Introduction

The UpgameIn project aims to transform the game industry into more accessible and environmentally sustainable when it comes to game design. The partners of the project (Challedu, OSG, Escape4Change & Fundacja Fantazmat) will research on the topics of Inclusivity, Sustainability, Environmental Awareness and Circular Economy in order to create guidelines on how to incorporate these aspects into game design. There are resources, trainings and workshops offered that are prepared to teach and empower educators, game designers and organizations to create games that are both entertaining and educational. The games should address global challenges contained in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goal is to make all of the new games accessible for all individuals, regardless of their abilities, age, culture, economics, education or race. 

Game Industry and Disabilities

The gaming industry has been continuously growing over the past few years. In 2021 there were 2.8 billion gamers in the world. People with disabilities makeup around 20% of this community. Nowadays, when awareness and inclusivity are often talked about, many game creators try to adjust their products to disadvantaged groups of people. 

In this article, we are going to focus on the game design of physical games and their accessibility.

Game accessibility guidelines on physical games

There are a few different ways to make a game more accessible. Here you can find a few categories that they were divided in, regarding the type of impairment it targets: visual accessibility, auditory accessibility, motor accessibility, cognitive accessibility and other important considerations. 

Visual Accessibility focuses on using larger print size in all of the elements of the game, adjusting contrast between different game components, adding braille or raised textures for players with visual impairments and using colors that will be easier to identify by people who are colorblind. It also includes enhancing the game with patterns and symbols supporting colors. 

Auditory Accessibility refers to how we could make the game more accessible for people with hearing impairments. When a game is based on a sound, it would be necessary to add another component eg. a flashing light instead of a buzzer. 

Motor Accessibility indicates that board games should be easy to adjust or tilt and the components of the game ought to be large and easy to hold or shuffle. These adjustments would provide individuals with motor impairments with easier access to the gameplay. 

Cognitive Accessibility focuses on simplifying the rules of the games or introducing the beginner mode for players with cognitive disabilities. Additionally, including visual aids as flowcharts and diagrams can make it easier for players to understand the gameplay and rules. In general, games with fewer rules and simpler mechanics are less overwhelming for people with cognitive overload.

What is more, modern games should be created in a way that they encourage social cooperation and interaction. This could help the players who struggle with communication difficulties or social anxiety.

Examples of accessible physical games

One of the games showing the best practises when it comes to designing accessible games is “ID-GAMES serious games – Love game” created by the cooperation of Challedu, PEKAMEA, E- School, Asociația “Alianța pentru copii”, Lusófona University and Specjalny Ośrodek Szkolno-Wychowawczy nr 1 under the Erasmus+ project ID-GAMES. The game was created for people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). Its main goal is to introduce sexual education and social behaviors to people with ID, in a way that is adjusted to their needs. It consists of simple images that include a short description of the picture. Additionally, there are a few keywords under every image to help players in case they need to ask the “game master” about something. The game can be played in different levels, varying from easy to competitive. The levels are adjusted for the type and level of players’ Intellectual Disabilities. The game aims to enhance the engagement of the players and train their cognitive skills such as creativity, decision making and memory, while getting to know more about sexual and social education.

Another example of a game pioneering in accessibility is Karuba – a board game created by Rüdiger Dorn and published by Conclave Editora. In this tile-laying race board game, players establish their own paths and compete to gather as many points as possible. The accessibility of the game is characterized by simple rules where all of the tokens and tiles are identified by numbers or specific shapes which makes the game color-blind friendly in a way that colors are not important in the gameplay. Moreover, despite the competitiveness of the game, the scoring system supports recovery which keeps gaps between points of every player minimal. Alternatively, each player can ignore the competitive nature of the game and focus on building their own paths without taking into consideration the actions of others. Additionally, the creators of the game used the least possible amount of text in the game design which makes it easier for people with visual and cognitive disabilities. 

Conclusion

While the game industry is still growing and creating new types of games, it is important to remember about traditional forms of games and intend to transform them into more accessible and inclusive forms. Physical games are still very popular among different groups of people and don’t require technological infrastructure like the digital ones. That makes them a possible first choice for people with different disabilities and/or lack of funds. While the industry is focusing on the visual aspects of the games, the accessibility should be considered as equally important. 

REFERENCES

https://www.un.org/en/webaccessibility/

https://medium.com/tealmedia/designing-for-accessibility-the-ultimate-in-ux-e3661

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https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-67591204

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDD_vSfkrVI