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Gaming With a Headmouse?
seanbhoy writes "Do you have any information on games that can be played by myself? I am disabled from the neck down, and use a headmouse to access the Internet, etc. To get an idea of my disability, I have almost the same injuries that Christopher Reeve had. Can you point me in the direction of similar would-be gamers and computer users? Also do you have any information on games that may work with the headmouse I use?"
You might be disappointed by the quality of the suggestions you get to your question, since most Slashdotters are disabled from the neck up.
Yeah, seriously. Use VirtuNes or the like, and have the zapper set up thru the mouse. I work in a facility with people that have your situation. Using the same setup, I had some of the guys playing Operation Wolf and Lazer Invasion in no time. Good luck!
What is the perfered method of typing for someone with that disorder?
I'm assuming the postere typed their own question.
Note that this isn't an endorsement for either site - I don't know what kind of extra junk they install when you install their games, for example - but these type of games meant for the "casual gamer" usually work with minimal input, and the people who play them certainly seem to like them.
Do you have a way to click? If you can move your head relatively fast I would imagine that you'd be pretty good at any FPS since you pretty much aim by looking...
Isn't /. a game?
How precise are those btw? As you might have noticed many strategy (turn) based games don't require much speed and accuracy.
I don't read replies by ACs.
I have no idea what a headmouse is or how it is used, but I'm guessing playing DDR with it on the highest setting will eventually make your head fall off...
Not to be rude, but doesn't a headmouse work just like a normal mouse?
And if so, wouldn't games like Civilization be good?
http://use.perl.org
http://www.medschool.pitt.edu/
Good luck.
http://www.busyweather.com/
You're going to need something that will work mostly with a keyboard, I take it...
and you're not going to want a first person shooter - too much need for quick reaction times.
A turn-based game would do the trick. Start off small and addictive with that evil NetHack (nethack.org) and in ten or twelve years time when you're done work on the Total War series - Medieval and Rome are both bonza games and not necessarily reliant on twitchy relfexes... but start off with Shogun (www.totalwar.com).
Best of luck. Enjoy.
I am a leaf on the wind
I don't know if this would work, but you may want to look at http://wilddivine.com/. It works on Bio feedback (no joystick), maybe they can help you out.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
I would think any game that is not real time. Turn based games like final fantasy.
I think Frozen Bubble could be modified to be playable with left-right panning and a click type movement. It may already be possible. My wife *loves* that game; it has tetris-like addictivity. The developer is a nice guy too...
When I grow up, I want to have Christopher Walken hair.
"funny" posts here. I've already seen some that I would consider cruel and heartless.
Having a disability is not a funny thing.
Believe me...
I had a bad reaction to a drug, causing my whole face to stretch in one direction. Not being in control of your body is not fun at all. As long as we have such little understanding of ourselves, stuff like that could happen.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
For games, just about anything that only uses two axes of movement and as many buttons as you have available will work. I especially recommend anything turn based since speed and accuracy wont be a problem. Anything else would probably be an old classic like space invaders, pac-man, etc.
r /
Besides games, I hope you know about and are using Dasher or something like it for typing.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dashe
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
If you're looking for hardware this claims to be game compatible and there's an article here which touches on disabled gaming.
If software, really you're probably going to be looking at non twitch turn based stuff. As I don't know which genres you're into or what sort of PC you have, I can't really recommend anything.
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
Not sure how helpful this will be, but it appears there's a community of folks with similar interests/needs centered around developer Glen Murphy's Freelook, at:
http://freelook.org/
It appears you can join the forum and post questions to a group which will probably have lots of good answers to your questions. By the way, the technology is pretty interesting: it appears to only require a cheap webcam and some sort of target, which can as simple a small white paper patch on the user's cap, or under poor lighting conditions, an LED or small light source.
It's not played in real time and most GUI implementations are mouse only. I guess you lose the ability to enter text, but that's really only rarely used for engraving and naming items.
There are hundreds of beautifully crafted text adventures these days, and Dasher is a text input system that addresses your exact condition. Basically, letters fly by and you "steer" the pointer to each letter's region. The genius here is that Dasher learns the things that you tend to input a lot, and makes those regions take up a large convenient part of the entry area, while pushing unusual sequences to the margins.
What limitations do you have as to speed and accuracy and your range of motion? Do you have the ability to click? If so how many buttons can you similate? 1, 2, or 3 button mouse? What is comfortable for you? Do you have use of the keyboard at all?
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Over the past year, PDXLAN has had a few gamers show up to their event using a headmouse (or some form of a headmouse) and play many of the games played at that event.
:)
:D
I've seen Counter-Strike work
You may try asking a question on their site forums. Chances are they'll have a good answer for you, or know how to contact the people that do use headmice.
Best of luck
If I throw a stick, will you go away?
I wonder how well voice command gaming would work? See here for one example.
Meh.
I tend to think that card games came to the PC primarily because they are easier with a mouse than trying to work with a real deck of cards.
There's an awful lot of places you can play against the computer, and if you are fast enough moving the cards around with the headmouse you could compete against other players on the internet. (I'd mention the MSN Gaming Zone except that this is Slashdot, and I'd be lynched)
BTW, Many similarly disabled people have rich sex lives. I hope you never have to experience catastrophic injury firsthand. Be thankful for what you have.
There are two reasons to play nethack: it can run on pretty much any machine with a keyboard-type input device, and is turn based (great for when the boss walks in and you gotta look busy for a little bit, or if you have to use an onscreen keyboard, as you probably do). instead of dying due to a lack of speedy input, you can take as long as you need to between moves. in fact, i routinely leave nethack going while i go get a sandwich or take an unscheduled nap after a many hour session. i think it might be the perfect fit for you if you like rpgs. i still play it, despite it being 20 years old and pretty minimal on flashy graphics.
**Disclaimer: I've not researched this at all, consider this post merely a brainfart!**
You did not say what hardware/software you are using so I don't know if this is any use but if you're running Windows (and I assume that your hardware just emulates a standard mouse anyway), here's a few ideas.
Most RTS games can be played mouse only so you should be OK with anything Command-And-Conquer-esque. I'm not sure how quickly/accurately you can move a cursor but you can adjust the speed of most RTS games to suit. Turn-based strategy games would be good too, and you can play both types online.
There are loads of online games (cards/board games etc.) which you only need a mouse to play. If you have an onscreen keyboard you will be able to chat as well.
Most FPS games will likely be out of the question as you generally require a keyboard AND mouse to play. Having said that, the original Doom/Wolfenstein games can be played without a keyboard.
Also, try to find out if there's a disabled gamers group either online or near you. I would imagine there must be SOMEONE out there in a similar situation to you, so maybe they can be more helpful than me!
Good luck!
If ignorance is bliss, knock the smile off my face.
Its a truly challenging game, and it can be played online for fun. A mouse is all thats needed, and the ability to pay close attention to what people do. :)
;)
I like www.pokerroom.com, as its java based and the action in the "play money" area is actually pretty good. Don't get sucked in to putting your cash online though. Too many bots and cheaters.
SpamapS -- Undernet #Linuxhelp
Jon Katz, you sneaky bastard! Didn't you post something like this last year? Well, you're busted now, we know who you are ;)
When I grow up, I want to have Christopher Walken hair.
Do you have any idea how offensive that is?
/. stereotype: geeks with no social grace or tact.
You're proof of the standard
I don't know much directly about how to assist you in your search for good games. I do know, though, that students involved with the Lemelson Center at Hampshire College would be the perfect folks to contact about working with you towards a solution. The Lemelson Center is focused on Assistive Technology design and fabrication, and the students at Hampshire are a great lot for innovative approaches to situations like yours. Check them out at http://lemelson.hampshire.edu/LCD.html
Good luck to you! I hope to see one of the students there working on your problem soon...
Games like maniac mansion, day of the tentacle, escape from monkey island. They don't have any quick-reflex types of interaction with the game, but do require a mouse. They are very story oriented though, and the mouse is used in a "point on the word to complete the sentence" type of interface. An example is a classic, clicking on "use", then selecting the "hamster" icon, then selecting the microwave from the picture window.
Anyway, if you're already using a head mouse, that seems to be completely within the means of appropriate uses.
Another type of game that doesn't get a lot of attention these days are moos, or muds. Text-based massive multiplayer games are totally possible to play with a head mouse, especially with a lot of mud clients having lots of point-and-click scripting abilities, to lessen the need for typing even more.
There were some really good text-based games that can usually be found laying around these days. "Bureaucracy" and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" were incredibly entertaining for their day, and still are if you can suspend needing to see pretty graphics.
But ultimately, I have no experience with headmice at all. I'm just making these suggestions that it's not necessarily the limitation of being able to get to every button, but that its the limitation of getting to those buttons _quickly_ that is the problem here, for games. As such, some role-playing games might work, especially something like Final Fantasy Tactics, or similar games, that could be played through emulation on a non-console game system.
hrm, the head mouse is like $1000, the mouth controller is $225. You may have a point. Mod Parent Up.
Astropop and Bejeweled 2 are the most worthwhile 40 bucks I have EVER spent on games (each is 20 dollars, but you can also get a free trial version or play online for free).
I like the following games, which can kills hours, and they used a mouse.
Tetris, Bejeweled [lots of popcap gameshttp://www.popcap.com/], Hexen.
Cheers.
Money cannot buy happiness, but can buy something soo darn close, that you can't really tell the difference
If you can press a single key (for pause) pretty reliably, neverwinter should work pretty well as it can be completely mouse controlled. But you will definately want to pause it a good bit if your response time/accuracy is limited. But this will depend on exactly your set up.
