Audyssey; Computer Games Accessible to the Blind Edited by Michael Feir Issue 16: January/February, 1999 ++ Welcome Welcome to the sixteenth issue of Audyssey. This magazine is dedicated to the discussion of games which, through accident or design, are accessible to the blind. This issue contains Kelly Sapurgia's discussion of music in games. It also covers two of the latest developments in interactive fiction. Please write articles and letters about games or game-related topics which interest you. They will likely interest me, and your fellow readers. They will also make my job as editor a lot more interesting and true to the meaning of the word. This magazine should and can be a highly interesting and qualitative look at accessible computer gaming. To insure that high quality is maintained, I'll need your written contributions. I'm not asking for money here, and won't accept any. This magazine is free in its electronic form, and will always remain so. PCS needs to charge a subscription cost to cover the disks and shipping costs that it incurs by making the magazine available on disk. I'm maintaining this magazine as much for my own interest as for everyone else's. Your articles, reviews, and letters, as well as any games you might care to send me, are what I'm after. Send any games, articles, letters, or reviews on a 3.5-inch disk in a self-addressed mailer so that I can return your disk or disks to you once I have copied their contents onto my hard drive. Please only send shareware or freeware games. It is illegal to send commercial games. By sending me games, you will do several things: first, and most obviously, you will earn my gratitude. You will also insure that the games you send me are made available to my readership as a whole. As a further incentive, I will fill any disks you send me with games from my collection. No disk will be returned empty. If you want specific games, or specific types of games, send a message in Ascii format along. *Never* *ever* send your original disks of *anything* to *anyone* through the mail. *Always* send *copies!* This principle may seem like it shouldn't even have to be stated, but when it comes to just about anything related to computers, there's always some poor soul who will act before applying common sense. Disks are *not* indestructible. Things *do* get lost or damaged in the mail, and disks are not immune to these misfortunes. If you have a particular game that you need help with, and you are sending your questions on a disk anyhow, include the game so that I can try and get past your difficulty. If you can, I recommend that you send e-mail. I have acquired a copy of the Uuencode software, and can send and/or receive files which are encoded via this means. This way, no money will be wasted sending me a game I already have, and you'll get my reply more quickly. You are responsible for shipping costs. That means, either use a disk mailer which has your address on it, and is either free matter for the blind, or is properly stamped. I can and will gladly spare time to share games and my knowledge of them, but cannot currently spare money above what I spend hunting for new games. I encourage all my readers to give my magazine to whoever they think will appreciate it. Up-load it onto web pages and bulletin board systems. Copy it on disk for people, or print it out for sighted people who may find it of value. The larger our community gets, the more self- sustaining it will become. This magazine is published on a bi-monthly basis, each issue appearing no earlier than the twentieth of every other month. All submissions must be sent to me in standard Ascii format either on a 3.5-inch floppy disk, or via e-mail to my Compuserve address. I will give my home address and my Compuserve address at the end of the magazine. There are now several ways of obtaining Audyssey. To subscribe to the distribution list so that you receive all future issues, send a subscription request to J.J. Meddaugh. As he is running several lists, be sure to specifically ask to join the Audyssey list. His address has changed to: jj@bestmidi.com Travis Siegel has set up a list to facilitate discussions among readers between issues. To subscribe to this discussion list, send a message to listserv@softcon.com with "subscribe audyssey" in the body of the message. To post to the discussion list, send your messages to: audyssey@softcon.com You can find all issues of Audyssey on the Internet on Paul Henrichsen's web site at: www.thesocket.com/~henrich All issues are also available in the disability forum on Compuserve. If you have web access, Audyssey now has an official web-page, maintained by Igor Gueths at: http://pages.prodigy.net/igueths Besides having all issues of Audyssey available for down-load, six megabytes of storage space are available for popular games. If you have ftp access, all issues are also available at Travis Siegel's ftp site: ftp.softcon.com Look in the /magazines directory. For those of you who have trouble finding some of the software discussed in this magazine, or if you know someone who doesn't have access to the Internet, but would be interested in the magazine, this magazine is now available on disk. PCS has agreed to distribute Audyssey, as well as selected shareware or freeware software on disk for ten dollars US per year. To subscribe to Audyssey on disk, contact them at: Personal Computer Systems 551 Compton Ave. Perth Amboy N.J. 08861 Phone (732)-826-1917 E-mail: pvlasak@monmouth.com ++ Contents: Welcome Contents From The Editor Letters The Gift of oration The Latest Finds Music in Games For the Blind News From PCS Anchorhead Opinions Game Reviews Contacting Us ++ From The Editor: Welcome to 1999, everyone. We've had quite an exciting start to the last year of the millennium. Several new games have been made, and a few older ones have been discovered. I think you'll all enjoy this issue, packed as it is with insight. One major concern I have is that without the exceptional contributions of Kelly Sapergia and Justin Fegel, this issue would not have been made. I received almost no letters since the Holiday issue was released. What's happened to everyone? The discussion list created by Mr. Siegel has been dormant for far too long. If Audyssey is to survive, we need to see more discussion and interaction between readers. It is a mistake to think that because there is a staff, we no longer need your participation. Staff contributions are supposed to stimulate discussion and further contributions from the rest of you. PCS reports that they aren't getting many requests for Audyssey on disk. I can only hope that this indicates that more people have Internet access. I'm somewhat concerned that the interest in computer games is dropping off for some reason. Or, is it the magazine which you find not worth your participation? I don't want Audyssey to merely keep you informed of the latest developments. I'm doing this to promote discussion and interest in computer games accessible to the blind. The more active and large our community becomes, the more attention Developers