Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Looking to make my studio's next game playable for blind people (self.Blind)
submitted by StrifeDarko
My studio has been working on a heavily dialogue based game for the last 18 months. I'd like to be able to bring it to as many people as possible, and as the majority of it is voice acted I'd like to make it accessable for blind players.
Could anyone help?
Could anyone help?
WhatWouldVaderDo 1 points 6y ago
Since you are using Unity, I suggest you look into the Tolk library (https://github.com/dkager/tolk). It will allow you to send text to the user's screen reader, or the Windows built-in synthesis engine (SAPI) to be read aloud. You can then have the screen reader voice your text-based UI elements, and use your recorded dialog like normal.
One of the most high-profile games to successfully do this is Skull Girls by Lab Zero Games. They also use Steam, but this hasn't been a huge problem for people from what I've seen.
One of the most high-profile games to successfully do this is Skull Girls by Lab Zero Games. They also use Steam, but this hasn't been a huge problem for people from what I've seen.
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
Sure! What platform? If it's on IOS or Android, this will be easy. Well, unless you develop with Unity, and in that case it's slightly harder, though still extremely possible. If it's on Windows or Mac, again, it's still possible. The main hold up for Windows and Mac games is that you're probably distributing through Steam. Unfortunately, Steam itself is almost completely inaccessible. No matter what you do, the vast majority of players will be unable to purchase or Download steam games. First off, even to get a Steam account, you need to complete a CAPTCHA. Then to get the software to work, you need to fiddle around with OCR, command line switches, and batch files. I personally do have Steam working on my Windows 10 machine, but I'd consider myself extremely technical, and it took me 8 or 9 hours to get it going. If you're on Windows or Mac and distribute by any platform other than Steam or...whatever that disaster that EA uses is called...then making your game fully accessible should also be pretty easy.
NukeWithG 2 points 6y ago
Why is it harder to do this when doing through Unity as opposed to other engines?
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
Because Unity provides no native support for outputting text or controls to the screen reader, on any platform. By default, when a Unity game is opened, the screen reader can only detect a blank window. You as the game developer need to write a bunch of special code to provide functions that most screen readers would provide automatically, if you were using another engine. Apparently the $1 will soon solve these problems, at least for IOS and Android. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell (I'm not a game developer so am outside the community looking in, as it were) this plugin hasn't officially been released. It has been successfully used in one commercial IOS/Android game called Crafting Kingdoms, and I think that game might have been written by the studio that employs the woman who works on the accessibility plugin. Anyway, that's a really fun game, and the accessibility works well. So the best advice I can give you is to contact her, and see if/when you can use this plugin in your own work.
StrifeDarko [OP] 1 points 6y ago
Xbox One, PS4 and PC are our desired platforms.
We are developing in Unity which could be somewhat of a ballache. If the plugin you suggested in a comment could work that would be a bonus.
As for Steam, we could always distribute the "blind" version (for lack of a better phrase) independently. I can't imagine it would have enough demand to make our publisher annoyed.
We are developing in Unity which could be somewhat of a ballache. If the plugin you suggested in a comment could work that would be a bonus.
As for Steam, we could always distribute the "blind" version (for lack of a better phrase) independently. I can't imagine it would have enough demand to make our publisher annoyed.
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
If you're on XBox, don't you have to distribute through the Microsoft Store anyway? That's perfectly accessible on Windows 10, so blind people could just get the game that way. It'd lock out players on Windows 7, but I'm not sure it matters.
I know Microsoft just announced an accessibility API for XBox at GDC this year, and the console already has a $1 built in. However, I'm not sure if Unity or the accessability plugin support it or not. Sorry! Also, I've never owned a console in my life, so I have no idea how accessibility works on one.
I wish I could be more help. :-(
I know Microsoft just announced an accessibility API for XBox at GDC this year, and the console already has a $1 built in. However, I'm not sure if Unity or the accessability plugin support it or not. Sorry! Also, I've never owned a console in my life, so I have no idea how accessibility works on one.
I wish I could be more help. :-(
StrifeDarko [OP] 2 points 6y ago
You've been plenty of help, these are things i haven't considered.
The Microsoft store is essentially hot cancer but i could go that route. The accessibility API is certainly interesting.
From a development point of view the game would essentially turn into a "choose your own adventure" style audio book. Does that sound interesting?
The Microsoft store is essentially hot cancer but i could go that route. The accessibility API is certainly interesting.
From a development point of view the game would essentially turn into a "choose your own adventure" style audio book. Does that sound interesting?
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
> Microsoft store is essentially hot cancer
Ah, I had no idea it was that bad. Some specialized apps for the blind are just starting to go that route for distribution, I guess because it's still easier than writing copy protection and license management software yourself.
> "choose your own adventure" style audio book.
Yes, this does sound interesting! The titles published by Choice of Games on IOS, even though they're strictly text based choose your own adventures, are well-loved by the community. So I'm sure something similar with audio would be even more popular.
Also, it'd be really nice to have another accessible title on Xbox, to help break the chicken and egg cycle of "Most blind people don't own an Xbox because there are only 2 accessible games on it, but there are only two accessible games on Xbox because most blind people don't own one." Although there are lots of blind people who live with gamers (roommates, partners, family, etc) who have access to an Xbox.
Ah, I had no idea it was that bad. Some specialized apps for the blind are just starting to go that route for distribution, I guess because it's still easier than writing copy protection and license management software yourself.
> "choose your own adventure" style audio book.
Yes, this does sound interesting! The titles published by Choice of Games on IOS, even though they're strictly text based choose your own adventures, are well-loved by the community. So I'm sure something similar with audio would be even more popular.
Also, it'd be really nice to have another accessible title on Xbox, to help break the chicken and egg cycle of "Most blind people don't own an Xbox because there are only 2 accessible games on it, but there are only two accessible games on Xbox because most blind people don't own one." Although there are lots of blind people who live with gamers (roommates, partners, family, etc) who have access to an Xbox.
[deleted] 1 points 6y ago
[deleted]
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