Similarly, if you like this style of rpgs I believe baldur's gate two should work well also, its turn based, and mouse controlled. I think you can also set it to autopause on turns.
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
my first post on /. to say your comment is truely odious.
C'mon, with a username of "Eunuch" he sounds worse off than the first guy.
Your mind is a greater computer than we can ever create with our current technology. It is also capable of far higher planes of entertainment than we are used to.
Being restricted in your body movement does not restrict you from exploring the depths of your mind. You could try playing these "MindGames (TM)" by yourself. What I'm referring to is exploring "higher planes of consciousness", as Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc) call it, and "trips", as druggies (no offence intended) call it.
These elevated states of consciousness are achievable through meditation and trancendental techniques (lots of Google results when I looked) and to a certain extent (with obvious side effects) through psychotropic drugs. In my experience, these techniques really result in peace and tranquility, at the very least ..... and what's more, you don't need anything more than your mind to play them.
Just wanted to offer an out of the box suggestion which I thought might help....Good luck.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Which brings up, of course, nethack--the only computer game that actually *matters*.
.
I'd guess that you would want one of the graphical interfaces, but even the text version should be doable with just a little bit of help.
A text-based game with over twenty years of development behind it . .
hawk
Here's a person so highly sympathetic to other people who are disabled that he doesn't fetishize our greater physical abilities above their lesser. In fact he is already so beyond the merely physical that, far from the traditional pity for the disabled, he admires their equality (and perhaps superiority) in the field that really interests him: the mind. While you are still so mired in pity or other fetishistic discrimination of the disabled that you attack him. Unfortunately, your disability discriminates against you in the world of the mind, where we are indeed all headed. Fortunately, your disability is easier to transcend, merely by opening your mind to people like the poster to whom you replied. Post again when you're feeling better.
--
make install -not war
> How about Gaming with a Titmouse?
> Finally, gamer grrlz would have an advantage!!!
Yeah, and 90% of the slashdot community.
That's "by myself" in the sense of a single adverb, i.e. alone, without assistance.
Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
Frozen Bubble rox.
Nethack can be played by the blind, so you might be able to find a way to play it also. The problem is that it is very annoying to play without being able to use a keyboard, so I'm not sure it would be worth it unless you can type at a reasonable rate. If so then you are in luck since it is the best game of all.
How quickly can you click with a headmouse, and is right clicking as easy as left clicking? Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 may be possibilities, assuming that fairly rapid clicking is not a problem. Diablo 1 has a bit of a slower pace, and with both games you can access just about everything, including the main menu and inventory, using only the mouse.
Very well put. Yes, we are all headed towards the mind. I'll see you when we get there.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
It really depends on what kinds of games you like, of course, but if you like classic point-and-click adventures, I'd really recommend getting ScummVM and some of those old LucasArts classics (you can get those for cheap on eBay, for example). I've got to admit I have no idea how a headmouse works, but if it's anything like a regular mouse in terms of flexibility and immediate control over cursor movement, I think you'll find those very playable. ^^
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
I would highly recommend some all-text adventure games. I have extremely fond memories of the Zork series, Planetfall and the like. They do not require fast reflexes but are still challenging, fun and addictive. Most of the common commands can be abbreviated to a single letter ("n" for "north", "i" for "inventory", "l" for "look" etc...) and I imagine that your user-interface is tuned for text anyway. Oh, and the games can be downloaded for free from infocom's site. And of course, full solutions abound on the net should you get stuck. Enjoy!
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
I prefer head games with a traditional mouse.
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
Nethack is a classic, and many promising graduate computer sience careers has been its victims. Time disappears when you play this simple game.
What keeps me going is my inertia.
Starcraft is PERFECT for your situation. Only requires a mouse, it will take a lot of getting used to, especially only using your head, but man, starcraft is THE RTS of ALL TIME! Any other rts would do you as well, but i have found, although this is just my undisabled findings, i can still play starcraft nearly 10 years after its been first released and still get the same rush from it. Its fun. Your disabled. You have a reason to play this game 24/7. Dont miss out on the opportunity of a LIFETIME.
Had it done a half year ago by Dr. Kimmel.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
I have no idea how the "headmouse" works.. but I imagine games like nethack and liquidwars should work fine..
Depending on how the mouse works then games like neverwinternights that are realtime/with the option to pause and issue commands should be playable as well...
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Hi, I worked with a program at Boston College called Eagle Eyes, which is a project that allows people with severe motor disabilities to control a cursor with their eye movements. One of the major problems in designing games for these types of interfaces is that click times are extremely slow, so much so that they almost have to be completely discounted.
The game I built is a 3D downhill skiing game where you control speed by looking up/down, and steer by looking left/right.
If you contact the Eagle Eyes project, I'm sure they can direct you to more games and if you are interested in the skiing game, send me an e-mail at: s u p p o r t @ a l t e r e d v i s t a . c o m and I'll send you a copy. (Unfortunately, the skiing game is Windows only, as it relies upon DirectX.)
Also, there is a movement in the game development community to try to reach out to gamers with disabilities. For more information on that, visit the International Game Developers Association Accessibility SIG
All the best.
DISCLAIMER: I work for Sports Mogul.
:-)
If you like sports, there are a number of managment-style games out there that are mostly mouse driven and don't require quick reflexes.
The games that my company puts out are used by the blind due to our taking care with the interface to keep it accessable. You should find them easy to navigate.
You can download demos from out products here: http://www.sportsmogul.com/
Do a Google for "sports simulation" to bring up a whole list of other companies.
If you hate sports there are non-sports related games too. Think of a souped up game of "Lemonade Stand"
[plug] Java Duckhunt: http://www.goodgoing.org/pages/games/java-duckhunt .html
[/plug] :)
I would love to see this tool modded for use with other things..
Let me just start out by saying, this is one of those posts that makes you step back and realize there's a niche that needs to be filled, that falls outside of one's own personal paradigm. I felt so dumb, not even knowing what a headmouse was.
With much thanks to the person who posted an example of a headmouse, from a tech perspective, I can think of it sort of like a touchpad or normal mouse (aka, movement of a cursor and possible right/left click). The website said it had a common USB interface... the machine must see it as a normal mouse.
Which brings me to my suggestion. One of my favorite games on the Amiga was some "walker" something or other... you actually had to control it with two controllers. One joystick controlled the walking machine, the other the cursor on the screen, a shooting type of targeter. What made this game so fun to play wasn't the fact that you needed two joysticks (and literally two hands) to play, but the fact that you could play it with someone else, simultaneously!
In other words, you controlled this StarWars 2 legged at-at thing, and one guy got to let it move and the other controlled it's gun/targeter/whatever.
Is the option to play with someone else available? It could be interesting! Play a FPS where you control the mouse and someone else controls the keyboard... a new level of gameplay, and the best part... you don't have to even modify exsisting games.
I'm not trying to be cruel or anything but I remember having a great time with that old Amiga "walker" game (if someone can remember the real name, I'd appreciate it). I actually remember having to use a D-pad style joystick in my left hand then a "stick" style joystick under my right leg, to control the game. It was actually easier (and more fun) to play with two people!
To sum up a long and boring post: just because most modern games are designed with one person, or two people "competing" doesn't mean you can't have a good time using the game in a non-traditional cooperative mode. I've always personally enjoyed cooperative games more than competitive. (But that's just me.)
FLR
I'm assuming heavily mouse-based titles will be your games of choice, and probably not twitch-based ones. Therefore, most online multiplayer games (unless they're turn-based) will be right out.
That being said:
Activision's Total War series
Any game of the Civilization series
If someone codes a set of keypresses for you, games on emulated systems (Final Fantasy titles on NES/SNES/PSX for instance, or turn-based games on a GBA emulator like Advance Wars) would likely be doable.
Some of the older MAME titles - not fighting titles like Soul Calibur, but scrollers like R-Type - could be mapped to your headmouse incredibly easily.
You might be able to convince someone to code you a custom interface to use EQ, WoW, or FFXI if you're interested in them; most of the hotkeys are fairly straightforward and could be bound to a wheel-type mouse interface pretty easily.
Steer clear of FPS play, as you'd need (at least) fingers capable of WASD to do them.
If all else fails, there's always games like Go, Chess, and the like to be played out on Yahoo Games or elsewhere. Yeah, they're somewhat old school, but it's always possible to find a game.
Oh, and I did mention a lot of "someone would have to code up the interface", but for most of them it's just remapping joystick axes/hotkeys to certain mouse movements.
Happy gaming!
I use a headmouse sometimes to reduce hand-strain. (I can't even use a mouse with my main writing hand anymore, because of the unbearable pain.) My headmouse is one of the Naturalpoint models (http://www.naturalpoint.com/). Their TrackIR product is designed with gamers in mind. They list a number of games that work well with the headmouse on their website. Also, they have forums (http://forums.naturalpoint.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb .cgi) where you can find a lot of discussion of headmouse gaming.
I find that some games work better than others. I like using it for strategy games, for example. It's not so good for games like Star Wars Galaxies, where you have to push the mouse left and *leave* it there, to turn left. With a headmouse, this results in you tipping further and further left, until you can't go any further (or turning your avatar back right, if you want to straighten your head back up). D'oh! With pretty much all games, you will probably have to recenter it frequently, regardless of how well they get along with the headmouse.
Another thing that complements a headmouse is the wonderful Shoot program (http://clans.gameclubcentral.com/shoot/). It's a free voice recognition program intended for use with games. Because it's intended for use with a very small vocabulary, the performance is vastly superior to what you'd get from Dragon, and the overhead is much smaller, to boot. It's designed so you can assemble different profiles for all of your favorite games, and it works surprisingly well.
