Mason, Zach (2023) Seeing With Sound: Creating Audio Only Games. In: DiGRAs 2022, 2022-07-07 - 2022-07-11, didactic centre of the Faculty of Law and Administration (Jagiellonian University).
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Modern game space is rich in its visual fidelity. While “the game industry has been quick to exploit increased graphics capabilities to create often stunning virtual, visual environments, they remain leery of exploiting the potential of audio technology” Grimshaw and Schott (2007). Game space mirrors physical space in its lack of accessibility for blind and visually impaired people who engage with it. Often technologies designed to improve these shortcomings are devised as afterthoughts to substitute the original mechanisms. However, as most virtual spaces are already digitally modelled, spatial (binaural) audio systems can easily be employed to enhance the fidelity of the audio aspect of a game space without the need for extra peripherals. Mainstream game engines such as Unreal Engine already have systems for simple implementation of spatial audio, but generally it remains a supplementary experience to the visual.