will pay to it. David Dite's latest release of A Bear's Night Out mentions that the game was recommended as a gift for blind children. This is the kind of effect we need to have. Work is being done on Internet- based accessible games at a certain university. If games are actually completed by the students involved, I'd hope that the Audyssey community would be interested in testing them out and providing some feedback. In producing this issue, I've had to use up all of the surplus material remaining. Adam, The Immortal Gamer, has yet to re-appear. If more of you start writing in your thoughts, opinions, reviews, and articles, I'll be able to concentrate on making episodes for future issues. I'll also spend more time reacting to your input and not scouring the Internet to gain enough news and insights to make an issue worth publishing. Timeliness is another subject of note here. I'm publishing this issue on March the second. Part of the reason for the lateness of this issue was that much of the material arrived well past the twentieth of February. I was ill for around four days, and didn't get much of anything done during that time. If we can sustain a discussion, material will emerge from it that I can publish in Audyssey. Without this flow of material, I don't have time to finish other projects since my efforts are directed mainly to looking for a job and to Audyssey. Full-time employment is not easy to come by these days. I'm working part-time at MSC, editing their newsletter which you'll likely receive shortly if you get Audyssey via E-mail. I am designing two games for PCS, and the less I have to do for Audyssey, the faster I can finish work on those. Well, now you know the state of things at the start of the last year of the millennium. I can only hope that you'll respond more than in the preceding two months. Remember that any journey is only worth taking if you're willing to actively experience it. We, the members of the Audyssey staff, are your guides to the many worlds of delight that are accessible games. You are the observant tourists. Tell us what you like or don't like. Tell us what you want us to examine. Tell us where you want to go in this often bewildering and changing universe of games. We will investigate and hopefully inspire you to do the same. We may be guides, but we have no idea where this journey will take us. you have a large part in determining that. Help us keep exploring. Don't let the Audyssey end here. Fuel the caravan with your enthusiastic discussion and debate. Point out the wonders that you observe, and warn us of the dangers. Do this, and our caravan will ride onwards in the next issue. Until then, I wish you all a good journey. +++ Letters: + From Jim Kitchen: Hi Michael, Happy New Year. I am just writing to let you and your readers know that I have put a few new games up on my web site. One is a re-write of my golf game. It now has a better sound sequence for hitting the ball and a couple of other improvements. The file name is golf82c.zip Another of the games is a computer version of the very popular hand held game named bop it. The file name is dosbop3.zip I have also put a link from my home page to a trivia site. The main file on the trivia site is trivia.zip. So far there are only two other files there, they are goodnews.trv a Bible trivia file written By Grant Metcalf and trek1.trv written By Wendy Steele. The trivia.zip file contains the trivia game engine and a couple of sample trivia files as well as a couple of programs to help a person to write their own trivia question and answer files. If people do write their own question and answer files and send them to me I would very much like to put them up on the trivia site. Like all of the programs on my site, these games are free dos based games. Hope that you down load and enjoy them. As always if you have any questions, comments or problems with any of my programs please write or call jim.kitchen@pcohio.net http://www.now-online.com/jkitchen 1-440-286-6920 Chardon Ohio + Once again, Jim has come to bat for all of us blind gamers. You'll find a review of Bopit later in this issue. No reports on the updated Golf game have come in just yet. It'll be interesting to see what people think of the improvements. Keep up the good work, Jim. + From David Lant: Hi Michael, After reading your article, and those of others, on the concept of blind arcade type games, I was reminded of something that I found quite by accident. When I bought my Pentium system last year, I also acquired a Creative Labs AWE64 Gold sound card. On one of the CDs that came with this package, was a Windows 95 3D sound demonstration program called Creative 3D Copter. In this demonstration, you are controlling a missile launcher and attempting to shoot down helicopters. There is a visual display, but the excellent 3D sound effects means that I have spent many absorbing evenings listening for the approaching drone of a helicopter, turning the missile sights toward the sound with the keyboard, and hearing the missiles loose off and chase it into the distance. On occasion, I have even succeeded in blasting the helicopter out of the sky. The sounds are really great, and the game can be selected to alter the flight patterns of the helicopters. Thus, the experience can be adjusted from tricky, all the way up to infuriating. What makes this work so well, is that the game uses the MIDI generator of the card to produce the sound effects, rather than playing wave files. Thus, you are listening to true synthesized sound effects, just as I suggested in one of my earlier articles. I don't think the program itself is very screen reader friendly, but as there is a text file that explains the keyboard commands, and starting it from the desktop without speech is fairly easy, I don't think it's much of a detraction. I just thought you'd like to hear about this, even though it's really only a demonstration of the sound cards abilities, it is quite playable. Best wishes, David Lant + That's got to be the most obscure treasure yet discovered. I'd urge all of you to look out for gems like the one Mr. Lant has uncovered. I'd be surprised if there weren't more things like that around. PCS eventually plans to make more real-time sound-based games, but there are a few technical hurdles to be overcome before this can be done all that effectively. I wish them and any other developers the best of luck. + From Willie Phipps: Hello Michael, I've been reading your magazine for quite awhile. I enjoy reading about some of the great text adventures out there. You all are very helpful with your suggestions and reviews. I'm sending you a game called "disenchanted." Have you heard of it? I've been running in to characters I feel like I should be able to talk to but nothing I've tried works. There is a warlock on the north road in a cave to the east of the base of the mountain there. There is an old cleric west road, north through the forest I believe in a temple. There is also a dragon I believes headed south on the north/south road. I would appreciate any help. Thanks