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

Sat Nov 20 07:53:50 EST 2010

Hi,

Barrie your list is also very good!

Mock-up Heavy Rain: 
Reid has also the original video that can help to see the difference.

Deaf-Gamers: Why subtitle are not enough?
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands (Xbox360) 
They made the story alternative: dialogs

But they forgot some also important parts:
* Dialogs of mystic language! (in my opinion belongs do dialogs)
* NPC!: a prisoner says something, but this does not have subtitle
* Voices in combat or movements

For all this example there is something very important to note:
Of course not games can often not be accessible to all.
But it is very important that we make them accessible as possible.
The key is to play together. Of course we could make special games.
But it is very important that they are able to enjoy the game their friends
enjoy.

And maybe it would be good to explain them that their games(!) are also
Very important in the health sector. They can bring kids back to smile.
Give them new hope and have a better live.
E.g. rehabilitation is very boring, but also very important.
Games can have an amazing impact on the motivation of the patients.

Best regards,
Sandra

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] Im
Auftrag von Barrie Ellis
Gesendet: Samstag, 20. November 2010 11:12
An: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
Betreff: Re: [games_access] Games to Demo Physical / Sensory /Cognitive
Impairments

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-capt
ioning/ (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-g
ame.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
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
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