[games_access] Introduction

[John Bannick]

Greg,

It's odd to read your post referring to "Designing Audio Concurrently With
Game Design" at this particular moment.

My company, 7-128 Software, builds mainstream casual computer games that
are accessible.

This morning I'm coding a tool for Perkins School for the Blind, here in
Boston, that will let them edit content for some new children's games
we're doing.

Since some of their employees are blind, I'm including self-voicing and
JAWS screen-reader access in the editor.

So I'm sitting here waiting for the thing to compile, and browsing various
fora. (I'm a member of the GA SIG.)

Speaking as someone who's been doing UIs professionally for 30 years and
audio UIs for the past 10 years, the audio part does affect the video
part. It affects how you lay things out. It affects timing issues. It
affects the information architecture. It affect platform choices. And it
affects the time to delivery.

Speaking as a game developer, the GA SIG and related fora such as
oneswitch, ablegamers, and audyssey make a huge difference in getting
software actually accessible. Aside from raising awareness, they provide
sources of practical information as to what users with special needs want,
what works, what does not work, resources available, and new products.

Anyway, it's passing strange to read your post while doing exactly what
you're referring to.

Welcome and good luck at your conference.

John Bannick
CTO 7-128 Software
www.7128.com