May
25th
Game Accessibility Symbol - Your Thoughts?
By One Switch
Following some previous discussion over a good symbol to represent Game Accessibility, we've settled on three (unless someone twists our arms very hard with a new design). They are...
1. The Accessible Space Invader. Taking the "Universal Symbol of Accessibility" and giving it what many would consider to be the universal symbol of video games, a Taito Space Invader.
2. Wheelchair Pac-Man. Taking the newer "Universal Symbol of Accessibility" (the one where the person wheels themself about), and subverting the person into a Pac-Man like character munching on some dots. Inspired by an original piece by Bashir Sultani and of course Namco's Pac-Man.
3. The Joypad Rider. You can read this symbol in a variety of ways: Combined "Universal Symbol of Accessibility" and a basic joypad; Or laid-back gaming position with giant controller in back-ground; Or person riding some mad-machine in tenous Assistive Technology link; Or Joypad/Huge pair of glasses/Wheelchairuser/Joypad. You get the idea! This symbol was kindly knocked up for us by Chris Thornton of the ever-superb HelpKidzLearn.
Again, we're looking for a symbol to represent a game that we consider to have some good accessibility features. It should also have a link to a review site, where you can learn much more about the game before buying/downloading it.
Before we decide, we'd love to hear your thoughts, either here, over on Facebook or by e-mail: info@specialeffect.org.uk.
May
25th
SpecialEffect Interviews: Chris Myers
By One Switch
Introduction: Christopher Myers has been a long time promoter of accessible gaming, especially so for one-switch games. He lives in Kent in the UK. This is his interview...
1. Earliest gaming memories.
Nightmare3d, Duke Nukem [3D] and Sonic [the] Hedgehog with someone holding my hand on keyboard. With head switches by myself, [The Pursuit of] Greed with Crick box
2. Favourite games.
Nightmare3d on pc I still like lots because it is a retro game. [side note: Chris plays this with two accessibility switches set to emulate two actions such as running and firing, with support from another person to assist with the rest of the controls under his direction].
May
4th
Wish List for Accessible Game Design
By One Switch
Following the introduction to our Game Accessibility Rating System, comes our wish list for accessible game design features.
There are 20 wishes spread evenly across four different categories of accessibility. That's a lot we admit, but please don't worry! No one expects all of these to make it into any one game, and many overlap. For a game designer to include even just one item from each list would be a wonderful start.
Read on to view our wishes...
May
4th
SpecialEffect Game Accessibility Rating System (BETA)
By One Switch
The symbols above are a small part of the new SpecialEffect backed Game Accessibility Rating System. We have five main hopes for it:
1. That this system will make it easier for people to find games that suit their particular abilities.
2. That it will help developers improve the accessibility of their games, focussing upon reasonably practicable steps, explained as clearly as possible.
3. That if accessibility information is found to be lacking, we will be able to work with developers, gamers and other game accessibility experts to remedy this.
4. That others will adopt this system.
5. That we'll see more accessible mainstream and indie games in the future.
Read on for more information on each symbols meaning, and some more thoughts at this early stage...
Apr
27th
SpecialEffect Interviews: Alexander Kostov
By One Switch
Introduction: Alex Kostov is an enabled gamer living in Poole, Dorset, UK. This is his interview...
GamerTag: Don't have one. I am generally known as PotatoJedi online.
1. Earliest gaming memories.
I think I was between the ages of three and five years old. The very first gaming console I played was the NES. Really old school, before the PlayStation one came out. I had some really enjoyable times on that. I remember playing things like super Mario and some different versions of a football game (including one that was written completely in Chinese that I somehow managed to navigate my way around). My most memorable memory is probably playing a game called Tanks with my grandpa [edit: aka Namco's Battle-City]. We controlled one tank each and our objective was to destroy all the other tanks while protecting our "main base" from being destroyed. Extremely fun and addictive. We had strategies and everything. My grandpa's thumbs were slightly big for those little controllers and he sometimes drove towards our base and blew it up. Good times!
Apr
20th
Colour Blind Play
By Bill (R&D, SpecialEffect)
On Monday the BBC's technology reporter, Dave Lee, published
an article and
video about how his Deuteranopia (the most common type of
red/green colorblindness) affects how he plays games.
Later that same day the website 'Colour Blind Play' had been
set up, with the aim to "raise awareness of disambiguation
[colour blindness] and how it effects people who play video
games around the world."
The site encourages the sharing of information with
interactive polls and questions, such as a feedback bar on the
home page asking 'Which video games include a colour blind
setting?'
Apr
13th
SpecialEffect Interviews: Izzy
By One Switch
Introduction: My name is Ismail but everybody calls me Izzy. I am currently 29 years old and I was born with a physical disability called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which severely weakens the muscles in my body as time progresses. I was born and live in Victoria, Australia and I'm of Turkish descent.
GamerTag: (Steam) resistance1982
1. Earliest gaming memories.
My most favourite early memory is when I played Super Mario Bros for the first time at a family friends house. It was a moment I will cherish forever. I also played games on my Apple IIe which my special school had bought for me so I could do my school work. I spent a lot of time playing games at my cousins house on his IBM PC as well.
Apr
11th
48hr Sponsored Games Session
By Bill (R&D, SpecialEffect)
Over 3 different days and 48hrs Sam and Jacob Welsh played the longest gaming session of their lives to raise awareness and cash for SpecialEffect. Starting at 6am on Friday 8th April they played 8 games consecutively for 5 hours each and a 1 hour break in between.
For those who can think of nothing better than spending a weekend playing games non-stop, think again (especially as they had to miss out on the hottest April weekend on record!).
Playing for great lengths of time presents real challenges including a fight against sleep, cramping hands and strained eyes. Sam stated that the hardest part was, "The very early hours games (Diablo 2 and Starcraft 2) where we had to play at 4-6am. It felt very surreal"
Mar
15th
Game accessibility for the hard-of-hearing.
By Leon
Half Life 2 Screenshot showing how the closed captioning is displayed.
In recent years video games have begun to fully take advantage of sound, a stark contrast to the humble beginnings of the industry with popular text-based adventure games. Often it is easy for a games developer to overlook gamers who are either deaf or hard of hearing as the many difficulties facing this group are not in plain sight. Yet, throughout the industry's history various technologies have been created for games, which are capable of meeting the requirements of the hard of hearing, though there is still room for improvement. The continual increase in revenue produced by the games industry similarly reflects an increase in popularity of video gaming as a past-time.
In 2009 the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) published statistics detailing that in that same year, the industry sold 273 millions units, creating a remarkable $10.5 billion in revenue. RNID reports the latest figures of the hard-of-hearing or deaf (between the ages of 16 and 60 in the UK) accumulate to 2,470,000. Considering these figures it is perplexing that there are no standardised requirements for video games to cater for a hard-of-hearing demographic. This article will explore the difficulties facing those with impaired hearing and detail creative solutions to these problems. As well as providing resources and information for those who face such difficulties.
Mar
10th
Opening of The SpecialEffect Centre
By Bill (R&D, SpecialEffect)
David Cameron MP and Patron Matt Hampson opening the centre (Photo: John Cairns)
Today The SpecialEffect Centre was officially opened by the charity's patron Matt Hampson and local MP David Cameron in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.
The centre includes the SpecialEffect GamesLab where games and hardware are tested for 'accessibility' and modified or adapted when neccessary using hardware mods or by working with the games' developers. The centre also houses the SpecialEffect GamesRoom where people can arrange to come and try out access equipment and games in a relaxed and friendly environment.
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