Hi AppleVis community,
my name is Art and I'm the co-founder of Lyorah Studios, the developer behind "The Girl Who Sold the World" which is a extremely immersive, episodic audio adventure game with a unique story, puzzles and in future with item combination as we know it from point-and-click adventures.
Listen to the trailer and soundtrack here: Listen to the Main Trailer Listen to the Soundtrack
TGWSTW is not accessible yet but we definitely want it to make playable by just listening to the audio and interacting with our protagonist Frances.
Please believe me, since the idea of making an audio adventure game came up in my head it was clear to me that we want to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
But we want to make it happen on the highest quality level possible. That, unfortunately, means that it's not done with just implementing a screen reader. We want you to have the same deep and immersive experience and hopefully an option to solve all puzzles successfully.
We are very sorry that we couldn't achieve this at launch, as the development of chapter one ate up our budget.
But we promise you that it is number one on our schedule and we start development as soon as possible.
We stated it officially in the iFanzine interview (which you can read here) and we keep our promise.
So, this topic is going to be the place where we communicate the development together, collect your ideas and listen to your feedback.
We call that game play experience EAR-MODE, because regardless of whether you have no sight or just don't want to look on the screen, you'll be able to focus completely on your "mental cinema" and immerse in the story even more.
We'll do our best to achieve this ambitious goal :)
UPDATE #1: ear-mode@thegirlwhosoldtheworld.com Please use the above email address if you want me to add you as a future tester or for any other contact or feedback as well. Thank you!
UPDATE #2: We've launched the TGWSTW community blog. You can find it here.
Comments
That’s just not possible
Number 100, the previous comment right before yours is almost 4 months old. There is no way that you will be able to test this game. Sorry.
Future tests
@ Ahsan Khan just make sure you register on our blog so you will get notified when the time comes. Thank you!
Blog link broken
Hi.
When I try to access the link for the blog, I get a lovely page not found message. Just thought I would let the developer, and others know.
Community page is working
@Jay you might have an outdated link, please try this https://www.thegirlwhosoldtheworld.com/community
Screen recognition work around
Hey!!! Anybody tried the game with Vo Screen Recognition as a workaround just until they are good to go with Accessibility? Just thought I’d ask. Still would be interesting to see how smart Voiceover would be… I may try. I can’t wait till this is out though! I bet it will b worth the wait... And believe me, that’s hard for me to do is be patient! Things like this take time though. So I understand! Music can be the same way.
It works.
I tried it and it works but I didn't try it for to long so I don't know if the entire story can be completed.
Hello
Hello. Hope all is well. I hope that this game is still being worked on. I recently found the post about this about half an hour ago and was reading through the comments. I'm super excited for whenever the Ear Mode will get released.
Please keep us updated. :-)
Thank you so much
All is well, BUT...
You'll need a ton more patience I guess :) It's a one man show for now and I wish it would go faster, but there is still a hell of work to do. I can't see light at the end of the tunnel yet. And this is not because of the ear-mode, but because the whole project has seasoned and morphed into a much better experience already. It went so far, that we feel sometimes like we should take down the current version of TGWSTW because it by far does not match our vision of a great audio experience.
But of course we know - it's just progress. And it's a part of this long journey, and a part of us.
And then there are those meltdown days, where your data gets corrupted, your website whiped during a backup, and yeah... I had to take it down. Although we had nice plans with short stories and tests and stuff, it's obvious now that just the two of us can't take such a high workload. We have to focus on the core.
And PAPA - that's the current name for the ear-mode feature, meaning Personal Audio Processing Assistent, is about 50% ready. But I can't deny, it has to catch up constantly with the new features I'm implementing.
So, long story short, Yes! We are still working on it. Every single day with a lot of blood and sweat and smoking heads, even on sundays.
There's no way it would not be worth the wait.
Thank you all for believing in us and this project!
awesome news!
It's great you're still working on the project, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.