an advs. Willie + Can anyone out there shed some light on this mysterious game? I haven't had any success with it either. It appears to use the AGT parser, which may indicate that we're dealing with what is commonly referred to as "guess the verb" difficulties. A classic example of this annoyance is found in Infocom's original Zork. There is a part when you must enter a bucket to go up a well. To do this, you must type "embark bucket". Nothing else seems to work. Hopefully, this will be corrected in Inform versions of Dungeon. I wouldn't exactly be a happy camper if I learned that this was the big stumbling block to Disenchanted. If anyone has managed to get anywhere in this game, please share your hard-won knowledge with the Audyssey community. + From Kelly Sapergia: Hi Everybody!, At long last, I have found one of the two Infocom games that are not on the "Masterpieces of Infocom" CD-ROM: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I'm enjoying the game a lot, since I like Infocom games, and because I like reading the book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. As you may know, Activision no longer holds the rights to this game, and the rights have now been reverted back to the original author. If you would like to correspond with me about this game, just e-mail me at: k.sapergia@dlcwest.com. Speaking of my e-mail address, there was an error in the last issue of Audyssey. At the end of the magazine, my e-mail address was given, but it was spelled wrong. It came out as: k.sapurgia@dlcwest.com This is NOT CORRECT!! My last name is spelled SAPERGIA and not SAPURGIA. There are some new games available on the IF-ARCHIVE, and PCS has released their version of the game "Pack Man", which is pretty good. (There's more information about it in my review later in this issue.) One of the first games to be released at the beginning of 1999 was "Enemies" by Andy Phillips. It looks okay so far, but because there are no on-line hints, it's very difficult, just like his other games, "Time: All Things Come To An End", and "Heist". Also, another release of Anchorhead by Michael Gentry was released. I haven't played it yet, but apparently Gentry has revised the text, and I think he added some new puzzles to the game. Well, that's all for now. Don't forget that I'm also available on the Audyssey Discussion List. Yours Sincerely, Kelly Sapergia + Sorry about that small blunder with the E-mail address. That's been fixed in the Contacting Us section for all future issues. Regarding that Hitchhiker's Guide game, there is some talk of releasing it as shareware in the near future. I hope they decide to release it. It is quite well-made. My thanks for your comparison of the two main versions of Dungeon now available. The programmer of the Inform version of Dungeon has temporarily pulled it off of the If-archive until some bugs can be worked out. People have had some problems down-loading the Inform version of Dungeon from the site where it currently resides. In light of this, I recommend people down-load the stand-alone version of Dungeon, dungn32b.zip, which is located at: ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/pc Interactive fiction remains the most actively growing area in the universe of accessible games. Were it not for the efforts of Kelly and Justin, it would be next to impossible to keep the Audyssey community informed. My thanks to both of you for your efforts. ++ The Gift of oration By Michael Feir In a highly publicized move, Henter-Joyce released its Dos version of its Jaws screen-reading software as freeware. They will no longer offer any technical support to those using it. Instead, they will focus on providing support for their more modern Windows-based software. Since this happened, I have been examining the various freely available speech packages to see which offers the best set of advantages to gamers. As my main contribution to this issue of Audyssey, I offer you my thoughts below: There is no doubt that Jaws for Dos offers its users a powerful set of options and abilities. Like Jaws for Windows, it features two independent cursors. This makes navigating the screen very easy. One feature Jaws for Dos lacks is the ability to remove it from memory once it has been installed. Those who want to use Windows may have to restart their computers first. If you're not using a standard keyboard, you may want to re-define some of the hot-keys Jaws uses. fortunately, Jaws provides a macro editor to help accomplish this. It also provides a means of exploring the keyboard to find out what all the important keys are. There are two main draw-backs that I noticed with Jaws for Dos. The first is that it requires a large amount of your conventional memory. This may prevent people from playing some of the more memory-intensive games. On my system, it seems to take up around 150 K of my conventional memory. If you find a way to use upper memory, it may consume less of that crucial 640 K of conventional memory. I have been unable to do this so far using the Dos mode in Windows95. The other main draw-back is the high learning curve. Jaws offers its users quite a lot of flexibility and power. However, it is somewhat complex to use. There are a lot of keyboard commands to remember. While the manual is well-written, it is quite lengthy. Since games aren't always the most speech-friendly programs around, you'll have to spend a lot of time becoming familiar with Jaws's review features. Provox has been free for quite some time now. It is available on the Internet and on Compuserve. It is far easier to operate than Jaws is, but offers a good deal less power. It also requires a substantial amount of conventional memory. It can be loaded as a device in high memory, but once this is done, it cannot be removed from memory. To do this, you'll have to reset your computer. With Provox, you should be able to play most games fairly readily. It works quite well with PCS's games, and is good for interactive fiction. It is less suitable for screen-oriented games like Nethack or Adom. Provox only works with a small group of synthesizers, so if you have a less popular type of synthesizer, keep that in mind. By far, the best and easiest speech package for games is Tinytalk. It is also available on the Internet. Originally shareware, the author is apparently no longer supporting his product. Unlike Henter-Joyce, the full version was never released as freeware. The shareware version, however, is fully functional and will never stop working. Mr. Bohlman relied on incentives and the honesty of the community of users to collect his due. Each time you run it for the first time, you'll have to wait through a twenty-second nag screen. The review mode is very easy to use. Keys can be re-defined if necessary. It takes up very little memory. The total it needs is something around thirty K. If you define a lot of speech-windows, this may go as high as fifty K or so. Speech windows are very easy to set up. One of the best elements is that in games like Adom and Nethack, you enter the review mode and are placed directly