Blindfold Breakout

Category

Description of App

Taken from the App Store description :

"Blindfold Breakout is an fully accessible audio game that's similar to the classic arcade game breakout. In Blindfold Breakout, you have a paddle, a ball, and a series of bricks. First, tap the screen to launch the ball from your paddle. When it hits a brick, the brick is shattered, and the ball bounces back to your paddle. To move your paddle, move the phone left and right. Using head phones or ear buds, you hear the ball heading towards you, and the ball will bounce off of your paddle when it's sound is in the center of your head. Blindfold Breakout comes with a tutorial level, and several games. Simple Breakout starts off with one row of eight bricks that you must destroy, then moves onto two rows, then three, all the way up to 10 rows of bricks. The ball gets faster each time you hit it with your paddle, and you can change the bounce angle by hitting it at the left or right side of your paddle. Blindfold Breakout was suggested by several blind gamers who enjoyed Blindfold Bowling and Blindfold Pong. The game comes with coins; you need one coin to play. To get more coins, you can listen to advertising videos, or purchase coins as an in-app upgrade."

Version

1.1.7

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

9.1

Accessibility Comments

As with the other blindfold games, this one is fully accessible.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

Kidfriendly software has done it again, a very unique take on the classic game of breakout, highly recommended.

Developer's Twitter Username

@blindfoldgames

Options

Comments

By Igna Triay on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi. As of now, I haven't tried the game, although it sounds great. This is just a suggestion. Since now on the games the voice can be customized, could one of the voices be Alex?

By Fa1ckg on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

It's really good, i love it.
Game Center integration with badge to gain would be great.

Thank for this game.

By Vsevolod Popov on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi all. Cn someone create podcast about this game? I don't understand how to smash breeks and i loose the game very often. It happens when ball goes straight to the left, then game ends. What am i doing wrong? Thanx

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Oh yeah I used to play the pc version of that game. It was fun! I don't have the podcast up anymore on my feed but I can try and find the 2006 demo if anyone wants in my own personal archives.

Take care.

By Vsevolod Popov on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

I have question. Should i swing the phone when ball is trying to find breeks? Also i don't understand really much what means to swing the iPhone. Does it mean tildding it left or write or i should moovthe arm with the phome? I thing that this question is silly, but i thing you will answer it. Thanx. Seva

By thunderhorse82 on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

You simply move your arm left or right or you can turn your body as well. Keep in mind you should center the ball in your headphones to successfully hit the ball back at the bricks.

By Igna Triay on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Yeah, the game has several voices, however it would be cool if you could use the Alex voice for your actions or your opponent actions as well.

By Saqib on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi. I play without the headphones and I've selected finger movement as I wouldn't be able to see the screen if I was swinging the phone aroundd. The game is quite simple and I can't understand why some people don't get it. Just knock off all the bricks and don't let the ball beat your bat when it's on the way down. Once again I commend the author for leaving us low vision users a display to look at. I've downloaded similar games to this on the appstore and they have far more levels and I was wondering if the game will be updated with new levels? I always find that the simple games are the most addictive around.

By charles on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

In reply to by Igna Triay

Go into the settings and customize the voices. Choose the voice for your actions, one of which is Alex. Save your settings.

By Igna Triay on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

I don't find Alex on the customize voices setting. The voices that show off our Karen, Daniel, Moira, Samantha, Samantha enhanced and Tessa. I have an iPhone 5, but I doubt that this is the cause of the problem. Any idea why this might be happening?

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Actually that is the problem. You dont' have alex as your phone is not a 64 bit processer phone.

Take care.

This is exactly why, when you have such a problem, you should give all important info such as what phone and operating system you are using. If we had known, right up front, that the phone was not a 64 bit processor, there would not be such frustration for the user.

By Maria.espino on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Is there a way u can refill the coins without watching the videos?

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Unless you want to buy an upgrade, no. This is probablhy explained in the very well written help guides which can be accessed from the main screen of the game.

