Accessibility - The Curb Cut Effect - Extra Credits
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2017
- Accessibility design makes the game better for all players, not only the disabled. By planning ahead and making more options available, designers can give players the tools to customize their experience in a way that fits them best.
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Accessibility options benefit all players - and they're easier to implement than many assume.
Extra Credits did you accidentally reuse the description from the last video?
FYI The description for this video is the same one for the Sunk Cost Fallacy video and really doesn't apply to this topic. Just thought I'd let you know in case you missed that. :-)
i love music and i do love video games but its hard to combind cuz most games have audi que's and i dont like it cuz i wanne just jam to that music i wish those featers get changed :/
exemple lol visual and audio que will make it possble for me to play it compedetive even with sound on or of i think loads more games need it and it will be more enjoyble and easy to find more enjoyble games :D
It's just a shame everybody has to yell whenever these options are introduced, because heaven forbid we expand a game's audience to be inclusive to other people who may be on the fence about trying it out.
Extra Credits can you do a video on Miiverse?
I don't have any hearing impairment and I still LOVE subtitles and always turn them on no matter what. Did a family member ask you a question? Voice actor mumbled a line? Environmental effects drown out dialogue? Subtitles got ya covered.
I hate subtitles and love having the option to turn them off. Watching fight club, the ending wasn't much of a twist because when your eyes are fixed in one centimeter of the bottom of the screen, Tyler and the protagonist literally look like the same dude played by the same actor 😂
It's also great for when you don't want to disturb your roommates
Same. My hearing isn't bad, but I like having subtitles anyway. That way, if I mishear something, I can read the subtitles.
I like subtitles because they let me play when I don't have headphones and I'm in a place where I don't want to bother other people.
I am not good at listening English, so i use subtitles instead
Subtitles actually added a lot of immersion to skyrim for me. Without them most of the random npc chatter would've been lost to the background noise for me.
Not a "traditional" disability, but things like autism make it harder to seperate useful noise (like someone talking) from random noise (like everyone else that's talking in that room)
Same but sometimes I wish a certain npc dialogue was prioritized over the others.
"Pickpocketing, now there's a REAL art"
same, if I fail to hear a single word sentences dont make sense to me, though im neurotypical for the most part
there is the minecraft subtitles in Java
Two other things that weren't mentioned it this video : remapable buttons (yes, even on console) and colorblindness. Both easy fixes and both live savers.
Mathieu LANCE you can remap buttons in the PS4 settings. Also console games don't really allow for that level of options.
someties you o pad is old and it helps to, like the X and square buttons are the first to break in the ps2
Also, the Switch now has grayscale and inverted color mode for colorblind people.
Accessibility for the colour blind seems to be so often forgotten. In grade 11 fitness class we did a 5k run. Part of the run was through a field where the route was marked by red spray painted arrows on the green grass. My friend, who is colour blind couldn’t see where he had to go
Like online melee should have remapable buttons
Also: Not all disabled people are disabled permanently.
Back when FF8 came out, I lost the use of my dominant hand for about a year due to surgery. I had already started it, and was heartbroken that I may not be able to finish it any time soon. I was surprised to discover that FF8 was actually quite playable without two hands. Just place the controller on a table, turn off the active battle system, and take your time with your inputs. Also, don't learn "boost" if you can help it (boost is basically button mashing gone wild).
Being able to play this game helped me SO MUCH during my recovery. Between physical therapy and pain and social issues and dealing with professors, it was super important to me to have a world to escape to for a while.
You don't even need to not learn boost, you just need a controller with a turbo-option to turn on and off.
That's injury
I *ALWAYS* use subtitles. Always. I don't have a hearing impairment, but what I do have is a family, and families make noise. Lots of noise. Children running, dogs barking, timers going off, etc.
I need subtitles to figure out what's going on. I might miss a great joke, or the entire opening cinematic if someone in my house is loud.
I'm a huge advocate for options in games, and language options.
Kntrytnt yup, for the same reasons I turned on all subtitles in Skyrim lol
Kntrytnt i also use subtitles! I have horrendously bad ADHD (and ASD), and when someone is talking in a cutscene I tend to tune them out, the text reminds me to focus and helps the jumbled sounds that make up language become something coherent that I can understand.
Furthermore, if you're not a native speaker it can be quite difficult to understand English from just hearing. Subtitles help A LOT for people from other countries where English is a second language. Reading a foreign language is just much easier.
Subtitles in games are also great for people whose 1st language isn't English. My English has significantly improved by playing games and watching movies/shows with subs on.
I just have a hard time focusing on exactly what it is that the characters are saying; same here where I know I'll miss a joke or important plot point if I don't have it in text format.
I don't have a hearing problem or anything, but I always tend to turn on subtitles, especially for fast-paced games, it's surprisingly helpful for keeping track of what's going on.
same
SoulFire Borg I agree, I play a lot of adventure games and cannot stand it when they don't give you subtitles because it is so easy to miss on crucial information.
Hell, I do it when watching TV to ensure I don't miss anything important.
Also.. not all people speak/understand these couple major languages well. There are thousands of languages and only handfull of them ever get full dialogue voice acted.
Subtitles are like a safety net. You get 2 opportunities to understand what's being said.
Yeah I often turn subtitles on for a lot of games because I like to listen to music while playing. And that can make it hard to hear what characters are saying.
Player: "Where's that plant I need to find to advance."
Shrub: "I'M GLOWING LIKE A GODDAMNED NIGHTCLUB SIGN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING."
Ninroot in Skyrim, except there’s not really a lot of quests that have to do with ninroot.
I just recently started playing Uncharted: The lost legacy. Before any title screen or cutscene, the game automatically brings you to a settings menu. Along with things such as brightness, language, and audio, there was a tab labeled "accessibility". Having watched this video a few days ago, I was instantly curious. After clicking on it, I was amazed by what I saw. Along with subtitles and various aiming assists, they also had an option for "repeated button presses". You could set this option to either "tap" or "hold". Not only that, but the easy mode for the game is called "Explorer". The description states "you want the story and adventure, but aren't interested in the challenge from combat". Overall, while these options didn't influence my actual gameplay experience, they made me respect the game on a whole new level. It's nice to see that at least one game has these options. This is the first time I've played an uncharted game, but I will definitely be playing more in the feature, if just to support these sort of features.
You never know when your will sprain or break a finger. Good to know it has those features.
Also play the last of us from the same developer naughty dog
Being late to the party, but I should say that "The Last of Us: Part II" took this even further. You may want to take a look one day
As a non-native English speaker, I love subtitles. They're not always required, but when they are, they REALLY are. I don't know what's up with English accents, but some of them are barely recognisable as human speech. In big games, you almost always end up meeting That One Character who you just can't understand. At all. Even if you're trying really hard.
yup, non-native here too o/ I can barely understand most non standard English. US southern accents and Irish are the toughest for me.
