Invade My Space, Game Boy
by Snuffles



I will never know, but I believe that had I not lost my sight as a teenager in the 1980s I would have become a good for nothing video games obsessed layabout like the ones the media were obsessed with at the time. It was probably a damn good job that I was struck down by the hideous affliction of blindness. I remember clearly being sucked in, hypnotised by the early arcade delights of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Gorph, Galaxian, Berzerk, Scramble, Enduro, etc. They were fantastic. Hours could pass by, gorky looking teenage lad staring at screen and dreaming of his very own Atari games console for his bedroom. I'm sure a sad decline into monosyllables, epilepsy, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and stealing to feed my arcade habit were on the cards for me, my life mapped out as it were. But then all of a sudden I wasn't able to play them any more, a bit of a shock to the system. In my new life as a blind person, it took years to find anything that matched the thrill but here I am to tell you how to play Alternative Space Invaders.

This was a game I invented some 15 years later, a make-believe video game head- existence coupled with an element of dangerous physicality like that guy in Alex Garland's The Beach. All boys will testify that games are just no fun unless there is some kind of risk element.

I like to play it at Bond Street tube station here in London during heavy commuter hours; there is a fantastic slightly curvy narrow corridor between the Jubilee Line and the Central Line which fits the bill perfectly. There is always a stream of people coming from the opposite direction towards you, not dissimilar to the classic Space Invaders itself.




Game Play

You are the lone pilot of your guide dog craft with an onslaught of hateful silent unspeaking violent commuters rushing fast towards you. All you can hear is their rustling clothing and footfalls: some rubber soled squeaks and some clippy cloppy high heels. Their aim is to reach the tube as quickly as possible, as is yours, kind of.

Even though you can't see them, you can sense their body mass as they come close to you and would normally attempt to dodge them in that begrudging semi-antisocial manner that Londoners have - even the blind ones. However, this game calls for different skills.

Remember that scene in Star Wars when the spirit of Ben Kanobi reaches out to Luke Skywalker when he's in his solo X-wing craft approaching the Death Star for another attempt to destroy it? "Use the force, Luke" he says, and Luke turns off his computer preferring to feel his way using the aforementioned force alone? Well this is a similar deal. Normally you would use a combination of guide dog and your ears to navigate through such busy terrain on a commuter run, but in this game your hearing is denied to you. So whereas Luke turned off his computer for his final exhilarating run, you must reach into your pocket, dig out your headphones and put your Walkman on at a high volume. You can now hear only the strains of very loud music, no noisy clothing, no clip clopping and no being able to sense people as they get closer to you. No clues about the terrain you face, it's all gone, you have denied yourself of these basic ways that blind people use to navigate the streets. You have placed yourself solely in the hands of your guide dog and must manoeuvre yourself according to your dog's movements.

So, headphones on, music up, dog at the ready and blast off down the tunnel!


Tips

keep your head down. Make loud beeping noises to encourage your dog to rush forward faster and cut a route thru the onslaught - beeping makes the game more authentic anyway. If you hit or glance anyone, you lose 10 points and should make a loud explosion noise. Weave, twist, go with the dog, let it find those small gaps between people, shopping bags and baby buggies. Get up a speed, run, you have only 30 seconds to get from one end of the corridor to the next with as little minus points as possible.

My best score is 40 seconds with a negative value of minus 20 for some admittedly quite severe bashes into fellow commuters - who oddly don't complain or think my actions extraordinary in any way (that's the good thing about being blind, people never know what to expect from you anyway, so you might just as well go ahead and act like an alien Space Invader).

I can highly recommend this game and obviously any narrow corridor with heavy people traffic will work well for you. I've only ever played it with a dog, I imagine the game could be very different using a white cane - if you attempt this, please write and tell me.




Computer Games:

Video game culture is something that tends to pass blind people by. I mean, we've all heard of Lara Croft and her unsettling fascination for raiding tombs, but we can't play the game ourselves! Well it is possible to get a sense of the game by getting a sighted pal to scream directions at you as you press random buttons on the joy pad but, well, some of the skill and point is lost along the way using this method and it gets rather boring after about 10 or 11 seconds - 12 at a push.

There are, however, some real time action soundscape games that are coming on the scene for blind people from the likes of Bavisoft, ESPSoftworks, GamesForTheBlind and GMAGames - check them out if you haven't already.



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