2019 was a year of huge change in the accessibility field, with progress across every corner of the industry – post on that coming soon. But public discourse was dominated by just a few topics – text size, difficulty options (and off the back of that how accessibility relates to creative vision), and subtitling.
Below are a few things gamers and developers have said over the year that stood out for me, covering those topics but also some others too. It’s a long page, but an easy read. Some of these quotes are inspiring, some are thought provoking, some have practical advice – and some are a wake-up call.
It’s also a handy list of awesome people to follow on twitter!
A few of the lovely people quoted in this post, image courtesy of GAconf
Text size
ME AT 15: “I want video games to have the best graphics and biggest explosions and deepest stories and coolest characters to show that this is truly the art form of the future pew pew pew” ME AT 35: “I want video games to have an option to make text bigger.”
Mike Drucker
My father can legally pass a drivers vision test but can’t see the UI of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in the bright day light
Avry Satos
I can’t really play games that require reading on consoles anymore mostly because I can’t change the font size. It’s not just a couple of games. It’s almost all of them.
Nick Stahl
I moved my TV to about 1 metre away from me for some games and it still hurt my eyes trying to make out the text. It’s a problem in almost every new release!
Jade Pickering
I’m legally blind and everytime I play a new game font, colour of text and text size is my first thought before even starting a game. Seeing this stresses me out a little because when I strain my eyes too much the pain is unbearable sometimes
Yumii
[text size] affects lots of different groups including autistic users where tiny text and lots of distractions makes it really hard to keep focus!
Jamie Knight
I was born with congenital cataracts. I’ve had significantly impaired vision since I was born. The larger resolutions get, the more & more difficult it becomes for me to read text. Scalable text should be standard by now.
Michael O’Connor
My wife made fun of me for being old the other day when she saw me going through conversation options while standing 4′ from the tv instead of on the couch.
hypnovirus
I’ve literally been playing for 30 mins & can already feel the beginnings of a migraine behind my right eye. It was the same with FE3H. I couldn’t play that portable at all. This is such a simple thing to look over!! Fuck your aesthetics!! Let me read ur goddamn text!!
xCharIes
I’ve had to sell off so many ps4 games because they turned out to be unplayable. I buy retail versions specifically so I can at least get rid of them again when this happens. The fact fonts keep getting smaller isn’t helping.
RenderB
Tiny font is the sole reason I am not a gamer.
Caroline Liu
Why have so many AAA UI designers collectively decided that we should all sit one foot from our TV to read on-screen text? It’s often a reason I stop playing a game. Accessibility options are often lacking as well.
Niels Bross, Glitcheart
Supporting Large Text isn’t a feature. It’s a fundamental part of functionality. Some users *only* use their devices w Large Text! That means if you don’t support it, they can’t use it!
Sommer Panage, Apple
If I’m going to achieve one thing in life I want to make text bigger in games
Mark Friend, PlayStation
I’m a UI artist and Sony and Microsoft used to be super strict on font sizes when TVs weren’t so good. They should overhaul their requirements to include accessibility options as mandatory.
Hayley Joan, Rocksteady
Every game dev everywhere comes in to the office each day to design UIs on multiple massive screens two inches in front of their face and then go home, turn on the tv across the room and complains how they can’t read text in anyone else’s game
Innes McKendrick, Hello Games
Configurable difficulty
Disabled gamer here. I’m about to stop playing a game I’ve been hyped for because my nerve damaged hands can’t keep up on “normal” and there’s no easy mode, just normal and hard.
laukidh
I have had to stop playing games without easy mode as well, because hands affected by my degenerative arthritis can’t handle the speed and/or button combos required by a game. Easy Mode makes it much easier on my hands, as well as my brain fog.
samwise
Telling disabled people to “git gud” is the bad take. I’m still recovering from 10 years of tendinitis in my right arm, my reflexes aren’t great anymore and probably won’t be great ever again, but I’d still like to play games.
Nowak
Every video game should be presented with accessibility options so disabled people can play them I’m tired of buying games only to figure out “ITS PERMA HARD MODE NO EASY SETTING FOR YOU!” Meanwhile I can barely move my arms most days
Callie Joestar
I promise when I played ‘God of War’ on easy I died just as much as my friends who played it on hard. My joint pain and fibromyalgia make up the difference. Difficulty modes matter for people with disabilities.
Lizzy Lynn Garcia
I for one adore the fact that there’s a very easy mode for death stranding and I can’t wait to be able to actually complete a game for once. I hate games that like, make fun at you for using easy modes. Fuck those games. You have any idea how hard it is for my dyspraxic ass to play fast paced shooter games?
