[Nfbofsc] FW: Racing Toward Success, The story of blindfold games, Dan's tip for December 17 2015

[Steve & Shannon Cook]

Steve and Shannon Cook

Steve on Dice World: Steve6009

Steve on Twitter: @SteveCook67

Today I married my best friend.  

The one that I laugh with, live for, love.

October 11, 2003 

 

From: dan Thompson [mailto:dthompson5 at mchsi.com] 
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 10:02 AM
To: dan Thompson
Subject: Racing Toward Success, The story of blindfold games, Dan's tip for
December 17 2015 

 

 

 

 

Pondering thoughts

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing? 
Why does triangularly cut bread taste better than square bread?
If one man says, "it was an uphill battle," and another says, "it went
downhill from there," 

Factof the day:

The state fish of Hawaii is the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. The Hawaiian name
roughly translates to "the fish with a pig-like nose." It's English name is
the Reef Triggerfish. 

The Southern Ocean lies from the Antarctic coast to 60° South latitude,
meaning that its outline is almost completely circular in shape.

Submitted by Mitchell Elliott - Towerhill, Illinois

History's shortest war lasted 38 minutes. It was fought between Great
Britain and Zanzibar.

Submitted by Kelly Talbs - Adelaide, South Australia

Queen Victoria used a tincture of marijuana to relieve period pains.

The 2 billion-year-old Star of India, which at 563.35 carats is the largest
star sapphire in the world, is actually from Sri Lanka.

Racing Toward Success: The Story of Blindfold Games

Jamie Pauls

Marty Schultz is a guy with a lot of energy. A long-time programmer, he has
run several businesses. In 2012, he managed to fit one more thing into his
already-busy schedule--volunteering as a teacher at the Cushman School in
Miami, FL, where his daughter was a sixth-grader. One day, Schultz came
across several birthday wish lists she had been drafting. Items were
rearranged, crossed out, and added. He thought to himself, "There should be
an app for that." Having already written several programs that centered on
child safety, Schultz knew how to write "kid-friendly" software. He
originally intended to build a birthday wish-list app and have some of his
friends test the software. Then, he had another idea. Why not start an
after-school club, and teach students how to write an app? After receiving
the green light from the head of the school, Schultz met with interested
students three days a week for six weeks. At the end of that time, the free
WishToList app was successfully deployed to the Apple app store.

Schultz was invited to teach a programming course at the school the
following semester, and did so for a couple years. The group of budding
young programmers who had managed to write a birthday wish list app next
wanted to try their hand at developing a game. Schultz asked the students
for ideas, and was promptly bombarded with suggestions for games that had
already been written many times over in one form or another. Schultz told
the students that he would not waste his time or theirs with rehashing old
game ideas. He also wasn't a good artist, and didn't want to hire a graphic
designer for the new game that was yet to be written. Schultz presented the
idea of writing a game for people who were blind and would not need to look
at the screen at all. Ironically, Schultz had never met a blind person in
his life, and knew nothing about accessibility. Nevertheless, the
after-school club set about writing a racing game that could be played
without any visual feedback at all.

For the first six months of development, sighted children and adults tested
the game. One of the student programmers who was learning braille in her
studies suggested that blind teens from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind
be asked to become part of the test pool. The blind students loved the game,
and had a flood of suggestions as to how the game could be improved. One
question weighing on Schultz's mind was what to call this new game. He
wanted a name that would let people know that the game was geared toward
blind people, but that would not be in any way offensive to the blind
community. One of the students from the Lighthouse suggested using the word
Blindfold as a descriptor. Since there were no graphics on the screen,
sighted people could play the game "blindfolded" as it were, and blind
people wouldn't mind the lack of graphics at all. The only people who seemed
to object to the lack of visuals in the game were those at Apple, who
insisted that a screen shot of some sort be included when the game finally
was placed in the app store.

Blindfold Racer: First Steps to Success

Having had almost no dealings with the blind community, Schultz had no idea
what to expect when
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-racer/id757435916?mt=8> Blindfold
Racer was released in 2014. As it turned out, the game was incredibly
popular among blind players, and eventually landed a spot as one of three
featured apps on AppleVis for the month of May 2014.