By Clare Page on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi! I'd never heard of Breakout till I found out about the blindfold version, but, as a fan of most of the blindfold games, I decided to get Blindfold Breakout when i heard it had been released, and I'm very glad I did. At the time of writing this I am a long long way from being anything like an expert player, but I definitely enjoy this game. It's probably a good thing I decided to get unlimited coins, though, as I play the game a lot without being very good at keeping balls in play, which means that one ball doesn't last very long for me before I have to launch a new one. But plenty of practice should help me improve, something I'm bound to get, as I find Blindfold Breakout rather addictive in spite of not being very good at it yet.

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

I actually cannot hear the voices in the separate ears like I'm supposed to. Perhaps another way can be come up with as this method is a bit confusing at least to me.

Take care.

By Igna Triay on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

Supposedly, it is the column on the left ear, and the number of bricks on the right ear. Could this be a bug?

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 6, 2015 - 17:26

I dunno. Who knows. or maybe I mis read the instructions. One never knows with technology eh?

By KidFriendlySoftware on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi all. I forgot to subscribe to this forum, but when Joseph W. just wrote up Blindfold Air Hockey, I subscribed to this one as well. If you have any questions, please post them and I'll answer.

By HarmonicaPlayer on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

In reply to by Clare Page

if you save enough points you can trade them in on inventory items like large and small exploding balls or extra regular balls:()

By Muzobazz on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

This is another innovative game. During gameplay however, the 'use inventory' screen randomly pops up; often while a ball is in play. Am I the only one experiencing this problem?

By KidFriendlySoftware on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

In reply to by Muzobazz

that pops up when you swipe down. Perhaps you are swiping down accidentally. Even a very small swipe down will cause this.

By Vsevolod Popov on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

Hi. It would be great to have a podcast about this game. I have situations when after breaking breeks ball goes straight to the left or write and game ends. What am i doing wrong? Also when there are not so many breeks left, for example 1, ball can't find it and i loose the game. And the last question, should i move the device when the ball starts mooving? Thanx

By KE7ZUM on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

Whqt happens when the ball goes left and you loose it is you loose it. The ball falls off of the table. Also try and keep the ball in the center of your head.

Take care.

By KE7ZUM on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

Well I did a podcast on it but my audio broke. I'll work on it later. Lol! I was going to put it up on youtube but not with the audio that came out. Lol!

Take care to all.

By KE7ZUM on Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 17:26

Sure. That's the temp link of the full file, but I'll put it up on the real server probably some time this week. Feel free to grab the temp link though as that's the audio file people will get on their podcatcher once I do what I need to to p9ut the show notes in.

Take care and be blessed

By Kerry Fielding on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 17:26

Firstly, let me say that this game is frustrating, but addictive. I really like it. However, during simple break out, whenever I lose a game and want to restart, nothing happens when I swipe up with one finger. I end up having to swipe up with three fingers, go back to the main menu and launch the game from there again. I couldn't tell you what exactly is happening on the screen when I swipe up with one finger, except that sometimes I do hear the voices to indicate bricks. I did used to have a problem with the notification centre popping up, but I followed the instructions to stop that happening, and I don't seem to get that any more. I can therefore only assume that this is not popping up when I swipe up with one finger. I couldn't tell you whether this is just happening on the simple game only as I haven't progressed through any of the other games yet.

By KidFriendlySoftware on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 17:26

In reply to by Kerry Fielding

Try waiting about 20 seconds before you swipe up. I haven't touched the game for about 6 months, so I don't think its a bug I introduced, and no one else mentioned it. If that doesn't do it, I can check the game out again, and see what's going on. If I find any errors, it will probably take about a week to fix them; I need to move the game to the common infrastructure used by all my games, and that sometimes breaks things. Excuse the pun.

By charles on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 17:26

Marty's suggestion should work. I get the message "Please wait for a few seconds" if I swipe up too soon when playing the pinball game, and I'll bet that the same delay must be sometimes used in Breakout, but it just doesn't display the message. Try the other varieties of Breakout to see if the same thing occurs.

