U.S. Military Veteran Shot In The Head, Loses Sight?
“What the…” Before even finishing his thought, Joe was in a situation that would forever change his life and the life of the blind community.
Joe Quirk, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, was out one night with his buddy having a few beers when without warning a lone gunman stormed the bar Joe was in and started shooting people indiscriminately and before he knew what had happened he was struck in the head losing his sight immediately. Unfortunately his friend did not survive this senseless act of violence.
By the end of 2013 Joe Quirk had plans for the future for not only himself, but the blind community as a whole by providing a view on life that we all can take a lesson from.
Joe had always loved gaming and once he lost his sight on that fateful day he immersed himself in the world of audio games but was looking for something different. He wanted an action game that simply didn’t exist. Sure there was Sixth Sense, PapaSangre, and other similar audio games for the blind, but what Joe, and people like myself, we’re looking for was a game that was more in depth, more interactive, and more realistic.
Joe set out to create his own game based off what he found fun and exciting. A nicely packed shoot ‘em up, humorous, and fast paced game.
Enter the Circus Master.
Clowns, clowns, and some more clowns.
Circus Masters Revenge has an interesting storyline to it and your character is totally blind and one day when taking a stroll you smell some popcorn and hear the sounds of a circus where you find yourself wandering towards and get sucked into the excitement.
Without giving away too much of the story, your character has to escape the circus master by shooting your way out of many complicated levels facing off against an arena full of clowns and bad guys that are just crazy to say the least.
What I find so enjoyable about this game is the potential for the VR audio games of the future. I feel that this game has set a precedence for blind gaming and that is the full interaction of the player. Location based action and 3D sound, you must physically move and turn your position in order to face your opponents in order to take them out.
I am very excited to see the future progress of this game and with Chapter 3 currently in the works, Circus Masters Revenge will continue to break blind gaming barriers and provide entertainment for all.
Joe Quirk founded Mental Vision Llc. to produce his dream game and this was after he wrote his book Mogul Hotel and Casino. A book with so much packed into it that the publisher didn’t know what genre to put it in. You can find the audio book here.
Recently I interviewed Joe Quirk on my YouTube channel to discuss this seemingly impossible short timeline to accomplish so much but it is amazing what Joe has achieved for all of us in the blind community.
You can watch the full interview here
and you can download Circus Masters Revenge here.
You can also find his Podcast on iTunes and Spotify by searching for Mental Vision.
I look forward to having Joe back on my channel with future updates of his awesome audio game as well as just hanging out chatting about life.
Joe is definitely someone I’d go have a beer with.
