Ctrl, Alt, Access

Two days and 16 hours of intensive accessibility panels and talks, condensced into two hours of live and not so live discussion.

00:00 - DAY 1

02:00 - GA Conf info and "News update"

04:20 - "Behind the Curtain: Sustainable Accessibility in an Indie Development Environment"

08:14 - "Include, Learn, Iterate: User Research for Accessibility"

13:07 - "You’re Doing Well if You’re Annoying Someone: A celebration of Advocacy, Making an Impact and Finding Community"

18:11 - "Selling Progress: The Accessibility Champion Survival Guide (2025 Edition)"

26:20 - "Chroma, A Colorblind Simulation Tool"

28:08 - "Adding Support for the Native Assistive Technologies in iOS and Android, for Apps Built in Unity"

29:39 - "King: Enhancing Mobile Audio with Accessibility"

37:25 - "Extending Accessibility to Mobile in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown"

43:50 - "Mind The Gap: The Agile and Accessible R&D behind AbleToPlay"

48:30 - DAY 2

49:16 - "Conducting Effective Accessibility Research"

54:50 - "Nobody Wants to Make Players Sick"

1:07:07 - "TLDH: Deafness & Gaming"

1:13:37 - "UX: Building Accessible Player Experiences"

1:17:37 - "Representation of Invisible Disability – Exploring the Lived Experience of Teenagers with ADHD to Inform Game Design"

1:25:02 - "How To Measure Text"

1:27:17 - "Writing for Everyone"

1:30:57 - "From Champions to a Dedicated Role: IOI’s Accessibility Journey (so far)"

1:34:54 - "Taking a Cricket Bat to Accessibility Barriers in Atomfall"

1:38:22 - "Input and it’s impact: How the XAC changed the industry"

Not something I anticipated, but we have a lot of positive words to say about Nintendo this week.

00:00 - Intro

01:12 - Atomfall

07:00 - South of Midnight

23:05 - Abiotic Factor

30:30 - Switch 2

31:05 - Switch 2 Accessibility Settings

37:05 - Switch 2 Price and Game Price

49:40 - Switch 2 Mouse

52:35 - Drag x Drive

59:20 - Switch 2 Further Discussion

For reference, this episode of Ctrl, Alt, Access was recorded prior to the BDS Boycott announcement RE Xbox. I will have a video live tomorrow on this channel talking in more depth about my approach to coverage now that the boycott information is known.

We've got thoughts on emotional subtitles and Xbox nunchucks this week.

00:00 - Intro

01:40 - Avowed update

04:20 - One Lonely Outpost, Wanderstop, and In Stars and Time

10:00 - Split Fiction

11:30 - R.E.P.O

14:00 - Assassins Creeds Shadows

32:00 - Xbox Adaptive Joystick

43:00 - Able To Play

43:40 - Accessible Games Initiative

51:50 - Microsoft Accessible Packaging Guide

52:55 - SteamOS (Steam Deck) to support ByoWave Proteus Controller

53:50 - Jennissary received the Bob Rice Recognition Award at the G.A.N.G. awards

55:45 - Where to find us

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

01:22 - Making Board Games Accessible

04:18 - Building Up a Teach & TCG Tangent

14:26 - Rubber Banding

18:51 - Randomness

26:01 - Financial Accessibility

29:48 - Canvas Mobility Spotlight

31:18 - Asmodee Access+

35:23 - Game & Rule Adaptations

44:37 - Outro

Quick Points

💜 No board game can be 100% accessible. Don’t let the fact you can’t make it accessible to everyone stop you from doing what you can to allow more people to play.

🚧 Games are made of intentional barriers, accessibility is about unintentional barriers that arise which cause a mismatch of experience for players with access needs. As you design, ask yourself where unintentional barriers are happening, this will help you to solve them by design as opposed to in retrospect.

🪜 Consider a staggered teach for your game, across one or multiple plays of the game, to help players get comfortable with rules before adding more.

📶 Games that start simple and build in complexity as play goes on can be a good way to holistically incorporate a teach into a game experience.

🐚 Include catch-up or rubber-banding mechanics in your game to help level the playing field for players who are behind, especially on games with a live score track.

🎲 Consider ways to mitigate randomness, not just in dice but in other places with randomness, like card draw.

♟️ Provide access to basic resources/cards as a backup to a random card/item, to give players more agency and a greater feeling of control over randomness.

🛍️ Give ways for players to reset shops / offerings to help give them more ways to search for the resources they need.

🎁 Try to do as much for accessibility as possible in standard versions of your game so players don’t need to invest in add-ons or alternative components.

📂 Provide free resources to allow players to adapt common barriers in your game to their needs, such as free print-at-home stickers.

♿ If possible you could create specialist versions of your game to accommodate accessibility barriers, but try to keep the cost comparable to the original version.

🃏 Create cut-outs in boards to help with picking up cards.

🔓 Allow and promote players bending rules to fit access needs.

