This has seemed like the fastest year of my life. Some things have been so sad. Some things immensely rewarding, fun and hopeful. OneSwitch sends all readers warm wishes for Christmas and the new year.
Another recent switch adapted project for SpecialEffect I've built is the Wii Switch Interface above. This one is targeted for Wii-U use with New Super Mario Bros U.
By using a fully wired VGA-HD cable (15-core), it's possible to draw out a line connection to all buttons and the battery terminals to the external box. If anyone fancies trying this adaptation themselves, feel free to get in touch.
Seven years late perhaps (always playing catch up) I finally got around to adapting a Buzz handset for SpecialEffect. I went for the wired variety, which work on both PS2 and PS3 and have no batteries to worry about.
If I get time I'll post a DIY guide, but the gist of it is, you'll need to grind out the bottom half of the controller, enough to give you room for the five sockets. The main red push button switch contacts (encircled in yellow) need to be wired directly to their own socket. The group of four coloured push buttons all share a common ground point which makes things a bit quicker to wire up.
Worth mentioning is that with a switch accessible controller such as my C-SID you can use four switches to run your own Quiz show, with your own questions. You can also use Buzz to act as a mouse or keyboard using JoyToKey, and as such use it as a cheap switch or switch interface.
"The intrepid Dr Kevin Spingledash has one big fear....Jelly Blobs! Join him and his sweetheart Tallulah as they battle to save the earth from the return of the blobb!" - from the superb Shoot Your Mouth off Films.
French company Papoo recently posted the video above to show-case their proximity switch. In short, a switch that you don't even need to touch. Could be ideal for those struggling with the amount of force needed to operate a traditional switch.
There's plenty of mounting solutions on offer, detailed in part at the OneSwitch Accessible Gaming Shop, such as the superb Trabasack and Flexis.
Update: Of historical curiosity, Zambette Electronics of Southend-on-Sea, Essex used capacitive switches with their 'System 7' devices in the 1960s and 70s for environmental control and control over electronic toys.
In the back ground I've been working on my first book. Provisionally entitled "One Switch 100" it will highlight key and curious one-switch games and events from the 1960s to date.
The hope is that it will inspire people to track down some of the best one-switch games and hopefully create more.
I'm only about a quarter of the way through, with the hope of getting it finished by the 10th of June 2013, the 10th anniversary of OneSwitch.org.uk running as a business (although it was registered on-line in November 2002). I've always wanted to write a book (this one will be a freebie). Seems as good a time as any to do it. Maybe the first of a few I've got in mind.
The book is part of why things have slowed down here on the surface. That and becoming a foster parent, co-working on Thurrock POINT and working for SpecialEffect. Time to refocus I think...
Seeing how many great web-sites there are dealing with game accessibility now, I'm likely going to refocus this site on switch accessible leisure and items for the Accessible Gaming Shop from here on. Meanwhile, for those that do, have a great Christmas!
Following my mention of Hide and Seek and social public gaming, I wanted to post two games that fit this mould, that are effectively one-switch games: Punch the Custard and One Dimensional Pong.
Punch the Custard takes one of the oldest one-switch games (played on calculators by pressing 1,+,+ then mashing the = button), and makes it messier and much funnier.
One Dimensional Pong takes Pong, reduces it down to one-button each, and sprawls it in beautiful light across five metres of living space. Take a look at the videos below to see for yourselves.
At the recent ExPlay 12 event I learnt a lot being on stage as part of the game accessibility panel. I'm such a public speaking light-weight (I'd rather crack on with projects that didn't involve taking six Kalms tablets to keep nerves in check), but it wasn't so bad I was surprised to find. It did help to be amongst such knowledgeable and likeable people, and to have a receptive crowd to speak to. Ian Hamilton who was also on the panel hung about later to find out if it had been useful to anyone, and turned these up:
1. The designer who had been struggling with how to make Qube colour blind friendly, but now had the answer
2. The studio director who wants to start pushing some best practices as an insurance policy for when he's an elderly gamer himself
3. The artist with a history of colour blind family members, who had previously had no idea that there was something he could do to help them
4. The designer who now understood that he should be designing for gamers, not designing for himself
5. The developer frustrated that he wasn't taught about accessibility in his Abertay degree, and wants to get a guest lecture set up
6. The final year student stunned by what could be possible just through adding a little flexibility: "my mind has been blown, and I will never think about games in the same way again"
I learnt loads as a member of the audience too. I especially enjoyed one of the final talks, given by Alex Fleetwood of Hide and Seek on social games in public spaces. This was particularly relevant as Johann Sebastian Joust was being hosted at the event to raise funds for SpecialEffect with special thanks to Leanne Baley of Remode and PlayMob.com.
