From i_h at hotmail.com Fri May 2 07:06:20 2014 From: i_h at hotmail.com (Ian Hamilton) Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 12:06:20 +0100 Subject: [games_access] May 15th - Global Accessibility Awareness Day Message-ID: The time has come around again! It's the third year now for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, last year saw all kinds of nice events going on around the world. globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org It's about digital accessibility in general, which means predominantly web and apps still. But there are a couple of gaming related things going on that I know of, both game jams, firstly in London on May 16th-18th, hosted by Ukie, a games industry body in the UK (#a11yjam): ukie.org.uk/content/ukie-hosts-game-jam-mark-global-accessibility-awareness-day And secondly an online jam, running from May 11th - June 1st (#accessibilityjam): http://jams.gamejolt.io/AccessibilityJam If anyone is interested in making themselves available for developers to ask accessibility advice from during the online jam, contact jo at nsomniart.com. Spreading the word about either event would also I'm sure be greatly appreciated :) GAAD is a great reason to do something to spread, even if only just a tweet.. if you tweet on the day using the #gaad hashtag you'll reach a bunch of people who are enthusiastic about learning more about accessibility. If you want to get a bit more involved and do something bigger, be sure to let the organisers know on globala11yawarenessday at gmail.com. The most common types of events are either doing a talk about accessibility, either open to the public or internally at work or within an academic institution, or writing an blog post / article, but anything at all that helps to spread the word about accessibility is fair game :) Ian -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thomas at westin.nu Wed May 7 12:59:24 2014 From: thomas at westin.nu (Thomas Westin) Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 18:59:24 +0200 Subject: [games_access] OT: Interesting paper from the Business & Legal SIG Message-ID: <0119FD93-33F7-41DD-80A5-C80B07A8C3B3@westin.nu> Hi all, This is a bit off-topic but I think it is relevant for all developers: The IGDA's Business and Legal SIG recently released their position paper on trademarks, in light of the recent King.com trademark issue around their game "Candy Crush Saga.? The PDF is available here: https://www.igda.org/news/170878/IGDA-Business--Legal-SIG---Position-Statement-on-Trademarks.htm Best regards, Thomas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thomas at westin.nu Wed May 7 14:54:42 2014 From: thomas at westin.nu (Thomas Westin) Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 20:54:42 +0200 Subject: [games_access] Deaf-Blind gaming possibilities In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3088AB99-44F8-4F17-9B58-968E2A1E890E@westin.nu> Hi Ian, thanks for sharing, I think especially Sightlence is great project Best regards Thomas 10Apr 2014 kl. 09:15 skrev Ian Hamilton : > Here are two more nice examples of haptic / tactile game interfaces, firstly pong with X and Y coordinates translated into levels of vibration in two Xbox 360 pads: > > > http://www.fdg2013.org/program/festival/sightlence.pdf > > > Secondly Tetris, with the pieces shown by the raised pins on a refreshable Braille display: > > http://www.ndadamson.com/index.php?slab=dotris > > > Also on the topic of Braille, this isn't related to digital gaming but might be of interest anyway. Traditionally blind-accessible card/tabletop games are highly expensive limited runs of a rare few games, such as this: > > http://www.maxiaids.com/products/526/Braille-and-Low-Vision-Monopoly.html > > > Sighted avid collectors (magic the gathering etc) often put their cards in transparent plastic sleeves, to protect them from wear and tear, eg > > http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002K8I50W?pc_redir=1396965541&robot_redir=1 > > > So someone has seen another possible use for the sleeves, they've had the genius idea of buying a braille embosser and embossing the card text as braille onto the sleeves, meaning that existing games can be adapted to order for a tiny cost, instead of the publishers having to making an expensive alternative version of the game, which is extremely rare. > > > They're also adding stickers with QR codes on to the sleeves for more detailed information, and for other players they're also providing the option of sleeve stickers to essentially provide a colourblind mode, explaining any information that is conveyed by color alone. > > > The possibility of adding a simple option to convey the information in an alternative way is pretty much taken for granted in digital, but it's great to see something like that in the physical world, where due to cost it normally has to be one size fits all. > > > > https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64ouncegames/board-games-now-blind-accessible/ > > > Ian > > > > > ----- Reply message ----- > From: "Barrie Ellis" > To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" > Subject: [games_access] Deaf-Blind gaming possibilities > Date: Thu, Apr 10, 2014 06:28 > > Guessing most of you may have seen this clip: http://switchgaming.