🎛️ Provide variations of gameplay that address unintentional barriers in your rulebook, online or in FAQs.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

01:47 - Communication-Based Games

11:24 - Abstraction of Communication

18:09 - Visual Communication

26:58 - Improv Games

35:22 - Social Deduction & Hidden Roles

48:40 - Dyslexia & Literacy

54:05 - Alternative Communication

56:59 - Outro

Quick Points

📝 Provide options to use different communication methods, like verbal or text-based.

😶 Consider supporting play without verbal communication, by default or as a variant.

📈 Give levels of difficulty in games where speech is not allowed, such as allowing some speech, one word, gestures.

📈 Give levels of difficulty in communication-abstraction games, such as giving more options to pick from or ways to focus the clue.

🎨 Avoid a reliance on colour for visual communication games.

🎤 Social pressure to roleplay, be funny or be quick-witted can be a huge barrier. Consider ways to support or reduce social pressures if possible.

💜 For improv games, consider providing more specific hint cards or fall-back options for players who struggle with improv.

❌ Provide a no-judgement ‘out’ to end a round early if things are getting too much.

☝️ Consider if your game could use interruption mechanics to give less confident players a mechanical way to take the wheel.

🕵️ If possible, make hidden roles optional to your game to make it approachable to more people.

🎭 Deception is difficult for some players, consider how the mechanics of your game can help support deception or provide a way for individuals to opt out of deceptive roles.

🛣️ If the game keeps going after roles have been revealed, set clear expectations in the rules that it is likely or inevitable. For longer games, ensure revealed players still feel like they have an impact at the table.

🎛️ Make rules variants, like having roles all revealed or no talking between players, to alleviate or omit some of the social pressures.

📱Provide ways or tools to help anonymity (companion app, one player presents all options, etc) where it is important for player-submitted parts.

🔤 Where spelling is important, allow spell-checking devices at the table.

⏳ Remove timed elements or provide extra time for players who struggle with writing and/or spelling.

🤟 Provide ASL / BSL guidance for communication in your game if possible.

💬 Overall, provide ways to reduce speech or support alternative communication methods.

More games with disabled protagonists that don't shy away from reality, please.

00:00 - Intro

00:40 - How we are doing

02:50 - Rare Disease Day 2025

03:47 - Thumb Soldiers

09:20 - Able to Play

18:00 - Bokura

20:55 - Split Fiction

30:00 - Sea of Thieves

32:46 - Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

36:18 - Mecha

38:34 - To a T

42:00 - Monster Hunter arachnophobia mode

46:40 - Sorry, We're Closed

49:20 - Where to find us

00:00 - Intro

01:28 - Transparency of Consequences

07:40 - Choice Overwhelm

13:13 - Game Complexity

20:05 - Game Length

33:30 - Memory

37:33 - Speed & Pacing

47:21 - Co-op & Asymmetry

52:40 - Content Warnings & Player Safety

58:25 - Outro

Quick Points

🔍 Provide transparency for consequences, by default or optionally. In legacy games you could make a digital guide for how a big choice impacts on the game.

🗺️ Consider ways to reduce overall choices in the game, thus reducing overwhelm. For example, versions of play with limited or reduced actions.

🧠 Consult the Laws of UX for tips on best practices on usability and user experience. https://lawsofux.com/

📑 Give players ways to prioritise actions by providing a suggested direction, such as through goal cards or a unique character action.

⚖️ Provide extra help where rules are not symmetrical and where misunderstanding may occur more frequently, such as a specialised reference card.

🫨 Consider ways to allow players to recover when plans are disrupted, and assist them in being able to pivot more easily or still reach that goal.

🎓 Include how long learning the game will take, not just an average playtime.

🕐 Consider pacing and average turn length, and if players need to be engaged at all times. How do these affect the cognitive load of your game and can you offer options?

⏯️ Help players return to play. Provide help on components or through mechanics for players to ground themselves after getting distracted or taking a break.

⭐ Help and support with ‘finding focus’ such as splitting up game management actions to help players engage, or accepting unrelated side-tasks like drawing.

⏸️ Providing ‘pause points’ and ways to help people ‘save’ the game, such as providing save sheets or extra bags for ‘saved’ collections of components.

📃 Provide ways to reduce memory reliance in games, even on a per player basis. Sometimes it’s as simple as allowing players to take notes.

⌛ Include ways to reduce or remove timed elements.

💢 Give suggested plays to help alleviate round pressure, when a player can feel the need to plan several turns ahead thus significantly increasing cognitive load.

📚 Have flexibility for when admin time happens to help players build the experience around their energy levels.

⏲️ Reduce set-up / tear-down time if you can, such as through components like player trays or through things like quick start guides.

💜 Provide safety mechanics or tools for games with sensitive topics.

📦 Put content information on your box to inform players ahead of purchase.

