Making Games More Accessible - Mark Friend, Sony
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This was part of the UXPA UK January 2017 event. For videos of our recent talks, please check out our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/uxpauk
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Making Games More Accessible - Mark Friend, Sony
- 1. Making Games More Accessible Mark Friend mark.friend@sony.com | @markusfriend
- 4. Types of Impairments Visual & Auditory Issues with receiving a stimulus
- 5. Types of Impairments CognitiveVisual & Auditory Issues with receiving a stimulus Issues with processing and determining a response
- 6. Types of Impairments Motor & SpeechCognitiveVisual & Auditory Issues with receiving a stimulus Issues with processing and determining a response Issues with providing an input
- 20. Designing with Colour in Mind - Ensure no essential information is conveyed by colour alone - Provide additional meaning to colour with the use of symbols, shapes, patterns, size, screen position, and text descriptions - Provide pre-set options for deuteranopia, protanopia, tritanopia, and no colourblindness - Provide players with a configurable choice of colours for essential gameplay elements, text, and HUD icons
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- 27. Designing with Controls in Mind - Ensure the controls are not over-complicated, or can be simplified - Provide multiple preset control layouts - Allow for full control remapping in-game - Consider allowing for alternate input methods - Allow the X & Y axes to be inverted - Allow the sensitivity of the X & Y axes to be adjusted - Allow for hold inputs to be toggled - Allow for rumble to be turned off
- 28. Designing with Accessibility in Mind Motor & SpeechCognitiveVisual & Auditory Issues with receiving a stimulus Issues with processing and determining a response Issues with providing an input
- 29. Where possible, design inclusively: Communicate information in multiple ways and/or Offer flexibility
- 30. Accessibility is about giving as many players as possible the best opportunity of completely experiencing the game
- 31. Accessible design benefits everyone, not just players with disabilities
- 32. Thank You! Mark Friend mark.friend@sony.com | @markusfriend
Editor's Notes
- Worked in UX for over 7 years and at PlayStation as a User Researcher for a little over 3 years Day-to-day I work with first-party development teams to help improve the usability of their games. I’ve also specialised in accessibility for the past 6 years, both in web and game development. During his time at PlayStation, he has established the SIEE User Research team’s accessibility testing and evaluation service, and has produced a set of accessibility guidelines which have been circulated throughout Worldwide Studios. And that’s what I’ll be talking about with you today – making games more accessible!
- 1 in 7 people have some form of disability Disability can affect anyone, at any time in their lives It can stem from medical conditions people are born with or be something they develop later in life But importantly medical conditions do not equal disability!
- Disability, in it’s simplest form is where someone’s medical condition encounters a barrier that prevents a person from accomplishing a task (staircase, low contrast text, no subtitles) Frustratingly, in the majority of cases the barrier is typically something that we have created, and removing or preventing those barriers from happening is accessibility If you just consider medical conditions and try and design for all of them, there are thousands, and it can be an overwhelming to accommodate all of them, but there is a much simpler way to think about medical conditions…
- We can think about them in 5 distinct categories across 3 different groups Vision Disabilities related to sight and visual perception e.g. colourblindness, low vision, blindness Hearing Disabilities related to sound and auditory perception e.g. hearing loss, deafness, tinnitus
- Cognitive Disabilities related to perception, processing information and determining responses e.g. low reading age, dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, memory loss, ADHD
- Motor Disabilities related to control and mobility e.g. neurological disorders, paralysis, amputees, lack of mobility, lack of steadiness, left-handedness Speech Disabilities related to language use and vocalisation e.g. limited speech, muteness, speech impediments, non-native language
- Across most other technology, entertainment, and media sectors, people with disabilities are catered for… [reveals]
- However, this is still something that video games are lagging behind in, but something we are seeing more of a push towards with system level options from both Microsoft and PlayStation. [reveal] And games like Uncharted 4 adding numerous options and even having an Accessibility heading on the main menu
- Playing games is important, can be especially important for players with impairments. For players with disabilities, gaming can not only act as a form of escapism, where they can accomplish feats that might otherwise be impossible to do in real life due to their disabilities, but also as a social outlet.
- Playing games can allow them to keep in contact with their friends, engage with a large community of other like-minded players, and play in an environment where they can compete against other players without their disability being a factor.
- Gaming is also an important cultural touchstone for many, and not being able to play and discuss the same games that their friends and the media are talking about can be very exclusionary. [reveal Pokemon GO and people in wheelchairs] [reveal] Statistics show that players with disabilities play games more frequently, for more hours per week, and for longer sessions. Playing games can be a very important part of their lives, but their needs are often overlooked during game development.
