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Ashes of Creation and disabilities
Last night, while attempting to fall asleep and failing, a topic came to my mind.
Most of us here have completely functioning bodies, but there are some among us who don't, but still enjoy gaming just as much. But it doesn't really seem like the demographic of people with disabilities is paid much attention to when it comes to game development. Sometimes it happens, but it's not the norm. Partly also because people have so many different problems that devs feel like it would be catering to a niche market. But it doesn't always have to be complicated.
One positive example I have of developers regarding people with certain problems is the mode meant for colourblind people that was in BDO, where the affected could pick their condition and aspects of the game would have adjusted colours depending on what the problem was. Contrary to popular belief, colourblindness doesn't mean the person only sees in greyscales, and it is also quite common, especially in men.
Now I would have a suggestion on my own. I assume that the game would use stereo(maybe even surround?) features of loud speakers and headphones to tell you where something is happening, where a certain sound comes from. But what about the people who have trouble hearing for example?
When it comes to catering to partially or completely deaf people who need an alarm signal, something that is often used are bright lights, which is used for example when someone rings the doorbell or an alarm clock is going off.
Maybe it would be possible to have visual signals on the outer borders of the screen as well that roughly tell you where something is happening that you can turn on or off in the settings. It would be a rather simple feature that I assume would not take too much time to implement and could make the game a lot more enjoyable for those with hearing problems.
That is just one thing I could think of, does anyone have some more ideas? Because I feel like there is a good but not too complicated market to be explored there.
Most of us here have completely functioning bodies, but there are some among us who don't, but still enjoy gaming just as much. But it doesn't really seem like the demographic of people with disabilities is paid much attention to when it comes to game development. Sometimes it happens, but it's not the norm. Partly also because people have so many different problems that devs feel like it would be catering to a niche market. But it doesn't always have to be complicated.
One positive example I have of developers regarding people with certain problems is the mode meant for colourblind people that was in BDO, where the affected could pick their condition and aspects of the game would have adjusted colours depending on what the problem was. Contrary to popular belief, colourblindness doesn't mean the person only sees in greyscales, and it is also quite common, especially in men.
Now I would have a suggestion on my own. I assume that the game would use stereo(maybe even surround?) features of loud speakers and headphones to tell you where something is happening, where a certain sound comes from. But what about the people who have trouble hearing for example?
When it comes to catering to partially or completely deaf people who need an alarm signal, something that is often used are bright lights, which is used for example when someone rings the doorbell or an alarm clock is going off.
Maybe it would be possible to have visual signals on the outer borders of the screen as well that roughly tell you where something is happening that you can turn on or off in the settings. It would be a rather simple feature that I assume would not take too much time to implement and could make the game a lot more enjoyable for those with hearing problems.
That is just one thing I could think of, does anyone have some more ideas? Because I feel like there is a good but not too complicated market to be explored there.
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