The Controller Project from Caleb Kraft of Hack-a-day is an excellent new addition to the gamut of people sharing and promoting game accessibility solutions.
I've long been an advocate of people finding their own solutions, but for some people the range of possibilities and barriers they face are utterly daunting. For that, thank goodness for the likes of the charity SpecialEffect (at least in the UK) and their loan-library, games-room, OTs and home visits. Anyway, here's some more D.I.Y. resources for accessible gaming tinkerers:
Acid-Mods: A forum full of ideas for hacks and solutions. It's dried up a bit recently but still worth trawling through.
Hack Ability Blog: A more "life-in-general" hacking blog with top ideas.
Dual-Ring: A brilliant game accessibility site, that shares some very affordable/free hacks/get-arounds for improving access such from Auto Hot Key scripts to adapting Ikea furniture. A must see.
Makey-Makey Hackcess: The brilliant and very easy D.I.Y. controller that works on PCs out of the box, and using the Cronus Device and Bullseye software, can be used on Xbox 360 and PS3. Huge possibilities, especially if you link it other controls with JoyToKey. More on that soon.
One Switch D.I.Y. pages: also try searching this blog on "hacked", "adapted" or "enabled". Loads more links here to easy to complex adaptations from me, and the likes of Gavin Philips and Ben Heck.
Sugru: Wonderful blu-tack feeling material that sets hard for easy physical adaptations. More to follow on that soon.
And there's tons more besides this. If you have any that I've not mentioned though, do feel free to get in touch to share them. Happy hacking.
Apple are really starting to get their act together as regards switch access so it seems looking at previews of the iOS7 accessibility options.
The "Activate a switch on your input device now, or enable a built-in switch" looks like a way to make all the disparate methods of interfacing work (I hope). Love the addition of the head-switch using the built in camera. I assume accuracy would improve with the iPhone, iPad, iPod being mounted, rather than wobbling around in the hands of the user.
More info at 9To5 Mac, with thanks to Will Wade for the tip.
I've made no secret that I think current Apple iOS switch access is a confusing mess and extremely limited. With news of the pending iOS7 operating system update (see the video above (update: the clip was swiftly removed after publication - have a test card instead)), it looks like things could be improving soon. I'm second guessing, but I think there will still be some way to go before the following ever becomes a reality...
For Apple to set up a versatile Alternative User Interface Device protocol. Something that takes into account switch, joypad and mouse/head-tracker/eye-gaze access.
That (ideally) the wide range of existing switch interfaces remain compatible with the new interfacing protocol.
That a keyboard can be used to simulate a switch interface, and ideally a mouse can be used to simulate a future head-tracker or eye-tracker interface to keep costs down for developers. This would also open up a path for a wide range of controllers being developed for alternative access and some exciting D.I.Y. hacks.
That switches can be set-up to trigger held presses, taps, emulated gestures/taps, and work on old Apps and games (even if only to a limited extent).
Multiple-controller profiles being possible to easily set-up, save and load. How brilliant this would be for massively improving physical access to iPhones, iPods and iPads.
Fun, but potentially ultra-violent, Major Beuno's Moon Waltz, gives you the power to reveal a full moon using the SPACE BAR. This will affect the state of a young man walking to the end of his town to buy some cigarettes, who happens to be a Werewolf.
You can choose to wreak absolute pandemonium upon the town, or try to be a more upstanding citizen. Hugely accessible, with a variety of different endings. My only wish is that you didn't need an additional switch to start and restart (key "R"), as this would make a brilliant pure one-switch game
"According to legend, an unheard-of new arcade game appeared in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon in 1981, something of a rarity at the time. The game proved to be incredibly popular, to the point of addiction, and lines formed around the machines, often resulting in fighting over who played next.
This was followed by clusters of visits from men in black. Rather than the usual marketing data collected by company visitors to arcade machines, they collected some unknown data, allegedly testing responses to the psychoactive machines. The players themselves suffered from a series of unpleasant side effects, including amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and even suicide in some versions of the legend."
That game's name was said to be Polybius. Looks like a one-switch game too, if the Simpsons' take is to be believed.
Via Wikipedia and WikiSimpsons.
Cursor Click from Don Calaca replicates one of the earliest ever one-button games, played before most people had home computers. It took one or more pocket calculators that had a "constant calculations" mode, started by tapping in 1,+,+. You would then be able to hammer the equals button as fast as you could to constantly count upwards. With two players and two calculators you could both race to a set-number, e.g. first to 100 wins. The 1970s equivalent of Track and Field or Sonic and Mario at the Olympics.
Today (10.06.2013) is the 10th anniversary of OneSwitch.org.uk being launched as an official business. Before then I was toying with it being a charity or something in between. It was started to share ideas and to try and make a small difference in the world.
It's nice to look back, and I'm so pleased to have started this journey for the many wonderful and supportive people I've come into contact with. It's good to look forward too. The book I planned to have ready today, OneSwitch 100, is still being written, but I'm determined to finish it. Coming soon too will be a solderless D.I.Y. switch interface and D.I.Y. analogue controls. Far off in the future another two books are planned. So many ideas, and so little time...
