Blindfold Racer

We worked for a long time on trying to keep the introduction as short as possible. For the next version, we'll add something for the iphone to tell you to keep it "with the home button on the right". I'm starting to write up the blogs about how we developed this, and holding it was a major issue to solve, without being overly wordy.

As to SETTINGS, when you enter the settings screen, it should tell you to move your finger right & left to hear the options, and press and hold for 5 seconds to get an option. If that didn't happen, please let me know. If you can think of a better way to do this, let me know. Our goal was to completely remove VOICE ASSIST so the app remained friendly.

We changed from BLINDFOLD RACER to BLINDFOLD RACR because on some devices, it was too long. We will go back and check that issue again.

The only place where RIGHT and LEFT are reversed is around level 34 (the rainstorm). I guess you encountered a bug - we didn't find this in testing. In the SETTINGS screen, there's a way to send me your diagnostic log, so we can figure out what happened. If you remember what level the reverse happened in, it would really help us.

When did you tap the bottom right and have it tell you to repeat the level again? Usually you need a score over 50, but if you crashed into something (like an elephant), it you have to repeat the level. Perhaps it didn't tell you, or when you touched the screen, that stopped the talking, so you didn't hear it. In any event, knowing which level that occurred on will help us solve the problem.

We generally took the attitude that when you tap the screen, it stops talking to you, assuming that you've heard whatever its about to say before. I think that may have happened with your experience a few times. If that's the case, do you think we should never stop talking unless that specific sentence has already been said at least once?

In the SETTINGS screen, there's an option to send an email to the developer, and that includes the diagnsotic log. That would be very helpful. Or, if you could tell me more-or-less what you did in level 20, I can try to emulate it. Was it on a iphone or ipad?

No there aren't. We tried them, but it became too annoying. For example, when we give you the speed sound (a kettle drum), we first tried showing you how fast you are going by making the engine speed faster. However, with everything else you need to concentrate on, it became obnoxious and everyone wanted to throw their iphone out of the window. We tested lots of sounds - only the kettle drum sound was sufficiently pleasant.

When we tested this at Lighthouse for the Blind in Miami, several teens thought we should make a version that's like FLAPPY BIRD - in other words, as soon as you crash, you need to restart the entire game. If people think that's a good idea, we'll release another version that removes the logic puzzles (such as the troll or the jetpack) and keep it with longer and longer roads and more and more animals. We can also do a leaderboard - and let people post their scores. Thoughts?

We have about 34 levels in the game; what kind of levels do people want? Should it be more logic puzzles (like finding all of the guitars), or should it be a longer track with more obstacles and prizes?

I assume you are playing on an iphone, and we probably set the limits for edge taps versus center taps too close. The edge taps are for speeding up and slowing down. We'll change it so that double tapping anywhere will work. Right now, its only double tapping when not near the edge. Thanks!

Thanks!

Good potcast Marrie, I enjoyed it! also nice intro with the aircraft passing by! lol!

Thanks for your comment. When the game starts off, it even tells in your left ear to make sure that you are hearing this in your left ear.
I've seen some iPhones being set for mono output, but I think the app now detects that.
If you have suggestions for more levels, please let me know.
We will start a YouTube channel or something for all the people video recording themselves playing the game. Not only is this game designed to be fully accessible, but educators have told us that its great for children with auditory attention and listening issues. It helps train their brains to listen as opposed to just hear.

Thanks for your comment. When the game starts off, it even tells in your left ear to make sure that you are hearing this in your left ear.
I've seen some iPhones being set for mono output, but I think the app now detects that.
If you have suggestions for more levels, please let me know.

The smiles that I see on people's faces, and what they say, when they first start playing the game has made this project really meaningful to everyone who participated.
I want to share that with others - I was thinking of starting a YouTube or audio-sharing channel so people can record themselves playing the game.

Any suggestions?

What kind of car sounds would you like? If its for detecting the fence on both sides of the road, I would think that would get boring after a while.
Some teens suggested we let you pick from your playlist as additional sources of music.
We can do that, but sometimes the music in your playlist may have too much going on, it will would be hard to hear the prizes and animals on the road.
Comments anyone?