The last thing I recommend is to keep an eye on the Game Accessibility SIG (http://www.igda.org/accessibility/) of the IGDA. They're dedicated to spreading awareness of accessibility needs in mainstream games and sharing methods for making accessibility easy.
Good luck!
Didn't that guy do some animated TV show? In any case I am not that person at all.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
In a similar vain - I would suggest something from the Broken Sword series. (sorry for the crap website link - but Wikipedia is down at the moment).
Simple point-and-click game like above suggestions - and I found them fun enough. They also make you think a bit - but aren't as annoyingly tricky as other similar games (IMO).
You are the one who is truly sick, sadly like too many others. The poster admires the quadriplegic for their transcendence of the body, which the poster also seeks, and finds us all equally tending towards. You are the one haunted by violent imagery, associating disability with punishment.
--
make install -not war
Hey, everyone's got their own ambitions in the transhuman game. Personally, I want to be in many places at once.
--
make install -not war
http://www.uwec.edu/ce/morse2000.htm
I don't see us breaking the speed of light for communications soon. But we can certainly switch from one avatar to another (wireless link or such). Considering our neurons transmit much slower than the speed of light, we can be much farther than that with which we want to interact with.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
Mainly good for flight sims. You will need someone likely to help you configure it: http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/
Switch Gaming: They sell hardware and have game reviews for PC, console, and emulated classics. Sounds like just what you're looking for.
Visually pleasing breakout game from Reflexive Entertainment. They have a community of level makers so it's nearly infinite gameplay as far as your natural interest is concerned.
Alien Sky from Kraisoft. Awesome Galaga remix.
The last suggestion is Swarm from Reflexive Entertainment, again. The only reservation that I have with Swarm is that there are very fine sudden movements required of a much different kind than the first two suggestions. Try it.
Laws are for people with no friends.
Face it: the neck isnt made to make rapid precice movements of the head over a longer period of time.
Its just does the "low frequency" components of the movement, the eyes do the rest of the work (quickly and precicly aim at spots of interest). But with them, there is the problem of involutary movement, so eye-tracking wouldnd be that great either.
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Most people just don't understand. That doesn't make them sick. For quadriplegics, there is Stephen Hawking but also Reeve. He wasn't quite into transhumanism. Rather, he just wanted to be "normal" again.
Being "disabled" doesn't make you any better. But it can open your eyes towards the mind, where we are heading. I take it you get these things. I'll meet you there with a simulated beer!
Transcend Humanity. Please.
if i had to guess, id recommend something along the lines of a solid strategy game. which shouldnt be a big problem to find one. starcraft and the warcraft series is super solid. now whether it supports your head mouse is another issue. but if i had to guess id say so. something along the lines of that or even a massive multi online player game (ex. everquest or sims online) would even be nice. mainly because those games have a wide veriety of key configurations, dont require as many keys to play as something like unreal 2k4. besides that, it strikes me as it would be more work than its worth to hit the massive combos to get the adrinalin boost. im in a class with a guy under the same conditions and i just know from playing him almost everyday that our best lans happen with the stratigys. hope this helps you on your downward spiral to gamer addictions.
Have you seen muh baseball?
I have a question for you, if you're reading. Are you excited about that research implanting electrodes into monkey brains for them to control robot arms and such? If I were disabled, I would be volunteering for that stuff if they're accepting volunteers. Not necessarily to control robot arms (seems likely to be of limited use when the robot arms are not going to be nearly as capable or sensitive as human arms/hands), but to control computers with a brain mouse or even a brain keyboard or gamepad. Then you could browse the net easier, play whatever game you liked, or even get a job coding. You might even be able to type faster than other people can with their hands.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Blizzard has tried to make there latest offering very user friendly. The game after setup can be played entirely with just the mouse. It also doesn't require super accuracy or speed. It is however a ton of fun. Good luck finding a game that suits.
I'm not sure why this is a troll, this guy is expressing a form of admiration. While I don't agree with him (I have no desire to give control of my body) this is certainly not a troll. And he does start out with "It may sound strange".... Who knows, perhaps in the future we will all live in a VR world where physical bodies dont matter (kinda like the matrix). Its an idea thats been discussed in scifi for a long time and while the parents expression of desire for the loss of bodily function to gain a form of transcendance does sound a little odd, its not inseneitive and its certainly not a troll
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
Try neverball. You tilt a map and try to get a ball into a hole, and it comes with an extension, Neverputt, which is a mini-putting game. It's great fun. I can even play it with a touchpad (I play it while travelling):
Neverball!
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
otherwise, maybe some of the text based adventure games, or even something like the old Trade Wars on Telnet, or webified versions.
These are meant to be safe suggestions, as I imagine that things that require fancy key combos and timing might be frustrating
Tradewars 2002
Official Site
Trade Wars was/is an excellent strategy type game. (old style graphics, tho)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It is possible to control an aircraft in FlightGear using a mouse. So, as long as your headmouse looks like a two- or three-button mouse to Linux (and you have some way to activate buttons), you should be good to fly.
http://bash.org/?4278
It's a matter of care. A dyslexic bloke I know generates very coherent documentation, emails etc - especially when compared to his peers. Why? He *knows* he has limitations and checks everything he writes three times. His peers just bang out their emails etc and hit "send" with no editing/spell checking etc, because they are not aware of their imperfections.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Look into Jagged Alliance 2 also, another turn based combat game. I don't think you need to really use the keyboard for anything except entering the initial activation code for your IMP merc, and that game is loads of fun.
The Fallout and Jagged Alliance 2 combat engines would be well suited because they are totally turn based by nature. However, by setting auto-pause on the BG/IWD games you can get the same effect. I suppose I should mention Fallout Tactics also which can be played in turn based mode just like Fallout1&2.
You could probably also play Neverwinter Nights just with a mouse, although playing online is 90% of the fun, and it would be hard to type/chat with other players with just a mouse. If you could manage to let them know its hard for you to type you could probably get in with some adventurers who would work with you.
I'm not even mentioning trivial games like card games, etc, because I tend to like action oriented games with guns, lasers, magic, etc, but I play a lot of turn based strategy games (most of them listed above) because I like the somewhat slower pace and how they give you time to think before each move.
My wife suggests a bunch of Flash games like on shockwave.com or gameblast.com. and from the amount of time she spends playing them I suppose that is the other side of the gaming coin. You'd have to be pretty good with your mouse to play some of these, because they are click fests, but OTOH the only controls are the mouse.
Other turn based games are Civilization, Heroes of Might and Magic, Alpha Centauri, X-Com UFO Defense. Some of the older ones like X-Com run great using DOSBox and its not too hard to set up a shortcut or something to get them started.
I'd recommend setting up a way to at least invoke the [Esc] key with your head mouse so if you get stuck in a text entry box you can try and exit from it. I'm not sure what their capabilities are, but you need a couple keystrokes mapped like for Quicksave/Quickload, Enter, Esc, stuff like that.
Good luck and happy gaming!
Clickety Click
Or StarControl II, if you can find it.
I can find it, and it's GPL'd.
Er... Solitare?
Of course, you can also try RPGs, most of which you just point and click where you want your character to go or what you want him to do. Games like those usually have a deep story or mystery, and you really have to use your head.
Personally, I'd look for some sort of shooter type game. Point and fire, y'know? Improve that head to eye coordination.
Obviously puzzles are often mouse-only and do not require fast reaction times. I guess there are plenty of Myst-type games; I dont remember very well, but aren't most the old LucasArt games (Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Sam and Max, Grim Fandango) mouse-only?
For starters, maybe you could try the online classics at FASCO-CS: Crimson Room and Viridian Room. Maybe you could manage puzzles like Hapland too.
I've been skimming this thread and I didn't see many replies from other users with disabilities. I also use a type of headmouse because of a neuromuscular disability. I've had this type of setup since I was 16 (I'm 31 now and work as an attorney). I've always been a gamer and I tend to gravitate towards games that don't require twitch reflexes. I'm a big RPG fan and most of these are mouse-driven. Check out some of the classics like Baldur's Gate or Planescape. Planescape is especially brilliant. A more recent game I really enjoyed was Freedom Force, a rpg/strategy game that is also mouse-driven. Does your headmouse allow you to hook up separate switches for the left and right mouse buttons? These switches work really well if you have limited movement.
/. and the quality of the responses tends to run the gamut from troll to somewhat helpful. I hope other users with disabilities will see this and offer more ideas.
If you do play games that require a few keyboard commands, check out Game Commander. It allows you to program voice commands for games. It has a pretty customizable interface and you can even program macros.
If you have an on-screen keyboard, you can always go old-skool with text adventures from Infocom.
Stop by my blog if you have other questions. I've seen other disability-related questions posted on
Great idea. To me that sounds like even more of a viable option than RTS gaming.
"Think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." --Joe Don Baker in Final Justice
IL-2 series of flight sims, with TrackIR. Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Warhammer 40k : dawn of war
It's an excellent RTS and rather then the usual "lets sit here with grunts while slaves work" it's more balanced and you have to use your grunts to capture objectives which make resources. Response time isn't that vital, can be played well with just a mouse and theres mods adding another 10 or so races to the line up and an expansion comming in the Autumn.
You may want to check it out, the only issue I see is inputting your name but maybe someone else could do that for you?
I like muppets.
Having minor carpal tunnel from typing and my (brace yourself) sport, I've been taking a break recently from
games like Counterstrike which heavily employ my left hand on the keyboard, and have been going mostly mouse only...