As a native English speaker, I'd also pitch in that I love subtitles - they're useful everyone! Too often, characters in games (and movies/tv) don't enunciate well enough, speak too soft, or have an accent that I can't quite figure out all the time etc, and I can miss what they said. I've taken to just enabling subtitles most of the time, so that when a line or character that is hard to understand comes along, I can quickly figure out what I missed at a glance, instead of having it completely miss out on the experience.
Heck my dude, English is my first language and I can barely understand them sometimes.
Been learning Spanish for quite a few years now and I know exactly what you mean. Some accents are just IMPOSSIBLE, especially dialects that dont pronounce all the letter (Puerto Ricans dont use the letter S almost at all when speaking for christ sake) so subtitles are always a welcomed addition
+Raymond McOwen "Me guta aprende lo idioma de to el mundo" like that? :D
Nice to see Sara again. The analogy to curb cuts is spot on -- never thought about that before!
dannymusic the other one is those bumps in the sidewalk- they're for the blind! Different bump types (lines, dots) actually denote different things such as a driveway opening or a turn.
they're good until a poorly planned city tries to put one on a 1 foot wide sidewalk.
Walpole brought her here
1 foot sidewalks aren't even handicap accessible. They're barely normal person accessible. You might as well not have a sidewalk. A sidewalk that small just seems like an aesthetic attachment to pay lip service to the idea of walking in a place where they don't really want anyone to walk.
TheAzure david he summoned me.
I agree sooo much with the "options before the first cenematic"
i love seeing cinematics at 800x600 p in a tiny window.
Also, I just love having my system unable to play the cutscenes with the default settings. Not game-breaking at all.
The CCommand & Conquer series is one of the worst offenders, even many modern machines have a hard time dealing with their videos.
I have speech processing issues. I can actually hear pretty well - not a pin dropping maybe, but a pretty normal range of sounds. But speech with other noises going on? Forget it, I won't be able to decipher it, not because I can't *hear* it but because I can't *understand* it. PLEASE make sure you have an option for *subtitles*. Not closed captions (though those are important too - Half-Life 2 letting you pick everything, just dialog, or nothing is great!), but subtitles. Just the speech, so I don't get distracted by 'footsteps' and 'gun fires' and 'coin collected'.
i was never diagnosed with anything but same
Fun fact for friends:
CC (CLOSED CAPTION) INCLUDES NOT SPEECH THINGS LIKE (TREE RUSTLING) OR (VASE HAATTERING)
Disabled Gamer here! Hello! A MASSIVE overlooked feature that wasn't mentioned here is key bindings. I can't hold a controller traditionally and have a hard time with triggers and bumpers. I used to have a very hard time with shooters because out of the 3 basic things you need to be able to do at the same time in shooters (move, aim, and shoot) I was only able to do 2, and that's with exclusively hip firing. I recently discovered that some of the games I had the hardest time with had really well implemented key binding options (Overwatch, Battlefield 1, and Titanfall 2) and my world has opened up. It is really disappointing to see that this option is not standard though. After having full control in games like Overwatch it's a real shame to have to give up that freedom in games like Rainbow Six: Siege, For Honor, and anything Japanese really. I am aware that both PS4 and Xbox One have their own universal binding options but not only are my needs different for every game (it's a pain in the butt to change it EVERY time I want to play something new) but Xbox One doesn't even let you bind the triggers to other buttons which doesn't help at all.
Sorry for the huge comment, but that's my 2 cents. Hope it helps!
zak552 there's a separate episode on key bindings so I decided not to cover it here.
Ah! I've only been a viewer for a little over a year now so I must have missed it. I'm going to find it and watch it now!
zak552 I was wondering if you know about the key binding thing that Microsoft offers with their elite controller? Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't know for sure), but doesn't that allow you to bind the triggers? I figure, since they're advertising key binding on that controller, it would make sense to allow a person to map any button/trigger to any other button/trigger.
I've done the research and the Elite still doesn't support trigger remapping. It's been a feature that people who identify having a disability and not have been begging for since 2015. It's frustrating lol.
Dont think they can rebind the triggers though. Triggers work on a scale unlike buttons that work on booleans, so if you want to use a button as a trigger they cant know how much you want the trigger to be held in.
That needs to be thought out by the creators themselves, as microsoft cant assume to know what the trigger will be used for in each game
Name your accecibilty easy mode something fun - like "super chill mode" for example. Also optional Vaporwave
Vaporwave is cracking me up mate. XD
Yoshi's Woolly world already kinda did that. That game's easy mode is called "Mellow mode."
I practically glow when I see the words "Zen mode" lolol
Relaxation Run
Standard Mode
_Super Frantic Fun_
*OH NO DADDY GET THE BARF BAG*
I like the one where easy mode is called "can i play too daddy ?", and the icon is your character on a stereotypical baby outfit
I've actually stopped caring about brightness in video games.
"Ooooooh, this game has dark spoopy corridors that you need to be in the dark to get the full experience."
Me: *turns up brightness to max*
Seriously, I just spend time and more time just squinting at the game trying to seeeeeeeeeeee instead of enjoying it and it taxes my eyes. Screw that. I have better things to do and I refuse to damage my eyes further.
I do this as well because I love horror games but don't actually enjoy being scared. Games where I can't see the next jumpscare coming are AWFUL to me.
Why would you do that 0:
Um, I have bad eyesight and I'm not actually a fan of getting scared. Also, I'm new to gaming so I'm not an intuitive navigator
My computer screen has a fairly low brightness so this is a problem I have.
Especcially with sun glare or glare from light sources in the room.
Speaking of subtitles, I swear to god some games you cannot read the text unless you have a giant TV or are sitting within a foot of the screen
you just described my ps4 experience
You just described my phone.
Or the fact the subtitles are thin af
Another related thing that very much needs mentioning: custom controls need to be an industry standard. It's sad that we still see the majority of games from major publishers not allow rebinding. Either they have very limited control options, or the control "options menu" is literally just a picture of a controller. It can't be THAT hard to, say, remap jump in Sonic Mania to the L button so they can play the game one-handed. But the game refuses to allow such a thing.
Of course that's the problem you face (given your videos) :pp
Oh hi! I have a question: do the switch in-system button remappings work just fine for you or are they not enough sometimes?
@@MantaKizaemonFTW They're a huge step forward, but they're not a perfect solution since they don't effect the in-game button prompts and have less utility in situations where multiple actions are/could be mapped to the same button (and when games have multiple separate playstyles with separate controls).
As a result, I usually just deal with the game's built-in controls.