No mine is not set for mono output. and all sounds in my ear pods are in stereo na din the right direction. Hmm very odd. and I was hearing it in my right ear. The recording even shows that.

In regard to the plane that could not have been better planned. lol! Good job in the game. I did email you my crash logs so hope you got them.

Take care and be blessed.

We will be releasing a new version in a few weeks with those bugs fixed. If anyone has ideas for more levels, let me know ASAP, so we can include them in the new version

iphone or ipad or ipod?
what version of iOS?
when you started it, even the "you should hear this in your left ear" was in your right ear?

ios7.1.1 is my ios version on an iphone 5.

I tested it wiht out my mixer and I could hear it properly. Mayve it was my wet up although I can't think how unless I have my wires on my board crossed. lol!

I'll say this much if that was the case, I'll feel pretty stupid for posting this. lol!

Take care and be blessed to all.

I dunno about a carsound. That would be a bit distracting for me personally. and the music is very intertaining. Hehaha. I don't have any ideas at present, how ever i might play a few levels back jut to see if I can improve my score a bit.

Take care to all andbe blessings.

When it asking you to plug in the headphones, swipe the screen from the bottom to the top. It will take a few seconds, but will skip that requirement.

It only waits for you to tap the screen in the first few levels; once you pass level 5, I think, it continues on its own. When testing, we found too many people (sighted, not visually impaired) were confused at all the sounds, and needed to know what happened, and fully understand what it meant. I didn't find this with the students at Lighthouse for the Blind, but I did find it when testing with adults (as opposed to children or teens). Let me know if you find it waits for your tap in higher levels.

I believe it stopped after a certain level, but I can't remember. Lol! I was gabbing about the podcast when doing the podcast so was not paying attention. Hey I found it a good time to update some users on what was happening in regard to the podcast. I think though it did stop saying congratulations in the middle of the thingy at some point. I have to go back maybe a few levels and play a bit to see. Lol!

Good job on the game.

Do you think we should let the player select from their playlist or music library?

I need to process a lot of your comments, but one thing I wanted to point out - we originally developed the app using the same mechanisms as a car - in other words, once you turn to the right, after you complete the turn, the car is driving 90 degrees from where it was, but straight. Which means, the entire world has shifted 90 degrees, and now you need to keep the steering wheel straight to continue turning to the right. Or, if you turned the steering wheel 30 degrees to the right, and waited long enough, the car would turn in a complete circle. That made it much harder to control the car - including things like inertia or other concepts seemed the right way to go, but made it almost impossible for me to even play. I will look at those concepts again, but for now, I will look into more levels as the next big improvement. The other thing that is built into the app, but not enabled (or completed), is the ability to create your own track (by dragging your finger on the screen). You would not believe how much trigonometry goes back into figuring out where the road is (haven't played with trig since high school), but it was a requirement. We've been working on the blog that talks about how we developed the app, and this will be discussed there. Once we know the path of the track, it automatically computes the left and right fence (which is nontrivial because you have to know which direction the car is moving and which direction the track is heading).

Another cool thing is how much better people who don't rely on their eyes are compared to people who do. The best comment I've heard was from a 16 year old teen from the Lighthouse for the Blind in Broward Country, Florida. "I can't wait to play against my sighted friends. I will so beat them."

Has anyone played the game at the hard level? Have any of you playing the game used the SETTINGS screen - is it sufficiently accessible? I'm not sure what we will do once we have more options than fit on the screen on the iPhone, without going into voice assist mode. As we add more features, we'll need buttons for inventory, picking music, etc.
We wanted the entire game to sound friendly - that's why we didn't use voice assist of the iPhone.
Any suggestions?

Oops? That's what happens when you are working on a thesis. Well, I would still want to keep the app size down in case someone does have a data cap. hence why I'm kind of against the car sounds and all of that stuff. Plus it would get mighty confusing at times.