over your character. In Rogue, you must still search for the @-sign to find yourself. Searching for specific characters is a snap with Tinytalk. Tinytalk is also very easy to get running. You just change the name of the version made for your synthesizer to "ttalk.exe". You then simply run that program to start using it. You may have to specify the comm port that your synthesizer uses. For a reason which has not yet been determined, Tinytalk doesn't do so well with PCS's games. It is certainly possible to play them while using Tinytalk. However, Tinytalk doesn't seem to like the menu system PCS uses. I suspect that Tinytalk might use the real- time clock. This may interfere with PCS's games. Alternatively, it could be a problem with screen-monitoring. As far as I know those are the only freely available speech programs. If anyone has found others, please let us know about them. Also, some tips on how best to use these or other programs for game play would be much appreciated. ++ The Latest Finds: A Few new games have emerged since the last issue. PCS has come out with a version of Pacman to start off 1999. You'll find Kelly's review of it in the "News From PCS" section. Jim Kitchen has made a version of Bopit which is also reviewed in this section. Two new works of interactive fiction have been released. These are Cascade Mountain publishing's Dr. Dumont's Wild PARTI, and Andy Phillips's Enemies. Justin Fegel has given us an excellent review of Enemies, and you'll find my comments on Dr. Dumont below the official press release. + PRESS RELEASE -- Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I In the surreal tradition of Tass Times In Tonetown... Failing physics--again--would be traumatic enough. But now, you're trapped inside a Particle Accelerator and Reality Translation Integrator, the product of mad genius meeting mixed metaphors. Originally designed to help the human mind understand particle physics, the sub-atomic world inside is a strange blend of mysticism and science, of Zen contemplation and Marx Brothers movies. Dr. Gregory Dumont has sucked you into his P.A.R.T.I., but it's no picnic in there. Cascade Mountain Publishing is proud to announce the release of Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I., their latest full-length interactive fiction adventure. CMP broke onto the scene last year with the long-awaited release of Once and Future, the epic adventure tale that re-established top-quality interactive fiction in the gaming marketplace. This special release of P.A.R.T.I. revives Dr. Dumont and his bizarre particle accelerator from a decade-long slumber. The new version includes an expanded P.A.R.T.I. world, a built-in hint system, and all of the important contents of Dr. Dumont's desk and cork board! The new version of P.A.R.T.I. is available for the first time in the popular cross-platform Inform format, making it compatible for systems ranging from palmtops to workstations (and, of course, PCs and Macs for the more conventional gameplayer.) Explore the wonders of the Science Art Museum (open 24 hours) on your PalmPilot! Visit the UnFair in Linux! Thrill to the Kite Races on your Psion 5! The mysteries of Particle X are in there somewhere, and without your wits and a Diploma of Thought, jealously guarded by the mysterious Professor Parti, it's going to be a long day. Although Dr. Dumont's input was invaluable, P.A.R.T.I. is the brainchild of the First Couple of interactive fiction, Muffy McClung Berlyn and Michael Berlyn. The Berlyns are behind a number of breakthrough games, including Suspended, Tass Times In Tonetown, Infidel, and Oo-Topos. "We're excited about introducing Dr. Dumont to a whole new class of undergrads," says Michael Berlyn, co-author and publisher. "We're dedicated to changing the way people think about text adventures, and I can't think of a better way to change one's perspective than to step inside Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I." This special release of Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. is an electronic-only product. For $24.00, you can download the game package from Cascade Mountain's eCommerce server, including an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file containing important documentation and "props" from Dr. Dumont's office. Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. is available exclusively through Cascade Mountain Publishing. To order, visit their website at http://www.cascadepublishing.com and follow the links to software. (Editor's remarks): Having won this game, I can attest to its excellent quality. The writing is quite good. It is full of humour, but not to the point of lessening the story or atmosphere. The on- line hints are extensive and helpful. Only one area is of special concern for the blind player. This is the kite-race which you must win to get a set of glasses. It is necessary to have these, so there is no avoiding the race. You need to transpose a set of numbers behind a race-track. Without sighted assistance, this would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Other than this one area, the game is excellent in all respects.) + Enemies: An Interactive Psychothriller by Andy Phillips Reviewed by Justin Fegel It will forever remain one of life's mysteries: why should a simple man like yourself get on the wrong side of anybody? You are, after all, just a typical accountant. A little sideline romance with the secretary (what's she called -- Joanna) is a pleasant diversion from the tedium of your nine hour working day. Even your name, Charles Johnson, is unremarkable. Unfortunately, in today's world, security is nothing more than an illusion. Predators, sometimes even our most trusted friends, make plans for our downfall. Unseen snipers close in, ready to pull the trigger when we least expect it. Perhaps it's just human nature -- everybody has.... ************************* You've just been reading the introduction to Enemies, a chilling new piece of interactive fiction from the author of Time: All Things come to an End and Heist: The Crime of the Century. You are Charles Johnson, a perfectly ordinary man with a perfectly ordinary job. Nothing to remarkable. When the game begins, you are standing in front of the movie theatre waiting for your girlfriend Joanna. She's running late and while you are standing there wondering where she is, your cellular phone rings. Upon answering, you are greeted by an unidentifiable person who seems to know who you are and seems to really hate you. This person informs you that they have something of yours and you will have to try to get it back. Putting two and two together, you deduce that it's Joanna and you rush over to her apartment where you find a dead body which thankfully isn't Joanna, but you can't seem to find her anywhere. You soon find yourself matching wits with a dangerous and clever psychopath who seems to know an awful lot about your past and appears intent on destroying everything you have ever held dear, including you. You must find out who your enemy is and save Joanna before it's to late. I