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tangible-media-deaf-blind-gaming.htm > > Looks like it could be a really interesting way in for deaf-blind-gamers for games and beyond. > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ray at rose-smith.com Thu May 8 13:16:37 2014 From: ray at rose-smith.com (Raymond M. Rose) Date: Thu, 08 May 2014 12:16:37 -0500 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. Message-ID: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> I'd like to confirm that there are game designers with disabilities. I'm doing research for a publication initially for a K-12 audience, and then for higher ed. My focus right now, is making the case that online education programs/courses have a responsibility to make all online education accessible to students with disabilities. I believe the laws are clear on this, and have evidence in the form of Office for Civil Rights compliance reports to back me up. In the process, I've been asked by some folks who are currently teaching game design in middle and high school on-ground courses, but have been asked to develop online courses. So, they started by saying they had never heard of a game designer/developer with disabilities. I didn't know of any either, but felt I could find evidence they exist. (If the field said it was not possible for someone with a disability to design games there would be justification for the program to not be accessible.) I've found the information about standards for making games accessible to be very informational and will include some of those links in the publication I'm working on. I now know there are game designers with disabilities. So, my second question is what sorts of technology do those designers use -- and I realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not a single tool used? Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ray -- -- Raymond Rose, 1000 Furman Avenue, Corpus Christi, Texas 78404 (ph 512.791.3100) -- From eleanor at 7128.com Thu May 8 16:11:00 2014 From: eleanor at 7128.com (Eleanor) Date: Thu, 08 May 2014 16:11:00 -0400 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> Message-ID: <536BE4D4.1010607@7128.com> Ray, There are many game designers with disabilities. There are a number of sources to get the information. If you go to our website, www.7128.com, you will find our top 25 listing of websites for gamers who are blind, deaf, or motion impaired. In the list for the blind, the Audyssey listserve is managed by Thomas Ward who is blind and a game developer. The discussion is interesting and you will soon identify several other game developers who are blind among the participants. I'm sure the Accessibility SIG has other information about developers who have disabilities. If you talk to Barrie Ellis at oneswitch.org, he can identify game developers who have motor impairments. Mark Barlet at AbleGamers can also identify developers who have a disability. All of these website URL's are directly available on our Top 25 list. There is nothing to prevent a disabled person from developing games. And, since many of the game developers do not give accessibility a high priority, if a disabled person wants a game they can play, they may have to develop it themselves. The technology used depends on the type of game they are developing, just like any other game designer. For a blind developer, there is a development tool called the Blastbay Game Toolkit (BGT) that allows a beginning game developer to put together an audio game. On Audyssey, there has been an intense discussion about the various development languages and what is better for different types of games. There are people programming in iOS, C++, JAVA, and some of the older programming languages. All in all, check out the websites and you should have adequate information to support the program. I wish you luck in working your way through the hoops you have to jump through. If I can be of further help, please contact me again. I'm interested in hearing how you make out. Eleanor Robinson 7-128 Software On 5/8/2014 1:16 PM, Raymond M. Rose wrote: > I'd like to confirm that there are game designers with disabilities. > > I'm doing research for a publication initially for a K-12 audience, > and then for higher ed. My focus right now, is making the case that > online education programs/courses have a responsibility to make all > online education accessible to students with disabilities. I believe > the laws are clear on this, and have evidence in the form of Office > for Civil Rights compliance reports to back me up. > > In the process, I've been asked by some folks who are currently > teaching game design in middle and high school on-ground courses, but > have been asked to develop online courses. So, they started by saying > they had never heard of a game designer/developer with disabilities. > I didn't know of any either, but felt I could find evidence they > exist. (If the field said it was not possible for someone with a > disability to design games there would be justification for the > program to not be accessible.) > > I've found the information about standards for making games accessible > to be very informational and will include some of those links in the > publication I'm working on. > > I now know there are game designers with disabilities. So, my second > question is what sorts of technology do those designers use -- and I > realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not a single > tool used? > > Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks > Ray > From franco.garcia at dc.ufscar.br Thu May 8 16:50:38 2014 From: franco.garcia at dc.ufscar.br (Franco =?utf-8?b?RXVzw6liaW8=?