Loki
Gaming is supposed to be fun, and easy difficulties, cheats, and accessibility settings make games fun for me. It’s not “fake gaming”, it’s literally achieving the primary goal of the activity.
Liz King
Playing by a set of rules provided to you by the game is not cheating. A game’s purpose is to be fun, whatever that means to you.
Nick Gregory, Pixelnicks
‘Git Gud’ is toxic trash.
Cherry ‘cherryrae’ Thompson
Lots of 1337 gamers coming out of the woodwork to somehow take offense at the difficulty level I choose to play MY games at. This is like being offended by gay marriage – it doesn’t affect you in any way so just shut the fuck up. Fortunately my mute button is set to VERY EASY.
Garry Whitta
Jedi Fallen Order very much validates Jim Sterling’s position on difficulty options in Soulsborne titles. The accessibility was there but it did not stop me from playing at any level of ass-kicking difficulty I decided to punish myself with.
Danny DeMent
I’m going to begin calling it “Equal Mode” where the options are in place so that I game can be made difficult, stay with the artist’s “vision” and still allow people to play the way THEY HAVE TO. Equality means FAIRNESS. Easy for you is not easy for someone else.
Steve Spohn. AbleGamers
Some folks have a knee-jerk response to gaming accessibility discussions, fearing that we’re trying to take away their complex or difficult games. We’re not! Accessibility isn’t about lowering the technical ceiling, it’s about options letting more people into the building at all.
Clint “halfcoordinated” Lexa
We’ve added rules-option tweaks post-launch, because we had a few players who just plain weren’t ever winning. If a game is impossible for someone, there’s a fair chance they’re not experiencing it the way it was intended. Giving them options FIXES that, instead of breaking it.
Tess Snider
In regards to easy modes: Over 80% of XCOM players choose our Easy and Normal modes. 80%! Play the game the way that’s fun for you. Period.
Jake Solomon, Firaxis
Having a one-button mode (Easy Automatic) in Bayonetta didn’t make getting Pure Platinum any easier. It didn’t ruin your experience. It did make myself and others on the team receive many comments from new Bayonetta fans who could have never otherwise enjoyed the game.
JP Kellams, EA (formerly of Platinum)
I keep seeing some people apologize for playing on Story Mode. Please don’t. There’s no shame in playing on whatever mode you feel comfortable with. It doesn’t make you less of a player than anybody else.
Jason De Heras, Respawn
Feeling challenged is a critical component to playing XCOM. But challenge is not objective. My only regret is that we didn’t implement MORE difficulty levels.
Jake Solomon, Firaxis
To my friends who are feeling beat up and demoralized after this week’s difficulty dust-up, know that the vast majority of publishers and developers I talk to get it… from indie to AAA. Because, once explained, very few want to reduce access to their works arbitrarily.
Brannon Zahand, Xbox
Accessibility Vs vision
Accessibility has never and will never be a compromise to my vision.
Cory Barlog, Sony Santa Monica
If your argument is “don’t force devs to add accessibility options to games,” allow me to state loud and clear, that I am not being forced. I WANT as many people as possible to enjoy the games I work on. If your argument is about artistic vision, my vision is EVERYONE playing.
Glenn White, Epic
Yes I want the games I work on to be experienced and enjoyed by as many people as possible and not like a tiny subset of people who get mad online when someone plays a game on storymode. Why is that so foreign to you.
Hazel Monforton, Arkane Studios
UI developer here; accessibility features can be supported without undermining the vision for the game, and we have even done as much in multiplayer games over here where it is significantly harder.
Tom Gantzer, Splash Damage
Hi, I’m a game dev. I want to make experiences that are enjoyable for everyone. The end.
Xander Ashwell, Rare
My creative vision as a user interface dev, in AAA games, includes accessibility options. I want more players to have the ability to love and enjoy the games we make.
Reb Palacios, Rocksteady
I make games so people can enjoy them. The more who can enjoy games I’ve helped make, and add to the richness of their communities, the better for all of us!
Douglas Gregory, Ubisoft
Accessibility has made me a more empathetic leader and provided great insights into design.
Andrew Eiche, Owlchemy Labs
To make a game more accessible is to make a better, kinder game.
Brenden Gibbons
Accessibility gives me a multitude of innovative ways to achieve my vision and share it with as many people as possible.
