Hello World

Hello reader, and a warm welcome to the very first post from the Hodr Engine team. I’m delighted to be connecting with you here on our dedicated platform. We’ve created this blog to share everything behind the scenes at Hodr Engine. From development updates to event appearances.

Where to begin? Let’s start with an introduction to us and this brand-new Hodr Engine website. If you’ve found your way here, you’ll likely already know we’re Immersion Sound Studio, a young limited company based in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, dedicated to building accessible software, particularly for blind and visually impaired users. We also create music and sound design on commission. Together with the brilliant Red Nought team, we’re developing Hodr Engine, a game engine for those of all sight conditions and technical experience levels to create immersive experiences, such as video games.

Thanks to Red Nought’s support, we’ve built this website to serve as the hub for everything Hodr Engine, including this regular blog, tutorials and more.

Exciting News

We’re thrilled to announce Immersion Sound Studio and Red Nought have been kindly invited by Xbox and Embody to speak at a game and software developer conference aptly named Dev Con, taking place in Cologne, Germany, on the nineteenth of August. We’ll be joining a panel discussing how audio is used as a tool for accessibility in game design. We’ll also be attending the equally aptly named Gamescom trade fair on the twentieth of August, and would love to make new connections at both events, so please get in touch via email, LinkedIn or Twitter/X to say hello or arrange a meeting. As two small independent studios, we’re overjoyed to be invited, and with Hodr’s beta release around the corner, the timing couldn’t be better.

Thank you for reading our first blog post

We’ll be updating this blog regularly with further news. Before I stop rambling, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for taking the time to read our first post and learn more about our mission to make game development accessible to all, regardless of sight condition or prior technical education.

We’re a small team of passionate creatives and developers who believe game engines, with their power to create life changing experiences like games, simulations or architectural modelling, should be inclusive. Everyone deserves access to these extraordinary tools, no matter their background. We’re still learning too, and we’re looking for ways to improve. Your feedback on our website, upcoming beta, and future updates have a great impact on our ability to reach a wider talented but underserved community.

We’re also interested to grow our network and collaborate. If you’re an accessibility consultant, game developer, musician, 3D modeller, or simply curious about our work, don’t hesitate to get in touch via LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or email. We’d love to hear from you.