= Garcia) Date: Thu, 08 May 2014 17:50:38 -0300 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> Message-ID: <20140508175038.Horde.LN08YAsGfvms_qzjpqwkBA2@webmail.dc.ufscar.br> Hello, Ray, I'll try complementing Eleanor's answer here. > I now know there are game designers with disabilities. There really are game designers with disabilities. It might be hard to search using a general term; however, it is possible to find some of them by narrowing your search to specific disabilities. Should you need some more references, I have a few you might find useful: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] If you are not focusing on digital games only, looking for board game designers could also be a good idea. The following are not gaming related, although it could also be interesting: [5] [6] Another interesting reference could be Sonar, a project aiming to create an accessible Linux distribution. [7] [8] I do not know if it has programming facilities for developers with disabilities; however, command line interfaces tend to be more accessible. At least one of the developers of the project is blind, so there might be. > So, my second question is what sorts of technology do those designers use -- and I realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not a single tool used? You are indeed right - the tools will vary depending on the disability. They will also vary depending on the complexity and genre of the game. The ideal tool would be an accessible game editor - however, unfortunately, there are not too many options. An interesting one is Adventure Game Engine [9]. Other than BGS mentioned by Eleanor, there is/was also Blindstation. Another interesting one could be PlayFic [10], an online site that eases the creation of text-based adventure games. [9] [10] As for programming itself, many of the tools for programmers with disabilities are assistive technologies - many of them are the very same assistive technologies used to interact with the computer. Once again, most of my references are regarding visual impairments. Unfortnately, there are not game specific; however, I hope you find some of it useful. To cite a few: a) For visually impaired programmers some include screen readers, braille displays, text to speech converters and screen magnification. The links should provide further alternatives: [11] Jaime S?nchez's Audio Programming Language explores another approach. It might be worth checking. [12] http://www.captura.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/6218/Sanchez_Jaime_APL.pdf?sequence=1 b) For motor impaired programmers, an option is on-screen keyboards and voice input (also useful for visually impaired). c) For color blind programmers, many editors or IDEs provide the option to change syntax highlighting options. Other than the languages outlined by Eleanor, Lua and Ruby are also popular languages. The syntax of Lua, for instance, is mostly textual, which eases the usage of assistive technologies (even commands are text - for instance, the 'and' operator is 'and' instead of '&&' in languages such as Java and C++). From the Lua website [13]: "As a blind programmer, I really enjoy the Lua scripting language. It is one of the most speech friendly languages to read and write with a screen reader. Lua is also very fast, light and portable." [13]?http://www.lua.org/quotes.html Should you have a specific disability in mind, pleask ask. I might have a more specific reference to share. Best regards, Franco -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From blindwolf8 at gmail.com Thu May 8 17:32:01 2014 From: blindwolf8 at gmail.com (Dan Fischbach) Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 17:32:01 -0400 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: <20140508175038.Horde.LN08YAsGfvms_qzjpqwkBA2@webmail.dc.ufscar.br> References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> <20140508175038.Horde.LN08YAsGfvms_qzjpqwkBA2@webmail.dc.ufscar.br> Message-ID: Hi Raymond, Just wanted to chime in and agree with others: There are game developers with disabilities. I myself am legally blind, which means I have some sight. If you'd like to chat off-list, feel free to email me (unsure if the list will show my full email) and/or call me at the number below. Thanks Raymond! Dan Fischbach, Net+, MCP W: danfischbach.com P: 609-458-7920 Proud NJIT (BS) and UCF/FIEA (MS) graduate Please consider the environment before printing this email On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Franco Eus?bio Garcia < franco.garcia at dc.ufscar.br> wrote: > Hello, Ray, > > I'll try complementing Eleanor's answer here. > > > > I now know there are game designers with disabilities. > > There really are game designers with disabilities. It might be hard to > search using a general term; however, it is possible to find some of them > by narrowing your search to specific disabilities. > Should you need some more references, I have a few you might find useful: > > [1] < > http://n4g.com/news/648398/blind-video-game-programmer-from-puerto-rico-shocks-the-industry-live-footage > > > [2] < > http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/22/screenreader-enables-blind-programmer-to-succeed-on-the-app-store-exclusive/ > > > [3] > [4] < > http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/149350-Disabled-Game-Developer-Is-there-room-for-disabled-devs-in-the-game-industry > > > [5] > > If you are not focusing on digital games only, looking for board game > designers could also be a good idea. > The following are not gaming related, although it could also be > interesting: > > [5] > [6] < > http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/22/177452578/young-adults-with-autism-can-thrive-in-high-tech-jobs > > > > Another interesting reference could be Sonar, a project aiming to create > an accessible Linux distribution. > > [7] > [8] > > I do not know if