Social public gaming is something I remember well, with kids crowding around multi-player video games in amusement arcades in the late '70s and early '80s. Access is a big issue for the likes of JS Joust, but it doesn't have to be, as Dimitris Grammenos demonstrates with his Shaking Things Up article.
BBC's Radio 4 ran a fascinating piece on Digital Death earlier this week as part of their Digital Human thread. Alex Krotoski (who introduced me to the IGDA GASIG many years back) investigates what it means to live and die in the digital world.
"The distinction between our physical selves and mental states is a philosophical construction, but it signifies a line in the sand between those who believe our bodies make us human and those who define humanity by our thoughts and social lives. But after our death can our persisting digital selves continue our presence for those left behind?"
Many thanks to Mick Donegan of SpecialEffect for the link.
EDIT: I'll schedule a post for this nearer the time, but I very much like Kate Aherne's tribute to her sister Stacey who died in 2008. Kate has set up a site called Stacey's Serve-a-thon. It remembers her, whilst encouraging people to donate an hour of their time or an hour's wage to any good cause of their choice, in tribute to her memory.
It looks like a motion-sensitive controller, that could work really well with one-switch games to more complex controls. Would like to see a video of this in action. See the site for more.
Deep Sleep finds you lucid-dreaming but trying to wake-up. It's point and click (no right-click needed) with a very simple helpful walk-through guide should you get stuck (I did). You will need quick reactions on occasion but I don't want to give anything more away. This is a little bit unsettling.
The C-SID Squid Box is a simple accessory for my C-SID (game Console Switch Interface Deluxe) controllers. It allows you to patch a simple joystick in anyway you like to play many modern console games.
Compatible joysticks include Atari 2600 joysticks, MERU Moozi joystick and a number of wheelchair accessible joysticks too.
One obvious example to me, is in making a driving game more accessible. Push up to accelerate, pull down to brake/reverse and use left/right to steer.
When games dictate that they can only be played via a very limited method, huge barriers are erected which disable many players.
The majority of games on Xbox using Kinect are Kinect only. The majority of games on iOS are touch-screen only. The majority of Wii games are Wii-remote only. If you can't use that interface, you are shut out. It's a massive problem that can go away for many by offering an alternative or two.
Dimitris Grammenos has blazed a path for others to follow with his brilliant article "Shaking Things Up: Can full-body games become more accessible". And I would love to see this outlook adopted across the gaming world. Two control methods or more for all games, please!
The resources above support the training event hosted at City University London on the 15th of October 2012. Ran by SpecialEffect with support from Ian Hamilton.
The LP Pad controller above is from LP Accessible Technologies, due for release at the end of this month. It's a wireless Xbox 360 controller designed to be used by people with arm movement but without fine individual finger control.
Looks like a great product, although this is certainly not the only solution out there for people wanting to play first-person-shooter type games using assistive gaming technology. It's also quite expensive (although understandably) which is always a problem for access in the first place.
Fonts are an emotive thing. But for some they are critical to a comfortable reading experience. The new YouView TV system has licensed Mencap's FS Me font, designed to be easier for learning disabled people to read (you can buy FS Me here).
The RNIB have long advocated for clear print standards to aid reading for visually impaired people.
Just recently, Aberlardo Gonzalez has freely released a font designed to assist many people with Dyslexia called OpenDyslexic. Which after receiving an e-mail from Techni Myoko saying how great it would be to see this used in games, reminded me of the game "The Pyramid". This Windows XP game enabled you to choose from two-fonts to suit your preference. What a brilliant feature. But how many other games can you think of that offer this?
UPDATE: An alternative font aimed at people with Dyslexia is explained brilliantly in the video below. Known as 'Dyslexie' and available from StudioStudio.nl this is perhaps a more complete solution, but at a price. Many thanks to Ian Hamilton for the link.
Was such a pleasure to meet Ellie and her family at the superb Little Havens Children's Hospice, early this year, even though Ellie consistently thrashed me at Mario Kart. Stupid game.
The Wii remote needed to be lightened, which was achieved in the main by removing the batteries and placing them in a separate box. A very simple hack, but worked out to be really effective.
I'm wondering if Ellie will be able to use her controller on Just Dance 4 coming out soon for the Wii-U. Hope so.
SpecialEffect had their third outing at the UK's EuroGamer Expo 2012. This time taking a prime spot between the likes of FarCry 3, SimCity, and Assassins Creed 3: Liberation.
Three set-ups were available, being: Portal 3 with highly customised set-up of a chin-mounted joypad and a variety of switches. In the middle was a video show-casing a little of what SpecialEffect is about. On the right was Dirt 3 set-up with eye-gaze control and fastest time competition.