Because you mentioned testing: If you mean beta-testing features, I'm sure people will be happy to help.
I would love to be a tester too!!!
How do I sign up?
No worries, we're still alive.
I hope you are all well.
I know we’ve promised a lot during our development, like tests, short stories, etc. but unfortunately, we couldn’t keep up with that.
I’m sorry, it’s just too much for the two of us. Also, we had some technical issues with the website, so I had to take it down for now, because it has to be adapted anyway, to the whole fresh concept of TGWSTW.
We had no choice but to focus on the core development, which turned out to be the most efficient way. And you’ll profit from that too, of course.
Anyway, I also realized we’ve had been silent for too long, so I wanted to share a small update with you guys. Everything is going in the right direction.
The more the story evolved (and still is), the more we liked the idea of having some sort of virtual currency when we got to the point where the story just demanded that. And yeah, it’s been tough for me, but I just finished implementing it and we love it.
We call them processing cycles, short PCs, as they are part of the whole Nova System, the Skylr messenger relies on. Just to make clear, there will be by no means any obligation to buy/use them, but we have to have them, because they open some amazing possibilities.
There will be opportunities to get a gadget here and there or parts to build one, in order to solve things differently, to trade stuff with characters in the world, or even bribe them. And probably we’ll come up with other interesting situations during development. Or maybe you do?
As you already know, TGWSTW is all about decisions. What you do and also what you do not, will have sooner or later consequences. But again, the decisions where PCs are involved are not better, they are just different and you won’t have to use them at all.
I hope you’ll like that feature as much as we do. Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and until next time.
Take care!
I imagine it'll take up loads of iPhone data, right?
I imagine this'll take up lots of iPhone data, right? I only have about 50 GB of my iPhone's 64 GB used, so I won't want to fill it the rest of the way. yes, I'm not that prolific about checking e-mail and stuff like that. however, I need to be but don't keep videos/photos/recent calls on my phone for too long.
updates
What's the status of the game so far? We haven't heard anything in a while.
I’m anxiously waiting for…
I’m anxiously waiting for this game too
Work is still adding up...
although we steadily make progress... but I have to admit - regarding our high expectations we totally underestimated the amount of work.
Anyway, there's no turning back now...
As far as programming goes, I'm busy all the time to create tools to make stuff manageable and comprehensive for me and programmers we are going to engage in the future. So it's an unimaginable huge amount of work. The size of the decision tree is crazy! Which is of course great for you guys :)
I know, it's not what you want to hear, but it is like it is.
Now when I look on the date of my post - holly crap, it's been 5 years! But at the same time, when I look at the version of TGWSTW that we published, and the current one - they are worlds apart. So it's more than worth it.
And there's the difficult life situation regarding Ukraine, I know not everyone is touched by that, but we are. We were deeply involved in helping Ukrainian refugees in Poland. We hope that this horror will end soon.
As to the technical question @Ashleigh Piccinino. We anticipated already that people might not want to keep all chapters on their phones, so there will be a simple built-in file manager in the menu, which will help you to make space for new chapters as you'll go along.
I hope this clears up your concerns.
I realize that people loose interest over time, as they have to wait for that long... but please, don't be disappointed! We are still doing what we can to finish TGWSTW in the foreseeable future.
Take care, guys!
Hello Art, I am so very…
Hello Art, I am so very sorry to hear that it is such a long road journey ahead of you. I hope everything gets better very soon. And I wish you all very very good luck on this game. Have a great day.
No problem Art
It's enough that the project is not abandoned. I can only imagine how long programming something like this would take. The sound design too is leaps and bounds above most audio games. As a sound designer myself I know how time consuming that can be. I haven't forgotten about this game. I enjoyed its first trial episode back a number of years ago. I would happilypick up the rest of this when it's available. If I'm worried about anything it's the woman voicing your protagonist. People move on, and I'd hate for you to lose her. She was actually quite good.