will say right up front that this is not a game for young children or for those people easily offended or frightened. Basically, if you did not like Anchorhead, then you probably won't like this game. There are some pretty graphic descriptions of death and there are also some rather violent confrontations that may turn off some players, but if you don't mind this sort of thing, I think you'll really like this game. Personally, I really enjoyed the game. Like the author's previous two games, the writing and attention to detail are excellent. The main characters are very well implemented and the character interaction, though limited, is good. . I also thought the author did a good job of keeping a sense of fear and urgency throughout the game. I also like the use of flashbacks that the main character experiences at certain key points in the game. These really help to give us a glimpse in to the past of Charles and relate it to the present situation. The puzzles were also very good. Although you may not see it at first, all of the puzzles do have logical solutions. Most of these puzzles are not easy. In fact, you will probably find yourself typing restore more times than you can count. I'll be honest, I found myself asking for hints on several occasions. This leads me to my only complaint. Although I felt that most of the puzzles were fair and logical, I also thought that some puzzles were kind of obscure. Once I obtained hints on these particular puzzles however, I had no trouble solving them. I won't say where I encountered these because I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I didn't feel that there were enough clues in the descriptions hinting at what you need to do. Fortunately, there aren't to many of these obscure puzzles. When you do download this game and start playing, you should note that if you use Frotz, you will get some run-time errors. You can still play the game with Frotz however if you use the -i option to ignore run- time errors. The game should then work correctly. However, if you'd rather be safe than sorry, you should use Zip to play. The game works perfectly on Zip. The version that works well with speech is Zip, Version 2.04. You can find this version at Igor Gueths homepage at: http://www.concentric.net/~igueths. So, if you're looking for a good original piece of interactive fiction, and the dark tone of the game doesn't bother you, give Enemies a try. You can find the current version at: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/zcode/Enemies.z8. You can also find a solution file at: ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/solutions/enemies.sol. + One of the best RPG's for blind-sighted teams to emerge in a long time is Return to Krondor. Authored by Raymond Feist, the game features a particularly good story-line. Characters are all well- developed, and their lines are spoken by actors for the most part. there are a few places where a narrator would have been nice, but your sighted companion will not have to do all that much reading. The combat is turn-based, giving everyone a chance to plan out their moves. Different levels of difficulty are also available. The sound and music are both excellent. Controlling your party of characters is easy. Each player or group of players can have their own book where they can put their saved games. You can find this game in computer stores fairly easily. My father and I managed to win the game in around forty hours or so. We normally play games for around two hours at a time. This game was so involving, however, that we often played for four or five hours at a time without realizing it. + "TRIVIA" Game and Programs by Jim Kitchen Reviewed by Kelly Sapergia I'm pleased to announce to the readers of Audyssey who like playing trivia games, that Jim Kitchen has just released a BRAND NEW and totally speech friendly trivia game! And best of all, it's available FREEWARE! When I first received Issue 6 of Audyssey, I found a program on the disk called "ASTRIVIA" (Astounding Trivia) that had been written in the mid 80's. It was fine, but I felt that somethings were missing: 1. While the questions were in multiple choice, you had to have the caps lock key turned on. OK, maybe that wasn't so bad, but I didn't care for it. 2. You could make your own trivia game files, but you couldn't add comments, and you could only have up to 4 answers. Jim Kitchen's Trivia game is, in my opinion, the best trivia game I've played since I last played Astounding Trivia. You can have up to 9 answers in a trivia game, and all questions are random. You also get multimedia sounds for correct answers, incorrect answers, and high scores. The best thing I like about Jim's game is that you can make your own trivia game, with more features. I'm going to compare this with the Astounding Trivia system's trivia game making capabilities. In the Astounding Trivia program, you could only have one line for each question, whereas in Jim's program, you can have up to 9 lines to write a question. As I said before, you can also have up to 9 answers, which you select during the game play, by entering a number. You can also write up to 16 lines of comments for each correct answer! This was something you couldn't do in the Astounding Trivia package. There are two ways you can make a trivia game with Jim's program: you can write a text file in a special way to make the source code for your game, then convert it to the format required by the Trivia game. You can also use the included "TRVMAKER" program which walks you through the development of your trivia game file. (A Conversion program is also included to turn text files of your game's source code into trivia files required by the Trivia program to work correctly." I gave this excellent set of programs a rating of 10 out of 10! This means you won't be disappointed when you download this program. The only thing I wish Jim could add to the program is a "fill in the blank" or "sentence completion" feature if you want to make trivia games look like school exams. But even without that feature, the program is absolutely first rate! If you'd like to download this program, go to Jim's web page: www.now-online.com/jkitchen and click on the link that says "Click here to link to my Trivia page". Also, if you make any trivia games that you think other users of this package might like, you can send it to Jim as an attachment, and he'll put it on his Trivia page. If you'd like to e-mail Jim, just click on the e-mail link at the top of his page. ++ MUSIC IN GAMES FOR THE BLIND By Kelly Sapergia Ever since I started playing (or tried to play) games that were made for sighted people, I was always fascinated with the music the authors of the games used. I can still remember the music from a game called "Jill of the Jungle" which had some humorous sounds, and an excellent musical soundtrack. So anyway, while I was playing one of PCS's games a few weeks ago, a thought struck me: Why can't we have music in our games, just like in games for sighted players? (I don't mean having just theme songs at the start of