00:00 - Intro

01:08 - Text Clarity

11:01 - Iconography

20:06 - Large Print & QR Codes

28:19 - Braille & Tactile Components

36:52 - Contrast

42:31 - Colourblindness & Dual Coding

48:48 - Visual Overwhelm

52:21 - Outro

Quick Points

🔤 Use a clear sans serif font and avoid all caps, underlines and italics.

📝 Use good text formatting, like left-aligned paragraphs, good spacing, and line breaks.

🅰️ Highlight keywords using bold and/or a different high contrast colour.

⬆️ Indicate orientation for numbers and text, considering table layout and where people will be trying to read from.

🔍 Check symbols for readability and similarity at all angles, especially on dice.

🗑️ Favour skeuomorphic icons to boost comprehension and understanding.

⭐ Consider using iconography in place of text to reduce reading, make components more language-agnostic and reduce localisation.

🌍 Check regional meanings for your icons and colours to ensure they translate accurately across locations.

↕️ Print text and icons at the largest size possible, even consider using a bigger font for components with less text.

📕 Move flavour text to the rules or another booklet to save space on components.

🍎 Function over flavour always! If something helps someone to play the game more easily it should take priority over flavour text.

📱 Use QR codes on components to link to an app/webpage to work towards assisted tabletop gaming.

📄 Provide larger print versions of your game or components, for free or as upgrades / editions.

♟️Make components of different types, different shapes and sizes so they can be distinguished through touch.

🦯 Consider additional tactile elements like bumps, pips, embossing/debossing.

🔄️ Make good use of the reverse side of components where art would be duplicated or left blank.

👁️‍🗨️ If your game has an open state of play, consider how it could be played through just descriptions and how you can facilitate that.

🖨️ Make and provide 3D print files for tactile components.

🏁 Use a contract checker, but keep in mind digital versus printed contrast is different! Print is usually always darker. Use pantones and prototypes to check.

🧙‍♂️ Provide clear differentiation for miniatures, like coloured rings or 3D flat icons on the bases which can be easily painted for quick recognition.

🎨 Don’t use colour alone to differentiate pieces or information (use pattern, icon, text, numbers, clearly distinct art/borders) or make components colour-agnostic.

👁️ Make sure any dual-coding is large and clear.

🎲 Consider different transparencies or pip shapes for dice of different types

Who would ever have expected we'd have so much possive to say about cognitive accessibility in a From Software game?

00:00 - Intro

00:40 - How we are doing

07:00 - Abletop

09:25 - Elden Ring Nightreign

16:00 - Dawnfolk

24:50 - Lost Records: Bloom and Rage - Tape 1

32:10 - Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

32:50 - Cabernet

33:20 - Avowed

47:30 - Sea of thieves update

52:00 - Develop:Star Award and MCV Awards

54:30 - Microsoft Ability Summit - Accessibility and AI

01:03:00 - Where to find us

00:00 - Intro

01:43 - Box & Packaging

12:46 - Set Up & Tear Down

21:17 - Components

36:20 - Motion in Games

44:49 - Dexterity Mechanics

53:16 - Time Constraints

56:02 - Closing Thoughts

57:00 - Outro

Abletop Episode 2 Quick Points:

📦 Consider accessible packaging options such as adding loops, tags or stickers.

🫳 Make space in the box insert for grabbing components, such as indents or foam.

🌍 Consider Eco-friendly packaging for better environmental impact and potentially easier to open packaging.

♟️ Provide information on components for physically heavier games to help with alternative storage solutions and consider common sizes e.g. A4.

🏗️ Use trays and personal player packs to reduce setup and teardown.

🗃️ Provide ways to sort components of similar types i.e. different cards that are the same size. Can you use the insert to help separate them.

📱 Create a companion app to either automate parts of the game, provide options to reduce components/table space, track character status, or roll dice.

🖐️ Provide low-mobility alternatives for components, such as Frosthaven's book of maps in place of the map pieces.

🗺️ Provide board references that can help players find locations on larger boards.

🔠 Check visibility of the labels on your board and how they are affected by 3D pieces during play.

⚓ Consider component anchoring - like recessed boards - for helping keep pieces in place.

🎛️ Check tension on moveable/assembled components like clips, dials. Is there a more static version you can provide to players as an option.

🃏 Provide ways to make tucking cards easier such as sleeves, raised areas or recesses.

🎲 Consider dice, how heavy and how many, and think about providing a tower to reduce physical energy cost and avoid dice disrupting the play space.

♟️ Provide card sleeves or thicker components for things that need to be handled often, or adapting the board to provide areas of purchase.

⚖️ Provide accommodations that can level the playing field for groups with a range of dexterity needs, such as different difficulties of components or asymmetric roles.

📂 Provide files that players can download and resize if they need to.

⌛ Provide ways to reduce or remove time pressures, potentially set per player.

🎯Consider the amount of component manipulation and accuracy in your games; lining things up, moving pieces, and what options you can provide to reduce those.