A Free iPhone app with Braille?! Why?

 Let's take a minute to think a little more about iBraille. As I said, this app is made to translate Braille into English, or English into Braille. It's sort of a confusing thought. If you can read something in English and can use the touch screen on the iPhone to input everything... why do you need the Braille?

You can clearly see.

Is it for a blind friend who is with you if they need it translated for them? No. that can't be it because they can't feel the Braille on the iPhone screen. Moreover, why wouldn't you just read it to them anyway? Isn't that easier? The app just didn't seem to make any sense.

But, then again, what if iBraille wasn't meant to make much sense? What if there was something more behind it? What was ZeeGee Games (formerly Zeitgeist Games) thinking when they constructed this app? Maybe it started out as something nonsensical and then morphed into a conversation piece - a conversation piece about the digital age of touch screens and accessibility?

I sat down with my friend and Associate Producer for ZeeGee Games, Max Voelker to learn more.

Tara: Thanks for taking the time to talk with AbleGamers, Max. I think a good place to start would just be learning a little bit more about ZeeGee. What do you guys do at the studio? What sort of things do you make?

Max: We make all sorts of things. Right now, a big focus of ours is virtual worlds (think similar to Second Life or Club Penguin), but we've also worked some with iPhone.  In the past, we've also done flash games, and some serious/educational work as well.

Tara: What are some other projects that you guys have released?

Max: On the iPhone, we currently have iBraille, iSundial, as well as a series of comics using our ZeeGee Reader Software (Japan Ai and Looking for Group are currently available, with more on the way) in the app store. On the MMO/Virtual World plane, we have worked on Tootsville and Pocketville.  Our website, www.zeegeegames.com, has a full list of our titles.

Tara: Are there any of other projects that you guys are working on we should be on the lookout for?

Max: We're actually working on a new game called "Freaky Pets" for Abandon Interactive.  It's an online virtual world aimed at a younger audience that will launch alongside a line of plush dolls sold at Hallmark.  The plush dolls are looking really cool and it's very exciting to see these toys come alive online in the game. That'll be launching in 2010.

Tara: Alright, so let's start getting into the really important questions for this interview. Do you keep people with disabilities in mind when making your products?

Max: We sure do!

Tara: I love the enthusiasm! What disabilities do you normally keep in mind?

Max: Whenever we're looking at interface development, we're always very mindful of layout in terms of intuitive design and simple accessibility. Color-blindness, for example, is easy to be aware of, but is often overlooked, and we do pay attention to things like that.  We've looked at voice-over technology for products as well. On the iPhone side of things, the hardware really has a unique set of challenges, so the constraints are much tighter, which is a lot of what iBraille is about.

Tara: Speaking of iBraille, I would really like to hear more about it. Can you tell me more about iBraille and what it is?

Max: iBraille is a straightforward translator that can take English text and display the braille equivalent. It also has a cell editor that lets you essentially type in braille and the app will translate it into English.

Tara: Can you think of a practical application for iBraille?

Max: Well, it really does translate back and forth, so it has the same utility as any other translator out there. The description on the app store is fairly tongue-and-cheek, obviously, but it definitely has a straightforward practical use.

Tara: What made ZeeGee decide to make iBraille? (Is there a person who inspired it, or are you guys just wanting to spread the accessibility message, you were trying to make something else and it morphed into iBraille... so on.)

Max: We'd love to say we set out with a determined goal to spread a message with it, but really it was conceived as a nonsense app. The realization that it was speaking to the issue came about as we started to look more at what it was that made it nonsensical in the first place, and what that meant for people with disabilities.

Tara: It is really awesome that you guys talked about that sort of thing and really considered the implications of iBraille. You know, a braille translator is a really odd app to think of making. Was it an easy choice to make iBraille, or did it require a lot of thought?

Max: It was a fairly easy choice. Like iSundial (an app that looks at the shadows in a picture and tells you the current time), it's an app that just doesn't make much sense, and so they were sort of born together in a lot of ways.  Where the focus of iSundial was the humor of using a complicated app to do something exceptionally simple just for the sake of using an app, iBraille points more to the accessibility issues inherent to the platform.

Tara: After realizing that iBraille can really be more than a non-sense than application, and that it could  make people aware of a larger issue, accessibility and the iPhone, was there anything you really hoped to accomplish by putting it out on the market? Maybe a message you were trying to send?

Max: There are certain questions out there about developing hardware interface that most people are sort of taking for granted, and these questions really ought to be asked.

Tara: I, as well as everyone at AbleGamers and the AbleGamers community, couldn't agree more. That's what we're all about after all. So, the description of iBraille in the app store is sort of silly. Do you think people will understand the satirical element of iBraille when they first see it/ read the description in the app store?

Max: On a very basic level at least, yes they will. The general first impression will be that it's funny or absurd, but humor is borne from things that are out of place in a specific context.  Anyone who looks at it and says "But that doesn't make sense. People who need Braille can't use an iPhone like that" just got the message we're sending, and it's from that humor that you're able to start a serious discussion about accessibility in technology.

Tara: I like how you guys are bringing the message to accessibility to people while they might not even realize it at first. It subtle, but really makes you think. And that's what the world really needs, more people thinking about this sort of thing. Will ZeeGee be making any future products that are focused on accessibility?

Max: We certainly don't rule anything out...

Tara: Well, I would absolutely love it if you did. And if you did I would love to interview you about that, too. Now, there are a lot of products that are becoming touch screens now a days. You have GPS systems and phones... and tons of sci-fi movies show technology evolving toward more touch screen products. Do you think that's true? Do you think technology will continue to move towards touch screen products?

Max: We do actually, although we should say that we don't think the issue we're pointing at is with touch-screen products so much as the people making software for them. Any new technology is going to bring a new series of challenges with it. It's up to developers like us to respond to those challenges by making technology that taps the potential of the platform and makes those benefits available to everyone possible.

Tara: I understand. So, what do you think this all means for people with disabilities- such as blindness?

Max: Well, Apple specifically has taken steps to help out already with their built-in screen reader, which is great. So there certainly are in-roads being made there. It's a really complex question that we couldn't pretend to have the answer to, but making sure that developers are stopping to ask themselves what they can do to make their product more accessible is a huge step in the right direction.

Tara: Does ZeeGee have any recommendations about keeping their products accessible that they would like to share with other studios?

Max: We really think a lot of it comes down to actively making sure you're keeping all users in mind when designing a product. It's a simple thing that goes a huge way towards increasing accessibility when you do so. Developers are responsible for being mindful of what needs a disabled gamer might have, and fortunately, we've seen a lot more of them taking a little extra time to ensure that everyone is able to enjoy their products lately. But the key is making sure to ask those questions and then trying hard to make sure that the answer is always "yes, this would work for that person."

Tara: Alright, I have one final question and then we can wrap all of this up. Will ZeeGee make any money from iBraille?

Max: It's a free app, and there isn't any advertising in it.  It's a discussion piece, so to speak.

Tara: Thanks, again Max. It was great speaking with you and ZeeGee Games.

So there we have it. iBraille is an application for that iPhone that started out as something silly, but turned into something more. Hopefully other studios will examine their products, just like ZeeGee did, and find something more meaningful inside them.

If you would like to learn more about ZeeGee games, feel free to visit their website, www.zeegeegames.com. The iBraille app is also available in the iPhone app store for free, as Max mentioned, if you are interested in downloading it. If you do, you are carrying around your own accessibility discussion piece in your pocket.