“Ultimately, these people have friends in the sighted community and they’re all talking about these games and these things that they do, and they want to be part of that.”
The Vale is a story-driven game that he intends to be generally accessible to everyone. Grounded in medieval society, Evans said he has created his own world that has today’s understandings of gender and race.
The fantasy game follows the story of the main character, who happens to be visually impaired, but isn’t defined by his or her blindness. Evans said he has gone out of his way to make sure the character is empowered by the disability and able to figuratively see the world differently by using it as a strength.
“I’m thinking there’s a universal message in saying that any particular thing that somebody has that makes them unique could potentially be something that has value or strength,” he said. “It’s important for the visually impaired community that I don’t just tell the story of a blind character.”
“They happen to be blind, but there’s always other things that define them, that isn’t the blindness. Which is also a message I think the community wants to make sure people see – that they don’t see them as blind.”
One member of the community who has been helpful to Evans is Martin Courcelles, the senior accessibility technology specialist at Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). Previously associated with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) when he was first in contact with Evans, Courcelles said he finds it very “neat” that a mainstream company is interested in making video games more accessible for those who are visually impaired.
Courcelles, who has enjoyed video games since he was a kid, also likes the idea of The Vale being accessible to everyone and hopes to see more from Evans in the future.
“I think what I find very interesting on (Dave’s) part is that he wants to make it just as intriguing to sighted people,” he said. “Having been involved with The Vale since pretty much the start, I’m really hoping that this isn’t going to be just a one-off. I’m hoping that there will be more audio-based games coming out from Falling Squirrel because, it might be a niche market, but it might turn out to be more than just that once the game is released.”
Expected to launch this summer, the game has already won National Bank’s Special Prize. The prize has helped with funding and mentorship provided by Ubisoft, a French video game company with development studios around the world. Falling Squirrel is receiving funding and support for the game from other organizations as well, including Ontario Creates and CNIB.
The Vale is anticipated to be available through Steam, an online distribution platform, only on PC at the start. Evans said it will also likely be available directly from the Falling Squirrel website.
If it’s successful, Evans said he wants to make more all-audio games in the future. He also hopes to possibly partner with other companies and make all-audio versions of their games, if the opportunity arises.
“I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “At the very least, I hope I make a good game that makes a group of people very happy.”
