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How would you make games more accessible?

text (provide subtitles for all speech, customizable fonts, standard text presentation compatible with Windows screen readers, e 5
controls (keyboard navigation for all controls, customization, etc.) 2
support (better in-game tutorials, feedback, help, hardware support for special devices, etc.) 3
visuals (color schemes for hard-of-sight, high contrast, ability to set unit color, etc.) 0
sound (alternative sound files setup, bass vibration for deaf, etc.) 0
Total votes: 10
Groups:

Comments

Touch as a Poll Item

Submitted by Michael Corey on Wed, 2003/10/01 - 02:46.

I think you should add, as a sixth poll item, the following:

touch (haptic, force, and tactile feedback, control systems)

While it might seem to fall under the 'controls' vote, they're different things. The 'controls' vote is about in-game controls, and key binding, and doesn't seem to encompass haptic technology. So, a separate vote for 'touch' would be cool.

Lots of research and development in this area already, such as force feedback joysticks, exoskeletons, haptic feedback for pilots, surgeons, air traffic controllers, in mixed reality, field use, or training simulators, Phantom, ENORASI, etc.

Submitted by Aaron Pulkka on Wed, 2003/10/01 - 00:30.

Wow, this is a hard question to answer, as it depends so much on the parameters of the game itself and what we are trying to accommodate.

As far as the biggest bang for the buck, I would imagine accommodating auditory limitations would be the best place to start. Cost of implementing text changes would seem to be the lowest of all -- almost negligible if considered from the start of the design process...

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2003/09/30 - 21:48.

Quote:
color schemes for blind

Somehow I'm not sure blind people will care about having more colorful games...