No problem Art
It's enough that the project is not abandoned. I can only imagine how long programming something like this would take. The sound design too is leaps and bounds above most audio games. As a sound designer myself I know how time consuming that can be. I haven't forgotten about this game. I enjoyed its first trial episode back a number of years ago. I would happilypick up the rest of this when it's available. If I'm worried about anything it's the woman voicing your protagonist. People move on, and I'd hate for you to lose her. She was actually quite good.
Are there any updates
Are there any updates on this project it seems interesting
Hey Dominic and others...
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm pretty confident that I'll finish 99% of all coding tasks this year. Then I'll get the new website running and prepare a demo version, especially for this nice community, that welcomed me so kindly and has been waiting so patiently since my announcement.
Also I have to keep up with the quickly evolving tech, so I'm experimenting with AI of various kinds, either to speed up progress or to make the final experience even better.
Stay healthy, and stay tuned!
Is testing still welcome?
If so, then I'm in.
Sure, Enes.
Everyone is welcome to be a tester. Just drop me a line at ear-mode@thegirlwhosoldtheworld.com so I can add you to the list.
Thank you!
Have a great Sunday!
Nice
Hi Art wishing you all the best and I can’t wait to see how awesome this is going to be.
Please nooo on the TTS thing, pleaSE?
Hello,
I don't want TTS doing any of this game, at all unless it's verry good. in games like Voice of the Ancients, for example, the TTS is horrible ... except for Alex, of course. Also, no interacting with your own voice as, due to my testing request e-mail, the TTS can't always pick up on your thoughts, saying "Sorry, but I don't understand." How much is the first episode going to cost, both now and in the ear mode version? as I said before, I hope it's low--at least a dollar or two for your whole game, with everything included. What about donations like providing you a coffee--for example, on Youtube? do you have a Youtube channel? I'll search today as I'm doing other research for my education.
Gyros, please? it might help
Hello,
For those of us in the community of blind/VI, Orientation and Mobility is one of the skills we must learn if we are to survive out there in a world with sight. Using the gyroscope for those puzzle games, holding your phone as you would do the pingpong pattle in some of the Blindfold Games features, seems to be a lot more user friendly. Yes, you have to listen really hard, but you control the phone's movements of the ball with your own body, not just a finger. that's not really how life works in the real world, just tapping and swiping on things. after all, you move a long white cane from side to side, across the body in an ark, right? this could be the same way, holding your phone out in front of you--two hands, please--and either turning your body around--Sonar Islands, for example playthrough--or moving the phone from side to side--some of the Blindfold games like their bobsled one, for example, to help center the ball. then, just tap one time on the screen, anywhere but the home button--iPhones 8+ and earlier--or the gesture area--iPhones after 8+. that way, kids--if this game is playable by them as well--can physically learn how much harder it can be to orient oneself with other noises going on. the ball has to be in the center of your head--both ears, right? This could work, and for those individuals who have cognitive delays as well as their visual impairment/blindness, things should be slowed down, in fact must be for them to experience it too. I'll have more to come in just a bit, so stay tuned.
@Ashleigh
Hi there,
thank you for your thoughts.
Please take the effort and read all the post so you'll get a better sense of what TGWSTW is about.
We've set the quality bar really high for ourselves. So no TTS. All real voice actors. Maybe some AI generated voice in the future if it is really indistinguishable from a real voice.
The price will be adequate to its quality, so certainly not 2$. I'm sorry.
Your second post doesn't even apply to TGWSTW because it's a choice based game. There are no fancy game mechanics. It's about making the right decisions and guiding the protagonist where you want her to be.
I hope that clarifies it a bit for you.
Thanks again for your input. I appreciate your time and effort.
Is this game coming out?
It sounds interesting,
Abandonware?
It's been severalyears since this post was active, I'm assuming it could be abandonware. If this is the case, it would be very sad to hear because I feel this game has a lot of good potential, and there are not very many games on iOS, that I know of that are strictly audio based.