@@Gamechamp3000 so what you're saying is that they're great, but could be better
If you're playing on switch or computer, you should be able to change that in system settings
Scrollable Text in Digital Card Games is one of the most genius UI design idea I've heard in recent memory - so let me expand on it a bit
If devs argue against it by saying "it ruins the printed card aesthetic" then argue back
1) if so make it readable, condense the information so that we won't need a microscope to read it
2) the information can also be broken down into a few pages - or even better just make it double sided - the back of the card doesn't have to be blank since it's not played physically - the front describe the gameplay effects while the back without the card art can tell the lengthy lore and story of the card
If an option would just override standard font size, the text could still be non-scrollable in standard setting. And yes, an overly long text ruins the aesthetic of a printed card, too.
but i like haerthstone's keyword mechanic
I always have on subtitles, I easily get distracted, so being able to look back and fast-read the subtitles before the next line of dialoque is super helpful! I also put my games on the easiest difficulty, having severe anxiety and not being able to handle a lot of visual and audio cues at once I hate quick time events, and usually have my audio and controller vibration turned off. One thing that pissed me of was playing wolfenstein the new order and having to put it on baby mode or as they call it "can I play, daddy?" with the protagonist wearing a smock and pacifier, fine wolfenstein, if my anxiety makes me a baby, fine.
Re anxiety, as somebody who used to be too terrified to play games even with God Mode on, I feel you. The “notarget” console command was a godsend.
Now i think this wya i hate wolfeistein now fk wolfeistein
minecraft has subtitles for sound effects and text-arrows pointing at the direction they came from which is kind of cool actually
I despise button mashing in games. Not only does it aggravate my carpel tunnel but I think it is unnecessary wear on my equipment. Idk how many controllers I and my friends have had to replace because the x/a button wears out prematurely.
I despise it too and I am not even disabled so I can only imagine how much it bugs or is even painful for people who have actual disabilities like carpal tunnel.
Then don't fucking play games that require hi speed button pressing. If you wear out many controllers then your personal control sucks. Don't bring my games down to your level.
I am one of those people that has enjoyed some quick time effects (Not all of course) but being forced to button mash always ruins the experience for me.
Name one game that has button mashing on the back of the disc case or in the trailer. Oh you can't? WELL HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE GAME HAS BUTTON MASHING (Also, things that aren't official don't count (Let's plays, speedruns, etc.))?
For myself i seen better (quick time evens): in monster hunter there is this mountin mechanic were you have to press x/a rapidly to bring a monster down who is going to try get rid of you so when he is shaking you have to stop and hold r/l this is so fun and rewarding because of the focus on your timing you have to put
Our current game, Collapsus, has a lot of accessibility options (because we started thinking about them very close to from the start of development):
Shapes inside blocks (for colorblindness)
Colorblind pallet presets (Allowing colorblind people to choose what type of colorblindness they have and we change the color palette of the entire game to match)
Dyslexic friendly font option
Font resizing
Difficulty settings
Speed controls
Re-mappable controls
GIU/on-screen input resizing
Brightness and contrast controls (separate settings for the whole screen, gameplay, and text fields)
Accessibility Switch Control compatible
Working toward full WCAG 2 AA Compliance
Working toward SmileMouse support
No way, you guys are in Ohio? I didn't know that there were any studios in our beautiful home state, and what's more you're only around 25 minutes from me. That's incredible, thank you for existing.
This might be a little late, but whatever, i'll say it anyway.
Don't restrict colorblind options to just a few sets of predetermined colors. Let the players choose which colors they want for everything that is color coded.
Recent Battlefield games are a pain to my colorblindness. They have 4 different sets of colors for minimap icons. All of them suck.
Most don't help at all for my case, and there is even one that kinda works but for some reason the enemy color becomes green which is so unintuitive.
Thank you on behalf of a visually impaired housemate for all your efforts to make you games more accessible. :)
Tbh custom colour options are great for everyone. I am not colourblind or anything but sometimes I will get a headache from using the default colours, colourblind mode doesn't help and I just have to bail on the game. Being able to isolate the exact colour that is causing me an issue and change it is something I wish more games had.
My mom also cant use computers without fiddling with both brightness and contrast because she gets headaches too from that.
Even the smallest things help. One Paralympic athlete, a blind swimmer, can only play the Pokémon games because of that little sound you hear whenever you bang into a wall
"also add subtitles for sound effects"
I agree, but please have it be a separate toggle from spoken text subtitles (subtitles vs closed captions). There's a difference between someone who doesn't speak a language that well, and someone who is actually unable to hear.
I am personally perfectly capable of being able to tell gunshots apart from footsteps, and perfectly capable of distinguishing between the protagonist whispering and a newly introduced character's first spoken words whose moving mouth is in the dead center of my screen. I don't want this information redundantly thrown into my face when all I need is the words written down to aid me in understanding a language that isn't fluent to me.
I understand the importance of closed captions for sound effects, and am all in favor of it. But don't make it be all-or-nothing. It is like having stairs available for well-legged people, and elevators available for the wheelchair bound, but having no handrails available on the stairs for people in between.
This is an excellent point and very well articulated. Can I ask what your native language is?
I'm a native english speaker and am _way_ better at picking out even subtle details in environmental sounds than I am at understanding speech in an even moderately noisy environment.
@@dynamicworlds1 same here.
@@dynamicworlds1 i'm*
That last sentence is such a perfect analogy.
"Pun fully intended, come at me" AW
I come at you with Bro-Hug!
I've seen some indie games have a feature to adjust their color palette for colorblind people.
Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't mention colorblindness. Particularly since (unless I'm totally off-base) I don't imagine it would be terribly difficult to throw a post-filter onto the screen that globally alters the color palette to fit various forms of colorblindness. Also, holy shit I hate how this comment box looks now. Seriously, RUclips, WTF.
Jason Blalock we ran out of time but yeah, colorblindness in some form affects over 6% of men. It's a huge deal.
Not just Indies. Overwatch has several colorblind modes, and the Switch has a number of system level color options for accessibility that affect all games.
There's also Splatoon, which has an option to lock the ink colors to something easier for people with color blindness to tell apart.
I've heard that Overwatch's colorblind mode is actually not that good for people who are colorblind, as it instead just uses color filters. There's an amazing Bastion player who (I think) is in grand masters called Kolorblind, and a while ago he made a post on the Overwatch forums about the need for real color blind modes. I believe Jeff Kaplan responded to it, thanking him and saying that it was something that they would definitely look into as it's such an important accessibility feature.
Tried playing Witcher 3 without subtitles on my second playthrough to have “clean, clear cinematic cutscenes”; turned them on right away after meeting the first rock troll.
Shout-out to Grounded's Arachnophobia slider that lowers the level of realism in the "giant" spiders to a couple of round shapes based on your choice.
Holy hell this is a real thing?! I would die for this feature to be implemented in every game with spiders.