By Kerry Fielding on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 17:26

Waiting for a while once the game is over does seem to work. Thanks :-)

By Jen on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

Would it be possible to set up the tutorial, or the beginner game, in "endless" mode?
I am having trouble understanding what I am doing that's causing me to lose the ball.
I get the concept that the ball needs to remain in the center of my field of hearing.
But, for example, if I hear the ball coming back on my left, I try to turn my phone so it's in the center again, and I lose the ball, even as it is sounding like it's headed toward the center.
It seems like I could figure this out if I just had enough nonstop play to hear and make corrections.
But as of now, I feel like I'm just not grasping exactly what needs to happen in order to keep the ball in play.
I'm trying to keep the ball centered, and I am either overcorrecting, or going in the wrong direction, but I can't figure out which mistake I am making.

By KidFriendlySoftware on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

I am working on breakout now. Do you mean if you are in beginner mode, and you miss the ball, you want it to bounce off of the wall instead of letting you launch a new ball? In beginner mode, there's no limit to the number of balls you play.

By Jen on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

It would be good if the ball could continuously bounce off the wall, because I need time to figure out how to correct whatever mistake I am making.
So I'm thinking it would be good to keep the ball in play longer, rather than start over.
If "endless" mode isn't possible, maybe a timed mode, like three or five minutes of game play?

By charles on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

If the ball seems in the center of your head, you may be at the extreme edge of the playing area. This confuses people because they can't move where they think they should be able to. The ball will bounce off the wall and you have to react to where it is heading. Try to arrive at the same location and have your paddle collide with the moving ball. This might help visualize what's going on. Endless play, or having a ball being active for a set length of time whether you miss it or not are good ideas, too. Breakout is probably one of my favorite games of the series. It's sort of a toss up between Breakout, Pinball, and Bowling with or without friends. Keep up the good work, Marty!

Oh that's interesting, and it would definitely explain why I can't seem to go where I'm trying to go.
Thanks for the explanation!
I love Breakout and Pinball too, but I haven't tried bowling yet. I think that one will be fun.

By KidFriendlySoftware on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

Do you still need this to change. I'm worried if I do that, then people won't understand when they hit the ball versus bouncing off the wall behind their paddle.

By Jen on Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 17:26

Sorry for the delayed response
No, don't change things if you are concerned that it will confuse others.
I will get it figured out.
Thanks for some great games.

By James Dean on Sunday, November 6, 2016 - 17:26

I love this game! However, in Simple Breakout, Hole in the Middle Breakout, Super and Double-Strength Bricks, if you want any inventory items, you better choose the items you want before you get to level 3, otherwise you're out of luck. If you try to flick down with one finger once level 3 has begun, you are taken directly back to your home screen. The game also crashes after several games have been played. It’s great but a bit unstable on my iPhone 6 running iOS 10.1. This inventory bug is a big problem, though. The bug persists even if you move on to levels 4, 5, 6 and so on. I did try to get to the inventory screen without VoiceOver loaded, thinking that might make a difference, but unfortunately not. I'm Running version 1.3.0 of the App.

What's surprising is that I haven't had any crashes reported back through the software, which usually happens with other Blindfold Games apps. I'll check things again.

By James Dean on Sunday, November 6, 2016 - 17:26

I uninstalled and reinstalled version 1.3.0 of the App. Is there some way I can allow the App to send diagnostic data back to you?

By KidFriendlySoftware on Sunday, November 6, 2016 - 17:26

New version out in a few days that will hopefully give me more info.

By Sabrina on Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 17:26

Hello. I got this game as a gift and it is awesome. I really love the brick smashing sounds and have never gotten above level six but I am learning. Is this the same of wrecking ball? I haven¨t seen this before so that is why I wonder. I think the game is awesom....e. I have played this as much as I have played hopper and these games are my favourites.

By charles on Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 17:26

This game is still one of my favorites. Or maybe it is pinball? Tough decision. Even though I'm not the developer, I like hearing about when others enjoy it. Either I am a terrible gamer, or this game has great replay value, or both. Even the easy levels are a challenge. You got an awesome Christmas gift. Have a merry Christmas. To those with some eyesight, I would like to hear how well you play this game without looking? Use only your ears and let us know how well you do compared to when you are looking.

By KidFriendlySoftware on Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 17:26

In reply to by charles

I've played my breakout, but in reality, it doesn't really matter if you see the screen or not. All you can do is keep the ball in play. Just like with a pinball machine. If you want more of a challenge, play blindfold flappy.