Over 20% of gamers have issues that prevent them from fully enjoying the current and best games. Gamer disabilitys can range from deafness to partial blindness to any other number of issues that disabled and handicapped gamers need to deal with. Finally the game industry has taken note of these issues and established guidelines for programmers to use in their games to allow everybody , irrespective of their physical condition to enjoy games.
The website gives developers guidelines on the simple changes that games need to have to make them more accessible for gamers with a range of visual, hearing, speech, learning and motor conditions.
How many gamers have an impairment?
Recent research by PopCapshowed that as many as 20% of gamers are disabled. Often there are simple solutions such as combining colours with symbols, or allowing text to disappear on a button press rather than a timer. Many of these practices have already been implemented in the game industry in recent years. Now skippable cut scenes are a standard, and configurable controls almost a must (to the relief of many a left handed gamer)
This creation has taken Ian Hamilton six months , his main motivation has been to do something about the number of studios who unwittingly ignore the needs of players through a lack of knowledge about the barriers disabled gamers face when trying to play their favourite games.
“The guidelines started really a few years ago as a personal project triggered by work I did whilst at the BBC, which included creating games and products for disabled children. That expanded into advising internal teams and 3rd party game studios on game accessibility, which made me realise firstly to what degree gamers were unnecessarily being shut out by the games industry through lack of awareness, and secondly the huge value that games have: it’s not just about delivering access, it’s about entertainment, culture, socialising, the very things that are the difference between existing and living. Gaming really does have a huge impact on people’s lives,” said Ian.
These are some of the big names in gaming that helped Ian Hamilton with the accessibility project: Blitz games studios, Headstrong Games, Aardman Digital, OneSwitch and Stockholm University.
These are some of the big names in gaming that helped Ian Hamilton with the accessibility project: Blitz games studios, Headstrong Games, Aardman Digital, OneSwitch and Stockholm University.
“Through the process we’ve spoken to developers around the world, from small indies to large triple-A studios, and the support has been fantastic. There are already several games in development that are using the guidelines to deliver the best possible experience to as many people as possible.”
One of the developers that the guidelines have already helped is Poland-basedVivid Games, who sought Ian’s help when creating a PC version of its recent mobile and PS3 game, Speedball 2: evolution.
“When we were developing the mobile version of Speedball 2 we included a special mode for colour blind gamers, which changed the palette and increased the contrast to ensure that all the on-screen action was still visible.” said Remi Koscielny, President of Vivid Games. “For the PC version we wanted to increase the accessibility of the game, so we worked closely with Ian to ensure that every part of the game was optimised for impaired gamers. Having learnt what a major difference can be made to so many people with just a little extra effort, we certainly hope that all developers take on board the fantastic work that Ian has done.”
Guidelines for Making Accessible Games for disabled gamers
General
Basic
Provide details of accessibility on web or packaging
Offer a choice of difficulty level
Ensure that all settings are saved/remembered
Intermediate
Allow difficulty level to be altered during gameplay, either through settings or adaptive difficulty
Include some people with impairments amongst play-testing participants
Offer a means to bypass gameplay elements that aren’t part of the core mechanic, via settings or in-game skip option
Include assist modes such as auto-aim and assisted steering
Provide a manual save feature
Provide an autosave feature
Allow a preference to be set for playing online multiplayer with/without others who are using accessibility features that could give a competitive advantage
Advanced
Include every relevant category of impairment (motor, cognitive etc) amongst play-testing participants, in representative numbers based on age / demographic of target audience
Allow gameplay to be fine-tuned by exposing as many variables as possible
Allow settings to be saved to different profiles, at either game or platform level
Motor
(Control / mobility)
Basic
Allow controls to be remapped / reconfigured
Ensure that all areas of the user interface can be accessed using the same input method as the gameplay
Include an option to adjust the sensitivity of controls
Ensure controls are as simple as possible, or provide a simpler alternative
Intermediate
Ensure interactive elements / virtual controls are large and well spaced, particularly on small or touch screens
Support more than one input device
Make interactive elements that require accuracy (eg. cursor/touch controlled menu options) stationary
Ensure that multiple simultaneous actions (eg. click/drag or swipe) are not required, and included only as a supplementary / alternative input method
Ensure that all key actions can be carried out by digital controls (pad / keys / presses), with more complex input (eg. analogue, speech, gesture) not required, and included only as supplementary / alternative input methods
Include an option to adjust the game speed
Avoid repeated inputs (button-mashing/quick time events)
If producing a PC game, support windowed mode for compatibility with overlaid virtual keyboards
Advanced
Do not make precise timing essential to gameplay - offer alternatives, actions that can be carried out while paused, or a skip mechanism
Include a cool-down period (post acceptance delay) of 0.5 seconds between inputs
Provide very simple control schemes that are compatible with assistive technology devices, such as switch or eye tracking
Cognitive
(Thought / memory / processing information)