The most recent addictive game I've played is called Oasis. I describe it to my friends as a 5 minute
version of Civilization. It has no time limit or anything that might be limited by slow mouse control, and although their
website states that it's currently in beta I had no problems with it during my binges.
The poster said he wanted to play "by himself" so I'll exclude multiplayer games and suggest two other obvious ones
which come to mind: Snood and Zuma. These two have taken myself and probably many
others through some long nights. Good luck!
(The sport is rowing, for those in disbelief)
The trick is having a good, comfortable headphone set I have Sennheiser 570s. DragonDictate is far superior to GameCommander. Voice macros take some time but you figure out which ones you want to create as you learn the game. Shogun was one of my favorite voice gaming experiences. Homeworld 2 and Rise of Nations along with many many others have also been good to me. I'm pretty good with the mouse though which means the poster's mileage may vary
Laws are for people with no friends.
I don't have any info on your particular apparatus, but if it works as a mouse, I don't see why you should have trouble with many games working. I assume you have some sort of input for clicking, is that right? I think you'd need the minimum of that. If it's a sort of "hang over a spot = click" thing, there might be trouble. You'd definitely want the simpler of games that can work with a minimum of inputs. FPSes come to mind, but some of the are quite complex. I think Halo's about as simple as it gets. Or maybe Serious Sam. Some RTSes would probably do alright. Starcraft is the only one of those I've ever enjoyed, though, and it's interface is pretty simple. Some MMORPGs have pretty simple interfaces. I know City of Heroes can work with just mouse useage, but not sure how well. That's just what I get off the top of my head.
Um... well, where to begin here...
"I'm not sure why this is a troll"
Well, maybe because it sounds too strange to be true.
"its not inseneitive and its certainly not a troll
Actually, if I were disabled from the neck down (the opposite of your disabilty from the neck up) I would find this quite insensitive. Well I think you meant insensitive and not "inseneitive"
Besides, since the technology the parent post spoke of probably won't be "safe" during our lifetimes I see no advantage to being paralyzed. And you wouldn't need to be paralyzed to use the technology either. I can buy a headmouse for myself if I really wanted, but alas, I'm quite comfortable with the one I have.
DarkMantle I been bored, so I started a blog.
Ditto to a lot of RPG's... really anything that doesn't require a huge amount of buttons and/or realtime control might work.
The Myst series is completely driven with one mouse button. Uru may be a bit difficult, but Myst, Riven, Exile, and Revelation are in the clear.
I know this is a bit shameless, but my current project Antidote will also be great. It's the same type of game engine as Myst but more focus on character development than puzzles for puzzles sake. It will be available in April.
AnamanFan - Trying to find the Truth, one post at a time.
if you had as much as two click-ability, and other inputs for up-down-left-right movement, you could lose yourslef into FPS games and MMORPGs for a while. Apart from the obvious jaw-click, both ways, becoming two clicks, you might have a hard time unless they invented an eyebrow click or tongue device.
That said plenty of (mostly non-FPS) games can be played entirely by mouse. Think: Wolfenstein the original, and possibly DOOM/HERETIC/QUAKE without strafing.
I've spend months of my life wasted for Monkey Island series. I dont remember having to touch the keyboard. Also played lots of commander keen. You certainly can play ALL commodore64, atari 2600, SNES, and some sega genesis games. Get xmame installed and start piling up the roms from some p2p place. You will not regret that.
And do finish the myst series.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Chess requires simple commands, such as "A2 to A3", and although I can't find a voice activated one, I'm sure the head mouse would be fine.
I wish I was better at chess. In my opinion, it's one game that you can become great at and never get sick of. Everyone mentions games that you'll tire of in no time anyway... go to the daddy of them all.
Berto
"What is the prefered method of typing for someone with that disorder?"
a:Dictation software
The guy MIGHT have the condition and still be able to "talk" using voice dictation software, Dragon natural speaking per example. surprinsingly enough it does work. (after quite a bit of training)
Im not saying that proves this guy is for real. But at least "typing" doesnt prove otherwise.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
Here's the strategy I would suggest:
Hit the sale rack at your software store of choice and and try out a few games of different genres. That way you won't waste a bunch of money on games you don't like, and you can nail down a genre that works well for you. Everyone here has been saying "forget FPS", but seriously- if you think you might like that kind of game, go pick one up off the sale rack for $5 and try it out. If it doesn't work for you, you've only lost $5, and that's assuming that you can't recycle it into a stocking stuffer for a friend down the road.
The main thing is that if you're trying to pick a genre, try some cheap ones before you go drop $50+ on the latest and greatest.
See you on the battlefield....
DISCLAIMER: This post was not checked for speling and grammar- if you complain- you're a whiner
You've mentioned some good games in there. I'd also add Neverwinter Nights and all the add on modules too. They play very much like Civilization, but with some real time play, but that's not too hard to manage.
Alas gallinaceas de urbe bovis volo
Text copied from here
It does seem rather powerful, especially if it can be combined with voice recognition. Although voice recognition isn't perfect it could certainly be good enough to mimic the button pushes we make when playing a game.
It probably won't be as fast though. So you probably want a game that isn't twitch based. Lets review the categories.
1) MMORPG. Although this isn't twitch based I'm reluctant to recommend it. I don't mean to be insensitive, but I believe that you will meet a lot of insensitive impatient people who will only hurt your self esteem. I don't know the average age of an MMORPG player. All I know is that many act like 12 year olds. Maybe if you find trade skilling rewarding. You could be a very good trade skiller, I'm sure. In fact, if you enjoy trade skilling then you can build your character to the highest levels and people want to do business with you. This category is different than the two below, because there is social interatction here. And if you want more of that, then this might be your choice.
2) Turn based strategy. Civilisation... Oh the memories... I'd really have to recommend this genre. This is one of my all time game genres. And you can play it at any speed you like. You invest a lot of time in the strategy and you can ask a unit to do something which will take many turns. This means that later in the game it will do tons of stuff, that is really interesting to you, the player, but you won't actually be doing much pointing and clicking. Whatever else games you play, you should try to do this too. It is just too much fun to not do. To round it up, whether you win this or not _only_ depends on your thinking. Nothing else. You will be as good a player as a non handicapped person. It might take longer. But what the hey.
3) Real time strategy. This is another one of my favorite genres. Although this really can be as much twitching as a first person shooter, you can normally set the speed to anything you like. You might find that this really gets your adrenalin pump going. I know it does for me.
4) First person shooters. This might not work when you play with a random person from the Internet. But you could get a group going with the same type of problem as you. All that matters is that everyone is about similarly fast. This could be a lot of fun, _and_ it could also be super rewarding if you can organize and build a community and make friends. I currently play an MMORPG right now, and the part that is the most rewarding for me is to organize events and try to help people have fun. The game itself is secondary. You might want to look at games such as Ghost Recon which is more "suspense" and "one shot one kill" rather than the Quake "circle/strafe" "rocket jump" game play.
5) Someone else mentioned Myst. Myst and other puzzle games might be good for you. It isn't for me, but many like it. Maybe you are one of them.
And finally, good luck finding the game that is for you. I love it when I have a new game.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
The parent in a message is the one you are replying to.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
This is not a computer game, but have you tried Dungones and Dragons or other traditional pen and paper role playing games? Heck, you don't even need a pen and/or paper to play the game, in my gaming group the Dungeon Master usually keep track of our characters anyway. The only thing you need is good imagination and the ability to speak. :) If you like this idea but don't know where to start, I suggest you check out the Dungoens & Dragons forum www.enworld.org . The members there are _very_ friendly and mature. Heck, you'd make a great Dungeon Master, if you can find players who know the rules themselves!
:)
Here are a couple of computer games recommendations...
How about racing games like Need for Speed? If I recall correctly you can control the cars entirely with your mouse, that's how I played the game back when Need for Speed II was out. I can also recommend the RPG suggestions. Fallout and Fallout 2 are two really great turn based strategy games that works remarkably well without a keyboard. You can probably play Sim City and the likes without a keyboard, too.
I an trying to think of any team-based / network / MMORPG games that can be controlled without a keyboard, games with a large community so you can use teamspeak/skype etc to communicate in real time with your friends. Those games rock!
And then we have the smaller titles, like Minesweeper etc.
Technofetishism mixed with Cartesian dualism resulting in some idea that we're going to "leave our bodies behind" and emerge into a more perfect world of "pure mind" is sloppy thinking, not open mindedness.
It's sad that you think the physical world is something "mere" that we should attempt to "get beyond".
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
The fantasy of bodilessness is just that - a fantasy, based usually on bad experiences, and on a fiction of the "unbodied" mind. In fact, what you want is just a different body - one of metal instead of meat, trading one interface for another. You feel unsuccessful at negotiating your existence with this body, the fantasy of the "new" body is one of just starting over. Except that the very term "interface" is misleading, since it again presumes a clear separation between one "world" and the other that isn't realistic.
Our brains have evolved to what they are, our language as we know it is what it is, and our desires are shaped as they are, because of the history of our bodies.
I view this fantasy towards being "freed" of the body as the geek equivalent of white flight. Frankly, I'm more interested in augmenting what is humanly possible, instead of trying to engineer a reduction. That implent you described is more of an intervention into the body than an "escape" from it.
I dont have the names handy, but there are games with a vocal command set as the optional controls.
I think some of the easiest games for alternative controls would be adventure/mystery games. Many of these are nearly completely mouse driven. Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silver Earring for instance, The Myst series would be another. For games of this type, your mind needs to be sharp, not your keyboard or joystick controls. They are mostly mouse driven. I bet the old text adventures would be fun if you hooked them up to one of the speech parsers to convert the spoken word to printed screen text.