I'll post this under ECs pin and in general so it gets better visibility, because accessibility can be simpler than some people realize.
TLDR: For some, like me, accessibility is as easy as having the option to remap buttons, or in best case: Use a controller.
Just that makes a big difference. If you plan to put your game on console and PC, please, give controller options to PC. You can even give mouse/board options to console if someone wants to use them via some kind of rigging.
Not enough devs realize being able to hold your hands in some positions isn't always an option for people. Just being able to pull a couple of buttons to a different spot, or have the option to hold a controller over putting your wrists at an angle and/or against a surface can be a world of difference.
Even if for some reason you can't rebind, adding controller options can be a big help to someone with damaged hands. I've seen that controllers can be easier for kids to wrap their minds around too, and having options beyond controllers for console can help older folks in some cases. This goes both ways.
Button rebinds/controller options are a great example of 'curve cuts' that just make things better in those niche cases, while giving everyone a more custom experience.
I have no disabilities, but I LOVE having subtitles in games. While movies and TV shows generally balance the audio really well, games tend to not be as exact. They're usually great at lowering music volume, but not so much with sound effects or handling audio balance which can result in some words being drowned out or simply too faint.
In my experience, movies *really* don't balance it well. They're the ones that most often make me adjust the volume constantly. For games, I just turn the volume down (since they're always wayy too loud for some reason?) and maybe turn the voice volume up a little. I don't really ever sit with my hand on the audio knob in games (Although having to do so would make most games impossible lmao), and fuck me have (high budget) films made me do that a lot
I always turn subtitles on for exactly this reason. Two background characters arguing or a horse neighing can complete obscure what is being said.
well then imagine the life saver subtitles are for non native english speakers in games with plenty of strange names or war based game with lots of shooting in the background!
Nathan Christian Yeah I love subtitles, I can hear everything pretty well I'm just a weirdo that likes to read along with the audio
Although my English is quite good, as a non-native English speaker, subtitle in games help sooooo much. Sometimes I just too absorbed to the visuals that I couldn't actually catch what the guy is talking or maybe that dude with a weird voice can't be heard clearly.
As a side note, some subtitles also made me realize some 'random event' happened somewhere near me that I wouldn't noticed otherwise.
I adore those games that provide Brightness and subtitles options before the game started.
The whole QTE thing is an example of my preference in using Accessibility features despite me being an able-bodied person. Uncharted 4's now-famous "QTE Hold" feature is something I turn on because I legit prefer them that way, particularly because Uncharted's style of QTE implementation often means that the animation doesn't actually reflect how well I'm doing at it. Subtitles are also fantastic for when I'm making unofficial Timeline documents and I wanna make sure I'm catching all the details, as well as for anyone playing in an environment that requires privacy.
KBABZ HI KBABZ
KBABZ ya know what game could have used a hold for it's one quick time event, Sonic Rush, other games generally have one rapid press button and it lasts 10 seconds max. Rush has 2 buttons to alternate and it can last 30 seconds to a whole minute
Wow, that sounds painful. Like really, my hand tendons get stressed just on Uncharted's winch QTEs, so doing that would wreck my hand!
Two words: Remappable controls.
One word: No mans sky
I use subtitles in minecraft because I play without sound. Even when I play with sound, those subtitles help. I can't always hear the creepers and other monsters, and I can only use half of my headphones due to a higher risk of infection in one ear
Heya it's Sara again! Hope you all enjoyed and I'm happy to answer any questions you have- reply here so I can find them in the mass of comment responses!
If you want to say hi in person I'll be at PAX and I'm running a panel on Sunday, 2PM a in Cat Theater on puppetry and robotics. It won't be streamed, but it will be recorded and I'll put it up on my channel next week.
It's always a pleasure collaborating with everyone at EC and hopefully I was able to share some insight on how to make your next game just a bit more user friendly!
Just want to say thanks for helping with the episode and bringing more attention to this subject. As a gamer with a disabled wife (who isn't into gaming) I find this topic really intriguing. Unfortunately though her disability includes a complete loss of the use of her left arm, so it's hard to find gaming experiences that she can enjoy. But every time we are able to share a gaming experience together I remember it. So thanks again for this topic, I hope to see more EC videos about it again in the future!
Alright, moment of truth. In a video game's options menu, should Subtitles be under "video" or "audio"?
pocketlint60 personal opinion? Audio. For those that are hearing impaired, subtitles are how they hear TV and film.
Matthew Rice get in touch with Able Gamers. They make one handed controllers for just that kind of physical disability.
Hey Sara. Do you know Halfcoordinated? He's amazing :3
The Nintendo switch's multitude of control styles almosts acts as a built in accessibility feature. Mario Kart 8 can be played one handed with tilt steering turned on. In fact, when playing with my 7yo daughter, I turn on her steering assist and play one handed to level the playing field. Makes it much more enjoyable for both of us.
Yes to all of this. I am somewhat hard of hearing and live with subtitles, captions, etc., and besides which need customization options oftentimes for hardware consideration (and even though my eyesight is fine NOW, I really like increasing font and UI size so as not to strain too much). The VERY FIRST thing I do with every game I play is check the options menu, and any game with accessibility options instantly gives me a good first impression. Any game that doesn't at least have a subtitle option is a lesser game to me (allowing subtitles in the opening cinematic is a plus, too).
Thanks for this! I'm not physically disabled, but I do have OCD and anixety, along with autism. Could you do an episode about mental disabilities in games, or a list of games with mentally disabled characters? It's a subject that would mean a lot to me.
Roni Finn I second this, I think it would be really interesting!
Video games have been a great source of comfort for me when I’m depressed or feeling really anxious or on-edge. Especially games that are just a bit repetitive, it can really help me out.
I know Hellblade has been a huge name in the media lately for having a main character suffering a mental illness.
I personally liked Susan Ashworth’s struggle with depression in The Cat Lady. It was a dark game but also oddly hopeful. I think about it a lot.
At least for me my mental diabilities are almost as impactful as a physical one would be on my ability to play a game.
If the game has too much suspense or is too action/stress based. I cant play it. I have had to just stop playing twitchy games, now I cant play online FPS's either.
ilivetofly X
I don't think there is a fix for that though. Your disability is just restricting you to certain genres of games. I have a disorder that causes pain in my extremities, especially when doing repetitive motions (such as using a controller or keyboard/mouse). It effects my ability to play games at all (except maybe visual novels). Outside of reduced difficulty, I cannot see any means of making games more accessible from a developer standpoint. It would have to be a hardware consideration. For example I find using arcade fighting sticks much easier than a controller (because I don't have to hold a controller and not engaging my tendons). Most console games that I have tried accept them and I have been considering commissioning one with two sticks for games that need camera control. I will never be able to play competitively at an FPS or fighting game, but that's fine I have no desire to do so. Of course, local anesthetic to my wrists and elbows would also solve the problem, but hey, I couldn't inject my joints with it forever or even long, scar tissue would eventually make it almost impossible.
