[games_access] Future Play Poster 2006 and Top 10 List

Sat Sep 9 17:13:38 EDT 2006

Hi again,

I would stay with a top 10 list, if only to offer some more choice and 
advice to developers. If 3 to 5 suggestions are a bit vague or debatable, 
then instead of just removing them, maybe let's debate and improve them? 
I'll contact Eelke about the design patterns again, we did already talk 
about it and there are some pro's and con's with using a "pattern approach", 
depending on the target audience. Eelke is not on this list yet (or so I 
believe) but I'll mail him now.

How I see it, is not going deep into the field of design patterns, but 
simply using the format that Eelke uses to describe his design patterns for 
describing the meaning of this top 10 list. Next monday I'll setup a page on 
www.game-accessibility.com for it that everyone can link to. Or better yet: 
we can also provide some small code that people can put on their website 
which will then display the top 10 list? So there is one source, and then we 
put it on igda.org/accessibility and the wiki and wherever? How's that?

And I would like to improve point 8: "Add audio tags to all significant 
elements including actors, doors, items, resulting actions, etc."
I think this point is not very practicle in this form, and I doubt it will 
make a game much more accessible with 'tags'. Keeping in mind of course that 
there several mainstream games being played by the blind simply because they 
do contain a lot of sound - but in turn, the gameplay itsself is also 
responsible for this.

I do not yet have a great alternative. I think making games accessible for 
the blind would surely include:

- point 3 and 4 of the current list
- an auditory "narrator" function - basically a stream of explanatory sound, 
providing enough references to fully play the game. This could consist of 
several techniques, such as speech giving descriptions, a continu ousradar 
or sonar indicating locations and directions, etc. etc. I see that this is 
probably the current point 8 in other words :)  The difference being in the 
word "tags".
-

-

this could be a modification to Eelke's Tutorial Agent (as a constant 
assistan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barrie Ellis" <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [games_access] Future Play Poster 2006 and Top 10 List

