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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2020 - 01 - 16 - ID#epidws
10
Hi friends of r/blind, it's still me (self.Blind)
submitted by Toshero
I think I'll come back here often to receive advices and feedback on my project.

If you're wondering my project is to design a game that visually impaired people can play together with sighted people. My original post is this one: $1

One of my thoughts on the game I'm designing was that I wanted to keep writing at a minimum for many reasons but mostly because thought that Braille would be difficult to implement and (I really don't know where I took this from) I thought that reading Braille was difficult and not all blind people were capable of doing it.

Then I realized that I really don't know if that's the case, so my main question on this post is: do blind people have problems with reading Braille? How much writing (Braille) would you consider acceptable in a board game? Is it better if I just make everything tactile?
Meaangel 6 points 3y ago
My fiance only has around 10% vision and doesn't know braille, tactile would definitely be the best option for him!
Toshero [OP] 3 points 3y ago
Interesting, if I end up including writing I will probably add the option to have a bigger card with bigger text, would that help people like your fiance?
Meaangel 2 points 3y ago
Yeah that would! A lot of games use a tiny and weird font, so bigger, more straight and a big colour contrast would always be beneficial.
Toshero [OP] 2 points 3y ago
I'll keep that in mind, thank you!
Meaangel 1 points 3y ago
You are welcome!
ej_never 3 points 3y ago
On my experience braille is a resource that should be used with care while adopting board games, mostly due to how much space it takes, and if you're talking about a deck of cards it may become hard to store/mix them. On the other hand it's very useful for exemple for small portions of the game, specially if it's a card that should stay hidden. One nice option would be having the names or codes of the cards in braille and a database accessible through the phone. I've played like this with a friend and it works wonders. You basicly have a text file on your phone, and when you need to take a card that you should keep in secret you read the code in it and search it on the text file. This could be used for your hidden objectives on a game like Dead of Winter or something like this for exemple. A friend of mine has suggested even adding QR codes to the cards so it would be even easier to access that. I haven't tried this yet. Maybe this could be a good option for those who are not familiar with braille, tho.
TK_Sleepytime 3 points 3y ago
I am legally blind and don't read Braille. I can read larger or bold fonts just fine but most games have cards with either very small light font or they have words over a busy background that makes it impossible for me to read. You won't be able to please everyone in the blind community because we all have very different sight capabilities. But even something simple like high contrast cards would make gaming easier for me.
Toshero [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I'm still on the fence about including writing at all, but if I do I will definitely include a way to cover the small text + Braille with big cards with big high contrast text (+Braille)
CloudsOfMagellan 3 points 3y ago
Some is fine, it depends on the person though
FantasticGlove 2 points 3y ago
Unfortunately, braille literacy is not as good as general literacy. I am one of the rare few who is fluent in braille but you may want to consider implementing the braille code into your game because even though the literacy is bad, many people can still read braille. I hope this helps.
Toshero [OP] 1 points 3y ago
It does, thank you
codeplaysleep 2 points 3y ago
A lot of blind people just don't learn braille if they have either enough remaining vision or enough assistive technology that they don't feel they need to. With apps and audio books, etc. the need for braille is maybe not as great as it once was, outside of academics. Maybe they'll learn enough to decipher buttons on an elevator or something, but a lot of people (myself included) won't be anywhere near fluent.
Envrin 2 points 3y ago
I echo what he said. I'm 38, went totally blind a little over 3 years ago, am a software and dev ops engineer hence constantly learning and upgrading my skills. Not once did I ever think to myself, "sure wish I knew brail".

​

I don't know even the slightest amount of brail, and can't possibly see what advantage it would be to me considering the technology available nowadays.
JustALullabii 1 points 3y ago
I know of another game where blind and seeing people can play together. It's called Nyctophobia. Might be interesting for you to take a look and see what they used?
Dragonfly337 1 points 3y ago
Although I know Braille berry well, I think your best bet is to go tactile. That way everyone is on an even playing field.
If including Braille, go with grade 1 that way everyone can play regardless of there Braille proficiency.
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