From thomas at pininteractive.com Wed Dec 1 16:20:07 2004 From: thomas at pininteractive.com (Thomas Westin) Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 22:20:07 +0100 Subject: [games_access] GAI & "Enabled Users" In-Reply-To: <29D6EB82-422E-11D9-A4A9-000A95C7D298@btinternet.com> References: <29D6EB82-422E-11D9-A4A9-000A95C7D298@btinternet.com> Message-ID: Hi Jonathan, yes, I totally agree. OK, I'll add that to my list then :) Thanks, Thomas IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List on den 29 november 2004 at 18:43 +0100 wrote: >Thomas, > > >having contributed to WAI for over 6 years since 1998, there is one >group I'd like to add to your proposal. > > >"Enabled Users" > > >WAI does have some, however W3 generally has an overly corporate feel. > > >Involving end users ensures that everyone is kept directly in touch >with needs. > > >regards > > >Jonathan Chetwynd >http://www.peepo.co.uk "It's easy to use" >irc://freenode/accessibility >On 29 Nov 2004, at 16:47, Thomas Westin wrote: > > >Hi, > > > I'm presently at work and have to travel home, so I will have a >problem getting home in time for the online meeting. Anyway, I'll try >and get online as soon as possible. > > > Here is a short report from my visit and presentation at Techshare, >Birmingham, UK on November 18. > > > Techshare website: >http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/code/ >public_rnib004057.hcsp > > > I presented our work with the SIG, and also briefly Terraformers. > > > Keynote speakers were e.g from W3C WAI, Judy Brewer and and a guy from >Adobe presenting new accessibility features in Acrobat 7. > > > I also found some time to speak to Judy Brewer about the possibility >of some bilateral collaboration between the GA-SIG and W3C WAI. I still >have to follow up on this, but she said informal relations were very >easy to set up, and that should be a good starting point. > > > I got some ideas of how we could present accessibility guidelines for >future versions of whitepapers. W3C WAI have two main areas, one for >tools and one for content. For content there are three levels of >accessibility. I think a similar approach could be fruitful for helping >the game industry start implementing easy things first. > > > To reach out further: Since time is a rare component, I suggest we >setup online presentations instead of traveling. I'm planning to hold >online presentations of our work with the application I showed you >briefly last time. As a first step, I would like to have your consent >with me doing this although I have trouble attending our meetings. I >think it is a good way to reach out to many interested people in a time >and cost effective way. > > > Finally, I think we could go on with the idea of sponsorship into >forming a similar "initiative" as W3C WAI. My initial idea was to do >this, but IGDA wanted something smaller first, which resulted in the >SIG. Now, I think we have proven to be serious about this and can talk >to Jason about forming an "initiative", or GAI (compare with WAI, Web >Accessibility Initiative). It should be formed by a consortium of >leading game development studios and publishers as well as >international disability organisations. Also, existing developers of >accessible games should be included. > > > A lot do to of course, but I would like to have your feedback >regarding these ideas. > > > Kind regards, > Thomas > > >IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List on >den 29 november 2004 at 02:26 +0100 wrote: >Hi everyone -- > > > > > I hope that all the IGDA Games Accessibility SIG members have signed >up for > the mailing list! I had an extremely bad computer crash about 1 1/2 >weeks > ago and the recovery process has been very time consuming. Long story > short...if you've emailed me in the last week and a half or so...your >email > may have gotten caught in the crash so please let me know if you have > emailed me and haven't heard back yet!! > > > > > Also, if one of you has a reminder email from the last meeting with >all the > email addresses of the GA SIG members on it, can you forward it to me >at >hinn at uiuc.edu as soon as possible? Also, if anyone has the minutes from >the > last meeting, could you forward that to me as well? > > > > > Anyway, just a reminder that we have a meeting for the Game >Accessibility > SIG is tomorrow at 9am (US pacific time)/12noon (US east coast time). >Please > try to be there if you can! We'll catching up on recent SIG business > > > > > IMPORTANT (how to get to the meeting): If you aren't already on MSN > Messenger, please sign up for an account as soon as possible. Then add >me, >vrgrrl at hotmail.com (that's right, vrgrrl), to your contacts list. > I'll make sure that you are added to the conference room when I see you > online right before the meeting. Email me at hinn at uiuc.edu if you have >any > problems. > > > > > Hope to see you all tomorrow! > Michelle > IGDA Game Accessibility Committee Chair > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list >games_access at igda.org >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > > > > > > Pin Interactive AB www.pininteractive.com > Online support: MSN thomas at pininteractive.com > Phone: +46 (0)70 7331475 (Time zone: GMT+1) > ____________________________________________________ > Award Winning 3D Game for Blind and Sighted: www.terraformers.nu > IGDA Game Accessibility SIG www.igda.org/accessibility/ > > > _______________________________________________ >games_access mailing list >games_access at igda.org >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > >_______________________________________________ >games_access mailing list >games_access at igda.org >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > Pin Interactive AB www.pininteractive.com Online support: MSN thomas at pininteractive.com Phone: +46 (0)70 7331475 (Time zone: GMT+1) ____________________________________________________ Award Winning 3D Game for Blind and Sighted: www.terraformers.nu IGDA Game Accessibility SIG www.igda.org/accessibility/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.chetwynd at btinternet.com Thu Dec 9 11:01:12 2004 From: j.chetwynd at btinternet.com (Jonathan Chetwynd) Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:01:12 +0000 Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact Message-ID: <8C37F220-49FB-11D9-89AB-000A95C7D298@btinternet.com> Apologies, due to family commitments, cant make Monday's call. please email me the minutes and be sure to include the next meeting. Just to record that a contact at Sony playstation (since 1999) has expressed interest, and we will be making further contact in the new year. regards Jonathan Chetwynd http://www.peepo.co.uk "It's easy to use" irc://freenode/accessibility From hinn at uiuc.edu Thu Dec 9 11:43:17 2004 From: hinn at uiuc.edu (hinn at uiuc.edu) Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 10:43:17 -0600 Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact Message-ID: <79715987.ac11dac2.82d6f00@expms2.cites.uiuc.edu> Not a problem Jonathan -- the end of the year always brings along schedule issues. Thanks for the update on Sony -- sounds great! I'll email out the notes and next meeting time to everyone after the monday meeting. Michelle ---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:01:12 +0000 >From: Jonathan Chetwynd >Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact >To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List > >Apologies, due to family commitments, cant make Monday's call. >please email me the minutes and be sure to include the next meeting. > >Just to record that a contact at Sony playstation (since 1999) has >expressed interest, and we will be making further contact in the new >year. > >regards > >Jonathan Chetwynd >http://www.peepo.co.uk "It's easy to use" >irc://freenode/accessibility > >_______________________________________________ >games_access mailing list >games_access at igda.org >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access From richard at audiogames.net Thu Dec 9 15:06:27 2004 From: richard at audiogames.net (AudioGames.net) Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:06:27 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact References: <8C37F220-49FB-11D9-89AB-000A95C7D298@btinternet.com> Message-ID: <004401c4de2a$94348880$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> Hi Jonathan, I was looking through some of my archived emails and by surprise found one from you to our office (the Dutch Accessibility foundation, to Eric Velleman to be exact, which he forwarded to me since I work with him and am into the subject). Something about you doing a round table conversation in 2005 (could this be the GDC?)? In the email you asked for information on accessible games. Since it has been a while, is there still something I can do to help you? Greets, Richard http://www.audiogames.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Chetwynd" To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:01 PM Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact > Apologies, due to family commitments, cant make Monday's call. > please email me the minutes and be sure to include the next meeting. > > Just to record that a contact at Sony playstation (since 1999) has > expressed interest, and we will be making further contact in the new year. > > regards > > Jonathan Chetwynd > http://www.peepo.co.uk "It's easy to use" > irc://freenode/accessibility > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access From richard at audiogames.net Thu Dec 9 18:52:30 2004 From: richard at audiogames.net (AudioGames.net) Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 00:52:30 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Reminder: Online Meeting for Games AccessibilitySIG References: <20041129012653.F11E857094@seven.pairlist.net> Message-ID: <004501c4de4a$27466ed0$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> Hi Thomas (and list), This is a very late reply to one of your posts but here is my comment: ***quote Keynote speakers were e.g from W3C WAI, Judy Brewer and and a guy from Adobe presenting new accessibility features in Acrobat 7. I also found some time to speak to Judy Brewer about the possibility of some bilateral collaboration between the GA-SIG and W3C WAI. I still have to follow up on this, but she said informal relations were very easy to set up, and that should be a good starting point. ***quote end Where I work (Accessibility foundation) we have good ties with Judy for several years (just this week we developed a cool brochure on web accessibility, which Judy assisted in editing). Although I have not yet spoken to her personally, my boss has (almost weekly actually). He has been spreading the word about game accessibility and the projects we have done (Drive, Demor) to Judy for quite some time now and I know she is interested in the subject. At this years ICCHP Sander and me met with several people from the W3C and we (also informally)discussed the possibilities of an 'Initiative', similar to WAI, but then for games. Without reading your white paper (which was not yet released then), we discussed issues like having a validating tool for game accessibility, a logo/mark for accessible games and design principles/checkpoints for accessible games. The people from W3C, having