it has programming facilities for developers with > disabilities; however, command line interfaces tend to be more accessible. > At least one of the developers of the project is blind, so there might be. > > > > So, my second question is what sorts of technology do those designers > use -- and I realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not > a single tool used? > > You are indeed right - the tools will vary depending on the disability. > They will also vary depending on the complexity and genre of the game. > > The ideal tool would be an accessible game editor - however, > unfortunately, there are not too many options. An interesting one is > Adventure Game Engine [9]. > Other than BGS mentioned by Eleanor, there is/was also Blindstation. > Another interesting one could be PlayFic [10], an online site that eases > the creation of text-based adventure games. > > [9] > [10] > > As for programming itself, many of the tools for programmers with > disabilities are assistive technologies - many of them are the very same > assistive technologies used to interact with the computer. Once again, most > of my references are regarding visual impairments. Unfortnately, there are > not game specific; however, I hope you find some of it useful. > To cite a few: > > a) For visually impaired programmers some include screen readers, braille > displays, text to speech converters and screen magnification. The links > should provide further alternatives: > > [11] < > https://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-program-if-youre-blind > > > > Jaime S?nchez's Audio Programming Language explores another approach. It > might be worth checking. > > [12] > http://www.captura.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/6218/Sanchez_Jaime_APL.pdf?sequence=1 > > b) For motor impaired programmers, an option is on-screen keyboards and > voice input (also useful for visually impaired). > > c) For color blind programmers, many editors or IDEs provide the option to > change syntax highlighting options. > > Other than the languages outlined by Eleanor, Lua and Ruby are also > popular languages. The syntax of Lua, for instance, is mostly textual, > which eases the usage of assistive technologies (even commands are text - > for instance, the 'and' operator is 'and' instead of '&&' in languages such > as Java and C++). From the Lua website [13]: > > "As a blind programmer, I really enjoy the Lua scripting language. It is > one of the most speech friendly languages to read and write with a screen > reader. Lua is also very fast, light and portable." > > [13] http://www.lua.org/quotes.html > > Should you have a specific disability in mind, pleask ask. I might have a > more specific reference to share. > > Best regards, > Franco > > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From i_h at hotmail.com Thu May 8 18:23:20 2014 From: i_h at hotmail.com (Ian Hamilton) Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 23:23:20 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com>, <20140508175038.Horde.LN08YAsGfvms_qzjpqwkBA2@webmail.dc.ufscar.br>, Message-ID: Absolutely agree with everything below, particularly the audyssey mailing list, there are a decent number of blind game devs on there, and if you're talking about online resources I'd imagine that there would be a strong focus on vision impairment and screen-reader support. Bottom line is that, like gaming itself, if people are passionate about making games they'll take whatever avenue they can to do so, even if their impairment seems to be one that would exclude them from a particular role - even yesterday I was speaking to someone from a large studio who's art director is fully deuteranopic colourblind. Dan brought up a nice point at the GDC meeting about Unity, a feature that wasn't included in any way for accessibility but that actually opens up use of the engine to many more people - the ability to switch the editor to different skins, with different levels of glare/contrast. Ian Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 17:32:01 -0400 From: blindwolf8 at gmail.com To: games_access at igda.org Subject: Re: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. Hi Raymond,Just wanted to chime in and agree with others: There are game developers with disabilities. I myself am legally blind, which means I have some sight. If you'd like to chat off-list, feel free to email me (unsure if the list will show my full email) and/or call me at the number below. Thanks Raymond!Dan Fischbach, Net+, MCP W: danfischbach.com P: 609-458-7920 Proud NJIT (BS) and UCF/FIEA (MS) graduate Please consider the environment before printing this email On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Franco Eus?bio Garcia wrote: Hello, Ray, I'll try complementing Eleanor's answer here. > I now know there are game designers with disabilities. There really are game designers with disabilities. It might be hard to search using a general term; however, it is possible to find some of them by narrowing your search to specific disabilities. Should you need some more references, I have a few you might find useful: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] If you are not focusing on digital games only, looking for board game designers could also be a good idea. The following are not gaming related, although it could also be interesting: [5] [6] Another interesting reference could be Sonar, a project aiming to create an accessible Linux distribution. [7] [8] I do not know if it has programming facilities for developers with disabilities; however, command line interfaces tend to be more