games, I'm talking about music during game play.) One reason I think this is a good idea is because music enhances the mood of the game, whereas speech synthesizers don't, in my opinion. There are a few ways people have made music for their games, and I'll discuss them below. The Ad Lib In 1987 Ad Lib released the first sound board that would play music for computer games. This card was an 8-bit card, and the music was in mono. Shortly after they released their sound board, Creative Labs made the Sound Blaster, which had the Ad Lib chip, and one 8-bit digital chip for sound effects and voices. The music the Ad Lib card produced was called "FM Music". Some music for the Ad Lib was outstanding, but some wasn't very good at all. It's no longer on the cutting edge now. Wavetable and General MIDI (which I'll get to in a minute) have replaced it. MOD Files MOD (short for Module) files originated on the old Amiga computers. They were a version of MIDI files, but contained digital samples. The only thing you need to listen to these files is a sound card, and a MOD player. These files were used in a few games, but they're on the decline at the moment, even though there are still some composers making their own music with this technology. To make a MOD file, you need a program called a "Tracker". The file is created by using "patterns", so they can play right. The only drawback to using trackers, from a blind user's perspective, is that they are totally graphical, and hard to access. MIDI Files and Wavetable Synthesis MIDI (which stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface") has been around ever since 1983, when it was introduced. Just about every computer game now uses MIDI for it's music. One thing that a lot of people use is a system called "General MIDI". This form of MIDI will work on any MIDI keyboard from any manufacturer, or on a good wavetable sound card. (Don't bother trying to listen to these files on the Ad Lib. They don't sound as good as they do on a Roland keyboard, or a sound card like the AudioTrix line of sound cards.) They're easy to create as well. You basically need a sequencer and a MIDI keyboard that can be connected to the computer. I won't go into any details about making these files, but if anyone's interested, I recommend "The MIDI Primer", which talks about how visually impaired musicians can use MIDI. (You can find this excellent publication on "Kathy Seven's Blindness Inside Out" site at: http://home.utah-inter.net/kseven) I myself have done some work with this technology. I made a few songs with it, including a logo file that would work perfectly with PCS's games. (I can convert it to a WAV file format if anyone's interested.) Conclusion I hope this gives you an idea of what music formats are out there. All you need is the right equipment and software, but after that, the rest comes easy. If you have any questions about this, or anything else I discuss, feel free to e-mail me any time. I check my e-mail a lot and will reply quickly to your messages. I'm also available on the "Audyssey Discussion List" so you may send mail to me this way as well. ++ News From PCS Carl and Phil have brought another arcade classic to the blind. This time, Pacman, (changed to Packman), has emerged in a fully accessible form. While not entirely true to the game enjoyed by sighted people, it comes remarkably close. I'll let Kelly Sapergia tell you all about it. Another exciting development will go down very well with card-players. A demo version of the PCS Card Club has been up-loaded to the Internet at long last. Now, you can try before you buy. I hope this encourages some of you hesitant cards fans to give it a look. It can be found at Paul Henrichsen's site among other places. + "PACK MAN" Game by Personal Computer Systems Reviewed by Kelly Sapergia Have you ever wanted to play the great classic game "Pack Man" without any graphics? Well, NOW YOU CAN!! Welcome to PCS's version of "Pack Man", written especially for visually impaired game players! Before I get to the game from PCS, I'd like to tell you a little about this game. "Pack Man" was one of the first arcade games for both the coin-operated arcades, and for personal computers. The object of the game is to run through a maze trying to gobble up all the fruit (or vitamin pills in some versions) you can find. The fruit you find increases your strength that is needed, because you aren't alone in the maze! You are being pursued by some sneaky ghosts who will "eat" you if they catch you. However, if you have super strength, then the ghosts will get scared and run away from you. "Pack Man" has been released on many systems, including the Nintendo, back in 1981. In fact, I still have the original game for the IBM, but I don't play it anymore, because it doesn't work as well as it does on a slow computer. But to get back to PCS's version. In this new version, PCS has designed the game so it could be played by a visually impaired gamer, by using text, and lots of sounds. The sounds work best with a Sound Blaster sound card. You basically move around the maze with the arrow keys. You'll get messages that tell you which direction you're facing. You won't be told if there is a fruit in front of you because, like in the original game, when you touch it you will "eat" it. Now, what about those ghosts? There are, unfortunately, no sounds for the ghosts for the Sound Blaster, but you'll know that they're near you because of various beep tones from the PC speaker. The higher the tone, the closer they are to you. You'll also be notified if they're sneaking up on you from behind by the low tone sounds from the PC speaker. If you have super strength, you won't be killed, but if you don't, then the game will end unless you have extra lives. This game also uses stereo effects to tell you where another path is. For example, if you hear a beep on the left speaker, then there's a path to your immediate left. If you hear a beep on the right, a path is also on the right. Two beeps on both sides mean that there are paths on both sides. Another thing I like about this game is that it's played in real-time. On a scale of 1 to 10, I gave this game a rating of 10! The sounds are taken directly from the original game, and it's as fun as it was when I first played it a few years ago. In fact, when I read that Paul Henrichsen had just up-loaded the demo to his excellent FTP site, I immediately down- loaded it, and I'm glad I did! A demo of this excellent version of "Pack Man" can be down-loaded from Paul Henrichsen's FTP site. The best way to get there is by clicking on the "Great Files to Download From My FTP Site" link at: www.thesocket.com/~henrich For more information about this, or any other game by PCS, contact them by writing to: Personal Computer Systems 551 Compton Avenue Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, USA Phone: (732) 826-1917 E-mail: pvlasak@monmouth.com ++ Anchorhead Opinions By Allen Maynard This text adventure game was definitely one of the darkest and most sinister I have ever played. However, I don't feel that