years of experience with these, did see a lot of complications and very little possibilities. Funding was one thing, since hardly any government will put money into entertainment, even with arguments like edutainment and revalidation. Our solution is asking a major party like EA to do the funding, for instance in developing a branch-logo for game accessibility (which means EA can sell more games if they have a "i am accessible for deaf people"-logo on the cover). Unfortunately, other issues that we talked about, we still do not have an answer to. When is a game accessible? When it is playable? When the experience is 100% the same between disabled gamers and regular gamers? How do you validate this? How can one develope checkpoints for games when the definition of the medium itsself ("game") is still heavily debated by ludologists all over the world. Not to mention the fact that I have encountered a large group of blind gamers who almost refuse to take notice of "other" disabilities and who seem to focus primarely on "their own type of game accessibility". Even if one can test the accessibility of games, how do you design a mark/logo for it? One for all disabilities? Like: "this game is accessible for the visually, hearing, mentally and physically disabled"? Is that possible? And is that what is needed? Or would we like to split up game accessibilty into small parts like having different logo's: "this is a blind-accessible game" + "this is a deaf-accessible game" + "this is a dyslexia-accessible game", etc. ? And about the checkpoints? There are already checkpoints for accessible software. At work I sometimes collaborate with the Software In Sight-foundation, a foundation that tests the accessiblity of educational software. They have defined two types of accessible software: one that is accessible with assistive technologies and one that is accessible all by itsself. Now, the checkpoints they use are VERY hard to apply to games. For instance: "don't use time-based actions". What if the fun/challenge of a game is completely about timing/having very little time to complete a certain task? Of course, this checkpoint was not designed for games. But with the folks from the W3C we found out that defining such checkpoints for interactive processes with ever-changing challenges is a lot harder than it may seem at first. The conclusion of the evening was that the methods of the W3C are not easily applied to games. If we are to start a (similar) Initiative for game accessibility, then we should look closely to what is possible and not simply copy the W3C methodology (not that anyone has claimed that, don't want to tread on anyone's toes :). As far as I can see, I think we have to define a methodology for game accessibility ourselves. Okay, this started as a simple reply just to say that we're in contact with the W3C already :) I'll let you know when I know more. Now a question: did anyone here try to define a list of checkpoints for game accessibility already? Maybe we could discuss such a list on this emailgroup? Just in case, let's start here (this is just from the top of my head so we have something to talk about; some of the things are maybe absurd, let's hear it then!): - Provide a visual equavalent for any auditory information (which is the opposite to...) >>> subtitles - Provide an auditory equavalent for any visual information - Support controller alternatives: for any type of controller (mouse, joystick, game controller, etc... provide an alternative: keyboard, eye controller, speech commands) - Use clear language: avoid difficult language - Avoid color communication: make sure that any information provided by color has an alternative - Let players set the speed of the game - Let players set the difficulty of the game - Avoid flickering (includes heavy explosions?) - (anyone) Gotta go now, greetings! Richard http://www.audiogames.net http://www.gameaudiodesign.com http://www.soundsupport.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From richard at audiogames.net Thu Dec 9 18:57:12 2004 From: richard at audiogames.net (AudioGames.net) Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 00:57:12 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact References: <8C37F220-49FB-11D9-89AB-000A95C7D298@btinternet.com> Message-ID: <006001c4de4a$ce5aa650$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> Hi, ***quote > Apologies, due to family commitments, cant make Monday's call. > please email me the minutes and be sure to include the next meeting. *** quote end What date/time is the next conference? Then I shall try to be there as well. Greets, Richard From hinn at uiuc.edu Thu Dec 9 20:05:58 2004 From: hinn at uiuc.edu (michelle hinn) Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 19:05:58 -0600 Subject: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact In-Reply-To: <006001c4de4a$ce5aa650$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> Message-ID: <20041210010612.D8EBC5709C@seven.pairlist.net> Hi, The next online meeting is at 9am US Eastern Time on Monday Dec 13 on Instant Messenger. If anyone needs information on how to join the meeting, email me at hinn at uiuc.edu Thanks! Michelle IGDA GA SIG Chair -----Original Message----- From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of AudioGames.net Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:57 PM To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List Subject: Re: [games_access] Apologies, and possible new contact Hi, ***quote > Apologies, due to family commitments, cant make Monday's call. > please email me the minutes and be sure to include the next meeting. *** quote end What date/time is the next