accessible. At least one of the developers of the project is blind, so there might be. > So, my second question is what sorts of technology do those designers use -- and I realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not a single tool used? You are indeed right - the tools will vary depending on the disability. They will also vary depending on the complexity and genre of the game. The ideal tool would be an accessible game editor - however, unfortunately, there are not too many options. An interesting one is Adventure Game Engine [9]. Other than BGS mentioned by Eleanor, there is/was also Blindstation. Another interesting one could be PlayFic [10], an online site that eases the creation of text-based adventure games. [9] [10] As for programming itself, many of the tools for programmers with disabilities are assistive technologies - many of them are the very same assistive technologies used to interact with the computer. Once again, most of my references are regarding visual impairments. Unfortnately, there are not game specific; however, I hope you find some of it useful. To cite a few: a) For visually impaired programmers some include screen readers, braille displays, text to speech converters and screen magnification. The links should provide further alternatives: [11] Jaime S?nchez's Audio Programming Language explores another approach. It might be worth checking. [12] http://www.captura.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/6218/Sanchez_Jaime_APL.pdf?sequence=1 b) For motor impaired programmers, an option is on-screen keyboards and voice input (also useful for visually impaired). c) For color blind programmers, many editors or IDEs provide the option to change syntax highlighting options. Other than the languages outlined by Eleanor, Lua and Ruby are also popular languages. The syntax of Lua, for instance, is mostly textual, which eases the usage of assistive technologies (even commands are text - for instance, the 'and' operator is 'and' instead of '&&' in languages such as Java and C++). From the Lua website [13]: "As a blind programmer, I really enjoy the Lua scripting language. It is one of the most speech friendly languages to read and write with a screen reader. Lua is also very fast, light and portable." [13] http://www.lua.org/quotes.html Should you have a specific disability in mind, pleask ask. I might have a more specific reference to share. Best regards, Franco _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list games_access at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list games_access at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From blindwolf8 at gmail.com Thu May 8 18:47:05 2014 From: blindwolf8 at gmail.com (Dan Fischbach) Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 18:47:05 -0400 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> <20140508175038.Horde.LN08YAsGfvms_qzjpqwkBA2@webmail.dc.ufscar.br> Message-ID: That's right! Yeah, during the SIG meeting at GDC 2014 I brought up the fact that only those had Unity Pro got a "dark" theme to work with in Unity. I personally think a dark theme should be available to any developer since some people may find the dark theme easier to work with due to sensitivity to light or otherwise. Dan Fischbach, Net+, MCP W: danfischbach.com P: 609-458-7920 Proud NJIT (BS) and UCF/FIEA (MS) graduate Please consider the environment before printing this email On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 6:23 PM, Ian Hamilton wrote: > Absolutely agree with everything below, particularly the audyssey mailing > list, there are a decent number of blind game devs on there, and if you're > talking about online resources I'd imagine that there would be a strong > focus on vision impairment and screen-reader support. > > Bottom line is that, like gaming itself, if people are passionate about > making games they'll take whatever avenue they can to do so, even if their > impairment seems to be one that would exclude them from a particular role - > even yesterday I was speaking to someone from a large studio who's art > director is fully deuteranopic colourblind. > > Dan brought up a nice point at the GDC meeting about Unity, a feature that > wasn't included in any way for accessibility but that actually opens up use > of the engine to many more people - the ability to switch the editor to > different skins, with different levels of glare/contrast. > > Ian > > ------------------------------ > Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 17:32:01 -0400 > From: blindwolf8 at gmail.com > To: games_access at igda.org > Subject: Re: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with > Disabilities. > > > Hi Raymond, > Just wanted to chime in and agree with others: There are game developers > with disabilities. I myself am legally blind, which means I have some > sight. If you'd like to chat off-list, feel free to email me (unsure if the > list will show my full email) and/or call me at the number below. > > Thanks Raymond! > > Dan Fischbach, Net+, MCP > W: danfischbach.com P: 609-458-7920 > Proud NJIT (BS) and UCF/FIEA (MS) graduate > Please consider the environment before printing this email > > > On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Franco Eus?bio Garcia < > franco.garcia at dc.ufscar.br> wrote: > > Hello, Ray, > > I'll try complementing Eleanor's answer here. > > > > I now know there are game designers with disabilities. > > There really are game designers with disabilities. It might be hard to > search using a general term; however, it is possible to find some of them > by narrowing your search to specific