Brannon Zahand, Xbox
To me, accessibility does not exist in contradistinction to anyone’s creative vision but rather it is an essential aspect of any experience you wish to be enjoyed by the greatest number of humans as possible.
Cory Barlog, Sony Santa Monica
Subtitles
60% of Assassins Creed Origins players turned subtitles on. Assassins Creed Odyssey booted with subtitles on by default: 95% of players left them on.
David Tisserand, Ubisoft
I keep subtitles on bc sometimes I just be snackin too loud
Ray
I know for me and other game-playing dads, having subtitles on while playing in the evenings is a must with a sleeping toddler in the house. Can’t use headphones as still need to be audio-aware.
Andy Griffiths
I’m super sensitive to sound and often turn the volume down so low that I can barely hear it. I live with a lot of unavoidable pain, but thanks to subtitles I don’t have to worry about games and shows adding to it.
Life In Lethex
I loved this game so much! The captioning really made accessibility experience for me. I am not hard-of-hearing but do have some neuro differences and this game is brilliant!
TheInclusiveMum
I don’t have auditory issues, but I always find myself needing to turn down music/background noise and turning on subtitles. I hate watching a cutscene and only being able to focus on the fact that I desperately need to turn on subtitles.
Nano Pierogi
I have audio processing disorder, and I tell you what, subtitles are a godsend, cause if I mishear something, or it doesn’t decompress properly in my brain, the subs tell me what I’m supposed to hear. They should *always* be the default, without being in the way.
Janine Alaensee Girlbeast
I’ve learned how much I take for granted the privilege of being able to grab any game and a controller and go. Seeing my daughter give up on games she’s so excited to play because the captioning sucks or directional cues are audible is disappointing for both of us
Erika Laurent
I think almost every AAA game I played recently had some problem with small subtitles
André Rogério
2020 is the year where if you still have tiny or otherwise poor subtitles in your game, I’m considering it unprofessionalism.
Nate Davis
Pardon me while I complain for a second: Do you have any idea how sick I am of having the SAME complaint about game subtitles over and over and over again when doing reviews? Start listening to feedback, game devs, and give me something new to complain about, please.
Courtney Craven, CanIPlayThat
Subtitles are the bread & butter of game accessibility. Done right, they’re deliciously cheesy garlic bread that everyone likes! Done badly, they’re off-putting burnt toast. No one intentionally burns their toast, all it takes is forgetting about it till too late.
Jennifer Stienstra
Far cry new dawn includes sound subtitles and subtitles background. Including a few options for background transparency. Really awesome to see!
Blake Blake
I’m SO glad to see that Gears of War 5 is deaf accessible! I saw footage of its subtitles & I was truly impressed with the sound descriptions interspersed throughout. Then I saw the <music settles> subtitle for the end of a battle & now I can’t wait to play! Thank you
Meagan Hammond
Seriously whoever worked on Accessibility for [Gears Of War] absolutely smashed it out the park, couldn’t have asked for any better! It feels amazing to actually play a game and be able to follow it 100% of the way.
Billy
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order got AMAZING accessibility options; Subtitle size & background opacity. Take that note, developers who never added these important useful accessibility options on their AAA games! May the Accessibility Force be with you.
Josh Deveson
Subtitling, text size and configurable difficulty are far from the only issues…
Thank you so much for showing off the controls. As someone with a disability who plays games, it’s nice to not have to wonder what the controls are and now I can bump this right to the top of my to-buy list.
The Butt Master
Disabled people don’t want to have to wait until the game comes out and them buy it to find out whether or not we can even play it. That’s ridiculous. Give us information about accessibility in advance.
Littlenavi
Eugh… I had to play through the tutorial before I could access options to turn off the bloody motion control. Why are devs still doing this in 2019?!?! Options accessible the second the game loads damn it! (It’s also a huge accessibility thing so just do it)
Nathan Cocks, Flying Solo
Game devs: menu first. Accessibility, language and subtitles, screen and audio. You cool opening is still cool after you’ve made sure your audience can appreciate it without issues, worries, or annoyances.
Rami Ismail, Vlambeer
As someone w/ single sided deafness, and therefore no directional hearing, I’ve had to struggle to play battle royale games with friends for a while. Thank you so much Apex Legends for adding directional arrows so I can know what direction shots came from. It means the world <3
Bengineering
It disturbs me to see mashing put on a pedestal by some speedrunners. Is it a skill? Yes, however it is a skill that will destroy your hands over time. Within my accessibility consultation work I always advise “NO MASHING” because it’s bad for you and blocks so many from play.