- Game accessibility is not about drastically changing the intended design or removing the challenge from games. Every game will include some kinds of necessary barriers in order for it to meet the definition of ‘a game’. These will vary from game to game depending on the core mechanics and genre (e.g. a degree of timing, precision, and dexterity will always be required for a platformer). But it’s not just about making the game easier – still want a challenge
- However, video game accessibility is about ensuring players do not encounter unnecessary barriers that would otherwise prevent them from playing a game (e.g. QTEs in an adventure game), or by limiting the severity of the necessary barriers
- Most barriers can be addressed by communicating information in more than one way [reveal] designing around barriers (e.g. using text as well as audio) and/or by offering flexibility [reveal] providing relevant options / assists (e.g. offering a choice of difficulty levels).
- Offering information in more than 1 way
- Colour is often used as a visual shortcut and way of communicating meaning, but not everyone sees colour the same way. This means that players may have difficulty interpreting the correct meaning of colour coding.
- Although known as red/green colour blindness this does not mean sufferers mix up red and green, it means they mix up all colours which have some red or green as part of the whole colour. For example, a red/green colour blind person will confuse a blue and a purple because they can’t ‘see’ the red element of the colour purple. Deuteranopia: 6% of males, 0.36% of females (less sensitive to green light) Protanopia, 2.5% of males, 0.39% of females (less sensitive to red light) Tritanopia, 0.5% of males, 0.03% of females Deuteranopia: Absence of green photoreceptors Protonopia: Absence of red photoreceptors - Pure reds cannot be seen, instead appearing black; purple colors cannot be distinguished from blues; more orange-tinted reds may appear as very dim yellows, and orange-yellow-green shades appear as a similar yellow hue. Triatnopia: Absence of blue photoreceptors - Blues appear greenish, yellows and oranges appear pinkish, and purple colors appear deep red. Total colourblindness Achromatopsia 0.00003% of males and females
- Killzone Shadowfall colourblind multiplayer options
- Hue Colourblind mode adds a unique symbols to each colour
- Who will benefit? Players who are colourblind Players who struggled with the original contrast Better visual communication benefits everyone
- Player control makes video games different from just about every other form of entertainment If players cannot use the controls, then they cannot play the game. Whether it is through a standard controller, touch / motion controls, or a VR headset, players need to be able to successfully interact with the game. So how do you make sure people can play your game?
- FIFA series since world cup 2010 2 button designed for beginners, perfect for players with motor impairments
- Controller layouts: consider button combinations, button sequences, left-handed and one handed players Good - Halo 4 Default (pictured) Boxer (melee and throw grenade are swapped, sprint and crouch are also swapped) Bumper Jumper (jump and melee are on the bumpers) Fishstick (zoom is moved to the left trigger) Green Thumb (melee is on the right stick, zoom moves to the right bumper) Recon (reload is on the right bumper) Southpaw (left and right triggers, and bumpers are flipped) Boxer: Melee and Throw Grenade are swapped. Sprint and Crouch are also swapped. Bumper Jumper: Jump and Melee are on the Left and Right Bumpers. Fishstick: Zoom is moved to the Left Trigger. Green Thumb: Melee is on the Right Stick click. Zoom moves to the Right Bumper. Recon: Reload is moved to the Right Bumper. Southpaw: Left and Right Triggers and Bumpers are flipped.
- Good – Driveclub Playable with 1 hand (left or right)
- Until Dawn Motion only to start (was a move game) – then added stick controls in later
- Uni – discovered you can use a DDR dance mat to play Worms Armageddon! Who will benefit? Players with motor impairments E.g. Arthritis, tremors, one handed players Players with temporary motor impairments E.g. Broken arm Players who prefer playing with their own control set up Left handed players (southpaws!)
- Vision Disabilities related to sight and visual perception e.g. colourblindness, low vision, blindness Hearing Disabilities related to sound and auditory perception e.g. hearing loss, deafness, tinnitus Cognitive Disabilities related to perception, processing information and determining responses e.g. low reading age, dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, memory loss, ADHD Motor Disabilities related to control and mobility e.g. neurological disorders, paralysis, amputees, lack of mobility, lack of steadiness, left-handedness Speech Disabilities related to language use and vocalisation e.g. limited speech, muteness, speech impediments, non-native language
- Accessibility is all about giving as many players as possible the best opportunity of completely experiencing the game.
- New gamers Elderly gamers Situational (noisy / quite / sunlight) Temporary (broken arm)
- Thank you, any questions?
- Vision - Disabilities related to sight and visual perception e.g. colourblindness, low vision, blindness Hearing - Disabilities related to sound and auditory perception e.g. hearing loss, deafness, tinnitus Cognitive - Disabilities related to perception, processing information and determining responses e.g. low reading age, dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, memory loss, ADHD Motor - Disabilities related to control and mobility e.g. neurological disorders, paralysis, amputees, lack of mobility, lack of steadiness, left-handedness Speech - Disabilities related to language use and vocalisation e.g. limited speech, muteness, speech impediments, non-native language