disabilities. > Should you need some more references, I have a few you might find useful: > > [1] < > http://n4g.com/news/648398/blind-video-game-programmer-from-puerto-rico-shocks-the-industry-live-footage > > > [2] < > http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/22/screenreader-enables-blind-programmer-to-succeed-on-the-app-store-exclusive/ > > > [3] > [4] < > http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/149350-Disabled-Game-Developer-Is-there-room-for-disabled-devs-in-the-game-industry > > > [5] > > If you are not focusing on digital games only, looking for board game > designers could also be a good idea. > The following are not gaming related, although it could also be > interesting: > > [5] > [6] < > http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/22/177452578/young-adults-with-autism-can-thrive-in-high-tech-jobs > > > > Another interesting reference could be Sonar, a project aiming to create > an accessible Linux distribution. > > [7] > [8] > > I do not know if it has programming facilities for developers with > disabilities; however, command line interfaces tend to be more accessible. > At least one of the developers of the project is blind, so there might be. > > > > So, my second question is what sorts of technology do those designers > use -- and I realize there are many different disabilities, so there's not > a single tool used? > > You are indeed right - the tools will vary depending on the disability. > They will also vary depending on the complexity and genre of the game. > > The ideal tool would be an accessible game editor - however, > unfortunately, there are not too many options. An interesting one is > Adventure Game Engine [9]. > Other than BGS mentioned by Eleanor, there is/was also Blindstation. > Another interesting one could be PlayFic [10], an online site that eases > the creation of text-based adventure games. > > [9] > [10] > > As for programming itself, many of the tools for programmers with > disabilities are assistive technologies - many of them are the very same > assistive technologies used to interact with the computer. Once again, most > of my references are regarding visual impairments. Unfortnately, there are > not game specific; however, I hope you find some of it useful. > To cite a few: > > a) For visually impaired programmers some include screen readers, braille > displays, text to speech converters and screen magnification. The links > should provide further alternatives: > > [11] < > https://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-program-if-youre-blind > > > > Jaime S?nchez's Audio Programming Language explores another approach. It > might be worth checking. > > [12] > http://www.captura.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/6218/Sanchez_Jaime_APL.pdf?sequence=1 > > b) For motor impaired programmers, an option is on-screen keyboards and > voice input (also useful for visually impaired). > > c) For color blind programmers, many editors or IDEs provide the option to > change syntax highlighting options. > > Other than the languages outlined by Eleanor, Lua and Ruby are also > popular languages. The syntax of Lua, for instance, is mostly textual, > which eases the usage of assistive technologies (even commands are text - > for instance, the 'and' operator is 'and' instead of '&&' in languages such > as Java and C++). From the Lua website [13]: > > "As a blind programmer, I really enjoy the Lua scripting language. It is > one of the most speech friendly languages to read and write with a screen > reader. Lua is also very fast, light and portable." > > [13] http://www.lua.org/quotes.html > > Should you have a specific disability in mind, pleask ask. I might have a > more specific reference to share. > > Best regards, > Franco > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > > > _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG > website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ray at rose-smith.com Fri May 9 13:33:06 2014 From: ray at rose-smith.com (Raymond M. Rose) Date: Fri, 09 May 2014 12:33:06 -0500 Subject: [games_access] Wow, and thank you everyone! Message-ID: <536D1152.5000700@rose-smith.com> What a great list of resources in response to my request for information. I'll need time to digest it all, and to investigate all the links. You've been a great help. I know at least one k-12 game development program is now both in shock and simultaneously excited. Their thinking about who can be a game developer/designer has been significantly expanded. I'll be back to you when I have more questions ray From thomas at westin.nu Fri May 9 14:16:32 2014 From: thomas at westin.nu (Thomas Westin) Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 20:16:32 +0200 Subject: [games_access] Wow, and thank you everyone! In-Reply-To: <536D1152.5000700@rose-smith.com> References: <536D1152.5000700@rose-smith.com> Message-ID: <0BB9D81E-A22C-4BB3-8923-8186E0D90DD3@westin.nu> Hi again Ray, Great to see you on the list and welcome the IGDA GA-SIG! I agree with you, great responses (as always) from all and I?m happy to hear about the impact for the K-12 program. Best regards, Thomas co-chair 9May 2014 kl. 19:33 skrev Raymond M. Rose : > What a great list of resources in response to my request for > information. I'll need time to digest it all, and to investigate all > the links. > > You've been a great help. I know at least one k-12 game development > program is now both in shock and simultaneously excited. Their thinking > about who can be a game developer/designer has been significantly expanded. > > I'll be back to you when I have