[games_access] Games to Demo Physical / Sensory /Cognitive Impairments

Sat Nov 20 05:11:31 EST 2010

This might not be exactly what you're after but...

1. Deafness.

Replicate levels of deafness by either turning sound off completely, or playing through a muffled speaker (either find an old one and damage the speaker, or stuff it with tissue paper).

Video demo: Reid Kimball's excellent mock-up of Heavy Rain with Subtitles/Closed-Captions: http://blog.rbkdesign.com/2010/06/mockup-of-heavy-rain-with-full-closed-captioning/ (watch it with the subtitles covered over and sound off/muffled).

Games: Atari BattleZone (has audio-alerts - and flashing warning text linked to those alerts - imagine how hard to play without them though). Any game with lots of dialogue. I'm sure people will have lots of better precise examples than me. Recommend contacting Reid as he's far more knowledgeable about this stuff than me, if other's on this list don't come up with any more specific examples.

2. Blindness / Visual Impairment.

I remember the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) used to supply Blindness/V.I. awareness glasses in training courses. They were a pack of glasses that helped replicate (approximately) some different types of visual impairment. They'd always explain that total blindness was very rare. Have a look here for some really good tips: http://www.sauerburger.org/dona/simulators.htm.

You then might like to set up any of these games in standard mode, then in more accessible mode: 

To Hell with Johnny (Michi.nu - PC) - most impressive range of V.I. modes yet.
The Pyramid (PugFugly Games)
Shoot-1Up (Mommy's Best Games - Xbox 360 Indie Arcade)
NanoGames (Arcess.com - PC/Mac on-line).
Peggle (PopCap) - which has a colour-blind option (harder to replicate colour-blindness physically - you'll need to tinker with colour filters to put over the lenses).

Quicker and very useful are:

To Hell with Johnny's Accessibility video demo: http://gameaccessibility.blogspot.com/2010/10/to-hell-with-johnny.html
Shoot 1UP's Accessibility video demo: http://www.gamebase.info/magazine/read/shoot-1up_258.html

I'd also recommend listening to Dark (often resident at the excellent audiogames.net, on the following two Electronic Soup Podcasts, talking through playing some games visually impaired:

http://www.gamebase.info/magazine/read/esp-help-sheet-audio-games_306.html - Helpsheet
and direct MP3's: http://www.oneswitch.retroremakes.com/podcast/ESP3_extended.mp3 and http://www.oneswitch.retroremakes.com/podcast/ESP4_extended.mp3

3. Learning Disability / Cognitive disability.

This is a broad area, but if you pick one or two examples, you'll get some important points across.

One key problem for many is that text is hard to read or comprehend. This may be due to things like Dyslexia, hard to read fonts, or simply that the language being used not being the person's first language/preferred form of communication. You could replicate this by starting up a game in a foreign language for some people (easy to do this in many EA games, at least here in Europe).

Another problem for some is that either they can not process too many complicated actions that are asked of them. For example many people on the Autistic spectrum would struggle if they are asked to "Go to the village, get the orb, set the charge, run away". They may need those instructions broken down step by step. You could replicate this by asking people to do 10 tasks in a sand-box type game (e.g. GTA), but only tell them once what those tasks are. A bit more hand-holding (but please don't recommend using that term) - would help.

Speed of games can be a problem. Probably easiest to set-up with an emulator (e.g. MAME), if you overclock the game - you can have most games running at a horrible speed for enjoyable play. That can explain how games can be ruined by a lack of speed and difficulty control for some.

Complexity of controls again is a nightmare for many. Can you get hold of the "Steel Batallion" controller for the original Xbox? Set that up for the average person, and see how well they get on. Explain that's how a standard JoyPad affects many people, and also overly complicated menu systems. (I'm so out of touch at times - but Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast has a horrible front-end menu - and there's many like it).

4. Physical disability.

Lots of ways to get this across. Make people play "Kinect Adventures" seated. Ask someone to play a Wii game that requires the Nun-chuk, but ask them to put one hand behind their back. Ask someone to play Konami's original Track and Field using just their elbows. Ask someone to play a racing game, and after 10 seconds of them holding the accelerator/gas control, whack their hand with a ruler until they let go. Again, set-up Steel Batallion.

Great video here of Colin McDonnell using my C-SID controller and three accessibility switches: http://www.gamebase.info/videos/view/video---_486.html - Ask people how they think he manages to navigate the menu system.

And some good photos and more info here: http://switchgaming.blogspot.com/search/label/enabled%20gamers.

We have a new jumble of some of our members work on game accessibility, plus our old Top 10 here: http://gameaccessibility.blogspot.com/2010/11/gasig-top-10-ways-to-improve-game.html - With the plan being, as previously discussed, to get this tidied up and more managable asap.

Finally, of course worth explaining that many accessibility features bring benefits to multiple groups. Hope this is of some help.

Barrie.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Brannon Zahand" <brannonz at microsoft.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 4:15 AM
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Subject: Re: [games_access] Games to Demo Physical / Sensory /Cognitive Impairments

> As a follow up, something like http://ua-games.gr/game-over/downloads.html but specific to a single type of impairment...
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brannon Zahand 
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 8:11 PM
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [games_access] Games to Demo Physical / Sensory / Cognitive Impairments
> 
> I'm looking for one or two games that highlights the difficulties of playing with a specific disability. For example, I'd like to find a game that is incredibly reliant on sound and then have individuals play with the sound off. As another example, it would be great to find a game that I can modify the visual settings such to mimic someone with color blindness or macular degeneration.
> 
> Overall, I'd like at least one game for Auditory, Speech, Visual, Physical, and Cognitive impairments each.
> 
> Thanks! :)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Hinn
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 6:56 PM
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Games to Demo Physical / Sensory / Cognitive Impairments
> 
> You are welcome to my PPT from Microsoft -- actually they said it would be on the internal servers at Microsoft. If they aren't, ping me offlist and I can send them to you.
> 
> Any particular disabilities you are interested in? That was a pretty widely cast net. :)
> 
> Michelle
> 
> On Nov 19, 2010, at 6:45 PM, Brannon Zahand wrote:
> 
>> I've been asked to provide some demos to some of my teammates showing what it is like to game with a physical/sensory/cognitive impairment. Does anyone have a list of some and where I can find them? I used to know of a few a number of years ago but I can't seem to find them anymore.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Brannon
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