AudiOdyssey: Hand-Ear Coordination

The average gamer may be surprised to learn that PC games for the visually impaired exist at all; video games for the blind seems like a contradiction in terms. However, dozens of companies, focused specifically on producing PC games for the blind (BSC Games, Bavisoft, GMA, Gamesfortheblind, to name a few), have been at it for the past decade. The only problem is that many of the titles that these companies have published are geared so specifically for the visually impaired that they are virtually unplayable by gamers with good vision. Historically, the sensory divide between blind and sighted players has carried over to the gaming world, thus preventing the two groups from ever playing digital games together… until now.

Eitan Glinert, a computer science grad student at MIT’s Singapore-based Gambit Game Lab, is the lead designer of AudiOdyssey, an experimental computer game intended to be accessible to both the sighted and the visually impaired: “There were games for sighted people, games for blind people, and never the twain shall meet. I thought, maybe I could build a game that could be played by both, equally well,” explains Glinert. AudiOdyssey focuses on bringing the two groups together through the career of Vinyl Scorcher, an up-and-coming DJ intent on making his mark spinning records.

AudiOdyssey is basically a rhythm game (like Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution). Players are tasked with syncing up audio cues with corresponding keyboard commands. If you succeed, Scorcher will lay down progressively layered beats in front of an ever-increasing crowd. If you fail, Scorcher’s squawking speakers will drive away his audience.

Players can also play AudiOdyssey by hooking a Wiimote up to their computer via Bluetooth technology. You can check out AudiOdyssey for yourself, as it is currently free to download and play.

However, it is still in the early stages of development, so don’t expect too much. There is a basic visual element for sighted players too, so don’t worry about staring at a blank screen.

Because of its target demographic (both sighted and blind gamers), AudiOdyssey has some challenging limitations. For a game that relies heavily on sound, the difference in audio perception between a blind gamer and a sighted gamer ultimately limits how far the game mechanics can go. The game can’t afford to have too much auditory complexity, lest it confuse its sighted players, and vice-versa. I played around with AudiOdyssey and, despite the game’s noble intentions, I can’t help but think that the game concept is too simple to ever be engaging enough to stimulate either a sighted or a visually impaired gamer. In other words: it kind of sucks. Hopefully the developers will be able to eventually make the game more engaging as development progresses further by allowing a complex auditory component for its blind players, balanced by a visual component that renders the game more accessible for sighted players.

Fun or not, AudiOdyssey still represents a positive step in a more accepting direction for gamer culture.