There's a few ideas for now.
llamakiller4
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts", Earl Weaver - Legendary Coach of the Baltimore Orioles
It uses a unique, entirely mouse-driven interface, with no menus or icons. You play a god in the game, and "miracle" actions are performed by mousing certain patterns into the ground. It's an intriguing, very clean interface, and it's a good game to boot. http://www2.bwgame.com/
Confusing transcendence of the physical into the mental with cartesian dualism, or expecting it will come even primarily through technology, is sloppy thinking. Thinking it will necessarily be "more perfect", or saying that state is "pure mind", is your own baggage that you've projected onto my post. It's a good thing that I'm not as confused as you, or I wouldn't value the physical world as much, or the world of the mind that is one thing that the physical world does. Or maybe I might believe that getting beyond something means giving it up, and not just giving up its limitations.
--
make install -not war
I have no idea if these are available for your platform, (I'm on Linux) but I'm partial to xfrisk and cgoban/gnugo (cgoban is the board, gnugo is the AI). xfrisk is a Risk thing, and cgoban is Go.
Makes me want to work on Direct Neural Interfaces. Cyberjacks out of Stephenson novels and such...
Good luck!
Most unexpected!
I'm guessing that you are looking for a game with a rather simple interface. One that is easy to control, with a minimal set of commands, doesn't require lightning sharp / accurate reflexes, but you'd still find challenging and stimulating.
/.
Look into the game of GO. the world's oldest game. Its ruleset makes it simple enough for a child to play, yet it is nearly impossible to master.
Don't be put off by that. It is really a rewarding game at any age.
Most interfaces for it should be simple for you to control, assuming that you can control a mouse with the head-mouse.
Here's a link for a page that makes for good reading about the game itself, and why it might be enjoyable to learn.
http://users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/
Look at the page comparing it to Chess. Once I'd seen that table, I instantly fell in love with its elegance and complexity.
I don't know how easy this will be to use, but again, if you can use a mouse, this next one links to an interactive beginners' guide to learning the game. Requires Java:
http://playgo.to/index-e.html
This last link is to a popular Go server. The interface is a bit more complex, but it isn't overly so. Again, Java is required:
http://kgs.kiseido.com/
Go is a divine accident. Someone had said that, paraphrased, "If aliens do exist, they play Go."
There are a TON of other resources online for this game. It could be really easy to become obsessed with it for some, myself included.
Good luck finding a game that suits you. Sorry to see some of the responses you got here, but you'd almost have to expect that on
You can largely play the whole game with just a mouse. It would be helpfull to have a virtual keyboard that could be used also since the ALT key would be a necessity.
It's actually quite a question.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Actually, any game that's "real time" RPG play, as long as it has a pause-and-give-orders feature, could be doable.
This game is really meant to be played against another person. Your question was games that can be played by yourself, though.
./ posted right before yours. A computer has "solved 5x5 Go." Whoop-ti-do... a real game is played on a 19x19 board. Go >> Chess... and I love Chess!
There are computer engines to play Go, including the not-too-bad GnuGo. These are half decent to use in order to learn the game and get past the initial beginner stumbling blocks.
They cannot substitute for a real player, though. A normal desktop PC can effectively beat a chess grand-master. There is no computer that can beat even an intermediate Go player!!
Note the article here on
Except for the fact alot of the theories he had were previously even unimagined.
Mod parent up! I was going to nominate most of the games he suggested.
In addition, a few other oldies but goodies would be Panzer General / Allied General (turn-based) and Masters of Orion (original and sequel). Once again, DOS-BOX is your friend.
I don't think that RTSes are valid selections given the lag between headmouse select/move... I get carpal tunnel from tank rushes in C&C Red Alert.
John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
When those interfaces that use thought instead of actual movement to control the cursor and such come out for use. You will have disabled people playing computer games using their minds, a great achievement in the gaming and technology sectors.
You will also have gamers using certain areas of their brains alot more than other people seeing as they will have to be (generalizing here) experts at the split second movement and such that will be required in the games.
Something I look forward to.
Forgive me, i dont know exactly what limitations you have or how it would effect the design of a controller tailored to your needs... BUT I am almost certain a controller can be tailored to your needs.
You can buy many arcade controller devices from arcade parts manufacturers like the very legendary maker of high quality parts, http://www.happcontrols.com/
Coming from the street fighter community, guys are always making their own controllers. I did just that myself recently. Often what happens is users will take circuit board from a cheap 3rd party controller such as "madcatz" and simply wire up the arcade buttons to the boards, thus building their own fancy arcade controller.
I'm almost certain there is a way to do something similar for you. Infact i'm sure that a few talented techs could easily rig something up for you that would interface with a console gaming system and a PC as well.
I have heard of head mouse units. And again, i have complete confidence that one could be built for you, and tailored to your needs.
I'm not sure if i'm being much help but I'm just very confident that you can find a solution. Like i said, tailoring a controller for your needs would be quite easy with a few techs on the job because rigging up controllers isnt difficult at all, the only trick is when you have to use an existing board to interface your custom controls to. Figuring out the wiring etc. But again, i'm so certain someone could dismantle a PC controller and a mouse and have something working for you rather quickly and easily.
There's probably some more capable folks here on slashdot that may be up for the challenge that could or have already shared their insights. Perhaps they're willing to lend their expertise too.
I recommend Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.
A LOOONG single-player mode (Part 1: 20-25 hours, Part 2: 40-50 (!) hours)
And it can be played ENTIRELY by mouse.
I hope you have the headmouse (i forget the brand name) that has "DWELL click" where if you linger on something for a second it clicks.
Also the good thing about the game is that it AUTO-pauses when combat starts to you have time to plan out your moves.
Good luck, have fun, and I will pray
for Stem Cell research to discover a way
that you can recover full functionality!
Take Care
Seeing this made me remember one of the coolest and most underappreciated Nintendo NES accessories, the Konami Laser Scope http://www.nesplayer.com/database/accessories/lase rscope.htm
I wonder if this could be modified to work with today's modern computer hardware, it would definitely be a cool thing to still use today :-)
I do it all the time in EQ2; we call it two-boxing.
hey azreal, your sig is misspelled. s/regreet/regret
I'd say to look into MMORPG's and see which one best supports voicechat or text to speech.
Most of the interface is mouse-driven, and they're at least generally somewhat turn-based, so you shouldn't have too much problems with twitch.
Especially if you got into more of the role-playing ones, you can have a ton of gaming just by talking into dragonspeak.
Agreed! FALLOUT is perfect, the worlds are huge, the stories varied, the pace and control are well-suited for mouse-only. Also, I'd throw in the Sims; it's 'kind of' an RTS because it does move in real time, but moves at a pace that's much easier to work around than more frenetic games like Starcraft... plus it's insanely addictive.
If you want to play an MMORPG, try City of Heroes. The battles feel practically turnbased; it would be less sensative to a little 'latency' than other FPS. Then again, I may be talking out of my nether-regions here...
Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
Check out Battle for Wesnoth: http://www.wesnoth.org/home/
It's a turn-based strategy game, it's the #1 game on the linux game tome(available for windows too) and it requires no use of a keyboard.
uhhh, calm down dude.
/. article about monkeys controlling a robotic arm via brain implants (see here)
I never said that there was an advantage to being paralized and I certainly acknowledged that the great-grandparents comment was strange.
That said, its not like its unique. There is a medical condition (can't recall the name off the top of my head) that has to do with voluntary amputation as a percieved way to better yourself.
As for the maturity of the technology in question.... there was a recent
perhaps a technology like this could be interfaced directly to a computer as a control device, its not that far off....
Actually, if I were disabled from the neck down
incedentally, I just forwarded this to a friend of mine who's brother is in fact a quadraplegic and guess what, his brother found it "interesting, naive, somewhat heartwarming, and a little amusing", but not offensive.
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
The first thing that comes to mind when refering to a game that involves only mouse use is Diablo, 1 and 2. If you can only use the mouse, and have a way of rapidly clicking, Diablo is a great way to waste hours upon hours, just as long as you don't stop to think about how productive you are being.
I have a friend who has great difficulty moving, due to his post-polio. I set him up with an old DOS version of Risk and some speech recognition software along the lines of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. He loves playing it from his couch. He moves the mouse around verbally, and the game waits for him, so it doesn't mind if it takes a while. Plus, it's his favourite.
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
Try it. The game is very, very challenging, way beyond chess in it's complexity. It should be possible to play with a headmouse too with long enough time settings. Basically it's a game of territory where both players, black and white, place stones in the crossings of a 19x19 grid. For more information:
An interactive tutorial
Kiseido Go Server - An Internet go server with an easy to use GUI and lot's of helpful people online.
Sensei's libarary - A good resource site in form of a wiki.
Goproblems.com - A Nice selection of Life & Death problems.
Gobase.org - Rumblings in the go world.
Your best best would be either RTS's (I recommend Rome: Total War ) or an MMORPG ( Everquest 2 or World Of Warcraft are both fine choices.
You are the exact type of user that would do well in web-based games. They are slower (non-twitch), fairly accessible, and strategy based.
I author The Kabal Invasion, and contribute to Blacknova Traders, Wordog, and even an upcoming fork of Legend of the Green Dragon.
TKI especially has worked hard to make the game accessible to all, and the version coming out in a few days is deeply focused on accessibility issues.
Its not WoW, mind you, but its a nice way to burn time, interact, practice strategy, and keep mentally stimulated.
Hope that helps!
