Accessibility in games is a must

Kellie Dingwall is one of a growing number of visually impaired people taking up online gaming.

“One of my best friends and I got close playing games online and it became a weekly thing,” she told BBC Scotland.

“Now it’s a small community of blind gamers.

Game studios are increasingly thinking about things like vision loss or motor skill issues when opening up games to a whole new audience.

Gamers with disabilities have pointed to a cultural shift in game development with features now being built in “from the ground up”.

Kellie says changes can be as simple as increasing the font size on a screen for people with partial vision loss or providing better color contrast options.

Other games have more tailored elements.

“One day I found a game that would let me use text-to-speech and read things like letters or options in conversations,” Kellie said.

Despite the move toward accessibility, Kellie says she can be hesitant to try new games.

“I tend to look at reviews before I buy,” she said.

“I generally prefer not to pre-order games because I don’t know what the accessibility features would be.”

James Kyle, who works for RNIB Scotland, runs a playgroup for visually impaired people like him.

“There is no reason why people without sight should be left out,” he said.

One of the game styles it highlights is an audio game, where players wear headphones and navigate a 3D audio world, guided by sound effects and audio descriptions.

James said his blind user gaming group includes people from Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and other parts of the world.

Video game development is estimated to be worth £350 million a year to the Scottish economy and developers are more aware of their markets.

Dundee has a long association with games development and the city’s Abertay University says ensuring accessibility is central to what it teaches.

The university’s Dr Lynsay Shepherd said: “Disabled players have been left behind for too long.

“Steps need to be taken so everyone can experience the fun of gaming.”

She said accessibility was “drilled into” students from day one.

“We’re making sure it’s discussed all the way through, as well as the challenges that are there,” she said.

The increase in availability has been “massive” in recent years, according to Dr Shepherd, and he believes eye tracking for people with physical limitations could be another area of ​​interest.

“Laptop webcams have become very high quality,” she said.

“These can be used to capture eyes to control a machine, and that can be baked into games.

“Very soon it will become much more accessible to a wider range of people.”

Opening up the play market to those with complex physical needs is also being addressed in Dundee.

Conglomerate Games designed a game to help young people with cystic fibrosis.

It uses the player’s breath to control mini-games such as shooting arrows at balloons.

The idea is that they have fun while doing the necessary breathing exercises.

“We strive to bring games to people with different disabilities or conditions so they can improve their lives,” said CEO Jamie Bankhead.

“The market is huge. If kids can play games and get something useful out of it, that’s great.”

Mr Bankhead said developers needed to be aware of people’s motor skills and whether physically holding the controller might be uncomfortable or its vibrations might be uncomfortable.

He said accessibility features are “becoming more of a necessity rather than a must-have.”

“People are starting to actively refuse to play games that don’t have absolute minimums, which should be more and more prevalent in all games,” he said.