As the popularity of Blindfold Racer continued to increase, so did the
number of game requests from the blind community. Before long, card games,
word games, and action games were all under development. While in Boston for
work-related matters, Schultz had the opportunity to meet with four
prominent members of the blind community--ACB President Kim Charlson and her
husband Brian, NLS's Judy Dixon, and long-time accessibility expert Doug
Wakefield. The night before the meeting, the four of them played Schultz's
games for several hours. When they met with Schultz the next morning, they
were fans of his work, but gave him many suggestions for improving his
games. Schultz came away from that meeting understanding that two things
were of the utmost importance when designing his Blindfold games--sound and
physicality. Rather than writing the third-person style games he had been
toying with--games where the player observes the action as though watching a
TV screen, he would focus on first-person style games where the player would
be part of the action. Players would be able to use Apple's VoiceOver screen
reader during game play, but other voice prompts would be added as well to
more clearly indicate things such as which character was taking a turn, what
area of the screen the player was on, etc. Finally, players would be able to
use gestures already familiar to anyone using an iPhone with VoiceOver. In
addition, they would be able to tilt or turn their phones in order to
control game play.

Blindfold Games was now a brand, Schultz was beginning to truly understand
the needs of the blind gaming community, and the community was loving his
work.

Blindfold Games: The Best Is Yet to Come

Once he saw that the blind community was behind him, Schultz redoubled his
efforts to make new games. He tries to rotate among gambling games, logic
games, and movement-based games, but ideas for new additions to the
ever-growing number of Blindfold Games titles just keep coming. All of the
games are free to play, but have in-app purchases available. In addition to
being able to purchase upgrades to the games, it is also possible to earn
coins by listening to videos. The coins can then be exchanged for upgrades
that make game play even more enjoyable. Schultz originally used the same ad
service used by the popular
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trivia-crack/id651510680?mt=8> Trivia
Crack, 

 <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trivia-crack/id651510680?mt=8>
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trivia-crack/id651510680?mt=8

 

game, but he learned that the service was difficult for blind players to
use. He has now switched to the service used by the developers of
<http://diceworldgame.com/dw/> DiceWorld, 

http://diceworldgame.com/dw/

 

another popular game among the blind community.

These days, the blind community is talking about
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-bowling/id1038994263?mt=8>
Blindfold Bowling. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-bowling/id1038994263?mt=8

 

Schultz used a physics engine to control aspects of the game such as how the
ball rolled down the lane and connected with the pins. Anyone who has played
the game will be struck by the realistic sounds of the bowling alley.
Schultz consulted members of blind bowling leagues to ensure that the game
is as accurate as possible.

 

 <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-pong/id997786222?mt=8> Blindfold
Pong 

 <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-pong/id997786222?mt=8>
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-pong/id997786222?mt=8

 

and  <http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/blindfold-breakout> Blindfold
Breakout 

http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/blindfold-breakout

 

are games that allow the player to move his or her iPhone from side to side
in order to hit a moving ball with paddles. In Blindfold Breakout, the ball
breaks bricks. Once he or she has broken through an entire layer, the player
can move to the next level of the game.

Although he does not promise to fulfill all requests, Schultz welcomes
suggestions for more games. He is constantly looking for ways to push the
envelope when it comes to blind gaming. You can find all Blindfold Games
titles by doing a search on the app store or on  <http://www.applevis.com/>
AppleVis.

 <http://www.applevis.com/> http://www.applevis.com/

 

 

The Bottom Line

Marty Schultz is a talented programmer who loves to take on a challenge. He
has shown an interest in and a commitment to designing games that are
playable by the blind community. Although the original WishToList app that
got the ball rolling has since been removed from the app store, the spirit
of that project lives on today.

Anyone with an iPhone who enjoys gaming should definitely consider playing
any and all titles from the Blindfold Games series. Be sure to check the app
store often, as there are many more games yet to come!

Product Information

Blindfold Games
Platform: iOS
Website: The app store or  <http://www.applevis.com/> AppleVis 
 <http://www.applevis.com/> http://www.applevis.com/

 

Price: Free with in-app purchases available

 

 

 

“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken
those who seek you.”

Psalm 9:9-10 

 

To subscribe to Dan's tips or HotSpot with God Daily Devotional, send a
blank message to dthompson5 at mchsi.com and include "subscribe Dan's Tips" or
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