more questions > > ray > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org From thomas at westin.nu Fri May 9 14:19:55 2014 From: thomas at westin.nu (Thomas Westin) Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 20:19:55 +0200 Subject: [games_access] Information please: Game Designers with Disabilities. In-Reply-To: <536BE4D4.1010607@7128.com> References: <536BBBF5.9080308@rose-smith.com> <536BE4D4.1010607@7128.com> Message-ID: <9B178978-F116-4FD4-83D9-A1B6D6DBCDCF@westin.nu> Just a minor correction, Barrie's URL is http://oneswitch.org.uk/ Best regards Thomsa 8May 2014 kl. 22:11 skrev Eleanor : > If you talk to Barrie Ellis at oneswitch.org, he > can identify game developers who have motor impairments -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From blindwolf8 at gmail.com Fri May 9 16:21:37 2014 From: blindwolf8 at gmail.com (Dan Fischbach) Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 16:21:37 -0400 Subject: [games_access] Wow, and thank you everyone! In-Reply-To: <0BB9D81E-A22C-4BB3-8923-8186E0D90DD3@westin.nu> References: <536D1152.5000700@rose-smith.com> <0BB9D81E-A22C-4BB3-8923-8186E0D90DD3@westin.nu> Message-ID: Nothing I like more than influencing students! Glad to help! Dan Fischbach, Net+, MCP W: danfischbach.com P: 609-458-7920 Proud NJIT (BS) and UCF/FIEA (MS) graduate Please consider the environment before printing this email On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 2:16 PM, Thomas Westin wrote: > Hi again Ray, > > Great to see you on the list and welcome the IGDA GA-SIG! > > I agree with you, great responses (as always) from all and I'm happy to > hear about the impact for the K-12 program. > > Best regards, > Thomas > co-chair > > 9May 2014 kl. 19:33 skrev Raymond M. Rose : > > > What a great list of resources in response to my request for > > information. I'll need time to digest it all, and to investigate all > > the links. > > > > You've been a great help. I know at least one k-12 game development > > program is now both in shock and simultaneously excited. Their thinking > > about who can be a game developer/designer has been significantly > expanded. > > > > I'll be back to you when I have more questions > > > > ray > > _______________________________________________ > > games_access mailing list > > games_access at igda.org > > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mathias.nordvall at liu.se Tue May 13 08:35:21 2014 From: mathias.nordvall at liu.se (Mathias Nordvall) Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 14:35:21 +0200 Subject: [games_access] games_access Digest, Vol 126, Issue 2 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi everyone! Thanks for the bump Ian and Thomas. I made the Sightlence game and it's not released publicly yet but will be later this year after we've made some additional changes to it. But if anyone is interested in playing it before then, please feel free to get in touch with me at mathias.nordvall at gmail.comor mathias.nordvall at liu.se Cheers! Mathias Nordvall ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 20:54:42 +0200 > From: Thomas Westin > Subject: Re: [games_access] Deaf-Blind gaming possibilities > To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List > Message-ID: <3088AB99-44F8-4F17-9B58-968E2A1E890E at westin.nu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hi Ian, > > thanks for sharing, I think especially Sightlence is great project > > Best regards > Thomas > > 10Apr 2014 kl. 09:15 skrev Ian Hamilton : > > > Here are two more nice examples of haptic / tactile game interfaces, > firstly pong with X and Y coordinates translated into levels of vibration > in two Xbox 360 pads: > > > > > > http://www.fdg2013.org/program/festival/sightlence.pdf > > > > > > Secondly Tetris, with the pieces shown by the raised pins on a > refreshable Braille display: > > > > http://www.ndadamson.com/index.php?slab=dotris > > > > > > Also on the topic of Braille, this isn't related to digital gaming but > might be of interest anyway. Traditionally blind-accessible card/tabletop > games are highly expensive limited runs of a rare few games, such as this: > > > > > http://www.maxiaids.com/products/526/Braille-and-Low-Vision-Monopoly.html > > > > > > Sighted avid collectors (magic the gathering etc) often put their cards > in transparent plastic sleeves, to protect them from wear and tear, eg > > > > > http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002K8I50W?pc_redir=1396965541&robot_redir=1 > > > > > > So someone has seen another possible use for the sleeves, they've had > the genius idea of buying a braille embosser and embossing the card text as > braille onto the sleeves, meaning that existing games can be adapted to > order for a tiny cost, instead of the publishers having to making an > expensive alternative version of the game, which is extremely rare. > > > > > > They're also adding stickers with QR codes on to the sleeves for more > detailed information, and for other players they're also providing the > option of sleeve stickers to essentially provide a colourblind mode, > explaining any information that is conveyed by color alone. > > > > > > The possibility of adding a simple option to convey the information in > an alternative way is pretty much taken for granted in digital, but it's > great to see something like that in the physical world, where due to cost > it normally has to be one size fits all. > > > > > > > > > https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64ouncegames/board-games-now-blind-accessible/ > > > > > > Ian > > > > > > > > > > ----- Reply message ----- > > From: "Barrie Ellis" > > To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" > > Subject: [games_access] Deaf-Blind gaming possibilities > > Date: Thu, Apr 10, 2014 06:28 > > > > Guessing most of you may have seen this clip: > http://switchgaming.