Yes, absolutely! I'm also autistic and whenever I see a character who can be interpreted as ND-coded, I get so excited. The sole reason I bought Overwatch was because I resonated with Symmetra (another autistic Desi woman) so much. I wish game developers would focus more on representation along with accessibility, it could draw in so many new players with little additional effort.
Warframe (a free-to-play game) has one character that has autism. The developers put in some effort in preventing stereotyping, so it was hard for 'neurotypical' players to spot. They didn't shove the diagnosis in players' faces, they didn't go all out with every single possible symptom, they didn't give the character a 'weird' voice... He sounds like a normal pre-teen. It's just that he needs to use emotion cards to help figure out how to say how he feels.
What, do you guys not move objects by aggressively shoving it in short bursts? You must be doing it wrong
"That's how I punch boulders"--Chris Redfield
"As a rule of thumb; pun fully intended, come at me" that was the best part 👌👌👌
No, the best part was "Seriously, Dark Souls didn't invent dodge rolling"
Subtitles are a god send for people like me who have ADHD. I’m fairly sure I have an auditory processing disorder along with my ADHD (which is really common), so having the subtitles both keep my attention focused on the screen and help me actually hear what’s happening.
I’d love to be able to turn off QTEs. I’ve “died” so many times in games because what I thought was an in engine cutscene that turned out to be a QTE.
Same here! Plus, I find that they can really ruin the experience of anything going on during the QTE.
I have to chime in on this topic to agree with the benefit to busy parents. The ability to enable subtitles in games has been a huge help to me lately now that I have a rambunctious two year-old. It's not always as simple as just turning up the volume. Or maybe I want to play when she's down for a nap and not risk waking her. I'm really glad to see this trend in gaming. Also, lower difficulty options in games has allowed me to play through games like Persona 5 without needing the large time commitment to grind out extra levels. Thanks for the great video guys, keep up the good work!
3:50
Dueling Network, and by extension, Dueling Book already does this.
Sadly they don't have (I think) adjustable text size, but they DO have text scrolling for a online card game.
I really love the point you made about giving good names to difficulty settings. It takes next to no time or money to implement, but having something be called "story mode" vs "easy" or "beginner" can make all the difference to a lot of people.
I just want to point out the irony that this video does not have captioning. I was attempting to watch this in a loud environment and had to rely on cupping my hands around the speaker to hear it when I found there were no, non auto generated, captions.
ler74 that's because CCs are done by the fans. Wait an hour- it'll be up
Very good point--unfortunately we do not have resources on staff to make captions for each and every video. Google auto-captions most if not all of our videos, and that's a pretty good substitute (we don't get a lot of "misheard English" in those). For everything else, we rely on our awesome viewer community to provide subtitles in the languages of their choosing! If you are interested in contributing closed captions (in any language, to any RUclips video), you can check out this help article: support.google.com/youtube/answer/6054623?hl=en
ler74 it has Russian though!
You could enable community created captions - this will allow people on youtube to caption your videos and you'd be surprised how many people are willing to do that for free! Just make sure to check the submitted captions since letting the internet have free reign on anything can lead to disaster
We always have this feature turned on :D our community has done an awesome job at providing captions in dozens of languages since we started the show!
As someone with dyslexia, I find I get frustrated with games that give you 'options', but inaction is an unwritten option. At best, I usually can read two of the on screen choices before the game chooses inaction for me. I just want a way to slow down the timer or to pause it entirely. Looking at you, TellTale.
I work as a UI Designer, and do my best to speak up for people who have difficulty reading or seeing certain colors (I'm also mildly colorblind).
It's nice to see an episode like this, and I'd also love to see you address the fact that we as an industry could do a better job of including well-written disabled characters in our games.
phienixfire I just want a blind person done correctly in media once. Not stumbling, no superpowers. Just a blind person.
Sara Winters "Becker" had a blind character, and the only time I saw it as particularly inconvenient was when somebody robbed the restaurant he was at because nobody else was in the room and he couldnt see him go behind the counter and take the money while they talked.
Yes, I shouldn't have to be a super speed reader just to do qte crap, especially if things pop up on weird areas of the screen. And rapid button changes are the bane of my existence on anything but the Gamecube controller because it has the best button layout.
Sara Winters I was about to suggest Toph but you said no superpowers so... Regardless, I think she is a good example of a disabled character. Here's another suggestion: Lily Satou.
The only really good blind character I can think of is Marina from Arthur.
I really appreciate games that use subtitles. I have severe ADHD that brought with it a speech processing problem, so it’s really hard for me to play games with no subs and still understand what’s going on. Thanks for making this video and bringing to light just how important accessibility features are for everyone!
One of the most significant accessibility features in a game for me is when the game turns down the visual effects of other characters, or when I can turn off some visual effects (for example, turn of particle effects). I have a very mild form of autism which means I experience overstimulation. My brain has a hard time absorbing and processing simultaneous information. When a million effects go off at the same time, I'm unable to react because it's like my screen froze but it's my brain instead. This is different from say a bullet hell game where you only have to process two patterns at the same time (the one you're avoiding now, and the one you're avoiding next). The experience is also much better the more senses I'm using to gather information about my environment (so being able to choose whether particular cues are visual or auditory can be important). I also just really prefer it when non-diagetic cues (visual or auditory) are kept minimally invasive so that I can enjoy the world.
As much as I love WoW, it used to have the most horrendous visual cue: a fountain of sparkles coming from any object that could be interacted with. That was fine and dandy when there was one such object on the screen: but if you had several in a room then it was really annoying. It actually made figuring out where exactly to click harder, because the sparkles traveled upwards and their source wasn't always obvious. They recently changed to using an outline, which is so much better for me. If there's several outlined objects in the room, it's still easy to take in how the room is laid out. It also doesn't obscure where to click when there are multiple interactive objects. Things like that seem stupid, but they can dramatically impact the experience. MMORPGs have a lot of stuff going on in them, so even little things like that can help a lot.
Uhm, i kinda have this one-thing-at-the-time-feature too. Quick dodging-games, are perfect to me, cause i just have to react. But games with heavy long-term planning parts or the one's with open yet giant beautiful worlds and shaders are nearly impossible to play for me. They are overloading me and i get lost in it pretty every couple minutes. It's the same with the newer Anno and Civ game graphics. The water is looking really nice and realistic and the lights and shadows too, but that's to much to process. For Civ though, it is possible to switch to some sort of tactical overlay, in which any tile, city and unit will become a symbol instead and the map crops down to a top-down chess-like game. No moving or attacking sequences. That's just perfect. But then i start missing how nice it would be, to just ponder over the beautiful created things and details in those games. My personal dilemma.