Clint “halfcoordinated” Lexa
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to play a Battle Royale game because their cognitive load was either far too heavy or required too much voice chat for me to even think about playing. There are so many clever little cognitive accessibility/QoL things in Apex Legends. SO MANY.
Cherry “cherryrae” Thompson
Just a mute with a vocal chord injury chiming in to write the accessibility for Apex Legends is next level. It’s been years sinec I’ve played a game that made me feel like I wasn’t at a disadvantage. Respawn gets big props from me.
Anna M
As a deaf person, I have no ability to communicate with others via text chat in an online game like Pavlov. As a result everybody will be using microphones to communicate with each other. I often get kicked or ditched for being unable to communicate via mics.
Anthony DiGiovanni
We would like to encourage developers to provide even more [blind] accessible games
Google
Difficulty levels shouldn’t be a framing system, but a door towards choices. Yes, when I was younger I thought ‘normal’ is the right way to play even when those games became difficult. Gaming should be fun, but naming conventions can ruin the experience from the start
Vivek Gohil
Hot DAMN I love the accessibility features on celeste, I fully am playing the game at 80% speed and am toggling invincibility as I get tired and I’ve never enjoyed a game more
Decaf Matthew
The obsession with particle effects in the industry makes some games a no for me purely because the lights they use to signal AOEs and stuff trigger migraines
Zoie Bessette
It would be awesome to be able to remove gunfire sounds too. There are sometimes environmental sound effects levels but that’s for ALL the effects combined, so to lower gunshots you have to lose everything else too. If flashes+gunfire were options I could play so many more games!
Twitchy Owl
Persona has the option to scroll back and read dialogue a couple lines back and now I want that in EVERY game
Laukidh
I found it hard to read the standard font for the To Do list in Untitled Goose Game but they allowed you to change it to a non-cursive font and it was a huge help.
Callum Langstroth
Speaking on behalf of Xbox, console-level remapping is largely designed to be used in cases like with older titles (e.g. backwards compatible games) and as a “fallback mechanism” for games that don’t implement it themselves. Games can’t know what’s been remapped at system level, so prompts in-game can’t match user settings which can be confusing for users. Plus, games should choose to offer more robust remapping options such as toggles, simple schemes, etc. compared to console-level options.
Brannon Zahand, Xbox
Look you guys, I have remapped a lot of buttons in my day, but never have I had so many options on how each button behaved. Do I want to press the button? Do I want to hold it? I got to choose exactly what I needed. It was amazing and beautiful.
Short
Also Ubisoft, letting us customize every button, even the analog stick directions is so HUGE because I don’t use my left analog stick for moving the character so the left and right input has been swapped to change weapons and use items and only having to flick the stick left or right to achieve this has made my gaming so much better. Thank you guys again; so much, it means more than you know.
Games With Chin
Honestly, I stopped playing most sports games when they started introducing overly complex controls. I have no need for additional play functionality… I just want to enjoy myself. I do not understand the gaming industry’s sadistic need to complicate gameplay.
Electric Buddha
Only 3 buttons to play?!?! That is also amazing for someone like me who is a disabled gamer, loves these kinds of games but can’t always play them due to accessibility issues.
Astreigha
First hour at Akron Art Museum and I already need the bigger text, easier to see cursors, and adjustable mouse sensitivity accessibility features of Brukel. It’s very rewarding to see it all in action.
Bob De Schutter
The industry is changing, don’t be left behind
We are looking at ways to build accessibility options into all of our games. This is important work. We must continue to make gaming more open to everyone.
Shawn Layden, Sony
Accessibility is at top of our minds over here as games should really be for everyone. Sometimes we don’t reach our goals, but our ambition is high and we’ll get there.
Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche
If you’re a gamer with any disability and you’re interested in Ritual: please get in touch with us. Our DMs are open. One of the reasons we’re in early access is so that we can have time to actually properly implement accessibility features to the game.
Draw Distance
I stopped designing it for me and started designing it for the people who’d be playing it.
Rich Siegel, Cleaversoft
Accessibility and representation in games and other media is important and I don’t want a single person who disagrees with that statement to come within 20 feet of a game I make.