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tangible-media-deaf-blind-gaming.htm > > > > Looks like it could be a really interesting way in for deaf-blind-gamers > for games and beyond. > > _______________________________________________ > > games_access mailing list > > games_access at igda.org > > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > _______________________________________________ > > games_access mailing list > > games_access at igda.org > > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/games_access/attachments/20140507/1cea24be/attachment.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > games_access mailing list > games_access at igda.org > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org > > End of games_access Digest, Vol 126, Issue 2 > ******************************************** > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From thomas at westin.nu Thu May 15 04:45:02 2014 From: thomas at westin.nu (Thomas Westin) Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 10:45:02 +0200 Subject: [games_access] Accessibility Jam Message-ID: <78364DF3-CAB3-4344-908E-8D4816FC331B@westin.nu> Today is the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (http://www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/) I would also like to promote the Accessibility Jam which can be found here: http://jams.gamejolt.io/accessibilityjam/ and the A11yJam in London, UK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a11yjam-a-game-jam-to-explore-accessibility-for-disabled-gamers-tickets-11467047247 Best regards, Thomas co-chair From i_h at hotmail.com Thu May 15 05:02:26 2014 From: i_h at hotmail.com (Ian Hamilton) Date: 15 May 2014 02:02:26 -0700 Subject: [games_access] =?utf-8?q?Accessibility_Jam?= Message-ID: GAAD is good excuse for some awareness raising, even if it's just an email or a tweet about accessibility ----- Reply message ----- From: "Thomas Westin" To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" Subject: [games_access] Accessibility Jam Date: Thu, May 15, 2014 09:50 Today is the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (http://www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/) I would also like to promote the Accessibility Jam which can be found here: http://jams.gamejolt.io/accessibilityjam/ and the A11yJam in London, UK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a11yjam-a-game-jam-to-explore-accessibility-for-disabled-gamers-tickets-11467047247 Best regards, Thomas co-chair _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list games_access at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org From javier.mairena at gmail.com Wed May 21 14:37:42 2014 From: javier.mairena at gmail.com (Javier Mairena) Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 20:37:42 +0200 Subject: [games_access] One more game in Steam with closed captions :) Message-ID: My previous coworkers have published The Last Door Collector's Edition on some PC digital stores, including Steam where Closed Captions is displayed as a feature in the store game page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/284390/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From i_h at hotmail.com Thu May 22 04:50:22 2014 From: i_h at hotmail.com (Ian Hamilton) Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 09:50:22 +0100 Subject: [games_access] One more game in Steam with closed captions :) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: So happy that Steam have included the subtitles listings, especially as it was the result of a campaign by a single deaf woman. Being able to tag colourblind-friendly and remappable controls would be a nice next step.. From: javier.mairena at gmail.com Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 20:37:42 +0200 To: games_access at igda.org Subject: [games_access] One more game in Steam with closed captions :) My previous coworkers have published The Last Door Collector's Edition on some PC digital stores, including Steam where Closed Captions is displayed as a feature in the store game page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/284390/ _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list games_access at igda.org http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From i_h at hotmail.com Thu May 29 08:31:09 2014 From: i_h at hotmail.com (Ian Hamilton) Date: Thu, 29 May 2014 13:31:09 +0100 Subject: [games_access] Australian designer of the year Message-ID: The award covers all types of design in all industries, this year it was given to developers of assistive tech for proundly motor impaired kids, aimed mainly at CP but obvious benefits elsewhere too. I saw it being demoed at an accessibility conference over in the UK. It's basically giant rugged joystick that you can strap your hands to the sides of if needed: http://www.theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/technology/max-hughes-named-young-australian-designer-of-the-year-for-videogame-controller-for-disabled-youth/#.U4bYP3Zkjwk.twitter They've only been using with university-produced bespoke games so far, but it would work fine with anything that required 4 buttons or less, or other games if used in conjunction with other input devices, such as switches. The prize is funding to get commercial production up and running. Ian -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: