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Game Design > Inaccessible Games

#145477 - sgeos - Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:19 am

Well, my compo carts arrived today, so I put Lockjaw on one of them as a test. While I was at it, I decided I should show it to grandma. Tetris is her favorite game.

The verdict? Well, she couldn't see it. Grandma didn't mind the moving board, but couldn't make out pieces. Not enough contrast. I tried two backgrounds, the default kaleidoscope and the coke background. I guess she has trouble with things like this at church too- not being able to see things that young people can see.

I've done a fair amount of reading about accessibility (at work) and I honestly did not even think about it, but it made sense when grandma said it. At any rate, just something to keep in mind when designing your games...

-Brendan

#145496 - NeX - Fri Nov 16, 2007 6:57 pm

I agree that all software should have a high-contrast mode. I'm going to include one in DrumMe2.
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#145521 - tepples - Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:28 am

sgeos wrote:
Well, my compo carts arrived today, so I put Lockjaw on one of them as a test. While I was at it, I decided I should show it to grandma. Tetris is her favorite game.

The verdict? Well, she couldn't see it. Grandma didn't mind the moving board, but couldn't make out pieces. Not enough contrast.

Did you try the other version with the more basic blitter?

True, developers need to consider accessibility. But should a game have to address every complaint illustrated in Game Over? Try it, and then read my responses.
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