Accessible browser games using spatial sound

| tags: sound, blind, javascript, ideas

Ideas for browser-based games using spatial sound for children who are visually impaired.

  1. Asteroids like game where you spin to shoot incoming targets
  2. Duck-hunt like game where they fly by and you shoot them. Maybe there are ducks and geese with a limit on the number of one or the other that you can take so you have to be careful about what you shoot.
  3. Dino Dodger is an iOS game similar to Sonic Zoom. I think kids would have fun dodging dinosaurs and picking up eggs while avoiding poo. Lots of good sound opportunities there.
  4. Submariner game where you have to stealthily enter the harbor to collect intelligence while avoiding destroyers.
  5. Some 2D navigation game, I think kids could find targets in 2D using the spatial sound cues. Maybe treasure hunt?
  6. Barn-yard round up (like the game the guys built a few years ago with the rocking horse and wiimote for directional control). Use the arrow keys to turn and go forward. You find the animals by their sound.
  7. Perhaps you're a dog chasing a cat; then a cat chasing a mouse, then a mouse chasing a flea. Same simple idea with a variety of animals.
  8. Space-invaders like game where you move left right to shoot incoming aliens.
  9. Zelda mini-game where you guide a salvage arm down to a treasure avoiding obstacles along the way. Maybe treasure chest includes a map to somewhere else.
  10. Frogger like game with safe zones so you only have to hear one "lane" at a time. Includes train tracks avoiding the train which takes a while to go by; roads avoiding the cars; crossing a stream by jumping onto a log reversing the strategy from avoidance to catching.
  11. Beep ball? You hear the pitch, have to "swing" at the right time, then run toward the correct base. You have to get to the base before the other team controls the ball.
  12. Stealthy thief kind of game where you sneak in to avoid guards and such and find the treasure.
  13. 1920's Fire rescue, people are jumping from a burning building, catch them in the trampoline.
  14. Danger UXB, find the unexploded bomb and then a mini-game to disarm it.
  15. Games like Sound Voyager for the Game Boy Advanced.
  16. Sounds associated with cardinal directions. Hints in maze correspond to the sounds. At each intersection you hear a sound. The sound is your guide to which direction to choose next (Myst mini-game)
  17. Street crossing simulator
  18. A tea-party where the dishes come to life (like in Beauty and the Beast). The child has to catch the dishes and return them. Simple sound chase engine.
  19. Michael suggests a spatial sound version of Simon. I think Diane would really like this for teaching attention to sound direction.
  20. Bug Stomp. "Oh no! Bugs got in the house! Help stamp them out but don't stomp too far away because they will run."
  21. Catch the leprechaun. Get gold for catching him, lose gold when you miss.
  22. Maybe you could hunt down the number or word that that is the answer to a question.

Several of these are the same underlying game engine with different content. For example, Asteroids and Duck Hunt use 1D angular control to center a sound before selecting; Barn-yard roundup, Treasure hunt, Danger UXB, and the Sound Voyager games use 2D linear control to find a sound.

Please suggest your ideas for simple games in the comments.