Resources
As much as this report does document what I discovered, there are a number of other resources that developers and consumers alike can use as further research. These resources are not just for GWS, but for other disabilities as well in certain cases. Below are a list of resources either seen during my research process or discovered afterwards that might help game developers, as well as gamers at large, understand what’s going on with the current landscape:
- Game Accessibility Guidelines
- CoPilot Information
- How to Turn On Narrator
- Ease of Access settings on Xbox One
- The Tolk Screen Reader Abstraction Library by Davy Kager
- Unity Accessibility plug-in release post, link to asset store and other information
- How fast can you make an existing app accessible? (Unity plug-in blog post)
- The XAccess email address for contacting Microsoft’s Xbox Accessibility team for any related questions or feedback.
- Xbox User Voice new ideas page for ease of access
A series of guidelines put together by Ian Hamilton and others to attempt to categorise accessibility priorities at varying levels of difficulty, whilst also listing their benefits.
Some information on how CoPilot works, taken from the Microsoft support site
Information on activating Narrator, courtesy of Xbox support.
A page with links to further information on all the ease of access settings on Xbox One consoles
The main page on the developer’s website, providing information on the Tolk Screen Reader Abstraction Library which has been used to achieve full accessibility for GWS in Skullgirls (see the next subsection for more details on the game itself).
For those developers who might be interested in developing products with Tolk integration, you can find the Github repository on this GitHub page.
A blog post covering a plug-in facilitating mobile accessibility in unity games to GWS, including a link to download the plug-in itself.
A further post demonstrating how quickly an existing Unity app can be made fully accessible to both Voiceover on IOS and Talkback on Android.
The dedicated email address, set up by Microsoft, to receive any accessibility feedback.
Any suggestions for accessibility improvements and new accessibility features for Xbox should be posted to this page. The team will, at the very least, read these suggestions, though posting an idea does not mean it will be acted on at the time of posting, if at all.
What mainstream games have accessibility features for those without sight?
- Skullgirls (PC accessibility only)
- Killer Instinct:
- Madden 18
- IGAU, I2 and Mortal Kombat X/XL
- A Hero’s Call from OutOfSightGames.com
A prime example of accessibility retrofitting, Mike Zaimont of Lab Zero games managed to implement the accessibility features including fully spoken menus, tutorials, training modes, and everything else save the art gallery and credits in a matter of days spread out over the course of a week. This works via Tolk, the screen reader abstraction library (linked above), allowing for similar functions to the MSSA, but on Windows PCs rather than consoles. As a side note, the console version of the game, though it is backwards compatible on Xbox One, is not accessible via this method or the MSSA in any way shape or form. This lack of accessibility also extends to invites as with all current Xbox 360 backwards compatible titles.
For the best PC experience, I recommend purchasing both the base game and the second encore upgrade, as the Second Encore expansion contains the fully voiced story mode and it’s uncertain as to whether the base game comes with the Second Encore upgrade by default.
Whilst not fully playable, I have found KI to be near enough the most fully accessible fighting game on consoles and PC aside from the above mentioned Skullgirls. Previously only available on the Windows Store and Xbox One, it made a transition to Steam as well, with much praise and fanfare from the new players who tried the game. The sheer amount of characters and mechanics in this game might turn GWS off at first, but stick at it and you will hopefully realise that KI is a title that you can enjoy with friends and random players alike.
If you intend to play on consoles and Windows 10, given its relatively good value for money, I suggest you get the Definitive Edition. This contains seasons one, two and three, with any additional bonus fighters (including Shadow Jago), in addition to some behind the scenes content (such as interviews with Ken Lobb and other staff who worked on the KI franchise in its various iterations). Purchasing this edition digitally will allow you to utilise Xbox Play Anywhere’s main selling point of owning the game on both Xbox One and Windows 10, giving you a choice of when and where you play if you have the hardware to run it on multiple devices. The Steam version does run on Windows 7 according to various sources, though no specific mention of Windows 8 or 8.1 is seemingly present in these comments. It is likely, however, given that it works on Windows 7 and Windows 10 that Windows 8 and 8.1 should, theoretically, run the game without any issues relating to operating system (OS) compatibility. If you do choose to run the game on these OS versions however, please note that I will not be held responsible for any issues caused through doing so. Though I have tested the Steam port on Windows 10 (and found it to perform very much the same as the console counterpart, aside from the use of Steam’s own non-standard systems as opposed to Microsoft’s accessible interface), I have not had the opportunity to test it on other operating systems that should run it.
Unfortunately, the Steam version has no free to play (F2P option) unlike its console and Windows Store counterpart. Instead, you get all the content that’s been released (29 characters including Season 3 bonus characters Kilgore, Shin Hisako and Eagle), 20 stages, all costumes and colours, and all modes for one price. If you pay a little extra, you can purchase the Killer Cuts Edition (exclusive to Steam) that gives you the soundtracks to Season 1, 2 and 3, including the classic Killer Instinct 1 and 2 soundtracks. Whether this includes Kilgore, Shin Hisako’s and Eagle’s themes is not clear from the Steam site, however I can confirm that these themes are included amongst the 68 loose soundtrack files stored in the game’s root directory.
Note: The below links to Microsoft storefronts may direct you to the US pages. If you are not redirected to the page for your country, try searching for the game yourself in your device’s store.
KI: Definitive Edition Windows Store Link
KI: Definitive Edition Xbox One Link
KI: (Standard Steam Version) Steam Link
KI: (Killer Cuts Edition) Steam Link
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of an EA employee, Madden 18 is more playable to GWS after a title update, via a combination of new in-game vibration cues and documentation for guidance as to menu structure and gameplay. A work in progress version of the documentation can be found on this Reddit post by the employee in question, though if a version goes live on EA’s website, this section will be updated to reflect that when time permits.
All three of the above games from NRS have cues for interactive objects that can be used during gameplay. The process of activating these cues (as they are turned off by default), is not exactly straightforward and differs for each game. Currently, no single resource can be used for all three games, though a guide may be compiled to resolve this. If such a resource is compiled, it will be linked here.
This game, though it is currently audio only, will have an update released at an as yet undetermined point in the future to add graphics in order that, should they wish to, sighted gamers can participate in the same fantasy-based experience of this “accessible RPG” (role-playing game). How menus, dialogue and other non-scenic aspects will be rendered is as yet unclear but there is hope that clarification on these facets can be gained in the near future.
This game’s marketing was a prime example of how to include sighted gamers in an accessibility-centric effort. Not saying that this is “an audio game with graphics” or similar is actually one of the game’s greatest strengths, with the quality of the sound design and music, funded in part via Kickstarter, demonstrating just how much you can get out of an audio only experience if you involve a wider audience. Given that the game’s Kickstarter goal of $2000 was beaten at least 4 times over, it was clear that without the support of sighted donators, the game probably wouldn’t have achieved such milestones.
If you are a developer who has implemented accessibility for GWS into a mainstream game and wish to have the title feature in this section as a result, please feel free to contact me and let me know.