EA’s help was invaluable not only in providing suggestions, but also in fixing the sometimes cumbersome settings. Edagawa points out that the development of certain features and designs sometimes clashed with certain aspects, although they were incorporated in the early stages. wild heart. However, it was a key element of accessibility, so the developers continued to work to make the game playable for players with disabilities.
“The most difficult feature to implement was support for color blindness,” says Edagawa. “Since it is a basic accessibility feature, we have been careful from the beginning of development so that the UX does not depend on color. However, there are cases where it is unavoidable to use different colors, and there are cases where it is easier to distinguish by color even though it can be distinguished by other factors. We continued to adjust colorblind support until the very end.”
tango gameworks
hifi rush It was unexpectedly released in January to huge critical acclaim. Players found the rhythmic combat unique and fun, and individuals with disabilities had access to a number of settings to help players relieve fatigue, such as an auto-action mode and difficulty setting. This interest in accessibility is not new. Since the launch of the company in 2014 inner evil, the developers at Tango Gameworks have been working to make accessibility a core design principle. Dear John Johanas, hifi rush It is the culmination of years of efforts to welcome athletes with disabilities.
“This trend started in America,” says Johanas. It shows the importance of working on accessibility in the US and allowing people to enjoy the experiences we want to create, rather than destroying the gameplay experience.” “As we progress – and this is at least hifi rush—We had two elements that we could access when we approached the title. One is the Accessibility setting in the menu, something you can control and turn on if you want to play a certain way. The other was making the experience itself accessible.”
hifi rush It currently offers a number of accessibility settings such as subtitles, control customization, colorblind mode, and rhythm visualization options. But options alone aren’t enough for many disabled players. Johanas says he and the developers looked to studios like Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games for inspiration, but including an overwhelming number of options just wasn’t right for this particular title. Instead, his team needed to keep the game accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing without extensive features.
“So we said what we can do on the visual side to help players who have trouble discerning rhythm or who are deaf in general,” says Johanas. “Looking at how things are being interpreted, for example how many types of subtitles were used to get the character interactions as visual as possible, and working with all the visual aspects like the UI to make it that way. Even if people can’t hear it, there are many ways to interpret the rhythm.”
These settings and design practices were not easy to implement. Johanas and his team wanted to strike a balance between providing support and providing a fun challenge for players with disabilities. Thankfully, Tango Gameworks received additional support from ZeniMax Media’s accessibility team. Through his vast knowledge and resources, as well as disabled play testers, hifi rush It was released playable and continues to evolve through patches.
