GDC08 Poster
International Game Developers Association
Contents |
Title
Accessibility 101: First Steps to Creating a Game for All
Track
Design
Presentation Format
Poster
Theme
Inspirational
Audience level
All: Open to to all experience levels.
Brief Session Overview
Max: 480 characters
Are you interested in improving the accessibility of your game for gamers with disabilities? Here’s your chance to talk with members of the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG about design tips any game developer can use to start increasing the accessibility of their designs for gamers with disabilities with minimal effort but maximum impact that will improve game play for ALL gamers.
Concise Presentation Description
Max: 1200 characters
Do you want to make your game titles more accessible for the growing number of gamers with disabilities but are not sure where to even start? Here’s your chance to talk with members of the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG about design tips any game developer can use to start increasing the accessibility of their designs for gamers with disabilities with minimal effort but maximum impact that will improve game play for ALL gamers. Don't miss out on our "First Steps" list -- stop by our poster and chat with us about how to improve your game quickly and easily and we'll give you one to keep! And, yes, you can have another one for your friends too. And while you are stopping by, be sure and try your luck on GAME OVER! The universe's most inaccessible game for all ever (purposefully) created!
Intended Audience and Prerequisites
Max: 400 characters
Designers, programmers, and publishers interested in a quick “crash course intro” poster discussion to learn and ask questions about game accessibility -- issues that gamers with disabilities face, specific disability types, potential accessibility problems in mainstream games, and concrete solutions.
Session Takeaway
Max: 400 characters
Attendees will learn about at least 10 - 15 concrete ways for game designers to get a start in increasing the accessibility of their mainstream games titles, as well as some innovative ways of gaming that will interest all gamers, not just gamers with disabilities.
Extended Abstract
Max: 4000 characters
The focus of the IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group (SIG) has been to research how to make commercial games more accessible to persons with disabilities and to serve as an outreach to game developers interested in facing the challenges of creating accessible design. A few members of the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG will present a poster with handouts of the poster information to take away. The aim of the poster session is to engage with as many people as possible in discussion and help interested designers understand how gamers with different disabilities approach mainstream games and how to improve game design to help facilitate game play for all.
Many mainstream and serious game developers do want to create more accessible games but are not sure where to start. The session is a chance to help designers take the first steps and let them know how and where to learn more in order to build on those first steps. The goal of our "first steps" list is to present design tips any game developer can use to start increasing the accessibility of their designs for gamers with disabilities with minimal effort but with maximum impact. Although the “First Steps” list and poster are by no means a total solution for creating games that are “accessible for all,” it is set of guidelines and design features that will help game developers create games that are “accessible to more.”
Presentation Materials
Max: 400 characters
A poster plus handouts; One laptop with an example of a game purposely made to be inaccessible to pretty much everyone.
Past Speaking Engagements
Michelle Hinn: Game Not Over: Why Disabled Gamers Can’t Play Your Game Titles and How to Fix It! (FuturePlay 2007); When Audio IS the Experience: Games for the Visually Impaired (AGDC 2007); Serious Accessibility for Serious Games (SGS GDC 2007); The Untapped Market of One Button Games: Gamers with Disabilities (GDCM 2007); Accessibility Idol (GDC 2007); Game Accessibility Arcade (GDC 2007); Gamers with Disabilities: Expanding the Market through Accessible Design (Montreal Game Summit 2006); Game Accessibility (FuturePlay 2006); Increasing the Accessibility of Your Game (ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium 2006); IGDA Accessibility Workshop (Develop Brighton 2006); Game Not Over: Expanding the Market with Accessible Games (GDC 2006); Games Accessibility: Where Does the Industry Stand? (GDC 2005)
Kevin Bierre: Game Accessibility (FuturePlay 2006); Hello, M.U.P.P.E.T.S.: Using a 3D Collaborative Virtual Environment to Motivate Fundamental Object-Oriented Learning (OOPSLA 2006); Game Accessibility Panel (ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium 2006); Motivating OOP by Blowing Things Up: An Exercise in Cooperation and Competition in an Introductory Java Programming Course (SIGCSE 2006); MUPPETS: Multi-User Programming Pedagogy for Enhancing Traditional Study: An Environment for both Upper and Lower Division Students (FIE 2005); An Open-Source CVE for Programming Education: A Case Study (SIGGRAPH 2005); Game Not Over: When Computer Games Meet Universal Access (HCI International 2005)
Richard van Tol: When Audio IS the Experience: Games for the Visually Impaired (AGDC 2007); Serious Accessibility for Serious Games (SGS GDC 2007); The Untapped Market of One Button Games: Gamers with Disabilities (GDCM 2007); Accessibility Idol (GDC 2007); Game Accessibility Arcade (GDC 2007); IGDA Accessibility Workshop (Develop Brighton 2006); Game Not Over: Expanding the Market with Accessible Games (GDC 2006); Serious Audio Games (DIGRA NL Seminar Serious Games: Playful); 3D Shooting Games, Multimodal Games, Sound Games and More Working Examples of the Future of Games for the Blind (ICCHP 2004); Drive (26eme Festival International des Ecoles de Cinéma, 2003)
