Student develops video game for blind people

Audioonly creation relies on music and sounds

A horror game for people who are blind has been developed by an Abertay student with sight loss.

Alasdair Marnoch launched the audio-only game called FHear at the university’s digital graduate show.

The 22-year-old, who has the sight loss condition nystagmus, created the game in which players are completely cut off from visuals and are forced to use environmental sounds and music to evade a malevolent creature.

Alasdair developed the game as part of the university’s Sound and Music for Games course but he did not initially seek to create something for people with sight loss.

In FHear, players find themselves stranded in a dark forest and must use their hearing to identify the direction of a guide and escape the creature.

Music forms a key part of the game as it is used to heighten the sense of fear as the creature gets nearer.

“I grew up playing the violin and piano, so I guess you could say that music has always been a passion of mine,” said Alasdair, who is originally from the Isle of Lewis.

“Students at Abertay have been working from home, which has made the research and development stages of my project more difficult than it should have been.

“On the other hand, it’s cut out many forms of distraction in my life to focus all my attention on developing FHear.”

The student will graduate later in 2020 and hopes to use the experience to move into a career as an audio designer for a games development studio.

He said: “I’m going to start reaching out to games development companies and sound designers and see if there’s any interest in the concept.

“It will also be a great way to show prospective employees what I can do.”

Alasdair Marnoch launched his new game, called FHear, at Abertay University’s digital graduate show.