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
Turn-based strategy and wargames sound like a good match. Also, MUDs may be playable if you can type at a speed where it doesn't make the game unplayable.
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
I'm not sure how quickly you can use the headmouse... but these games may require too fast and accurate mousing for you.
... for the PC of course.
I suggest them because I believe they can be played almost entirely (if not entirely) by mouse.
What about other Role Playing Games (RPGs) like Final Fantasy, etc.
no comment
Theres heaps of sim-style games that will keep you occupied for hours. Sim City, Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Sims etc. All of these style games are mouse operated.
I'm getting too old for gaming jokes. The only bell that went off when I read "DDR" was East Germany...
Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
This could be appropriate, requires no clic during action
It consists basically in letting a ball roll on a surface you control the inclination of with your mouse (in your case, with your head). Sounds a bit like Marble madness, but quite better in my opinion. And very relaxing, too.
Also included is a mini-golf game using the same graphics and engine : neverputt
Find them there : http://icculus.org/neverball/#download Note you will need a DLL if running winXP without service pack, but i cant recall the name (easy to find via google)
Maybe a billard game such as foobillard would be suitable ? Of course, this means you'll lack a bit of the "advanced" features such as ball spin, etc., but it could just be fine.
find it here : http://foobillard.sunsite.dk/
Maybe you would be interrested, if you type with Dasher, or any other quick typing method, to try out some roleplaying forums (fora?)
Good luck, don't hesitate to send message if you want me to inform you when i find more suitable games.
*squeak*
If you're looking for a multiplayer game that is mouse friendly and has plenty of interaction. Try EVE which can be found at EVE Online. The interface is 99% mouse driven and should be very friendly for a HeadMouse. The other 1% is typing but if you have a two screen setup I think it would work out great. The game functions fine in window mode as well.
Specks
Batteries not included
Absolutely unbelievable game series, mouse-driven
Got a friend in a similar situation.
1 )0 ) [BTW check out FreeCiv and Wesnoth! TWO GOOD STRATEGY GAMES YOU CAN PLAY WITH JUST A MOUSE! Wesnoth has a great story line! Well developed game! Online gameplay!]0 )1 ) [This one is a platformer, but if you get the hang of your headmouse you can play this without a prob! My friend does :-] )
Here are some games
* LOTS of RPGs - (good ones that are involving http://www.agdinteractive.com/)
* Chess, shogi, other board games
* card games
* Plenty of net games available (like bejeweled)
* some arcade plane fighting games like galactica, Raiden I & II & II, starfox
* puzzle games like boulderdash, rockford
Also recommend installing software that allows you to "turbo-fire" your mouse. That way you can play games where you have click very fast! On top of that we installed stuff like sticky mouse buttons.
He can play old school games like DOOM and DOOM II, Wolf3D. Forward, backward, left, right, strafe button, fire, swap weapon. That's all he uses. You can do this with some new FPS (but your game play will be pretty limited)
We also installed a media player for him! Keeps him entertained.
Check out www.liberatedgames.com. They have a fair few commerical games which have been released to the public for free.
My favourites on that site which I think you will like include
Flight of the Amazon Queen (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=3
Civ 2 (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=5
Beneath a Steel Sky (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=3
Treasure Island Dizzy (http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=8
No, you'll eat a clay flowerpot WITH YOUR MIND.
Sherlock. Dinner With Moriarty. And the inestimably difficult Watson's Map.
You may need someone to help you to a wall that you might bang your head against it, though.
Kaser's games are the most delightful puzzles of symbolic logic and deduction. Clean and simple, they'll keep you busy... pretty much forever. Shareware versions are available for download.
Yahoo! Pipes are awesome. How awesome? http://pipes.yahoo.com/jesdynf/slashdot
Chess is fine, but Go is a game with a lot more options. If you don't play internet go, you should start, I consider it the best of the traditional/non-twitch games.
Assuming your headmouse does what a mouse can do, I'd say Balance of Power would be perfect. It's not a real time game, can be easily controlled by mouse and requires LOTS of thinking (and bluffing).
GPG 0x1B479C78
I agree.At least I got the stones to post on my sig and let the bad karma fall where it may.In answer to the disabled gentleman,I hated when I was stuck in a wheelchair after a bike wreck and think you are an inspiration to have overcome your limitations the way you have.As far as games go,I have played many flash games that worked well mouse only and perhaps if the smart guys here would stop being jerks for a minute maybe one could offer to alter a gameboy emu as there were a bunch of great games on that system and with it only needing two action buttons it would probably be easy to switch over to mouse only.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
By extension, I've noticed a lot of suggestions for RTS and old-school low-tech video games, but I needn't see the reason to restrict yourself to video games.
Granted I know that is specifically what you're asking, why not look at online games that require little tech but you can enjoy for years to come. Online poker? Chess? Go? These games have many aspects to them and are far more difficult to play than CounterStrike or Starcraft, and you are not limited by your disability. You'll probably enjoy them more than you will playing Wolf3D or Yahoo Pool with your headmouse.
Browsergames are often nothing more then a set of grafically 'enhanced' spreadsheets. Yet I've heard that they, much like the good ol'e play by mail games, are extremely fun and addictive once you get into them. For someone who has nearly zero ability to physically move around himself this would be a nice option for a passtime.
If you use a wheelchair you could add a PDA to the gadgets attached to it. The browsers these things can run with no sweat is all it takes to play these very copmlex and deep games. Also keep in mind that Browsergames are mostly run by volunteers and hobbyists. I'm shure there would be no problem for most Operators to set up a frameless advertising free (that's how these games off their servers) PHP template that has zero accessability issues for you so can do your turns with less overhead of movements.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I wanted to--no medical reason! No! Maybe adopt!
Transcend Humanity. Please.
I'd like to know your reason as well.
But in reality, I made a first step (see my Name).
Transcend Humanity. Please.
For a game which is challenging, but which requires slow and thoughtful mouse clicks (not fast twitch reflexes), I would try Myst Revelation. It has a very nice immersive environment, and some challenging puzzles to ponder. Time doesn't seem to be an issue with it.
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
This headmouse thing seem ideal for pr0n.
I think you can play doom and quake with only the mouse. I dunno about switching weapons though, I suppose that depends on how many buttons/button equivalents you have. Sorry, I just don't know that much about this headmouse thing.
There's also minesweeper and solitaire, but those get boring. Windows XP has online Hearts, and that's actually pretty fun if you can find three people that won't just quit when they start racking up points. Also, xp comes with online checkers, which can be very fun if you're intelectual. Again, sometimes people like to quit that one when they get at a disadvantage. Now that I think about it, you can probably play most of the zone.com games with only a mouse, and they have a lot, including chess which is really hard against some of the guys that get on there. I heard a rumor a while back about bobby fischer competing there but I dunno if it's true... probably not. Of course, none of these are true 3d games. But yeah, I'd probably go after the games provided by free online services like zone.com and yahoo because they are simple and I can't recall one that I've played that wasn't controllable entirely by the mouse. yahoo even has pool, which is really fun.
I think it's pretty cool that you'd have the balls to post this question at a place like slashdot. Most of these guys are total f*ckwads.
... is a turn based fantasy game that runs on Win, Mac and Linux. It's very playable and it's Free! See a description and screenshots at TheOpenCD site. Everything will work well with the headmouse, no problem.
Hfolelupy yluol dvoicisr the utturnh - the irccoernt psmeire rieels eerillnty uopn sctnneees ctssiinnog selloy of spmile ricttresed lteetr wdros. A centrecod errofft to cuntsorct celmpox pyyasllliobc wdros elaisey perdocus grebibsih.
That's not English, that's Welsh.
No, I *don't* speak Welsh obviously.
That having been said, it's possible to make text look like Scottish Gaelic by doing letter replacements such as 'x' with 'cs' and so on. I think this works because Gaelic uses fewer letters; it always looks unwieldy written down, to me. Perhaps the same could be done with Welsh (both Celtic languages after all).
No, I don't speak Gaelic either. Nor Cornish, Irish or Breton. (BTW, I was surprised to note that Fedora Core 3 included Cornish in its list of (IIRC) installation languages- was this in response to 'The Simpsons'?- but not Scottish Gaelic).
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Some mmorg's might work for you. EverQuest has the ability to use a voice program even.
Hi Sean,
i ndex_41.shtml
:)
s +for+people+with+disabilities&btnG=Google-s%C3%B8g ning&meta= :)
I found this website with games for handicapped or disabled.
http://www.arcess.com/
They have some games available to test before buying.
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/cat_
^^ I found it through this url (There are plenty more games here)
Also you might find this url of use
http://www.disabilities-online.com/
and
http://e-bility.com/links/games.php
Hope you can use these and
Scatter Joy
Oh, I searched google for "computer games for people with disabilities"
http://www.google.dk/search?hl=en&q=computer+game
(So you can sift through the thousands of links, but still. Keep asking
>> I'm not sure why this is a troll, this guy is expressing a form of admiration. Because he's not actually answering the poster's question and instead using it as a platform for his own drivel.
.. can it dictate the word "Timmy!"
I like Magic The Gathering Online. It's an online multiplayer version of the Magic The Gathering card game. This is a strategic card game that is alot of fun to play. The interface to the game is very simple, and you wouldn't need a keyboard to play it *at all*, all you need to be able to do is point and click, and right-click, and possibly click-and-drag. However without the ability to type you wouldn't be able to say "good luck" and "good game" to your opponenets, which wouldn't interfere with your gameplay but other players who don't know your circumstances may unfortunately come to the conclusion that you are an unfriendly person. If you do have the ability to type just a little bit, even if slowly, that would help immensely with the social aspect of the game.
l 2. exe
It's not a traditional "video game" in the sense that it's not an action-based game, but you get to play against real people, meaning that the challenge level is always pretty high, and it really can be a very fun game to play. And like I mentioned there can be social aspects to it as well which are nice. I've met some nice people from all over the world on there.
