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
www.agrip.org.ukAtkinson & 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
<map name='Hello, World!' style='base’> <room id='start’> <item type='info_player_start' pos='c'/> </room></map>
• 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
<map name='Advanced Connections'style='base'> <room id='start'> <item pos='c' type='info_player_start'/> <con type='door' target='other' wall='n' pos='t' elevtype='stairs'/> </room> <room id=' other'/></map>
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