I remember when I was a kid, my Dad got a Humble Indie Bundle that included VVVVVV. Kid me loved going through options, and I soon found the accessibility options, named as such, to both slow down the game and make Viridian invincible.
And that last option is what let me play the damn thing with poor fine motor control. (Though no No Death Mode for me.)
A legendarily difficult platformer implemented these options so as many people as possible could play.
Think about that.
I am putting "It was Walpole" on my tombstone
Travis Phillips but was it Walpole?
It was Walpole
Travis Phillips I paused right as I saw this on screen to see if there were any other Extra History fans here who noticed and I wasn't let down!
Why let a little thing like a running gag stop a good crusade?
yes, xd
As the neurodivergent offspring of a software developer who specializes in accessibility, I am so glad a video was made on this. Things have gotten a lot better, but they still have a long way to go. Plus, this video shows that accessibility isn't this difficult, invasive thing. It helps everyone.
Indie mobile game developer here... I recently showcased our game at a small event with a wide range of attendees. Being a mobile game, we keep controls as simple as possible, while trying to maximize the experience of the genre we're working with (arcade shooters). One particular attendee tried out our game and I'll never forget the experience for both of us. This attendee had no hands... but was still able to tap across the demo tablet and play our game as well as most other players. I'm sure coming into the event, she expected to watch the festivities, but giving her a chance to play and blow up some virtual kitchens completely made her day... and in turn, made my day as well.
I'm pretty sure Valve already has the "subtitle sound effects" feature in their games. IIRC, in their options menu, they have three choices: "off" (self-explanatory), "subtitles" (only spoken dialogue gets captions), and "closed captions" (all sounds get captions). For dialogue, different characters even get different-colored captions.
4:52 We had the "Turbo" button on a few controllers that generated a button mash when a button was held down, and while this wasn't initally intended for accessibility, it could definitely help with people who have mobility issues. There are a few controllers which still have this feature but they are far and few between.
Part of why turbo controllers don't come up to much anymore is because most people look at them as cheating in one way or another, and that's often one way they would be used. But you might have already known this.
I would say though, that this just compounds the issue of button mash QTEs that could use a hold option instead of a mash option; as getting a modern turbo controller is not only difficult, but stigmatised. Not to mention expensive.
well I had one and I used it and can say that in some games its really cheaty like i had a starfox game and useing that there was a quick shoot and a charge lazer depending on how long you held down the button and turbo allowed me to pass that and basicaly have an infinite machine gun.
i like subtitles when my headphones are making glitchy noises, or i'm watching a video on a subject that i'm not used to.
reading things makes me remember them better. :D
Honestly, most accessibility settings such as subtitles should be default on. Players who don't need such things are more than capable of finding a settings screen and adjusting things how they like. Good default practices is another thing the industry needs to figure out though, ha.
Bad default options is part of why pinball had gone from being in every ice cream parlor, grocery store, and shopping mall to something barely anyone even remembers. Games got much more complex in the 80's and 90's with the advent of solid state drives, but the problem was that each was built with the people who already played the previous games in mind, and they never bothered to observe non-fans and casual players to see what they failed to understand. The result is that there are a hundred different things a pinball fan thinks is fundamental and super-obvious that no one else is even aware of.
For instance, almost all pinball machines made in the last 40 years supports multiplayer, up to 4 players (with machines by SEGA supporting up to 6). Each player takes turns at the machine. Absolutely NONE of them explain that it even exists, let alone how to start it. (To start multiplayer, push the start button a number of times equal to the number of players. You have to have at least that many credits on the machine though.)
lol it sounds like a secret code from like old school games.
Something that the majority thinks is a nuisance should be the default? That's a great way to lose customers.
@@cutecommie And your mentality is a great way to be ignored.
Don't forget color blind mode! If the main difference between enemies and friends is that one is red and one is green you need an option to modify those colors.
I'm not visually impaired, but for some reason, I can't stand playing games without subtitles. I love it when developers make it as easy as possible to turn them on.
Spinnis KMF Right, lol. Apparently, I'm mentally impaired...
5:10 I just realized that in "Outlast 2" theres an option to remove QTE's.
2:19 i think that this channel is trying to start a meme. i'll call it the "heck snake"
As a visually impaired person, I am so happy when devs even put options in to help me out. I read quite slowly, so Telltale games have been a struggle for me for a while. Thanks for bringing light to this troublingly underlooked topic
So ironic, a video on accessibility the same day that youtube's design gets even more unintuitive.
I did not know about the change, it's not fine, I am not complaining about nothing, and I will not move on.
i didnt know until just now
Not that i particularly enjoy bitching, but knowing about it doesn't make it less frustrating, it's not just the visuals, what upsets me the most is the inability to keep my sidebar open while doing other things simultaneously. They just removed a useful feature for no reason, i hope they at least read the feedback messages.
I clicked on my account's icon and the option to return to the old layout is available. If you chose to do so, you can also provide feedback.
thank you
Reminds me of something from a documentary about IDEO. "Design for the extremities and the middle resolves itself"
Thank you for the segment on quick-time events. My dad has dystonia parkinsonism, and he loved to play the older God of War games. He was actually better at them than I was - he could get through on the hardest difficulty aside from one thing, the quick-time events. His reaction times being slowed plus his inability to button mash practically made them impossible for him, he’d always end up having to have me do them.
I personally have a color deficiency (not completely colorblind, but certain colors blend so as to be indistinguishable). I just wish more games would have a colorblind mode or the options to toggle labels rather than color-coding, especially for things like magic item level.
Good topic!
stpieraf we had a bit on colorblindness that I think got cut for time? There's a lot of ways to solve that problem, from color + pattern to a dual color and name system.
Reminds me of my experience with the Dark Souls 3 Boss Crystal Sage. In phase too she spawns illusional clones of herself and it takes a while to figure out which one is real. My friends told me they had no difficulties with this fight as the real one was purple while the illusions were blue. I was almost impossible for me to tell.
I've played plenty of games which allow you to switch to a color blind mode.
stpieraf tho it should be implemented far more
Im not color blind but I have found a problem with dark colors being difficult to distinguish (could be color blindness just havent gotten it looked at) and turning up the gamma feels cheaty and often ruins any visual good look I wish there was a make this game brighter option that didnt make everything look white.
We like Sarah. Sarah has good ideas. I will be more like Sarah.
Daniel Gill
So what your saying is that helping 1 person can help everyone hearing that makes my heart shine
Thanks for addressing one of my issues. Many games start their cinematics and cut-scenes without letting me switching on the subtitles. Because of that I get an impulse to finish the cut-scene ASAP and switch on the subtitles. Hence I cannot enjoy it. Thank you Extra Credits and Many Thanks to Sarah for voicing my issue.