Isaac Harvey won the Dirt 3 competition (pictured playing Halo with his feet below). So good to know a diverse range of people got to understand about game accessibility in this way.
Away from SpecialEffect were a number of games with some good access features. Very much looking forward to pending accessibility boosts to indie-instant-classics DRM and Proteus.
"This 1979 poster pays tribute to the extremely popular Space Invaders video arcade game and encourages passengers to read their newspapers without invading the space of other passengers."
I overlooked Micro Sprint the first time I saw it, but that was a mistake. This is superb. It's a pure one-switch racing game for one to eight players (or up to two players with the free demo). It's not far away from Atari's Championship Sprint but far more accessible.
The entire menu system is one-switch accessible, activated by setting the "GUI AUTO CYCLE" to your preferred speed (find it in the preferences area). Even when you have this system on, you can still very comfortably use the mouse if needed for setting a game up, as it deactivates auto-scanning for a few seconds when you move it. Very nice.
The game has reconfigurable controls, various difficulty levels, practice areas and an excellent speed assist mode which I've not seen before. When switched on, you get a little green or red indicator that follows your car around. If it's red it means you need to slow down or you'll bash into the side of the track. A nice alternative to "auto-braking" which would take all the fun out of a Scalextric game otherwise. I also really like the way it indicates where your car is at the start of a race when you press your switch impatiently.
You will need good visual tracking skills to play this well on the harder levels as the cars are tiny. This is a great game, and well worth the current $2.49 asking price.
AccessAble Games have made fun use of the Makey Makey DIY controller kit. Playing Dirt 3 with spoons. Gives an idea for how light-pressure control can be in this way. Would love to see this made compatible with modern games consoles.
This post is aimed at the game industry in general: I remember back in 2006 Kotaku publishing a really offensive article linked to game accessibility. It was an example of one or two ignorant men in positions of power, not really getting it.
What was far more frustrating to come up against at the time was the amount of ignorance in general around what things in gaming design were commonly disabling people; What it was that stopped people from being able to enjoy playing a game. It wasn't that people in gaming didn't care about their fellow humans. It was frequently that they simply just didn't know anyone was finding it a struggle.
Roll on six years, and I can sense a sea-change in understanding, willing and empathy. It makes me really proud and happy to have been a small part of the game accessibility movement that is bringing this about.
Below are some key 21st century efforts to get good useful information across to game developers...
You can find much more at the moth-balled Game-Accessibility.com resource section. To be honest, you can't go too far wrong with most of the above. Dive in!
This isn't everything developers need, and the sheer quantity of information can seem daunting (try addressing one point of a Top 5 or Top 10 for a gentler route in). There's still a long way to go before there's a truly one-stop resource for all you need. Perhaps there never will be. Don't let that stop you trying to boost accessibility. And never forget that even if you add just one accessibility feature, it can make a massive difference.
This all very much ties up with the UN's Convention of the Right of the Child, Article 31:
"1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity."
Mark Barlet and Steve Spohn of AbleGamers have brought together a truly impressive set of Game Accessibility Guidelines: Includification. The booklet and site give rich and colourful reasons for why access matters, and why it's not as intimidating as some may think. Really great to see. On a personal level, I'm really chuffed to have had an opportunity to shout out to touch-screen developers to think a bit more about those who can't use their devices. Here's hoping...
Massively impressed by the bespoke game controller above from Remap's Leicestershire and Rutland panel. This is an approach I've not seen before, but it looks like it works brilliantly. The need for this type of controller I have seen before. Other solutions for people include that of Marc Busnel in France and by using an array of Altec Ultralight switches.
"The Doo-zy Switch is a unique switch for people with special needs packed with features to meet a wide range of communication, access and control needs. Join in stories, play your favourite music, control toys even change channels on the TV. The light touch low profile switch has light and vibration prompts and feedback making it easy to access for those with complex sensory or physical needs. Using the Magic eye the Doo-zy can even work with no touch at all!" Via Trabasack.
A raft of new activities, many of them one-switch accessible have arrived at the Help Kidz Learn site. They've also some one-switch accessible games for the iPad, which are extremely rare things to find at the minute. Most work from a cause and effect level onwards.
SpecialEffect's GameBase is turning up some really nice one-switch games just lately. Turns out that DJ Hero 2 has a one-button playable "Beginner" option. The guy playing with his foot, Isaac, has a way in. For those unable to access in that way, I'm guessing a one-switch hack would be pretty easy to do.