Tim Carbone
Gaming is for everyone – adding what can seem like small accessibility tweaks to you can make a huge difference to new players. It’s something we think about a lot, but are constantly receiving feedback on how to improve – accessibility is a journey, not a goal
Topher Winward, Rare
More and more games that are getting parts of this right are making it easier to point at those games and say “This can be done”, “We can do it this way”, and most crucially – “It was important to this team to put in that effort. Let’s make it important to us” 🙂
James Berg, EA
Really appreciate folks celebrating the successes, but that definitely doesn’t mean we also don’t want to hear about misses. Every success like this is a stepping stone, but we don’t want to stop climbing 🙂
James Berg, EA
Getting a hard-fought accessibility win is nice. But even nicer is seeing a co-worker doing good accessibility work without you having to ask (much less fight) for it.
Matt May
I remember crying in Rod Fergusson’s office when remappable controls got cut from Bioshock Infinite for reasons we couldn’t control. Now he’s leading a project where accessibility is more than a feature, it’s a way of thinking. We’ve come so far.
Tara Voelker, Microsoft
It’s almost as if there’s race among developers to see who can make the most accessible game. I know a little bit about racing, and it’s honestly a race that everyone wins.
Jon Knoles, Turn 10
Tips
The more you learn about accessibility, the LESS EXPENSIVE YOU MAKE IT for your future self.
That Dang Phil
Designing with accessibility in mind from the get go is much more efficient than retrofitting later. Trust me, I’ve been there 🙂
David Tisserand, Ubisoft
“Developing the old way means lots of accessibility bugs. And each bug costs a team about $6000” – Todd Bohanna. Great point. So let’s do it the new way – earlier and more integrated.
Tom Lorusso, Xbox
It just takes a little consideration for the needs of others – if you don’t know how to make your game accessible, ask someone! Disabled gamers are keen to discuss their needs with developers.
Nick Gregory, Pixelnicks
I don’t think stuff should be crammed into accessibility menus. When you separate accessibility you’re reinforcing stigma that we’re _different_ and hiding it from people who’ll find it useful but don’t think it’s ‘for them’. […] All options are accessibility. Let’s work to destigmatize & stop segregation. We’re repeating the same mistakes as society. Language is power.
Cherry ‘cherryrae’ Thompson
Options are options are options. Separate them by which aspect of the game they affect, not by who you expect to use them.
Trilynne
When designing the adaptive controller our engineers kept asking what its primary use case was. We came to the conclusion that the XBox controller is the primary use case; the adaptive controller is the means of ensuring all the other use cases are covered too
Bryce Johnson, Microsoft
People used to ask ‘yeah but how many people benefit from accessibility’ – that’s a terrible way to approach this problem. ask ‘how many people do you want to exclude’
Doug Gregory, Ubisoft
Educate your teams. You don’t want to be the single person trying to push this.
Doug Gregory, Ubisoft
Have a plan to communicate and educate about your accessibility features. As fun as easter eggs in games are, accessibility features should not be easter eggs.
Doug Gregory, Ubisoft
Design features in an accessible way, rather than designing an accessibility feature.
Doug Gregory, Ubisoft
Good accessibility always equals good design 😉
Mark Friend, Playstation
Accessibility is usability.
Cherry ‘cherryrae’ Thompson
The 80/20 rule is intended to focus on the most common user goals and scenarios. Edge cases refer to scenarios, not humans. Humans are not edge cases.
Alex Chen
Accessible design isn’t JUST for people who are ‘disabled enough’. It’s for everyone, it just starts with disabled people because when you design for parts of the human spectrum that are considered outliers you catch more.
Cherry “cherryrae” Thompson
Think about what you want your players to feel and work back from there. Give people options. There is more than one path to eliciting the emotions you want players to experience.
Meagan “Meglish” Dornbrock
Why all of this matters
Imagine that you have a mind that’s willing and a body that isn’t able, which prevents you from interacting with your friends and family. Video games provide an opportunity for that connection to happen. For people to experience love & laughter.
Steve Spohn, AbleGamers
I have a bunch of disabled gamer friends, and my mom is also a disabled gamer so we sometimes play an MMO together. It’s something we can enjoy together even though we’re far apart and can’t get out much.
Twitchy Owl
As an adult, video games have become an essential part of managing my mental health. During the crushing depression that characterised the last two years of my PhD, gaming became a coping strategy. Suggested by my CBT therapist, I was allowed to reward myself with a couple of hours of gaming if I hit a word target or finished a key research text.
Dr. Amy Kavanagh
Watching my dad struggle to play AAA videogames because of poor accessibility options makes me so angry in 2019
Becky
If your game makes me feel stupid I’m leaving and never coming back
Shell Little
“This game is so accessible and easy that anyone could play it,” shouts person who has slowly developed a knowledge of visual cues, coordination, and design methodology through decades of osmosis-through-play.
