Update: this has been reposted on Gamasutra
2016 has been a hugely significant year for accessibility in game development. The following is a compilation of articles, news stories and advances from throughout the year.
Many are news stories shared on the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG’s mailing list, but there are also others included from other sources.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give a sense of the ever increasing pace at which accessibility in the games industry is advancing.
January
Global Game Jam, which had several optional accessibility challenges, taken up by thousands of developers: http://globalgamejam.org/news/ggj16-diversifiers-are
Rocket League and MLB: The Show win AbleGamers game of the year awards
https://web.archive.org/web/20160502003424/http://www.ablegamers.com/announcing-the-ablegamers-2015-accessible-game-of-the-year/
February
Gamecritics.com now includes info on controller options and whether the game relies on colour, in addition to audio access:
www.gamecritics.com/brad-gallaway/gamecritics-reviews-enhanced-information-on-accessibility
A demo walking through how blind gamer SightlessKombat plays Killer Instinct using audio cues and stereo separation alone, and some discussion of how community effort led to some blind-accessibility features making their way into the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THbVXGulDUE
AbleGamers interview with another blind Killer Instinct player, Xavier Quintero:
http://www.unstoppablegamer.com/killer-instinct-and-accessibility-interview-with-xavier-quintero/
Heroes Of The Storm win D.A.G.E.R.S. diamond award:
http://dagersystem.com/2015-diamond-award-winner/
SpecialEffect’s new games room facility opened by a cross-party parliamentary delegation, including the UK Prime Minister
http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/specialeffect-news/david-cameron-officially-opens-our-games-room
March
Record number of accessibility talks at At GDC 2016:
https://www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/432m11/gdc_2016_conference/
Chad Philip Johnson managed the GASIG roundtable at GDC:
https://igda-gasig.org/2016/04/19/ga-sig-roundtable-meeting-notes-gdc-16/
Record number of game accessibility sessions at CSUN 2016:
https://www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/42qsp1/csun_2016_conference/
Article on VR accessibility by Katie Goode:
http://www.triangularpixels.net/cms/development/vr-games-for-all-designing-unseen-diplomacy-for-disabled-users/
April
Sony employee builds a custom PS4 controller for a gamer with cerebral palsy:
http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/04/ps4-controller-for-cerebral-palsy-gamer/
IGDA-GASIG panel at Microsoft’s Ability Summit.
Unity announce development of new input model, which should include engine-level remapping functionality:
https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/04/12/developing-the-new-input-system-together-with-you/
GDC sessions up on GDC vault, with most of the accessibility ones freely available without subscription. Great selection of topics and record attendance too, average of around 120 people per session:
http://ian-hamilton.com/gdc16s-accessibility-sessions/
UKIE Student Game Jam, which had accessibility advice and an accessibility award:
http://ukie.org.uk/content/brunel-university-announced-winners-2016-ukie-student-game-jam
One Click Jam, one button themed game jam held in various physical venues around South America:
http://www.oneclickjam.org/es
May
Overwatch and Uncharted 4 released, two of the biggest games of the year and both with a range of accessibility considerations, such as Overwatch’s sound design and per-class remapping, and Uncharted 4’s wide range of motor accessibility features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_CD4mB42s
One-handed Mode for Google Keyboard: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2016/05/03/googles-stock-keyboard-now-one-handed-mode/#gref”
24 hours of free online accessibility talks for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, including three on accessibility in gaming:
http://www.inclusivedesign24.org
Microsoft announce their ‘gaming for everyone’ initiative at E3, which includes commitments to accessibility:
http://news.microsoft.com/gamingforeveryone/
Accessibility interview with the developers of EVE online, including a request for public accessibility input:
https://www.themittani.com/columns/access-granted-accessibility-ui-interview-ccp-surge-part-1
https://www.themittani.com/columns/access-granted-accessibility-ui-interview-ccp-surge-part-2
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox congratulates Naughty Dog on their accessibility efforts in PlayStation exclusive Uncharted 4:
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/733701149916680192
June
Ian Hamilton’s Gamasutra blog post on highlights from the previous month:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IanHamilton/20160620/275289/An_exciting_month_in_accessibility.php
Phil Spencer at Microsoft says: “We believe gaming should be fun for everyone”
http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/06/13/gaming-for-everyone/#sm.0008b6cvy1a1ndkdy092b7jnzhwsr
Madden 17’s accessibility featureset for impaired vision announced:
https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news/2016/madden-17-accessibility
Karen Stevens of the Madden 17 team sets up twitter account and email address for public accessibility feedback across all EA games:
https://twitter.com/ea_accessible/status/741696820196343808
Final Fantasy XV wait mode announced:
https://twitter.com/FFXVEN/status/742846836386332672
AJ Ryan chosen as first recipient of AbleGamers Fellowship
http://www.trionworlds.com/en/news/2016/06/introducing-the-winner-of-the-ablegamers-fellowship-2016-alex-james-ryan/
The Great Steampunk Game Jam, which had accessibility advice and an accessibility award:
http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/great-steampunk-game-jam/
Cliff Bleszinski shares veteran encounter story:
https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/744232111079571456
July
Surviving and thriving as a game developer with chronic illness:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/277037/Surviving_and_thriving_as_a_game_developer_with_chronic_illness.php
Xbox confirm wheelchair avatars are in development:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/5/12095890/microsoft-wheelchair-xbox-avatars
Launch of Pokemon Go, inspiring a huge amount of accessibility discussion not only amongst gamers but also disability organisation that had not previously taken an interest in gaming, for example:
http://www.afb.org/slide/pokemon-go-accessibility
https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/pok%C3%A9mon-go-are-incense-and-street-view-key-more-inclusivity-disabled-people
Article on VR accessibility by Brian Van Buren:
http://www.vrinflux.com/vr-accessibility-why-changing-head-height-matters/
7128 top sites awards:
http://www.7128.com/top25/topsiteslists.html
First iteration of a Game Accessibility Curriculum Framework was presented and published at ICCHP 2016, Linz, Austria
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-41264-1_68
August
Demonstration of Pokemon Go running with a single accessibility switch:
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/05/teclas-tech-makes-pokemon-go-more-accessible-for-wheelchair-users/
One Button Jam, nearly 160 entries:
https://itch.io/jam/one-button-to-rule-all-jam#entries
Audiogame Jam, the best of which were showcased at Techshare:
http://jams.gamejolt.io/AGJam
Valve announce royalty free licencing for the lighthouse technology used in the HTC vive, opening up a path to accessible alternative controllers:
http://www.roadtovr.com/valve-third-party-lighthouse-api-steamvr-tracking-htc-vive-dev-kit-license-royalty/
Twitch partnership with Ablegamers, including a week of disabled streamers featuring on the Twitch homepage and a trial of new live captioning functionality:
http://kotaku.com/twitch-will-highlight-disabled-gamers-this-week-1785591255
Launch of Hue, which gained large amounts of media coverage of its colorblind support, simply through mentioning it in the game’s presskit:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/08/03/vibrant-puzzler-hue-coming-soon-to-ps4-ps-vita/
Household Games hires Clint ‘halfcoordinated’ Lexa as an accessibility specialist
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/279775/Household_Games_hires_speedrunner_as_accessibility_advocate.php
September
Apple add ‘hold at point’ functionality to switch recipes, making a huge range of iOS games compatible with accessibility switches:
http://switchgaming.blogspot.com.es/2016/09/ios-10-hold-at-point-aka-momentary.html
Microsoft publish high level guidance on game accessibility:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/gaming/accessibility-for-games
IGDA-GASIG Game Accessibility Conference Feb 27th 2017 announced!
http://www.gaconf.com/
Seattle VR Hackathon, which had accessibility specialists present and an accessibility mentor:
http://vrhackathon.com/seattle.html
WAG workshop on game accessibility:
http://cedric.cnam.fr/~dupirej/IFIP-WG14.9/WAG.html
Warlock of Firetop Mountain launch, a text heavy game with a rarely seen number of reading accessibility features – wide range of text sizes, choice of font, and configurable line spacing
https://twitter.com/ianhamilton_/status/803185284758310914
Bosskey publish game accessibility survey to inform future development:
https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/780429207717474304
Talk by Tom Lorusso of Microsoft on research carried out with deaf/hard of hearing gamers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0_3G-YSWRo
Second iteration of the Game Accessibility Curriculum Framework was presented and published at ICEC 2016, Vienna, Austria.
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46100-7_20
October
PSVR launch, with nearly all launch games offering a choice between motion input and controller input.
XX Jam, which had accessibility advice:
https://grrrlgames.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/announcing-the-xx-games-jam/
November
Nice talk from Brian Van Buren about VR accessibility:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=how99N0Pvj8
Ian Hamilton’s Gamasutra blog post also about VR accessibility:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IanHamilton/20161031/284491/VR__accessibility.php
And a great panel dedicated to accessibility from VRDC:
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023932/For-Every-Gamer-Making-VR
AbleGamers aquires Get Well Gamers Foundation:
http://www.ablegamers.com/get-well-gamers/
Tangent wins the accessibility category of the Australian Game Developer awards:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/11/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2016-australian-game-developers-awards/
Final Fantasy 15 includes accessibility section in game manual:
https://mobile.twitter.com/cherryrae/status/804166787415744513
Karen Stevens shares preview of EA internal accessibility reporting website:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ea_accessible/status/799049997262196736
Sony host a livestreamed accessibility panel at PlayStation Experience, including strong commitments to accessibility from Shawn Layden, head of Sony Worldwide Studios:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gslH30CTao
LSBU’s Enable Gaming accessibility education wins TIGA award
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/about-us/news/winners-tiga-awards
December
Full CSUN lineup announced, including a record breaking eight accessibility talks:
https://www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/5ktf7b/game_accessibility_at_csun/
Steam announce full remapping support for PS4 controllers:
http://www.unstoppablegamer.com/valve-supports-for-ps4-controller-opens-steam-to-more-accessibility/
Accessibility game jam in Poland:
http://rudydziobak.com/accessibility-game-jam-part-1/
Japan/Netherlands accessibility game jam:
https://twitter.com/gerritsen_marc/status/808650854655893504
Failbetter publish game accessibility survey to inform future development:
https://twitter.com/failbettergames/status/809384907583684609
FCC grant games software a further one year waiver from CVAA regulation:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db1223/DA-16-1449A1.pdf
Ian Hamilton’s favourite quotes from the year:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IanHamilton/20161230/288519/
Research about game accessibility is also going forward in general. A search in Google Scholar on ”game accessibility” (exact phrase) during 2016 shows 74 results (excluding patents and quotes). A caveat is that this search also includes books and some articles may not be peer-reviewed.
https://goo.gl/C09cqL
Again the above post isn’t an exhaustive list, but even what’s here clearly shows a very exciting time for game accessibility, and 2017 is already shaping up to be even greater again.
/Thomas Westin (co-chair), and Ian Hamilton (member), IGDA GA-SIG
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