It's been so encouraging to see so much positive coverage for the Game Accessibility Guidelines. Even more so, to see all the positive comments. Things are progressing. Well done, Ian Hamilton and all involved in this struggle, past, present and future.
"Today sees the launch of a comprehensive developer guide to addressing the accessibility issues faced by over 20% of video gamers:
www.gameaccessibilityguidelines.com has been created by a group of developers and experts, coordinated by Ian Hamilton, an accessibility and usability specialist with a background in game development. The website offers all developers guidelines on how to better serve the needs of gamers with a range of visual, hearing, speech, learning and motor conditions. The hope is that by highlighting the relatively simple changes needed, the games industry as a whole will be able to ensure that they quickly become part of its normal working practices."
Read the full press-release at Real-Wire. Really happy to have been a part-of this effort. Now lets hope it takes hold and develops further with the support of all with an interest in this field.
The great video from Gav Tan at SpecialEffect is of the Wii game Beat the Beat Rhythm Paradise for the Wii. With an adapted Wii remote this can be played with one or two-switches providing you have lightening fast reactions.
Slightly easier one-switch playable rhythm games from the past include Um Jammer Lammy on easy mode, and most Konami Dancing Stage (aka DDR) games with a suitably adapted controller.
I absolutely love the Wii driving game solution above, created by Frank McGillan of Tectetra.org. This is the first time I have seen such a method for giving access to motion-control only games. A long standing problem for many.
The Wii remote is mounted onto a pivot point, which I'm guessing is the turning mechanism from a standard Remote Controlled vehicle. This presently gives control over a single axis of movement, which suits driving games very well.
Additional access is given to two buttons via surface mounted actuators, which I've only seen done before with a rare GameBoy Advance adapter (see page 6 of this article).
This is a brilliant solution, and offers up a number of exciting future possibilities... Could two pivot points be put in place to give control over the likes of PS3 Flower on a Six-Axis controlled game (see PS3 Flower around the 2:55 mark)? Could the actuator power be ramped up and used on public push-button devices (e.g. pinball machines, fruit machines, bank machines and so on)?
"The AbleGamers Foundation is calling for open letters to the gaming industry about how important game accessibility is to you. These letters will be included in an upcoming AbleGamers project. Please remember, these letters are either personal pleas/reasoning OR personal stories underscoring why accessible gaming matters to you or someone you care for.
Email entries to submissions@ablegamers.com no later then 11:59 EST Aug 31, 2012." - Via Steve Spohn on the IGDA GASIG mailing list.
The story is narrated by Dick Boydell, a British computer scientist who has Cerebral Palsy. He talks of his past, and of the joy an adapted train-set brought him as a child. He communicates in the main using a Possum type-writer using his feet. In his trip to the Artificial Language Lab at Michigan State University, he gets a taste of the future to come during a range of meetings, but also of the frustrations of 1982 technology.
Really looking forward to the London 2012 Opening Ceremony tonight (not long now). The games have started already, and so has the SpecialEffect GameBase Video Olympicks 2012. A good clutch of one-switch, point-and-click, cause-and-effect and audio-games await.
AbleNet are about to release a zero pressure proximity sensor switch called the Candy Corn. Not cheap at $150 but could be very useful indeed if mounted suitably.
Skoogmusic's latest software update (v1.4) for the Skoog has some new instruments, and finally a one-sided playing mode. Named the MusicBox, it allows you to play through pre-composed songs using a single side of the Skoog.
In some ways, this has links to the old Commodore 64 Music Maker Play-a-long albums and the Wii Music conducting game. However, the Skoog gives you more than just the ability to dictate tempo. You can add expression and choose how long the length of notes are played too.
There are a number of pre-set tunes such as the Pink Panther theme, Star Wars and various others. Hopefully in the future it will be possible to compose your own tunes (perhaps using the Skoog itself) and then play them back in MusicBox style. Huge possibilities, and a brilliant addition.
On the back of a request to find a one-switch method for reading Kindle books on a PC, I got in touch with the highly talented William Pilgrim and Tim Brogden. Both turned up two excellent solutions to the problem, and both allow one-switch users to browse up and down the pages of Kindle, PDF and Word documents. You can also use this method to scan up and down web-pages.
The simplest version to get going is William Pilgrim's: One Switch Reader. Set your switch to act as the key "1", and you'll have the power to page up, page down and slow-scan (a line at a time) through a document or web-page, aided by an arrow indicator. Happy reading.
Channel 4 have just released an inspiring Paralympic promotional video like no other I've seen. Just click on one of the pictures above to view it. The Olympics arrives next Friday, and the Paralympics from the 29th of August. I'm hugely looking forward to them especially the Danny Boyle opening ceremony to kick it all off.