conference? Then I shall try to be there as well. Greets, Richard _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list games_access at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access From rkimball at gmail.com Sun Dec 12 13:00:05 2004 From: rkimball at gmail.com (Reid Kimball) Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:00:05 -0500 Subject: [games_access] Doom3[CC] Released In-Reply-To: <20041210010612.D8EBC5709C@seven.pairlist.net> References: <006001c4de4a$ce5aa650$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> <20041210010612.D8EBC5709C@seven.pairlist.net> Message-ID: I am very proud to announce to the Game Accessibility group that my mod which adds closed captioning to Doom3 is available for download privately before it hits the major websites. README: http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/mod/readme_doom3cc.txt MOD: http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/mod/doom3cc.zip Please take a look at the videos located on my website that show off the closed captioning if you are unable to use the mod. http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/ -Reid Kimball Doom3[CC] - Mod Lead / Captioner Ritual Entertainment - Level Designer From richard at audiogames.net Sun Dec 12 13:08:53 2004 From: richard at audiogames.net (AudioGames.net) Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 19:08:53 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Doom3[CC] Released References: <006001c4de4a$ce5aa650$cdfb8418@SoundSupport><20041210010612.D8EBC5709C@seven.pairlist.net> Message-ID: <010d01c4e075$a9d6ab30$cdfb8418@SoundSupport> amazing! thanks for the tip! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Reid Kimball" To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 7:00 PM Subject: [games_access] Doom3[CC] Released >I am very proud to announce to the Game Accessibility group that my > mod which adds closed captioning to Doom3 is available for download > privately before it hits the major websites. > > README: > http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/mod/readme_doom3cc.txt > > MOD: > http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/mod/doom3cc.zip > > Please take a look at the videos located on my website that show off > the closed captioning if you are unable to use the mod. > > http://game.rbkdesign.com/doom3cc/ > > -Reid Kimball > Doom3[CC] - Mod Lead / Captioner > Ritual Entertainment - Level Designer > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access From gramenos at ics.forth.gr Thu Dec 16 06:33:03 2004 From: gramenos at ics.forth.gr (Dimitris Grammenos) Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:33:03 +0200 Subject: [games_access] UA-Chess: An accessible Web-based chess game Message-ID: <200412161141.iBGBeW6F006042@mailhost.ics.forth.gr> Hello everyone, I am sending you this e-mail to inform you about an accessible game (UA-Chess, www.ics.forth.gr/uachess) that is freely available on the web. UA-Chess is a fully-functional 2-player chess game, developed by the Centre for Universal Access & Assistive Technologies of ICS-FORTH. UA-Chess can be played through a standard Web browser. Its distinctive characteristic is that it is designed to be Universally Accessible, i.e., it can be concurrently played by people with different abilities and preferences, including people with disabilities (e.g., low-vision, blind and hand-motor impaired). This is achieved by supporting alternative input and output modalities and interaction techniques that can co-exist and co-operate in the game's user interface, combined with fully customizable player profiles. Every aspect of the game's functionality is accessible through the mouse, the keyboard (or any type of switches emulating keystrokes) and speech recognition. UA-Chess has self-voicing capabilities, since it includes a built-in screen reader that offers full auditory access to every part of it. Additionally, the game can be sized according to user preference and zoomed in and out at different levels. Finally, several alternative interaction techniques (the parameters of which can be customized) are supported for each device. For example, the keyboard can be used for direct positional input (e.g., to select the square A7 by typing 'A7'), for 'tabbing' though all the alternative interaction elements, or in combination with different types of scanning. The interaction capabilities of UA-Chess allow it to provide access to people with combinations of disabilities, as for example blind hand-motor impaired persons. UA-Chess allows for two-player games over the Internet, as well as games with two opponents sharing the same computer, where the game's user interface (input and output) is adapted to the active player's profile. The game follows the official Laws of Chess, as these are set by the World Chess Federation. UA-Chess was developed using Macromedia Flash MX Professional 7. Speech recognition and synthesis is supported through the use of Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) technology. UA-Chess can be found on-line at: www.ics.forth.gr/uachess On-line you will also find a detailed user manual in different formats (html, pdf, txt). We would greatly appreciate your feedback about the game. For further information regarding UA-Chess, please contact: Dimitris Grammenos Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) Institute of Computer Science (ICS) Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory Centre for Universal Access and Assistive Technologies Heraklion, Crete GR - 70013 Greece email: gramenos at ics.forth.gr Tel: +30-2810-391755 Fax: +30-2810-391740 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: