Valencia Tales: Strings & Stone
Valencia Tales: Strings and Stone
Status: IN DEVELOPMENT
Made for the gamejam "Games for Blind Gamers 5."
WARNING: this is an experimental audio game played with an entirely black screen. It requires a functioning text-to-speech system, and we strongly recommend wearing headphones, since this game makes heavy use of spatial audio to convey positional information about the world.
You will have the best experience downloading one of our native builds, but if you prefer to play in the browser, we've noticed that the game runs much better in Chrome than Firefox.
The Game
With your magical Divining Rod for assistance, meet NPCs, embark on side quests, fight monsters, and see if you can save Valencia from the clutches of evil in order to save the day.
Valencia Tales is heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda and similar action games. You are in a 3D world with a first-person perspective, experienced purely via audio. This game was developed primarily for blind gamers, with the help of blind testers and accessibility consultants.
NO GAMER LEFT BEHIND: Being blind or low vision should not exclude you from the wonderful hobby of gaming. Join us on the Games for Blind Gamers Discord server to discuss this game and many others, learn how to make your own games more accessible, join the annual game jam, and maybe even help create the next adventure for Valencia Tales!
Controls
Valencia Tales is meant to be played with a controller, but keyboard bindings are available as well. Rebinding keys or buttons is not currently offered, but will hopefully be added in the future.
Controller vibration is only supported in the native builds below, not when played in the browser.
Keyboard
| Pause | |
|---|---|
| Toggle pause | p / Escape |
| Up | w / Up arrow / Keypad 8 |
| Down | s / Down arrow / Keypad 2 |
| Accept | Spacebar / Enter / Return |
| Repeat last line | z / Keypad + |
| Back | x / Keypad - |
| Dialogue | |
| Continue / choose option | Spacebar / Enter / Return |
| Repeat last line | z / Keypad + |
| Next option | s / Down arrow / Keypad 2 |
| Previous option | w / Up arrow / Keypad 8 |
| Movement | |
| Move forward | w / Up arrow / Keypad 8 |
| Move backward | s / Down arrow / Keypad 2 |
| Turn left | q / Left arrow / Keypad 4 |
| Turn right | e / Right arrow / Keypad 6 |
| Strafe left | a / Keypad 1 |
| Strafe right | d / Keypad 3 |
| Abilities | |
| Interact | Spacebar / Enter / Return |
| Describe scene | f |
| Divining Rod identify | r |
| Divining Rod sonar mode | Hold r |
| Lock on | Hold shift |
| Bow | Hold z to charge, release to fire |
| Bombs | c |
Xbox-style controller
| Pause | |
|---|---|
| Toggle pause | Start |
| Up | Left stick up / Right stick up / DPad up |
| Down | Left stick down / Right stick down / DPad down |
| Accept | A |
| Repeat last line | X |
| Back | B |
| Dialogue | |
| Continue / choose option | A |
| Repeat last line | X |
| Next option | Left stick down / Right stick down / DPad down |
| Previous option | Left stick up / Right stick up / DPad up |
| Movement | |
| Move forward | Left stick up |
| Move backward | Left stick down |
| Turn left | Right stick left |
| Turn right | Right stick right |
| Strafe left | Left stick left |
| Strafe right | Left stick right |
| Abilities | |
| Interact | A |
| Describe scene | LB |
| Divining Rod identify | LT |
| Divining Rod sonar mode | Hold LT |
| Lock on | Hold RT |
| Bow | Hold X to charge, release to fire |
| Bombs | Y |
Playstation-style controller
| Pause | |
|---|---|
| Toggle pause | Options |
| Up | Left stick up / Right stick up / DPad up |
| Down | Left stick down / Right stick down / DPad down |
| Accept | Cross |
| Repeat last line | Square |
| Back | Circle |
| Dialogue | |
| Continue / choose option | Cross |
| Repeat last line | Square |
| Next option | Left stick down / Right stick down / DPad down |
| Previous option | Left stick up / Right stick up / DPad up |
| Movement | |
| Move forward | Left stick up |
| Move backward | Left stick down |
| Turn left | Right stick left |
| Turn right | Right stick right |
| Strafe left | Left stick left |
| Strafe right | Left stick right |
| Abilities | |
| Interact | Cross |
| Describe scene | L1 |
| Divining Rod identify | L2 |
| Divining Rod sonar mode | Hold L2 |
| Lock on | Hold R2 |
| Bow | Hold Square to charge, release to fire |
| Bombs | Triangle |
Credits
A game lovingly handcrafted by Jakob and Vanessa.
Programming by Jakob
Writing by Vanessa
This game would not have been possible without the amazing passion, ideas, feedback, and testing from the Games for Blind Gamers Discord Community.
We would especially like to thank:
- Chad Bouton
- jaogwal
- MysticGamer23
- Patrícia
Thank you for playing.
Download
Comments
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Hi! Congrats for the release, we blind gamers need waaay more games like this one.
I appreciated the use of audiodescriptions mixed with sound queues during the boss battle... It gave a very visual feeling and it reduced the cognitive load of learning new sounds.
However, after a bit of playing, my hands started hurting because of pressing too many buttons at the same time when tracking objects and locations... I like the system, but I'd like it even more if the controlls could be simplified.
Looking forward to the next steps of this project!!
Thank you so much for all the kind feedback ❤️ it really means a lot, and it's useful to hear what's working well so we can know what to keep focusing on in the game, or other games like it in the future.
You made it to the boss, that's incredible! Were you able to beat the game? Some players have hit a nasty bug during the boss fight that Jakob is trying to fix right now, but it's reassuring to know that some players are still able to get all the way through to the end.
I'll talk with Jakob about the controls. Do you think it would help if the sonar and lock-on buttons could be toggles, so you only had to press them once to turn on, and then press them again to turn off? That might be easy for us to add settings for.
Unfortunately, I didn't beat the boss... I always loose track of him and I get stuck I think in the corners? Don't know exactly. However, I know how to hurt him so...
Hi! I've just published a new update for the game: v0.5.6
This fixes a bug during the boss fight where sometimes the boss actually broke right through the wall and became impossible to target anymore. I'm very sorry that you were probably hitting that bug, but it wasn't your fault! If you're interested in trying it again, you can teleport directly to it instead of needing to play through the entire game again first. Just start a new game, pause, and then navigate to Debug > Teleport to boss.
We believe in you, but if you still have trouble, we're also planning on adding an entry to the Hint Totem in that room to skip the boss as well, so players can still experience the epilogue. Best of luck, you've got this!
very impressive; I like this kind of adventure games! although I stuck on first task, I put 2 chickens successfully but after many tries I didn't able to find 3rd knotty chicken. But I like the concept, vibe and music tracks were amazing!
Love to hear that you're enjoying the game so far ❤️ and I can help you out! Try visiting the bakery and saying hi to Rosemary, she may have some advice for you on that stubborn third chicken. Also you don't need to catch all the chickens if it's not fun, there's still more to do in the Village, and even more to explore in the game once you leave the Village. Kindly let us know if you get stuck again, I would love to make sure you're able to get all the way to the ending, since that is my favorite part.
thank you so much! I will deffinitly try. I thaught first task is necessary. thank you for clarifying