I would recommend starting out with "league" play, which is a relatively cheap way to learn how to play and to get alot of playing time on a pretty even playing field.
Oh yeah there is a free preview available too, which allows you to play only with a limited set of card decks against other people who are playing the preview, but it will help you to know whether or not you can handle the interface to the game, and whether or not you enjoy it.
You can download MTGOL at:
http://mtgoinstall.wizards.com/installers/mtgod
I hate to have to ask this but SOMEONE PLEASE MOD MY POST UP! I didn't understand the "no karma bonus" and "no subscriber bonus" checkboxes and they had the opposite effect of what I intended. I wanted to give my post some extra bonuses because I am trying to help this person and I wanted my comments to be seen, and unfortunately all I succeeded in doing was giving my post a score of "1". Thanks!
My PocketPC port of Nethack has an on-screen keyboard that I can use to enter whatever I want (with the stylus and clicking on the screen). I'm pretty sure I saw, when I last compiled it, the boolean option to turn it on, although I haven't played with those options much, so it should be possible to get that on-screen keyboard in any graphical port of it.
---- Take the Space Quiz!
http://mtgoinstall.wizards.com/installers/mtgodl2. exe
Turn based strategy games might fit the bill.
One that I particularly enjoy Empired Deluxe Extended Edition (yes, for those of you familiar, its part of the family tree of Empire Deluxe).
You can download a fully playable trial version at http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/ too, so you can test it fully to make sure its functional.
I do not know about the games but here are the free on-line on-screen keyboards:
English - http://www.enetplanet.com/kb_en/
German - http://www.enetplanet.com/kb_de/
French - http://www.enetplanet.com/kb_fr/
Turn-based strategy is one of my favorite game genres. I've logged a lot of hours on Civs 1, 2, and 3 and on SMAC (Sid Myer's Alpha Centauri). I can't really decide whether Civ3 or SMAC is better; both have definite strengths and both are really, really fun. I still enjoy firing them both up every now and then.
As another poster said in this thread, the Heroes of Might and Magic series (HOMM) is also quite fine.
A lesser known series is Age of Wonders. It's sort of a cross between HOMM and Warlords. There's 2 in the series so far, and maybe an expansion pack. I really enjoyed the first one, and the part of the second that I had time to play. (Warlords is ok, but not as much to my taste as the others I've mentioned.)
A lot of RPGs are real-time, which I think would probably make them pretty tough, but not all are.
My all-time second favorite RPG, Fallout, by default goes into turns when you enter combat. Other times it's real-time, but I don't think that should be a problem. It's also heavily mouse-based (and maybe can be played using only the mouse--it's been a while so I don't remember). Its successor, Fallout 2, is also a very worthy game and uses the same interface.
My #1 all-time favorite RPG is Planescape: Torment. The NPC interaction and storyline are better than anything else I've seen before or since. I think it's always real-time, but pausable at will with the space bar.
You've misused the word 'myself'. You meant: "Do you have any information on games that I can play?" You could also have said '...games that can be played by me', but it sounds awkward, which is why you changed it to 'myself', I believe. However, 'myself' is an oft-misused word. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, just letting you know. You're free to use or disregard my information.
http://xkcd.com/386/
Fatality!
OK... After having read WAY down in this thread with the intent of moderating it, wading through all the trolls and offtopics and irrelevants, I gave up. I'll mod somewhere else... This thread desperately needs some guidance and relevance that a few +/- 1's aren't going to provide.
I'm sorry that the technology necessary to enjoy PC games isn't quite there yet for the disabled, and I cannot personally say I know of any games particularly suited or designed for a headmouse. I'm pretty good at video games, but I damn sure need every finger and movement I can get... Some games require so many potential movements on so many different axis or inputs... My keyboard is barely enough! I hate it, but I would recommend looking into some legacy games (if you haven't played it, even though the graphics aren't new hotness, it doesn't necessarily suck just b/c it's old) like King's Quest/Space Quest or perhaps the original Final Fantasy (I played it again for the 4th or 5th time last year), or perhaps a turn-based strategy game of some kind where reaction time isn't so important? Vis-a-vis Master of Orion, Civilization, etc? I admit to not knowing much about headmice beyond the basics (i.e., i don't know how configurable they are or what range of input the average user has available), but I'm sure there must be something.
Also, you people keep mentioning the implants while completely forgetting to bring up the neural/aural (read: EKG) helmet that was effectively tested at about the same time with a nearly identical set of results as the implants. The EKG can sense the same brainwave pattern shifts that were used to control the cursor via implant. Maybe the same level of precision won't be available as via true implant (at first, or perhaps maybe never) due to bandwidth limitations (imagine trying to connect your fiber-line by leaving an unterminated end pointing at a microscope lens a few feet away... The fundamental limitations of wireless as opposed to wired.) But one day in what I believe will be the not-too-distant future, the interfaces will be there, wired or not, for you to be able to enjoy your computing experience as much as I do. It may even happen that one day, children born with crippling disabilities may even be better off in the virtual world than the rest of us b/c their brain (if they receive such implants for either input or total immersion) will not worry so much about developing neural pathways for physical activities, but for more mental ones.
I hope the steady march of technology does right for you soon; I've been certain this technology was coming within my lifetime, and since the release of the new researech I'm even more certain it will be in the next 10 - 15 years, and hopefully the surgerical techniques to help you will be here even sooner.
Can _ANYBODY_ say something relevant and list a few ideas for games compatible with a headmouse?
"Inveniemus Viam Aut Faciemus" 'We will find a way... Or we will make one!' --Hannibal of Carthage
You probably know this already,
but have you tried computer board games, like CHESS?
Every time I play chess I amaze myself, be it on Yahoo! or on Chessmaster X.
I have a friend who is quadrapalegic, and I have often wondered how to get her into FPS games. The headmouse was an option but there was still the question of movement. For firing a simple bit ( as in goes in the mouth and bitten ) device whereby the user would simply apply jaw pressure to fire the primary weapon. The movement poses a different problem, she does have partial use of her arms but can not hold a mouse or depress buttons. The solution here could be something as simple as a single two axis stick ( the kind found on powered wheelchairs ) stick forward move foreward back is back left and right to strafe.
All this could be wired in through a gameport and possibly hooked to the same port, and you would only need some simple drivers.
This doesn't seem like much work and if you have a technical friend or if you yourself are technical enough to talk someone through it, it would be an excellent project.
I'm sure there are many others out there with disabilities that would love the opportunity to "get into a game".
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Hi Timothy, I like playing chess a lot. It's a lot of fun and very challenging. I recently came across a game called Risk at Dominategame.com Given enough time, the game can be very challenging as your playing style changes. Other games I enjoy are virtual stock trading at www.virtualtrader.co.uk This is with the London stock exchange market. Im sure there are other alternative virtual trading games in the internet. You don't lose any money and the figures (stock values) are real-time. It's a game, but it inspires your mind to indulge in the business arena. You never know, you could take it up as a career some day. Both games are free to play.
I would suggest trying a game like Hamster Balle rball/
http://www.bigfishgames.com/downloads/hamst
Completely mouse driven, nor are any button clicks required.
Any mouse driven turned based strategy should be fully playable too. As well as most web-based games...but those suck.
Oh wait, you said headmouse not headcrab. My mistake...
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
Blizzard's selection of real-time strategy games (warcraft series) and role-playing games (Diablo series) are fully playable using a mouse... You can play most strategy games and lots of RPG by solely using your mouse. Most of these games simply support a keyboard to map shortcut keys for the actions you can perform with the mouse. Other games include: Dungeon Siege I & II (RPG) Rise of Nations (RTS) Rome - TotaWar (RTS) etc... Hope you enjoy these games!
Plus, their list of supported games is a fantastic guide to all of the sweet point-and-click adventure games that you never heard of. There were probably twice as many that I *hadn't* played, and I was pretty hooked on those games as a kid. :)
I'm sorry that the technology necessary to enjoy PC games isn't quite there yet for the disabled, and I cannot personally say I know of any games particularly suited or designed for a headmouse. I'm pretty good at video games, but I damn sure need every finger and movement I can get... Some games require so many potential movements on so many different axis or inputs... My keyboard is barely enough! I hate it, but I would recommend looking into some legacy games (if you haven't played it, even though the graphics aren't new hotness, it doesn't necessarily suck just b/c it's old) like King's Quest/Space Quest or perhaps the original Final Fantasy (I played it again for the 4th or 5th time last year), or perhaps a turn-based strategy game of some kind where reaction time isn't so important? Vis-a-vis Master of Orion, Civilization, etc? I admit to not knowing much about headmice beyond the basics (i.e., i don't know how configurable they are or what range of input the average user has available), but I'm sure there must be something.
Finally, a post worth modding up. Tis ashame I don't have any mod points.
What's "just my point of view", that statements like "spinal cord bashed in with a sledge hammer" or "smother you with a pillow" are violent, that they're seen as punishment in that post? Or maybe you're applying some kind of "it's subjective" copout to the totally relevant sympathy of a "disabled" person having the same ability mentally as people without spinal injuries. Or the kind of "it's a disability thing, you wouldn't understand" BS that ignores how human sympathy is one of our most powerful faculties, transcending physical differences for real understanding. If someone is offended by a post, let them ignore it, or argue with it, at their discretion, like any other communication. Only little children hugging their mommies can get away with "keeping a lid on it" when their constructive comments might cause controversy.
