April 2022

After re-evaluating the game, we realised many sections of the introductions and explanation could be altered in order to streamline the learning process of the game. Within normal conventions of gaming, you often find that they begin within a closed in area in order to give the players direction, and then lead on to much more open and explorative areas once the player has learned the basics. However without sight, walls actually provide more of an obstacle than a benefit within the learning process. So for the first few levels, the wall sounds have been entirely removed, being introduced in a later level and meaning the explanation of what different sounds represent can be staggered in order to not overwhelm the user.

The endpoint size has been increased alongside less fluctuating sounds and bounce mechanics off of walls to reduce the chance of the players getting stuck in corners, hearing objects through them and in the process being unaware there is a wall in-between. Introducing muffling to sounds when behind other objects could alleviate this issue, but more experimentation with the engines limitations needs to be done.

As a learning process for myself, I want to begin developing a visual, and relatively generic game alongside this for personal purposes. This will be to gain better understanding of gaming development norms, allowing me to contrast these with the non-visual ones that I uncover through further iterations of my sound only game. Critical analysis of more widespread games and their development and design language will be useful in analysing what conventions can be improved and altered for more inclusive gameplay.