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[Aleric]

Hi All,
Wow, it has been a while since I last looked at this forum.  I don't know why, my notion of playing Dwarf Fortress via proxy hasn't quite panned out yet. I've still held a sort of dorment interest in the game, stimulated by a bunch of blind friends who now and again discover it and say things like, "I wish I could play this thing."
I still wish I could too, though I realize the odds of that happening for myself are slim to none.  It's interesting how a game of such depth can come around and turn a lot of us green with envy either because we just can't grasp it or, like me, can't play it due to circumstances beyond our control.
All this being said, I wonder if there might be anybody around here who might just be interested in being my proxy.  I don't know how practical it'd be, DF being realtime, but it's a thought I can't seem to get out of my head.
Any takers?
Best and thanks,
Aleric.

[Jay]

Umm, what?
What exactly are these "circumstances beyond" your "control"?

[Aqizzar]

Umm, what?
What exactly are these "circumstances beyond" your "control"?

I'm going to bet that would be the "blind" part he mentioned.

I can only just barely imagine trying to play DF by touch.  I suppose if eyes can be trained to accept ASCII as information, someone good enough with touch control might grasp it the same way.  I have no idea where you'd begin with something like that though.

[Kholint]

Are you guys kidding? DF uses ASCII for graphics - just get microsoft narrator to read out the screen. It's perfect for blind people!

percentage, comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, comma, full stop, S, percentage
next frame
percentage, comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, comma, S, comma, percentage
next frame
percentage, comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, S , full stop, comma, percentage
next frame
percentage, comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, S, comma, full stop, comma, percentage
next frame
percentage, @, comma, full stop, comma, full stop, S, comma, full stop, comma, percentage

oh, shit.

[Aleric]

Are you guys kidding? DF uses ASCII for graphics - just get microsoft narrator to read out the screen. It's perfect for blind people!

comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, comma, full stop, S
next frame
comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, comma, S
next frame
comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, S
next frame
comma, comma, full stop, comma, @, S
next frame
@, comma, full stop, comma, full stop, S

oh, shit.

Nope, I'm not kidding.  (See my later post on this subject for more.  I accidentally double posted, but don't know how to delete a topic.  Ahh, well.
Microsoft Narrator won't work for this by the way.  OpenGL isn't screen-reader friendly.  It's drawings of text rather than text itself.
Best,
Aleric

[Mel_Vixen]

Also its not only the symbols its too the coloration. Blind people would need an 80*25 Grid-device and some way to determine the metainformation the screen gives with the color. Give in some additional sounds for different stuff like important messages and it would be useable enoght (but surely not perfect).

Technical possible i think since DF is on screen 2 Dimensional. The devices output could go over the USB-port and the data you get from some memoryhacking. Mithaldus "Life is" does the needed Hacking procedures right now iirc.

[Capntastic]

Why is this thread posted twice?

Edit:  Of course the one I read first isn't the one that mentions his blindness.   My apologies!

[Sareth]

Sorry bud, but video games really aren't playable by blind people. Look at the bright side though, you have braille and arn't thought to be possesed by demons anymore.

[Capntastic]

Don't be a jerk, Sareth, and possibly try to comprehend that he's asking someone to play DF for him by proxy.

[MoonCabbage]

it would be a little hard to play DF by proxy, but i wouldn't be the one to know how unfortunately. Seems to be possible in theory i suppose though. i'm sure someone would be willing to figure it out here though.

that aside this forum used to be filled with useful and helpful members. its really disappointing to see the community go downhill like it has.

[Ampersand]

Aleric and I are working together via AIM. Might get to Skype later if I get it to work reliably.

In any case, I think this has the potential to be interesting. We've got a basic embark team, starting equipment, and have embarked. Haven't had time to start on the fortress proper, but who knows? The site we're using now isn't particularly interesting but maybe the Chronicles of "Tattoopaint" will be a worthy read one day.

[Armok]

This thread makes me sad in many different ways...

*hugs Aleric*

[Willfor]

You are a good person Ampersand. I hope you two can get over the challenges that playing via proxy can create.

[CobaltKobold]

"You are standing in an open field west of a white house..."

Perhaps you could do adventure mode, Zork-style for some of it. Combat narration and intercharacter dialogue is a plus.

Thinking on that, it would be possible, if far from simple, for someone (with more free time/experience with coding/DF/working with the blind than I) to create a utility that rendered DF's output into a form that could be output by audio.

I wish you good fortune in your endeavours, and hope that cybernetics or biology (and, I suppose, financial backing of health care) advance to the point that you may see within this lifetime. (There are prosthetic limbs that are brain-controlled, and using FMRI to deduce what someone is thinking, now.)

Shame on some of you others.

[chaoticag]

I think that it would be possible to have an eye transplant at the moment, although it is extrememly experimental right now, not to mention expensive. Plus your mind will have to get used to the concept of seeing all over again.

At the moment, you can only get a cornia transplant, which only works if the part of your eye that is bad is the cornia.