>I agree with all of Richards' message.
>
> Maybe a top 5 would be a good idea too.
>
> Agree with the scalable fonts, especially after playing "The Pyramid" from 
> the Retro Remakes competition.
>
> This game, developed on and off over 3 months has:
>
> Remapable controls (joystick, keyboard, mouse, single switch, and 
> head-tracker compatible).
> Assist modes (training - auto-fire etc.)
> Broad range of difficulty levels
> Speed control
> Re-scalable graphics (you can zoom in on the whole game - where there are 
> assistive icons to help with off screen goals/targets).
> Changable fonts (to make easier to read).
> Options are automatically saved.
>
> Download it here: http://www.remakes.org/comp2006/screenshots.php?page=2
>
> Nice to have games to point people at perhaps via the "design patterns".
>
> Regards,
>
> Barrie
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "AudioGames.net" <richard at audiogames.net>
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 12:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Future Play Poster 2006 and Top 10 List
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I think I was one of the people who said the list might benifit if we did 
>> an update and Eelke (Folmer) critisized the list during his Brighton 
>> presentation as well. The thing with it was that some things, but 
>> especially the audio guideline, were a bit too vague for a developer to 
>> really do something with (the sentence vs. a practical implementation). 
>> Actually I agree more with the top 10 list now than a year ago but I 
>> think we can still aprove it here and there. I personally would like to 
>> experiment a bit with Eelke's design patterns (see: 
>> http://www.eelke.com/research/IDP/accessibility.html ) and the top 10 
>> list. The design pattern list consists of 6 points, which all relate to 
>> point in
>> the original top 10 list:
>>
>> 1. Allow all controls to be remapped >> 
>> http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Reconfigurable%20Buttons
>> 2. Add closed-captioning to all dialog and important sound effects >> 
>> closed captions =  http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Closed%20Captioning
>> 4. Provide assist modes such as auto-targeting, training options, etc. >> 
>> assist mode = http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Assist%20Mode
>> 5. Provide a broad range of difficulty levels. >> adaptive difficulty 
>> level = http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Adaptive%20Difficulty%20Level
>> 9. Allow for a varied range of control over play speed. >> slow = 
>> http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Slow
>>
>> Eelke also had tutorial agent:
>> http://eelke.com/wiki/index.php?Tutorial%20Agent , which leaves:
>>
>>
>> 3. Provide documentation in an accessible format such as HTML or plain 
>> text
>> 6. Make interface fonts scalable.
>> 7. Allow for high-contrast color-schemes.
>> 8. Add audio tags to all significant elements including actors, doors, 
>> items, resulting actions, etc.
>> 10. Announce accessibility features on the packaging.
>>
>> I agree with every point above, except with point 8 since I don't believe 
>> that simply "adding audio tags" will make a game more accessible for the 
>> blind (which is how I interpreted this point). I guess point 1,2,4,5 and 
>> 9 might make an excellent top 5. But compare point 7 next to this:
>>
>> x. Allow for alternative color- and contrast schemes.
>>
>> With the recent commotion about accessibility for color blind gamers 
>> (Rockstar's Table Tennis  - see www.game-accessibility.com) I guess that 
>> a guideline concerning colorblindess should definitely be in the top 10 
>> (quote: "Color blindness certainly isn't the only or the most problematic 
>> disability preventing people from getting enjoyment out of games, 
>> although it is possibly THE MOST WIDESPREAD.") .
>>
>> And point 6:
>>
>> x. Make the game scalable
>>
>> Why only "interface fonts"? And what are interface fonts actually? Text 
>> in the head-up display (HUD)? Does this include all fonts (including the 
>> menu's and credits) or just the text during gameplay? And why not the 
>> icons in WoW?
>>
>> I guess point 3 and 10 are kind of on the same level - it's the stuff 
>> *outside* of the game. Maybe it is possible to merge that into one point? 
>> I personally think the current point 10 doesn't really make a game more 
>> accessible and it is on a completely different level than the other 
>> points... although of course it would help our cause a great deal ;)
>>
>> I would definately *NOT* refer to the top 10 list as a "list of 
>> guidelines" because using that term might open up a great deal of 
>> discussion. Instead I would refer to it as a Top 10 List of Things That 
>> Make Your Game More Accessible. What do we call it now by the way? Not 
>> guidelines, right? Just "The Top 10 List...".... ;) grin :) ???
>> And there should be a place somewhere (on the web > SIG-website + 
>> Game-Accessibility.com) where these guidelines are explained in detail so 
>> there is no room for interpretation (like there is now) - preferably with 
>> examples... (and I prefer the design pattern format above a W3C-like 
>> format like 'the other' guidelines although I'm open to any format anyone 
>> might think of).
>>
>> K... gotta go to sleep now, this was just a first, hope we can conitnue 
>> this issue...
>>
>> Oh, and I'd be happy to work on some artwork, including handout- and 
>> poster design if you want, Kevin...
>>
>> Greets,
>>
>> Richard
>>
>> http://www.audiogames.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Reid Kimball" <rkimball at gmail.com>
>> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 5:13 PM
>> Subject: Re: [games_access] Future Play Poster 2006 and Top 10 List
>>
>>
>>> The only thing that seems general to me is "Training options" and
>>> "broad range of difficulty levels".
>>>
>>> Is the term "Audio tags" merely to mean add sound effects for all the
>>> events of doors opening, etc?
>>>
>>> Other than that, the list is clear to me, but maybe I'm not the best
>>> judge being entrenched in this stuff for so long.
>>>
>>> -Reid
>>>
>>> On 9/6/06, Kevin J. Bierre <kjb at it.rit.edu> wrote:
>>>> I guess we're out of luck as far as a meeting goes. Based on prior 
>>>> email,
>>>> I thought there was one today.
>>>>
>>>> Since I have to get started on this poster for Future Play 2006, I'll
>>>> kick things off here on the list instead.
>>>>
>>>> I was planning to have the top 10 list as part of the poster. A comment
>>>> was made about updating the list (sorry, don't remember who said it)
>>>> because some of the advice was rather general. Any comments from others
>>>> about updating our top 10?
>>>>
>>>> Here's the current list:
>>>>
>>>> GA SIG Top 10 List
>>>> 1. Allow all controls to be remapped
>>>> 2. Add closed-captioning to all dialog and important sound effects
>>>> 3. Provide documentation in an accessible format such as HTML or plain
>>>> text
>>>> 4. Provide assist modes such as auto-targeting, training options, etc.
>>>> 5. Provide a broad range of difficulty levels.
>>>> 6. Make interface fonts scalable.
>>>> 7. Allow for high-contrast color-schemes.
>>>> 8. Add audio tags to all significant elements including actors, doors,
>>>> items, resulting actions, etc.
>>>> 9. Allow for a varied range of control over play speed.
>>>> 10. Announce accessibility features on the packaging.
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Bierre,  Assistant Professor
>>>> (kjb at it.rit.edu)
>>>> Information Technology,  Rochester Institute of Technology
>>>> 585-475-5358
>>>> 102 Lomb Memorial Drive
>>>> Bldg 70B-2637
>>>> Rochester, NY 14623
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> games_access mailing list
>>>> games_access at igda.org
>>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> games_access mailing list
>>> games_access at igda.org
>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access 