Proof-of-concept 3D Level Creation Tool for Blind Gamers Matthew Tylee Atkinson & Colin Machin Loughborough University, UK Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Gaming Mainstream games Accessible games Audio games Educational games Making mainstream games accessible Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

The AGRIP Project Making mainstream games accessible –Quake → AudioQuake Establishing a community Building development tools –but not level-editing, until now Accessible Gaming Rendering Independence Possible Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

What is Level-Editing? Allows gamers to change the maps that are used by the game engine to present a new situation to the gamer –adding new rooms to an existing building –adding or changing connections –changing start points –adding new objects to rooms –lighting and textures Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Why offer accessible Level- Editing? This is a very popular pastime in gaming communities, adding significant value to commercial games Having made a mainstream game accessible, the next logical step is to provide the facilities enjoyed by sighted gamers to those with vision impairments Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

How is Level-Editing done? For sighted gamers, a CAD-like interface allows the new maps to be drawn, e.g. QuArK Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

How is Level-Editing done? For sighted gamers, a CAD-like interface allows the new maps to be drawn, e.g. QuArK This is inherently not accessible to gamers with vision impairments and a demand from the community has been identified Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Challenges of Level-Editing To make Level-Editing accessible It should not be graphical, so the requirement is for a text-based solution –Level Description Language (LDL) Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Design of LDL Compatibility –with existing game engines, standards and tools Accessibility –of both the editor and the output levels Layered design –multiple front ends (user interfaces) and back ends (game engine formats) Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Design of LDL Automatic generation –of aesthetically-pleasing maps Navigation –familiarity with Interactive Fiction (IF) systems and other accessible games Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Structure of LDL Simple XML-dialect description a series of connected rooms that can contain items (such as weapons, power- ups and player start points) Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Implementation of LDL A series of Python scripts –to transform the high-level descriptions into.map files –these are compiled using the “standard” procedure can be viewed and/or edited by sighted gamers with the existing graphical tools sighted gamers who simply don’t like using the graphical editors can enjoy a more structured, easier-to-use interface Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Example of Rooms <con type='door' target='other' wall='n' pos='t' elevtype='stairs'/> Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Demonstration of perhaps the first new level to be designed and constructed by a blind gamer … well, certainly the first be built for AudioQuake Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

The Future of Accessible Games Widening of the market Some mainstream games have already adopted accessibility features Mainstream manufacturers have seen benefits –e.g. closed-captions Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009

Proof-of-concept 3D Level Creation Tool for Blind Gamers Matthew Tylee Atkinson & Colin Machin Loughborough University, UK Atkinson & Machin, CSUN 2009