Today, we’re excited to share our participation in the first annual Access-Ability Summer Showcase. The inaugural event, hosted by Laura Kate Dale and sponsored by I Need Diverse Games, featured recently released and upcoming video games made by disabled game developers and games that feature accessibility settings that help to ensure more disabled gamers are able to play. During the showcase, we shared several videos that provided detailed explanations of the accessibility features available in upcoming and existing titles, including upcoming games Botany Manor and Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, and the fan-loved Princess Farmer.
During the showcase, Chief Accessibility Officer, Britt Dye, revealed for the first time some of the accessibility features included in Botany Manor and Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island. With accessibility at the forefront of the development process, both titles include a variety of options to help players enjoy a relaxing, inclusive gaming experience.
Watch the videos revealed during the Access-Ability Summer Showcase below:
Botany Manor accessibility features include:
Field of view slider for a customized point-of-focus experience
Camera X/Y inversion
Camera smoothing and motion sensitivity sliders to alleviate motion sickness
Plain text overlay of all text for greater visual clarity
Toggle / hold option for “look around” view that allows the player to view their surroundings while standing still
Single-button sprint toggle
Single stick mode allows the game to be played with one hand
No time limit to allow players to explore and solve puzzles at their own pace
Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island accessibility features include:
High-contrast text / backgrounds with text presented in a readable sans-serif font by default for greater visual clarity
Dark and light mode text display options
Several dialogue scrolling options, including dialogue speed settings, no dialogue scrolling, and dialogue auto-play
Visual, audio, and haptic feedback to alert players as they solve puzzles and explore
Dynamic tracking camera
Sprint toggle
Full key remapping
Haptics toggle
Non-Dialogue Captions for ambient and environmental sound effects
In addition, match-3 visual novel Princess Farmer – a game created with diverse representation and accessibility in mind – detailed some of the accessibility features that were implemented into the game right from the start of development. After Samobee Games game designer, artist, and story creator suffered a hand injury, she decided to create a game that was easy to pick up and play with one hand.
Watch the video revealed during the Access-Ability Summer Showcase below:
Accessibility features in Princess Farmer include:
One-handed gameplay for both controller and keyboard
Game modes to accommodate different play styles and gameplay experiences
Non-gated story advancement
Skippable dialog and interactions
A variety of button mapping options for controller, keypad and mobile
Haptic feedback
Separate audio channels for music and in-game alerts
High-contrast text and font control for increased visual clarity
High-contrast colours and shapes for easier matching
No screen shake
Optional match flashing
A full detailed description of Princess Farmer’s accessibility features can be found here: https://whitethorngames.com/princessfarmer/accessibility.
