The Blindfold Project started as student project for an emotion-driven Audio-Only Game at the Game Studies and Development course at DEI/FCTUC, with a demo version developed by Durval Pires, Bárbara Furtado, Tiago Carregã and Luís Reis.
A windows based demo can be downloaded from here (320MB zip).
The Blindfold Game Design Case
“The main motive behind the Blindfold project was to design a game as soundscape that would allow players a rich, emotional and introspective experience. While considering the challenges of an audio-only game, we wanted to elicit specific forms of player participation, though an emotional soundscape composition. In embracing the design challenge we wanted to contribute to a better understanding of the roles sound can play in games and, considering the participation model of gameplay, focused on sensoriality and sensemaking as dominant perspectives in design.
Sensoriality would be a natural focus since sight deprivation would heighten attention and contribute to focus on perception through hearing. The main idea behind Blindfold concept was to make an audio-only game, rich in soundscapes and ambiance that would put players’ emotions to the test. Game design had three premises: first, to build a game with the potential to provide sighted players an intense experience of being blind, second to provide a game blind people can play and last, to build a game that would level interaction among sighted and blind people in a multiplayer scenario.
Sensemaking would mostly be explored though a narrative backdrop that, while not explicit (since for simplicity of interaction there would be no dialog or narration) it would help structure the design of specific sonic vicinities as soundscape components. The narrative would start with a traffic accident experienced in the first person perspective, followed by a period of blindness and disorientation where the player is challenged to interpret what just happened and try to decode possibilities for interaction has she moves around the soundscape.
Blindfold is also a game of free movement and exploration of a virtual space that allows simple interaction with key elements and assets, that ends up being quite a challenge. The game simulates a realistic sound setting, allowing players to make sense of the sound driven experience. A player will interact with cursor keys plus one action key, while equipped with headphones and a blindfold. The use of the blindfold and headphones provide a more intense experience as the player gets more isolated from the outside world while playing the game.”
Results
Durval Pires, Luís Lucas Pereira and Rui Craveirinha conducted a user study of perceptions and gameplay forms of participation that resulted in a paper – The Blindfold Soundscape Game: A Case for Participation-Centered Gameplay Experience Design and Evaluation – published at the AudioMostly 2013 Conference, that was awarded the Best Paper distinction.