{"id":24,"date":"2018-04-09T13:37:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T10:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/accessiblerealities.com\/blog\/?p=24"},"modified":"2020-02-05T06:46:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T04:46:27","slug":"accessible-realities-game-accessibility-for-people-who-are-blind-or-have-low-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/accessiblerealities.com\/blog\/accessible-realities-game-accessibility-for-people-who-are-blind-or-have-low-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible Realities: Making video games and XR accessible for people who are blind or have low vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/span><\/h3>\n

How can we make it easier for video game developers to add accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In trying to help answer this question I have developed an accessibility software library for the Unreal Engine 4 game engine. This blog post shows the library in action and describes its capabilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The main feature of the library is to enable developers to easily provide automated audio cues and descriptions of a 3D scene in front of the user to support their orientation and mobility. The library focuses on scans of the elements (characters and objects) that are in front of the user. Additional features include: first-person view capability, collision prediction, game and area specific audio instructions and slow motion. All of these features are demonstrated in action in the videos below.\u00a0Accessible Realities library is currently in Alpha stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of Accessible Realities\u2019 features could potentially be reused in other non-game environments, for example in real world narrators like the Microsoft Seeing AI application (see Demo 4 video for details). Other quite intriguing future opportunities are listed in the Future section. My hope is that this library, after additional testing, combined with many other libraries (like ones that enable accessible menus) and best practices would help provide better video game and <\/span>XR<\/span><\/a> experiences for people who are disabled and specifically who are blind or have low vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accessible Realities at its current state is a result of an intensive one year of full-time research and development. It was created without any external funding with my own savings. After 20 years in the high tech industry I decided to take time to contribute to the community via this social impact project. <\/span><\/p>\n

Game accessibility for the blind is quite a challenge, I am trying hard to improve the library all the time and your helpful feedback is very welcome. I wanted to have something to show that is more than an idea, something one can hear and get a feel of, one that a tester could try out instead of waving my hands without a concrete implementation. The library is currently at Alpha stage waiting for additional testers and more games. I thought that a year into the project and around the time of GDC, GAConf and CSUN 2018 conferences would be a good opportunity to share its current status with the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goals of this post are to:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Share info with the community so others can evaluate, use and build and improve upon it<\/li>\n
  2. Call for people who are blind or have low vision to join Alpha testing<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Call for video game companies and developers to join Alpha testing<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Ask for feedback from game accessibility experts<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Call for collaborations with social impact intentions (surprise me!)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I will be happy to hear from you<\/span>: either via Twitter at <\/span>@AccessibleXR<\/b><\/a> or via this <\/span>online form<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Accessible Realities<\/span><\/h3>\n

    So let\u2019s hear it in action…<\/span><\/p>\n

    Demo 1: Platformer Game<\/span><\/h4>\n

    Platformer game integration: adding a radar that scans which objects are in front of the player.<\/span><\/p>\n