We and our community are certainly thankful…
Accessibility in video games has been a topic of growing popularity over the past few years.
However, one group that has often been neglected is the blind and visually impaired gaming community.
Sometimes, however, players take matters into their own hands.
She came down with an illness that affected her optic nerves, leaving her completely blind.
With remarkable stubbornness, she refused to give up her love for video games.
“In primary school, I got a computer at home and learned to play audio games online.”
“I still go there every single day.
It’s like a community where people can chat and play games with people.”
“I got home and downloaded the game but it was not accessible at all, like zero percent.
Not even the menus,” says Fawaz.
Three months later Hearthstone Access was released.
“What the mod does, it’s quite perfect.
It’s very well integrated into the game.
“I have very little vision.
Many NES games could only be enjoyed with cheats like Game Genie.
We talk a lot about accessibility now, but back then, cheats were my accessibility option.”
He recently tried Hearthstone Access and was surprised at how it felt almost native to the game.
GuideDev has done an amazing job with this and Blizzard should continue his work if possible.”
GuideDev started developing Hearthstone Access in 2020 after a traffic accident forced him to take leave from his work.
But it doesn’t exactly feel like a game built for visually impaired players," says GuideDev.
“It does everything from top to bottom and tells me when anything is broken.
With minor patches that only involve card balance changes, Hearthstone Access doesn’t need as much work.
“But it’s not Blizzard’s fault I chose their game.
I just chose their game because I thought it was the perfect game for this.
I don’t think it’s right to yell at Blizzard to do this.”
His first reaction on stream was one of shock, surprise and intrigue.
“It doesn’t mean we want to hide that because we are who we are.
In most other games, Brandon is hesitant to play multiplayer due to the toxicity online towards blind players.
It’s different for Hearthstone though.
“A lot of them don’t even know.
It’s a huge difference.”
Brandon was invited tothe theory crafting eventthat Blizzard hosts to mark the launch of a new Hearthstone expansion.
“I understand that me being invited to the theory crafting event is somewhat of a PR thing.
Activision Blizzard as a company has been surrounded by controversy for years now over numerous important subjects.
But the care the Hearthstone developers have for their game and the players who enjoy it is clear.
The latest expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, released with an audio description trailer.
“This was a collaborative effort between our cinematics, user research and publishing teams.”
says Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer and Features Design Lead for Hearthstone at Activision Blizzard.
“GuideDev did amazing work building this tool and providing accessibility solutions.
We and our community are certainly thankful for his work.”
Chadd agreed that improving the accessibility of the game is a goal that the team is actively working on.
This is one of the core issues when we talk of accessibility in video games.
