[games_access] Game Accessibility not taken seriously enough?

[John Bannick]

Blaze Eagle,

Your post made me think.
Maybe it isn't just that "It all boils down to money"

Most people make video games because they like making video games.
It's like acting. If you want to get rich, don't become an actor.

Non-independent companies, however, have huge expenses and have to be 
bottom-line driven, as a company.
Indies, on the other hand, may have some wiggle room.

A good example is Niels Bauer games.
Niels is adapting his games to be blind-accessible.
This will cost him, by my estimate, about 20% more in time and money.
Which he will not recoup in sales.
I don't know his financial structure; but I suspect that he has no 
investors bugging him.
I do know he started doing this at Dark's instigation.

Our little company, 7-128 Software, is totally independent.
We totally self-fund.
No VC. No stockholders.
Hence, we can do what we jolly well please.
And it pleases us to build games that not only are fun (well, we think 
so) but are for the most part accessible to gamers with special challenges.

Where this ramble goes is that the SIG, and Web sites like Mark's, 
Brian's, Barrie's, Carl's, etc. all have an influence on us insofar as 
they highlight the need for accessibility, encourage it, offer support 
for it, and are a good source of related ideas.

So I'd say that for indie developers, it's not just $$.
If we keep pinging indies especially, then we can make happen more 
accessible games.

End of rant.

John