SpecialEffect's accessible GameBase

Hi

I would be grateful for some suggestions of free games to help a 6 year lad who is just learning to use a joystick with an external switch to click. He's not reading yet, and his precision is not great yet because of his movements.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Pricey

Hi Pricey,

Wecome to the GameBase. Please find below some recommendations for free games, which may be good for the 6 year old using a joystick and switch:

Papunet http://papunet.net/games/

Really nicely made games with large targets and no time elements including drawing exercises, jigsaws, memory games and 'First Games' which are aimed at exploring the screen with the pointer to discover hidden objects.

I'll add more as I think of them. Good luck with them and let us know how you get on.

Bill

Whacka Monty Mole http://mole.ovine.net/ is a free downloadable game based on the fun fair game in which you hit moles on the head with a hammer. It has different settings incl. Switch mode, Mouse Mode (which will work with a joystick) and also Autohammer Mouse Mode in which the hammer automatically hits repeatedly, whilst the player simply moves it about.

Bill

Early Mouse Movements form the HelpKidzLearn.com website is a simple painting program in which you dip your cursor in the different paint pots and paint without the need to hold down (drag) the mouse button:
http://www.helpkidzlearn.com/creative/mouse_movements/MouseMovements.shtm

Bill

You could try these sites for free games, although it would be a case of trial and error to find games that suit your needs:

http://www.caiman.us/

http://www.pcgaming.ws/

http://www.remakes.org/

http://retrospec.sgn.net/index.php

or there's joystick compatible versions of space invaders and pacman here:
http://www.graemesfreegames.com/html/invasion_force.html
http://www.graemesfreegames.com/html/maze_muncher_-_single_switch.html

Invasion Force has variable speeds and many other options to alter the difficulty and how the game plays.
Maze Muncher has options to vary the game speed, number of enemies and despite being maze-based, doesn't require very accurate joystick control to navigate the maze.

Hope this helps. If you can't find anything at all suitable, please let me know and I'll see if I can help in any way.

Hello Pricey,

What game platform is he using to play games on? If it's a PC then all the above ideas are great, and there's tons more. If so, are you able to get the joystick acting as if it's a keyboard or mouse to open up more PC games?

If it's a games console, then let us know which one, and we should be able to advise further.

Finally, does he have any particular interests (colours, objects, music, sports, activities, TV etc.) that we might be able to tie up in some way with the games?

Best wishes,

Barrie

Hi Guys

Wow - what a brilliant response!! Thanks so much. I've heard of a couple of the sites people have mentioned, but there are many new ones there for me to have a play with. The joystick he's going to be using is a traxsys one. What do you mean about getting the joystick to act as akeyboard? His precision is not great yet (hence needing lots of games to practice on!!) - that's also why he'll have an external switch to enable him to do the left click.

His PC is his game platform at the moment. Not sure about particular interests - I'll try to find out more.

Thanks again guys

Off to look at those sites.

Pricey

Don't know how legal this site is but there's a whole load of old Sega MegaDrive games available to download for free here: http://www.games4win.com/

They've been converted to run on a PC with a simple installer. You can set up to use a joystick under the options tab on the header of each game. Plenty of child-friendly games too - Disney, cartoon characters etc. although I find many MegaDrive games take quite a bit of skill to get anywhere with (I used to have an old MegaDrive until my wife threw it out !).

Speaking of legal, depending how deep you're prepared to step into the murky waters of emulation, there's always these sites to get you started: http://www.emulator-zone.com/ and http://mamedev.org/

I think it's generally accepted that emulators are legal but possessing the ROMs (individual game files) isn't, unless you already own the original game, e.g. arcade machine, game cartridge, etc.

Ah... Slight issue worth clarifying here. The Traxsys Joysticks aren't actually recognised by a PC as a Joystick, but instead, act just like a Mouse. Push up on the joystick to move your mouse pointer up, and so on...

Here's a link to some Traxsys Joysticks: http://www.traxsys.com/AssistiveTechnology/Joysticks/tabid/1402/Default.aspx - and a picture below...



Forget what I said for the minute about making the joystick act as a keyboard, as the Traxsys won't be able to do that very easily at all.

So, we really need to be looking at good Mouse compatible games. Confusing sometimes this Assistive Technology lark! So... What about...

Magic Marbles: http://www.onlinegamesxxl.de/swf/1-magic-marbles-2.swf

Will think on with this, and will post more later...

Ah-ha - thanks One Switch - it is hard to know how to describe things (I'm just not tech-y enough), but yes, mouse games, but specifacally that don't require speed. I like magic marbles.

Thanks too Greame. Will have a look into the murky waters and see what I think.

Lisa

Hi again Pricey,

A favourite for practicing accuracy with a new pointer method are the various Peggle games (including Deluxe http://www.gamebase.info/members/profile/1/blog-view/_184.html ).

Despite the relatively small targets, there are many to aim at so if your shot goes astray it is likely you will still hit something.

Bill

Dropping this in from member, Clads, wall:

Thats fantastic Barrie, thank you very much. As we also have a wii which Luke loves to watch but struggles with the remote alone - i am thinking of going for a wii arcade stick and i understand from other forums i can get a mayflash adapter to be able to use it on the PC as well (so he can start off on simpler games as well). Do you foresee any problems with this idea? Will keep you posted on how we get on. Cheers, Clads

Well, I'm learning too! Just searched Google Shopping on "wii classic controller to PC USB adapter" and as you say, it turns up a Classic controller to USB adapter. I think that will work out very well.

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