. With your heart starting to race with
anticipation, you hit the letter "M" to turn on the infrared motion
detector and begin to pick up pings. They are getting louder and increasing in
speed. After all, why not, you are heading towards the elevator. By now, you
KNOW you are being stalked. You hit the letter "I" to pull up
inventory and hear a computerized�almost �star trek�-like voice�report
your inventory. You down-arrow through the inventory: flame thrower, grenades,
pulse rifle, and so on. Next, you up-arrow to your favorite weapon, the flame
thrower, and press "Enter." You hear the flame thrower activate via a
small �poof� sound and the hum of a subtle flame ready to rip through
whatever It is that�s stalking you. What direction, you ask yourself, what
direction?. The motion detector is bouncing off the board with activity, and
just then you hear the most devilish growl out your back 2 Logitech surround
sound speakers. Yikes! It�s behind you! You hold down the right directional
pad on your gamepad, pan the Void behind you, to the left of you, to the front
of you, locking in on it just as you hear it�s claws come out and begin to
swipe at you. Seconds prior to its claws ripping out your guts, you activate
your flame thrower by hitting the weapon button on your gamepad. You hear the
Void scream, you take notice of the splat of guts, and your player is saying
"time to meet your maker!" You then hear the thud of the Void as it
hits the ground dead. You walk a few steps closer to the corpse being guided by
the acidic bubbles and gurgles that you can hear from the corpse. Once close
enough, you hit the letter "S" to scan the corpse for any inventory.
The computerized voice says "zaftar rifle," a Void weapon. You hit
"Enter" to add the zaftar to your inventory and hear a click
indicating the item was taken."
"Imagine, all this with no graphics, only sound imagery. It�s really
like making an audio movie and that�s what we do best," he finishes
proudly.
Currently, BSC Games
offers three arcade games, several educational games, and several freeware
games. In 2004, The Void will be the company�s first FPS larger-scaled game.
However, BSC Games isn�t
stopping there. Daubenmire states, "My customers always want more from me.
They hear their sighted friends playing online games and want that experience.
My company is finally at a place where we too can tap into the available
technology and bring it to the blind community. This is very exciting to me. It
will stretch me, but all of us at BSC Games are up for the challenge. Our first
online multiplayer game will be called CastleQuest and it is based on a medieval
genre. We�re hoping to roll it out in mid to late 2005. It will be the real
deal: monthly subscriptions, chatting, guilds�the whole works. We�ve been
working on CastleQuest for about 9 months now and are gaining ground and
learning as we go. You can stay up-to-date on the game�s progress at www.castle-quest.com."
BSC Games is located in the United States but has a worldwide presence with
customers in Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Czech
Republic, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Australia, United States, Singapore, and
Brazil.
For more information on BSC
Games, visit the company's website at www.BscGames.com
or phone the sales office at 559-224-2436 Mon-Fri 9 AM to 5 PM PST or reach them
via email at sales@BSCGames.com.
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