Visually Impaired Chinese Engineer Independently Developed a Battle-Royale Game for the Blind

Cecil Gao

IGN China recently released a video about a gamer, Shen, who was born totally blind and independently developed a battle-royale game for the blind.

Shen is 26 years old, as a visually impaired person born totally blind, he is currently working as a software test engineer in Accessibility Research Association in Guangzhou. Shen's daily job is to check and test whether the software's screen reading function is working properly. He showed IGN staff how BiliBili and Weibo’s screen readers work and how to check if they are working properly. Being blind, Shen is able to read information much faster than normal people, he can listen to a sentence quickly and make judgments based on the given information.

Besides work, Shen is also a gamer, during the interview, he also showed his Hearthstone screen reading software, Shen said card games are the most friendly game for the visually impaired players. Because you only need to remember the special ability of each card to play the game without any other barriers. According to Shen, he was attracted to PUBG and has been developing a battle royale game for the visually impaired since 2016.

In the interview, he showed the IGN staff the battle royale game called Burst City. The game is completely programmed by text. With screen-reading software and a few shortcuts, Shen can hear where his character is located on the map and what props he's picking up. The game also alerts players through special sound effects if enemies appear nearby. Burst City is not only a Battle Royale gam, the game also has a peace mode similar to SLG games and a team mode with RPG elements. Shen stated that he hoped every visually impaired player would find something to enjoy in Burst City.

As of now, Burst City has more than 1,000 registered players, and Shen said there are many visually impaired people who have contacted him and wanted to join his development team. “ I think the game offers me a whole new set of possibilities and has allowed me to make more friends. That's what makes it so exciting.”