Walt Williams
Finally it clicked. It wasn’t that I sucked at games. It was that games sucked for me.
Steve Saylor
There’s nothing worse than being interested in a game and then having it rule itself out with accessibility issues. Well, except it saves me money.
Patrick
Can you imagine a world where just basic access for disabled people was a given, as it is for everyone else, and not something anyone ever considered extra or asking for special treatment? Wouldn’t that be nice? I mean imagine if games (or anything else for that matter) weren’t considered finished until they were accessible as possible for the time.
OneOddGamerGirl
I’d like to live in a world where we didn’t celebrate something being accessible as being a “win”. Accessible is the baseline NOT a win.
Billy Gregory, TPG
Don’t underestimate the impact that exclusion from cultural phenomena can have on people who already feel isolated from society
Cherry ‘cherryrae’ Thompson
I want an AAA game, like Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry, to have people get super hyped about it and then announce the week before its release that the entire story/dialogue is in ASL. When people bitch about it, Deaf gamers can be like “Some games aren’t meant for you.”
OneOddGamerGirl
I am legally blind and willing to fist fight a dev. Accessibility should not be an afterthought. I want to be able to play games too, damn it.
Brenn Moore
In about 10-20 more years accessibility is suddenly going to become a huge deal and it’s because we’ll reach a critical mass of developers who suddenly need additional help playing games that they didn’t need before
Autumnal Potato Ted
Been playing video games almost daily for over 30 years. I got gud for the first 15 and got bad the next 15. Used to dominate in MP games, Quake 1 Team Fortress 1, Unreal Tournament 1 etc. But now? I’m like a noob again, with bad aim and slow reflexes. So be nice to noobs, they might be has-been elite war heroes.
Christer Kaitila
Loved and beat Celeste when it came out, but since then have developed chronic pain in my hands. when the new DLC came out theres absolutely no way I would have been able to beat it let alone get past the first few rooms if it wasn’t for assist mode, really happy I was able to
Rob Fichman
When my Uber driver learned I was a game dev she turned around, thanked me, and explained her son had a condition that causes debilitating pain, but games help him distract himself from it a bit. It’s good to be reminded of these kinds of stories every now and then.
Rami Ismail, Vlambeer
The people we tested with hadn’t seen features like this before, they were excited that they were going to be able to trash talk their friends
Melissa Boone, Xbox
Even though there were testers who enjoyed the puzzles there were also people who enjoyed the story the most and the puzzles just prevented them from having a good experience. I don’t want to force anyone to do things they don’t enjoy.
Matías Schmied
In #gameaudiodev we must be advocates for those who may not or cannot hear our work
Jack Menhorn, V1 Interactive
We should as gamers aim to share our passion and love for games with as many people as possible.
Jo Bedard, Ubisoft
You all are so dope for what you bring to the space. Gaming is so important to well-being and it’s amazing that we have something that can counter the disappointment of bland tasting things like Buffalo sauce, which legend has it, was created in a magic snow globe called Buffalo
Greg Haynes, AbleGamers
And a few last thoughts to take us through into 2020 and beyond..
I am always in pain. Video games distract me from pain, and pain distracts me from games. The latter means I will never ‘git gud’, but the former saves me EVERY SINGLE DAY. So to all the devs, who make all the games, thank you. Thank you so damn much.
Jonathan Levine
Thank you so much for taking accessibility seriously and giving me quite easily the greatest gaming experience I have ever had, couldn’t be anymore grateful and that’s coming from the heart <3
Billy
On accessibility: I’m super grateful to the folks who took the time and energy to educate me on what they needed to be able to play my games. You didn’t have to do that. You could have just moved on to another game. You made my game better and made me a better developer. Thanks!
Mike T, Vector Hat
Dear gamedev,
Thank you. thank you for the stories you’ve told over the last ten years, for the amazing new experiences. Thank you for being open to making games more accessible to disabled gamers. I can’t wait to see what the next decade brings!
Sincerely, A humble player
It’s been an amazing year and instead of picking 1 game to celebrate, I just want to hug developers. I have seen so many trying so hard this year by either patching problems in their game or having playtesters give feedback so they keep getting more accessible.
<3 Thanks for adventures I thought were in the past.
To my friends & colleagues who wish for a day when accessibility consulting is not needed. You’re wrong. There will always be new tech, creating new interfaces, dreamed up by new designers & engineers where it is unfair to expect insightfulness without experience. The job will never be done. Strap in.
Bryce Johnson, Microsoft