FWIW, your post offended me. I won't respect you any more if you don't post more like it, but you claim to operate on that principle. So maybe I won't see more whining like it again, Anonymous repressed Coward.
--
make install -not war
There is a disabled group that plays in the virtual world "There.com". You can sign up for a free trial or email help@there.com for more info.
Like the beaver, it's just Dam one thing after another
For Myst, it is a solo game, your controls are easily taken care of, and I am fully positive from personal experience, you will be able to enjoy the game. I think it's great!
For Everquest, you have the ability to use voice controls to utilize all the keyboard features. You can create hot buttons to handle just about any features.
I use the hot buttons extensively when I play and am holding my 5 month old baby in arms. I can play with him, and when a fight starts, click a button that will do my part and that's it. It's relatively simple to setup, and provides a great deal of flexibility. Basically, you can automate just about anything.
Turn based games are wonderful, but they are not my cup of tea. As mentioned, these are a great game to play with a headmouse. Definitely a plus, but I don't have much experience with them, I have seen it done very sucessfully.
With other styles of games, such as casino and card games ala pogo.com, you will find they are mostly mouse controlled, and the text chatting is not required at all. in fact, you can turn off the text chat if you prefer in many cases.
General MMORPG suggestions
I would suggest making something like a caster class, as this would provide some flexibility in how fast you need to move with things. You get more automation ability. I would also suggest in playing MMORPGs, that if you find it too difficult or time-consuming to make long winded replies, to make a hotkey that explains you are using voice controls and it may take longer time for replies. To battle the 5-year old nuckleheads in the MMORPGs, I would suggest joining a family-style guild. These generally are older folks who are more patient, oftentimes have a mouse in one hand and kid in the other, and lots of patience for different things.
HTH! happy gaming =)
I'd think most online games would work ok with just a mouse. I play City of Heroes and I can pretty much play with just a mouse. All it requires is to remap some of the mouse controls for movement.
Chatting and stuff like that might be a little challenging, unless there is some kind of virtual keyboard you use. But then chatting isn't a huge part of the game, you can macro messages to a button for standard stuff like team selection.
Save a life, sign your organ donor card.
If you are looking for online gaming, there are a few smaller MMORPGs out there that have few controlls. There are several 2d ones out there that only require 4 directions, and left/right click.
Here are several of them:
Realm Online
http://www.realmserver.com/
Graal Online
http://www.graalonline.com/
Nexus: Kingdome of the winds
http://www.nexustk.com/
I am not sure the ease of use on all of them, but the first one in the list is point and click with turn based combat.
i don't know what kind of range you get on a headmouse, but would i be correct to assume that when using one, you wouldn't have easy access to a keyboard, as well? if thats the case, i'd reccomend a game that doesn't use a keyboard (or is turn-based). try Diablo 1 (can be played completely without keyboard without losing too much actual playability. even the main menu has an icon on the HUD to make it appear with just a click, no hot-key required.
alpha centauri is turn-based, and all the important options are available in pop-up menus.
maybe even a game like fallout, which is turn-based and almost completely mouse-driven (and has most options you'll need to use within clickable icons in the HUD.
another game i'd reccomend is a little shootemup from Jeff minter's llamasoft called Gridrunner ++ which only uses a button for smart bomb and starting the game from the main menu. the rest of it just uses gentle mouse motion to "sweep" the screen. the little spaceship automatically shoots a stream of bullets with no input required. the game is insane and has no real cohesive plot, but if you can gently push a cursor across the screen (and want something a bit more action oriented without being quite as intense as diablo, this may be a good option for you.)
Never forget: Half the people in the world are below average.
TPHB: It has come to my attention that 40% of your sick days are on Fridays and Mondays. This is unacceptable.
Asok: HA HA HA !!! THAT'S A GOOD ONE !!!
Asok (to Dilbert): Please tell me he was kidding.
Wally: Welcome to Hell, kid.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
Thanks kindly for the compliment; As mentioned, I had come into the thread with the intent of modding, but the topic was compelling and the lack of intelligent posting was horrifying, so I decided to try to do something about it =)
"Inveniemus Viam Aut Faciemus" 'We will find a way... Or we will make one!' --Hannibal of Carthage
I wrote about it recently on my site at http://www.health-hack.com/archives/2005/01/28/10/ 47/wild-divine/
(don't feel compelled to go there)
But the actual website for the game is at http://www.wilddivine.com/
It was covered here on /. once, also.
-Tut
Health-Hack.com
The best precedent we have is horses and such who have eyes on the side. It's two eyes, but they are seeing much more. Again I'd have to caution about the trouble of latency. The nice thing is that we already have built in latency due to relatively slow chemical synapses and saltatory conduction. So we could in effect expand ourselves to the size of a planet and have a similar experience.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
Role playing games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights... they allow you to pause the game and take your time while you queue up your next few moves, then sit back and enjoy the show for a little while. Rinse and repeat.
M_bob.
FreeCiv is a very addictive game that can be controlled soley through the mouse.
Depending on what version you get, you may need to control the server manually (a bit of typing), but if you get Andreas Kemnade's version of 1.14.0, all of the server control is done with the mouse.
I hope you enjoy that game as much as we have!
I'm not sure is anyone said it yet because I'm lazy and don't like to read stuff. Poker is some good good fun. Another idea is www.globulos.com although I'm not sure how the time limit for movement would affect you. Good luck man
First of all: this game needs a broadband connection even though some play it over dial-up.
:)
I recommend ArmagetronAdvanced -- "Another version of the simple action game modeled after the lightcycle sequence of the movie Tron"
But note it has a lot more depth to it than appears on first sight, you do not only fight the other players but lag itself (how fitting isn't that for a game based on Tron?). It's not to everyones taste but if you get hooked... well I could only say welcome
This is a multiplayer somewhat tactical action/racing game (actually it's not only multiplayer, one can play singleplayer as well and modifying the AI of the bots is easy). It is open source (GPL), mature but in active developement/embellishment (recently the creator: Manuel Moos aka Z-man, joined the ArmagetronAD team after a break), and has a good (and more varied than average I would guess) community. The game is available for both windows, anything linux, freebsd, and osx. The different themes/models&skins are also useable on all the different operating systems afaik.
A while ago we had a great player in our community called Majination who was paralysed from the neck down like you. He played with a mouthstick and was damned impressive (it can be a hard game). He hasn't been around lately but many people drop off for some time to rescue their education/job/relationship, then again some don't *big grin*
I don't know the exact setups he used to play. The play itself consists mostly of turning left or right (timing & grinding is crucial), there are other controls in addition (especially glancing can be useful but sound gives some of the same info) but they aren't neccessarily needed (Majination also used the chat available within the game).
Links:
Original Armagetron (defunct but with historical info & links):
http://armagetron.sourceforge.net/
Sourceforge ArmagetronAD project page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/armagetronad/
Main page and forum (both social and development):
http://guru3.sytes.net/viewtopic.php?t=1360
There are plenty of good quality servers in both europe and america (lag can be an issue in the game but over time you learn to "know" the lag, compensate for it and use it to your advantage).
Also note that the gameplay is very varied depending on a lot of different server settings, most noteably speed, grid size, rubber, trail behaviour, and trail lenght. So if you don't like one style of play try another server with another style. Some servers also force mode of viewpoint or other camera settings.
Btw I recommend this game to absolutely everybody: it's a hidden gem of an open source game imho and it will just continue to get better and better in true OS style.
this comment is provided "as is" and without any express or implied legibility or congruity [...]
1) Put Your Head In The Gamer 00/hea d/
e .html
http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/novembe
2) NaviGaze Hands Free Computer Control
http://www.cybernet.com/products/navigaz
Excessive bad posting will temporarily (24 hours) disable AC/loginless posting from an IP/subnet.
Also, if youre karma falls too low, you can only post so many times per 24 hours.
Slashdot seems rather adept at detecting proxies and stuff like Tor, so really, "Or there should be a limit per IP address, where a person can post annonymous a certain number of times." is already there.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
I would think that games like Empire Earth, Alpha Centauri, and Rise of Nations would work well for your situation. I belive you can also slow the gameplay down (I don't know how the "headmouse" works, plus the extent of your disabilty). Hope that helps...
All good things...
This is a great puzzle game that few people know about. It's got decent graphics for an unknown company, has an Indiana Jones style adventure feel, and difficulty ranging from easy to brain-busting insane...I've never even finished the last level on the original game. And, you can play the whole game with just the mouse and left button. You can find it here.
As I recall phrases I have heard of in all probability the expression headmouse is a typographical error. Why, I've never heard of anything like this before! The check spelling algorithm suggests "Gaming with a Head Louse?"
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
a study looked at eyes an terminals the system that they used would be a good eye mouse ! get some menu pages like remote editing !
We can never give up the limitations given by physics. We can and will give up the limitations given by genetics.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
I Highly recommend EVE.
Thats my $0.02
I saw this today and thought of you. This is a technology to watch. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/brain_pr. html
Good luck Brother,
Bill
bamph
Snood.
It's a shareware game in the same vein as BubbleBobble / Bust-a-Move, only it's got no time limits and can be played at whatever pace you might like. It is a lot of fun and many find it addictive.
Any turn-based strategy game - Civilization III is awesome.
Bejewled is another popular puzzle game.
Old school RPGs like Wizardry(I-VIII) and Ultima (I-VII), Might & Magic (dunno how many) and others.
Best of luck and enjoy!