Love you guys.
You missed one group that uses subtitles: streamers. The people that are getting your game seen out there.
anothertwunt curb cuuuuts help everyoneeeeee
anothertwunt that's fantastic thinking. now that you brought it up, it makes me wonder why more games don't have a 'streamer option' button in the menu which enables subtitles, lowers sfx/music, and mutes any copyrighted music that might've been featured in the soundtrack.
As a disabled pc-gamer my biggest problem are games without configurable keys
Have you tried AutoHotKey?
yea I was gonna mention a program like that. I hope it helps!
Thanks for your suggestions. I have Razer Naga and the Razer software allows remapping from there, but it still is annoying to need 3rd party solutions for problems that should be controllable from the game itself.
I use JoyToKey. It's free and IIRC if you email the devs saying you want it for accessibility issues they will send you a free key code, though I don't think there's a functional difference between freeware vs full, except that with free version it will sometimes (extremely rarely) open your browser to their purchase page when you first start your PC.
I use it to play turn based games, or slower paced games, with a gamepad where they don't have it.
I needed it temporarily for about 6 months to a year due to injury, now it's just for preference / enjoyment.
The thing that pisses me off the most is when games half half-assed unfinished controller support which interferes with using JtK or similar programs because it will try to do the few things the devs mapped to it in addition to, or instead of, what you map via the program.
XCOM2 did this until a year after its release, Chroma Squad did/does this, Shadowgrounds did/does this which irks me because it's a twin stick shooter but no ability to use gamepad.
To me fully rebindable keys are a must and should be in every game, including the ability to remove function from keys/buttons.
this is really, really important!!! i have trouble focusing on auditory-heavy information without something to read along to, like written lyrics or subtitles, and it really helped me on playing cutscene- heavy games such as the recent south park games. it may have been made with a specific community in mind but accessibility is for everyone!!
I loved the fact that difficulty levels in "Heretic 2" were named "Adventure", "Action", "Armageddon". Does not judge your abilities or approach, but tells you exactly what sort of experience you can expect.
I found this channel recently and have enjoyed it immensely. I love the amount of applicable knowledge you provide in these videos, and I will be sure to make use of it if the opportunity arises. Keep up the awesome work!
One of the coolest accessibility features I've seen shifted the entire screens color pallet to allow for people with color blindness to play.
Doesn't actually work though as I understand. You need colour alternatives to convey information for colour-blind people. E.g. the different shapes in Puzzle Bobble etc.
'Be been waiting years for this episode. It makes me so happy to see this being shown here. I wish more games would have these features as I am a person who is legally blind but I love games so much. Your show is actually what made me want to become a game designer and now I'm beginning my freshmen year at DigiPen and hoping that I can get more accessibility knowledge out there to other developers too. Once again thank you so much for this episode!
A thousand times yes on setting up the options at the start of booting up, I love it when games do this. I like to make sure everything is configured to my personal setup so I can start up and jump in without having to change stuff during gameplay. That initial opening cutscene is great, but I would enjoy it more if I can configure controls or screen ratio before it.
As a non native English speaker, I find subtitles useful, even though I have good hearing. Especially dialects tend to be hard for me to understand. Though I prefer if there is an option to just subtitle spoken lines, not sound effects.
I agree. It's easier for me to understand things in my second language written than spoken.
ruclips.net/video/p9Q48YlFKEA/видео.htmlstart=12&end=16
even though i am a native english speaker i am also polylingual and often times find im mixing languages in my head while hearing them subtitles give me a lot more clarity and help me understand what im hearing a lot better
Was that Neighbor with baby Craig from Dream Daddy? o.o
dreeaaaaam daddy
I love access features, specifically subtitles as sometimes my brain just doesn't process spoken language and being able to read what is said helps me know what's going on, also being able to adjustthe hud and text size is absolutely amazing as it greatly improves my immersion, many games were dod for me because I simply couldn't read without straining my eyes to the point of a headache
On showing an options menu before an opening cinematic, this is also helpful for many people who don't even need accessability options. It will let you configure your resolution so the scene doesn't look gross or improperly sized, or also allow users with weaker hardware to even run some of these scenes in the first place.
I want to point out that accessibility goes beyond physical ability! sometimes it can also mean other obstacles that are present in a persons life. Access to education (linguistic clarity, reading outloud text), and financial accessibility (sales, and configurations for old or cheaper hardware) can do wonders! Even Language options are a form of accessibility!
It always makes me sad that I can’t recommend great games like FTL, Binding of Isaac, Undertale, Owlboy and sooo many other great games because they’re only in english and you can’t just subtitle or translate them like any other medium. It just cuts these people completely off.
If its financial accessibility maybe people should be concerned more about some more basic needs (like food, shelter, education) instead of a luxury (like video games, the newest electronic hardware, the newest iPhone, etc)
so are you saying poor people dont diserve to be happy a computer can cost 1000s of dollars when a game can cost $1 or $10 and you can play it for days or even weeks of time
maxybaer123 if your computer cost over a thousand- you screwed up.
or I bought a high end computer or a mac
One game I can think of that has great accessibility for blind players is Killer Instinct. I know several players that are blind that play it, and at a high level, because the sound design so distinct and nuanced.
KI also falls under the examples the video talks about because the nuances of the sound design give all players audio cues that help them distinguish different sets of moves and figure out how to react accordingly.
Spinnis KMF the same way a blind person uses sound alone to navigate! There's actually a small scene of totally blind accessible games that are sound only, including a Doom mod
As someone who can only play shooters with the Y-axis inverted, I can really appreciate one of the final comments about how it is now a standard options to invert the Y-axis for camera purposes. I sincerely hope that adding more of these accessibility features will allow more people to enjoy games in the future.
As a person with adhd large text and subtitles are a life saver cuz they catch my attention more than just the audio
Maybe it's because I've played games too much over the years, but I've started seeing games calling their "easy" mode "story" or something (an example is The Witcher III), and I think I actually find that a bit more condescending than just "easy". "Very easy" or "super easy" or whatever, I agree with that, but I don't see much problem with something like the Trails series's difficulties: easy normal hard nightmare. Especially with some clarification (I think Trails of Cold Steel describes easy as "for people who just want to sit back and enjoy the story" or something along those lines).
I think "medium" is better than normal. An "easy", "medium", "hard", "nightmare" scale feels less judgey. Though in a game with lots of story to it "story" isn't a bad name for a mode that focuses on that aspect of the game. It's not as universally applicable though.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution did this. The difficulties were called "Tell me a story", "Give me a challenge" and "Give me Deus Ex". I played on Medium. I think that was about right for me.