its darkness detracts from the quality of a truly unique and enjoyable game. Please do not misunderstand me. In no way am I saying that I enjoy the cruel realities of incest, rape, black magic, and murder. These are probably the four lowest forms of human degeneracy. But the dark power of this game is due to the fantastic skill of the author. His rich, graphic imagery and incredible attention to the finest detail makes you feel as if the author has reached a slimy, skeletal, gnarled hand right through your computer monitor, gripped your throat and forced you to join him in his nightmare by dragging you kicking and screaming into the hideous depths of hell. The thing is, though, once there, you are glad to be there and you really don't want the game to end. This game is definitely an R-rated game. It isn't for children. But I received my degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences and more specifically I am an English major. I distinctly remember one of my poetry writing professors saying that as a student in his class you have unlimited access to any word in the English language and beyond when composing a poem. He was responding to some profanity in a poem written by a fellow student. I feel the same is true in prose writing for that is really what Anchorhead is--a work of fictional prose in a text adventure game format. Because that's what this game is, it is only a story. It's no different than watching a creepy movie. In a strange way, Anchorhead, for me, was a breath of fresh, fetid air. I was getting a little tired of the sterile, antiseptic text games I had been playing. It may not be a type of theme I would choose to base a text adventure on, but I have no right to condemn someone else who chooses to do so. Simply because the subject matter is dark, sinister, and stomach turning, does not mean that it shouldn't be explored. In my opinion, the author was not getting off by writing about incest, rape, and murder. He took way too much care in making a quality game with vivid, graphic images. If he had been sloppy and thin with this game I would say that he just wanted to talk about sick sex to push people's buttons and piss them off. But I enjoyed my little trip through the rank, mucus-infested depths of hell. I was sad when it all ended. And again, please don't misunderstand. I did not linger on the screens of text dealing with incest and rape. I did not sit at my terminal with a sick, drooling grin savouring each word. I did not freeze the text on my screen and save it as a text file for later slavering. Yes, the theme of Anchorhead was very dark and distasteful, but as an adult I did not let that fact detract from a truly enjoyable gaming experience. ++ Game Reviews + VERSIONS OF DUNGEON: A Comparison By Kelly Sapergia If you have ever played the classic "Zork" trilogy by Infocom, then you'll like the first version that was made in the MIT labs in the late 1970's, which was called "Dungeon". It was originally programmed in a language called MDL. Since the release of Dungeon, and of the Zork trilogy, people have made dozens of translations of the game into other languages, including Fortran, TADS, and Inform. Since there are a lot of versions of this game on the IF-Archive, it's difficult to decide what one to download. Here are a few comparisons between the Fortran and TADS versions compared to the Z-code version which was released in November, 1998. I haven't completed any of these versions, but I did try them for awhile and came up with the following: - In the Fortran version (the file to download for this version is DUNGN32B.ZIP, and can be found in the IF-ARCHIVE/GAMES/PC directory of FTP.GMD.DE), as well as the TADS version (which can be found in the GAMES/TADS directory of the IF-ARCHIVE), the total number of points is 616. In the Z-code version (in FTP.GMD.DE/IF-ARCHIVE/GAMES/ZCODE/ZDUNGEON.Z5) the number of points is 646. This sounds like the Z-code version is a bit longer, or contains other puzzles not found in the original game. - The parser is basically the same in all versions, but if I were you, I'd try playing the TADS version or the Inform version, especially if the Fortran version doesn't want to work in a DOS window in Windows 95. - The locations in the game have changed from the Zork trilogy. For instance, while in the Cellar, if you go south, you'll be at a room called "West Side of Chasm". OK, now if you go north, you won't be back in the Cellar, but in a north-south crawlway. Going East in both the Cellar and the crawlway brings you to the "Troll Room". Defeating the troll isn't a problem, especially if you use the sword. Now, here's a word of warning: in the Zork 1, going West from the troll room takes you to the maze of twisty passages we have all come to know and hate. If you go East from the maze, you'll be back in the troll room. That's fine, especially if you don't want to go into the maze. But in Dungeon it's a different story. Going West from the troll room takes you to the maze, BUT going East won't take you back to the troll room. So you'll be wondering around Dungeon's maze for awhile, unless you saved your game before you tried entering it. Speaking of directions, going East from the troll room brings you to another path, just like in Zork 1. But if you try going East, in Dungeon, you'll be back in the Troll room again, and not in the Round Room like the one in Zork 1. I wonder why the writers of the original Dungeon mapped the game like this. I prefer the mapping they used in the Zork trilogy, personally. In conclusion, I recommend the Inform version of Dungeon. There may be more things to do in this version, but it's virtually the same as the DUNGN32B.ZIP file, or even the TADS version. You'll have to try each version to see what's the best. + Hunt the Wumpus Game from Boston University Reviewed by Theresa van Ettinger URL: http://scv.bu.edu/games/ Hunt the Wumpus is a classic game which I first encountered in accessible form on an Apple IIe, written in basic. Now this game has been done up for play on the we. Put out by the same people who created the web-game "pegs", this game places the player as an adventurer in dark caves, consisting of rooms connected by tunnels. The object, as the name indicates, is to hunt and kill the dreaded Wumpus. This is accomplished by aiming arrows at the elusive creature. The catch is this: the arrows must be fired from a room other than the one in which the wumpus is currently located, since as soon as you land in the same room with it, you instantly become its dinner. The twist in this version is the presence of other players, who are also attempting to slaughter the wumpus. As a result of this, it is necessary to look out to avoid being shot by another player. Also, when a player is shot, their arrows are dropped at the point where they were shot. I'm not sure if this also applies to those eaten by the wumpus. This game has several variations to go along with whatever type of web browser you happen to be using: graphics with or without forms, and text with or without forms. You will need to try out the versions available to find out which best suits your needs, since some browsers have difficulty with the forms. But the interface is simple enough in both text situations that it should be easy to understand, and there is an instruction page if you need further assistance. As to strategies for playing the game, it is a good idea to write down everything you find out in each room, including which rooms there are tunnels to, whether there are bats nearby, etc. It is quite a challenging game, and requires some patience to accomplish. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm giving this one a full 10 for it's flexibility and recreation of this classic game. ***Correction*** In my review of "Pegs" in December, I wrote that it was by the University of Washington, but it is actually from Boston University. + Mud Review: LegendMUD by Justin Fegel Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet Robin Hood and his band of merry men, fight the saxons as they attempt to conquer Britain, or pan for gold during the California Gold Rush of 1849? Then you should point your telnet or mud client at LegendMUD. A mud is an online text-based virtual world that can be accessed by dozens of users at one time. These online worlds can have thousands of locations to explore, objects to manipulate, and computer controlled characters to fight. The size of a mud is only limited by the space available on the server. A player gains levels and experience by killing monsters, completing quests, discovering hidden locations, and, if it is permitted, killing other players. Muds are usually based on a particular theme. Most mud themes centre around popular movies and books in the fantasy and science fiction genre. LegendMUD is very unique in that its theme is based entirely on history. It is not however, based on history as we know it today. Instead, it is based on history as it was perceived at the time. This means that you will encounter people and creatures that are considered legendary today, but during that particular time period, they were believed to be real. The mud is broken up in to three eras. There's the ancient era which includes such places as, Ancient Arabia, Ancient Egypt, Roman Britain, and Celtic Ireland. Next there's the Medieval era which includes such places as, Medieval Britain, Tutor England, Medieval Spain, and 17th Century Salem. The last era is the industrial era which includes such places as, Victorian England, World War I., the South Seas, and the California Gold Rush. These are just a few of the historical areas available in the mud, and if you can pass the final level and become an immortal, you will have the opportunity to create your own. Every area in the mud has been carefully researched and implemented to make it seem as realistic as possible. You can even obtain comprehensive background information on each area as well. When you are in a particular era, you can travel between areas by water or land, depending how they are connected. If you want to travel to an area in another era, you must time travel. In order to time travel you must complete a quest. Time quests are extremely simple and can be completed by players of any level. Like in other muds, role playing is an integral part of the game as well. To take full advantage of the rpg features in LegendMUD, you should join one of the several clans which are scattered around the mud. Each clan has its own clan hall and each member is given a password. Player killing is also not permitted unless you are a member of a clan. You must be at least level ten before you can join a clan. The mud also features an Out of Character Lounge for players to come and take a break, chat with other users, or send virtual gifts from the giftshop to fellow players. The process of creating a new character works pretty much the same as on other muds. The only thing you won't have to do is pick a race or class. You will also have to pick a home town. There are about two home towns per era. Your choice of home town will have an effect on what skills you can learn and what profession you can go in to. For example: If you decide to choose an ancient home town, you will probably be better at using magical items and learning and casting magic spells. Whereas, if you choose an industrial home town, you will be better with technological items like guns and more modern tools. This mud also has a lot of friendly people. You will always find someone willing to help you if you are new to mudding, or just new to this mud in general. In fact, there was a clan that was started who's main objective is to help out new players. So if you have an interest in history, or just enjoy mudding in general, you need to check out LegendMUD. To connect, telnet to: mud.aus.sig.net port 9999, or go to LegendMUD's home page at: http://mud.aus.sig.net. ++ Contacting Us I can be reached in two ways. The easiest is through Compuserve. My e-mail address is as follows: 72712.3103@compuserve.com Alternatively, you may correspond with me on 3.5-inch disks, provided you be sure to send them in returnable disk-mailers. I don't have the money to pay for postage. My mailing address is: 5787 Montevideo Road Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Postal code: L5N 2L5 I have acquired a copy of UUencode and UUdecode for dos, so you may send files to me via this means. Also, thanks to a reader named Frank Haslam, I have acquired a copy of something called Netsend. this is a program written and encoded so that it can be sent as a standard e-mail, but once it is cut from the rest of the message text, it can be run as an executable file. You will then have all you need to send and receive files over E-mail. this should go a long way to making sharing of files easier. thanks a bunch, Frank. Adam Taylor, star of Adam, The Immortal Gamer, and our resident ADOM guru, can be reached three ways. You can send him e-mail at: blade@ican.net Or, you can check out his homepage on the web: Blade's Armory http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/9111 His page is dedicated to providing help, cheats and solutions to many games. Send him a request, and he'll do his best to find what you need. He also has sections on ADOM and Nethack available. And, you can download the magazine from his page. Finally, if you wish to contact him at home, his address is: 3082 Bartholomew Crescent Mississauga, Ontario Canada L5N 3L1 Justin Fegel is one of our two interactive fiction staff members. He will be happy to advise and guide players through the many interactive fiction games out there. He can be contacted at: zardak@dmv.com James Peach, our commercial games expert, will do his best to advise those seeking commercial entertainment which is accessible to blind players with or without sighted assistance. He can be contacted at: jamespeach@hotmail.com Kelly Sapurgia is another expert in interactive fiction. He is a well-established reviewer of games for Audyssey, and has an interest in developing interactive fiction as well as playing it. He can be contacted at: k.sapergia@dlcwest.com