Thinking about accessible Guitar Hero
Also, let’s think about ways to make Guitar Hero accessible. Or something like Guitar Hero. Perhaps we could do Drum Hero on the DDR pad with a child sitting in the middle? Maybe we pick some tunes with obvious and repetitive drum parts to start. Then your goal is to hit the pad on the beat? Maybe with with two obvious drum instruments you have to hit both at the right time. I’m thinking of something with a back beat.
September 21st, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Guitar hero, like it is, could also be made accessible to children who are visually impaired. All they would need extra is a voice saying what color/s they should play next. Then, they could have a time frame, like 1 second or so, that they need to play the key by.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:07 pm
This would be a good idea to try for Maze day. We could make an audio recording (before hand) by watching the display on some relatively easy and well known song. Then we could try playing based on the command and then get kids to try. I bet they would enjoy it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 pm
This may sound crazy and outlandish, but is there a way to fuse both DDR and Guitar Hero? Instead of using the guitar, perhaps to make the game more fun children with hearing impairments they could match their feet to the circles coming down the screen. For children with visual impairments, I think it would be interesting to have each button on the DDR pad be a note that must be played. Since hand eye coordination is not as useful as foot-eye coordination, I believe those with visual impairments would get more out of a foot based game. Also, instead of pressing keys to the song on the guitar, the game could give an instruction round detailing where notes are on the pad (i.e. “top left” is . Then, the child could match the sound to the song as it plays the best they can, and build up points that way. They would be flexing their memory too.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:30 pm
All the ideas for a drum hero sound great, but I think we should try to make one for drums and one for guitar. Depending on the child, some think it’s “cooler” to be the guitarist and some prefer the drums.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I think it might be interesting if the songs were broken up into small sections. At the begining of each section the visually impaired person could press each of the notes and hear its sound. Then the game could play a small section of the music and the visually impaired person could try to duplicate it. This would be difficult for the entire song because the buttons don’t always coreespond with the same sound. I feel a visiually impaired person could succeed at this eaisier than most because they generally have a more focused hearing ability. It might not work but it is the idea that i have got. Kind of similar to that game simon.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I think drum hero on the DDR pads is a great idea, especially for small children. It would encourage movement and they would be happy to simply be able to create a noise by hitting the pad. Though it would be difficult to create for our purposes, I think it would be interesting to try a form of guitar hero that incorporated vibrating buttons. While we would see a color moving down the screen the vibration could get stronger as the color approaches the bottom of the screen. This way the music would not be disrupted. Only four colors could be used. I realize this concept would be difficult to apply, but am curious about how it could possibly work.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I think that the simon like gameplay would work. Also, consider what it would be like to have to pay attension to timing and speech at the same time.
What I think would be cool would be one game with a setting for Drum Hero and a setting for Guitar Hero. Also, a multiplayer part of this could be that one student could use whatever input method we choose to create something, and another student has to replicate it? Just my two cents.
September 25th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I think everybody has great ideas so far….. I love the idea of creating a “Drum Hero” with the DDR pad…. I know I would enjoy a game like that. I also like the idea of having one setting where they could play shorter pieces of the song…. kind of like a learner’s mode… and they could work their way up to the whole song. I agree with Shane and I also think it would be a great idea to have a portion of the game where they repeat the sounds they hear in order to make a song or tune at the end…. whether they repeat the computer or another person, that would be dependant on which verison they chose. Like Guitar Hero, I think there should be multiple levels that way the children would have a goal to become the ultimate “Drum Hero!”
September 25th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
~~~~~Side note~~~~~~
Please see Hark the Sound Assignment Page for directions on dealing with sounds.
~~~~~Thanks!~~~~~~~
September 26th, 2007 at 12:42 am
I really like all the ideas so far. Drum hero sounds very cool and easier to play for visually impaired people. Again I believe the Guitar Hero game now could be used if the button on the guitar was raised or vibrated or even maybe warmed when it was supposed to be played. This would give visually impaired kids a chance to use the senses they excel in, sound and touch. I also believe the game should have goals and encouragement at the end to keep kids spirits up much like Guitar Hero is now.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
I think part of the fun of guitar hero is actually using the guitar to play the sounds. I think the kids would enjoy that more than just a pad. Maybe to make it easier we could put braille stickers on each on the colors like the letter B for BLUE and O for Orange, so the kids know what button they are hitting. It wouldnt be hard to hit the black button since it is big. The only thing we would have to work on is reaction timing, because guitar hero goes pretty fast. A voice could definately be used as an easier level telling kids which button to press. For the harder level, we would have guitar notes and the kids would have to figure out which guitar note sounds like which button.
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:52 am
Another great thing that could be of interest is not in the realm of competitive play but more like a studio game. You could play the guitar and additional chords could accompany the simple notes to make it sound like a rock band. Then the player could record the song so you could make your own music. That seems the most logical but furthest away from the concept. It is very difficult to anticipate something without seeing it before it happens. I feel like it would be extremely difficult to have a beep 10 seconds before the note was hit in addition to the actual note. We’ll have to have some testing done to figure out what would actually be more fun for players.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:11 am
Good ideas!
Does anyone know enough music to know if we could automatically make up chords to go with notes kids play? To implement CatherineC’s idea?
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm
One possible way to have an accessible guitar hero would be to have the object of the game be to have time to listen and memorize when to play certain notes or a combination of notes that the guitar plays. This way, seeing the notes on the screen would not be important but memorization and timing would. First you would go over which set of notes or sounds you are given on your five buttons, then you would listen to the song with all of the parts included (you would be able to listen to the demo as many times as you wish). After you are familiar with the songs on your keys or frets for that tune and when you should play them, you would play the game. The game would entail pressing down on the keys or frets at the appropriate times in the song. Each level or song would transmit a different set of tones to your guitar, so that it is more interesting. One way bonus points could be awarded would be if the player adds a different combination of the keys in one of the spaces that is on time with the beat.