Re: [kidsgames] a game for kids!

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

> Anne-Marie Mahfouf wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone!
> 
> It seems that there is not a lot happening on this list for the moment.
> I develop a memory-like game for children aged 2 to 8. Any feedback (and help) would be great!
> HomePage:
> http://website.lineone.net/~a-m.mahfouf/kard.html
> 
> It is my first program and my first contact with programming.

Wow!  Pretty good for a first effort!

I can probably offer advice (and some code) for the audio version you
mention on your 'To Do' list.  It's pretty easy to play single
sounds in C or C++ under Linux.  If you aren't pushed for time
and if you don't mind a few tens of milliseconds of delay, then
something as simple as:

  system ( "cat sound_effect.wav > /dev/dsp0" ) ;
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
            ...(or whatever filename you choose)...

...works quite well (providing your sound effect is recorded at
the right frequency).  A range of suitable effects (gathered from
all sorts of places on the web) can be found along with the
source code for my Tux-the-Penguin game at:

   http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net

...or let me know privately and I can email them to you.  I have
much more sophisticated sound replay routines you could use - but
I think the 'system' command will be adequate for you and eliminates
the need to depend on any specific sound library.

One thought that occurs to me:

If you made it so that the sounds could be brought up by pushing
number keys or something - instead of by clicking on boxes on the
screen - that version might be of interest to blind or partially
sighted kids - for whom computers must be hard to take advantage
of.

I think the field of audio-only games is not yet well enough explored.

The new OpenAL sound library (you can find it at www.openal.org) supports
3D spatialized audio for Linux.  I was thinking about a game where you
could be walking around in total darkness with creatures moving around
you and such.  You'd have to shoot them with only audio cues to go on.
The screen would be totally black (or you could play with your eyes
closed)...you'd better have a stereo sound card and headphones though.

It would be cool to do a maze type of game where you had to work
your way through by echo-location like a bat or a dolphin.  We'd
have to slow down the speed of sound so that human ears could
resolve the echo's - but that would be fairly easy to do.

Anyway - it's just a thought - I havn't any concrete plans to
do these things.

--
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1@airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker@hti.com      (work)

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