Canada is consulting with the disabled community regarding new legislation. The Government of Canada is improving accessibility and removing barriers for Canadians with disabilities. And Video Gaming is one of them. Gaming development companies will have to do a better job at making video games accessible.
The video game industry in Canada is huge with 472 Studios adding $3 billion to Canada’s GDP every year. 90% of that is from exporting the games around the world.
In general, it is cheap and not hard to add accessibility features to most PC games. EA Canada may have a very difficult time making their sports games accessible and most Unreal based games are not accessible. I can not even use the Unreal 4 engine to deign games. So if I’m employed by a gaming company that wants to use the unreal 4 engine I’m out a job? I’m currently reviewing the unity 5.5 engine. I’ll let you know how it goes
I’m a quadriplegic with very little movement and I cannot use a standard mouse with scrolling, a standard keyboard or a game pad. I need to re-bind keyboard keys and mouse scrolling. Camera view controls are really difficult in a lot of new games. Simple voice, mouse, or keyboard controls work best. There has been a trend in newer games lately to not provide as many control options for disabled gamers.
I use an SmartNav AT:4 on-screen mouse with dwell click, Hot virtual keyboard as my on-screen keyboard and Voicebot for voice control.
I can play the following games well using one or a combination of. These games should have a wheelchair symbol or badge of approval.
Blizzard: World of Warcraft (MMORPG), Starcraft II (Real-time strategy), Hearthstone (card game)
Paradox: Cities: Skylines (City Builder, Simulation), Tyranny (RPG, Isometric)
Blue Bite/Ubisoft: Anno 2205 (Strategy, Futuristic City Builder)
Stardock Entertainment: Galactic Civilization III (Turn-Base Strategy, Space)
Madruga Works: Planetbase (City Builder, Survival)
Firaxis Games: Sid Meier’s Civilization®: Beyond Earth (Turn-Base Strategy)
Petroglyph: 8-Bit Invaders (Real-time Strategy, Indie)
I would like to thank Steam for their refund policy as I return about 75% of the games I buy because they are unplayable for me.
Games I can’t play but wish I could. A Racing game, First-person shooter, a First-person Adventure/Puzzle/ Horror and a Hockey sports game. I have some ideas on how these games can be made accessible, if you are willing to work with me?
Charles Reid
Victoria BC, Canada
Email: charlesreid@gmx.ca