Medium is fine. I was mostly focusing on the "easy" end of the spectrum with that comment.
A lot of games call the easiest mode "casual." Like there will be "casual, easy, normal, hard, nightmare" (I think that's Dragon Age's difficulty settings). I think that's fine.
San Shinobi actually, that could work. Even if a game journalist is the best player in what ever genre that the game in, setting it to the lowest difficulty would allow then to get through a game faster. Aster all, there so many games being released these days. Spending to much time reviewing a game might mean that a hidden gem stay hidden. Of course, you still want to give the game a proper review, so maybe not.
I suffer from muscular dystrohphy which severely cuts ones physical strength, i cant even lift my arms up let alone stand or walk. Some of my fave game franchises are Nintendo's...you can probably see where im going with this. I've not been able to enjoy Nintendo's games for over a decade now because they dont give options for people like me. Even the wii u has many games that make you need to lift the tablet.
+1
how about games like smash 4, mario kart etc?
one thing i noticed with both the wiiu and switch, is that the controller (the pro controller for wiiu, and the joy cons for the switch, even in the grip) weigh next to nothing. The joy cons in particular. do those work for you?
well my arms cant even lift their own weight up sooo, even if the controllers actually weighed nothing i still couldn't, and yeah there are games id be able to play on both consoles. but they're too far and few between to justify buying the console. id rather spend the money on PC and PS4 since those i can play basically anything. i am trying to get a hold of a switch currently though. excited nintendo's finally giving a console i can play again.
How did you adapt your daily life in account of your disability?
Another Fantastic episode! really glad to see this coming from you guys
I'm in my last couple semesters for becoming a teacher, and my special education instructor gave us some advice that blends perfectly with this video. Things that we do to accommodate our students with disabilities can be applied to the general education classroom as well. Things that make for good special education instruction makes for great general education instruction, too!
This is interesting for developers in general, not just for game devs :D
Sauron I'm actually a dev in aerospace now, not games (though I consult for games when asked) and we have the saaaame problem. Heck, I think it's even worse not in gaming honestly.
Yu-gi-oh Duel Links actually has scroll-able card text.
I've been recovering for a while from a knee injury, and I see all the little ways that we can make life easier for people who need it the most.
This is so important! I'm a disabled gamer, and this is such a big deal for me. Thank you so much for bringing attention to it!
When I make my game I'm going to put in as much accessibility options as possible in a subcategory in my options screen. I just want everyone to play my game in the way that works the best for them.
RealSackieMax2000
Another stellar video!
I really despise it when people get angry over options to make something easier and/or more accessible.
For example, I would love to play a Dark Souls game on a lower difficulty, maybe not losing souls on death, or more bonfires... Because I am just not good enough to play the game normally. A few medications in the past kind of ruined my reaction times and general hand coordination, and the fact that I don't have as much time nowadays kind of destroys any fun of having to tackle the exact same challenge 20 times, finally winning, only to slip off a ledge before getting to the next bonfire, and having to start all over again.
If I ever make a video game, I will try my absolute best to include as many options as I can.
You see the thing is dark souls is all about being difficult thats the whole shtick, if it wasn't so painstakingly difficult then it would just be "yet another medieval RPG with above-average combat". Arguably, dark souls is quite buggy and even unfair on multiple occasions (I'm looking at you terrible camera system) but if you want an easy experience, you can actually do it all ingame - the pyromancer class is notorious for being the "easy mode" of dark souls, and having completed a single run with warrior then trying out pyromancer it really does make a big difference. Additionally certain items can greatly benefit you when used correctly and there are a ton of hidden secrets around the huge map that lead to bonfires, extra loot and better gear. If you don't want to have to find all of these yourself you can look up guides and builds for classes, there are tons online.
But the reason I even like the idea of Dark Souls is the exploration and finding gear and all that. If I strip that away for myself just to be able to play it, that's like stripping the beef from a beef roast.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that being over the top punishing is kind of Dark Souls' "thing", but I quite enjoy the lore and environments, which I won't get to enjoy without ruining the main game mechanics that I enjoy in the game in the first place.
Even the combat... I don't entirely mind it being really difficult. What I mind more is the extreme punishment that comes from losing combat.
I personally wouldn't mind trying the same combat encounter 15 times until I win, *if* I could save my progress. But there are usually multiple encounters between bonfires (from the small amount I played), and saving at a bonfire respawns all the enemies, so you haven't gained anything from winning an encounter after n times, if you die to the encounter right after it.
But anyway, I wouldn't in my dreams force any game designer to give up their vision if they want to make a really frustrating game, but I would like it to be different.
In other games, especially action games or even shooters, as long as they have a decently short autosave/save spot interval, I am comfortable biting my teeth out on difficult parts.
Enough rambling. I doubt I even said more than one or two points in this wall of text.
I'm the same, in regard to the lore. I love the mystery and detective work involved in Dark Souls and Bloodborne lore, but can only learn about it second hand, through folks like Vaatividya and Smoughtown, and thank heaven for them doing it, but there's often a lot of environmental storytelling lost that way.
(Side note: if anybody's got recommendations for games with similar detective work and mystery elements to their lore/story that are easier, I'd love to know about them)
I'm a little late to the party here, but you know what kind of subtitles I love most? The subtitles that get bigger or smaller depending on how far away the speaker is from you. There are so many moments I could have missed in a game because the subtitle just comes and goes as I run by the speaker, having no idea who was actually talking or if what they were saying was important. It helps me so much in RPGs where you can find yourself in a crowded marketplace or something of the like.
It's great having the subtitles to clue me in on what ambient conversations are important and then to actually go locate the source of that conversation. It's also a fun element in a horror or otherwise high tension game. Seeing those subtitles pop-up tiny and slowly start growing before I can even hear the monster is TERRIFYING.
This is such a good video/subject. I don't have any disabilities, but I notice I do use some of these options, because of different reasons. Like scaling letters because I didn't own a HD screen. Or putting the subtitles on to be able to hear everything, because I can not put the sound loud at night or there is to much noise. I love seeing how these things are useful to everybody.
THANK YOU for mentioning the button mashing. I was never able to complete Resident Evil 4 on hard because I couldn't mash the button fast enough to outrun that damn statue! Hell, I only got that far kuz someone helped me with one of the boulders.
Another thing to point out is seizure warnings. Don't but a large amount of changing bright colors together without some way to get out of Dodge before it starts, better yet just don't. Unless it is required for your game ( which is possible but unlikely) you can lay off the neon's.
Scott you were frickin' ON POINT this time I don't know if anyone else said it but your art was making me laugh constantly this time around.
Oh hell yes to all of these ideas! Being able to watch things on mute is an essential part of my day, not least because I'm either on a noisy commuter train, or because my daughter is sleeping and even good headphones can have noise bleed.