“I don’t think it’s a lot to ask.”
It’s an exercise we’ve all tried: navigating through touch, memory, and educated guesses.
Invariably, we panic and open them immediately or run into something we were sure wasn’t there.
Though that is the closest many sighted players will come to the realities of blind and visually impaired gamers.
Periphery Synthetic
A clutch of games exist, however, in which this is not the case.
It’s not a crowded field, but it received a new entry last month in Periphery Synthetic.
“But many visual conditions mean people can see shapes, blurs, or lights.
For others, it’s trial-and-error and memorisation: logging each sound, each input.
Though, even then so much information is unavailable.
A more mainstream focus on accessibility in the last few years has driven a greater concentration on blind accessibility.
Though, few games have managed to alleviate the need for assistance from sighted players.
This, a key feature in Periphery Synthetic’s chill collectathon too.
“I swear I was going to cry,” Shaylyn Baker,an accessibility consultant, says.
The selection, however, remains limited.
First, interfaces must be easily navigable.
Something, according to Vabax, that may give mobile gaming an edge.
“This can be less overwhelming than managing multiple buttons on a console controller.”
Implementing these brings its own challenges and no one is pretending otherwise.
“This makes it impossible to use these engines as a blind game developer,” he says.
“The only real way out is to roll my own tools which is a very big undertaking.”
A positive move, for sure, but one that does nothing to help blind developers.
“But because these tools don’t work with screen reading software I can’t do either.”
It’s true, bringing disabled voices into the development process from the start makes for more accessible games.
Instead, it falls to the community to prop up players and developers in an inaccessible landscape.
Labour that could be mitigated with a greater consideration of accessibility across the broader industry.
Even consultancy, now a well-established tool for studios, remains an inaccessible proposition.
Greater education of the varied needs of blind players is required, yes, and better tools too.
It’s not the most optimistic statement and perhaps belies the progress that’s of the past few years.
This, to better allow more of us to pull up the medium we love.
“Your disabled friends, family, colleagues, and community members are expending additional effort all the time.
Just to try and get by.
I don’t think it’s a lot to ask to let us enjoy our video games in peace.
Just like everyone else.”
