Hi Dark and all, Those are some valid points. Something else I'd like to address on the issue of accessibility sometimes the developers themselves can't add accessibility because of the game engine or software they use doesn't have accessibility built into it.
For instance, Michael Feir recently brought up this subject that some game developers might choose to use the Unity engine to build a text based game. Problem is that Unity helps a developer have a structured framework for building games, but it doesn't interface with the Windows API therefore even if the game is 100% text it is not accessible. In order for the developer to go back in and add access would require a rewrite from scratch in another language or using a different game engine that offers accessibility. Therefore sometimes what seems to us like a rather trivial fix is not trivial depending on how the game was created in the first place. However, that said, I do think we should at least try to contact the developers, be as detailed as possible about what needs to be fixed and how it can be fixed, and said e-mail should be as professional as possible. That means it should be spell checked, should use proper grammar, and should have proper punctuation. It should be written using formal greetings and proper signatures. As it is a formal document one should not compose an e-mail to a game developer the way they would write one to their best friend. Such e-mails besides being informal tend to come off disrespectful and aren't well thought out Cheers! . On 5/2/14, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > If you mean a link to the podcast where the creator of Dark room talks about > > access in the game, you can hear it on > http://www.appcessible.net/talking-apps-podcast-episode-2-amir-rajan/ > > actually I'd recommend having a listen anyway, the story of the developers > decision to make the game is a very interesting one. > > Regarding getting some of the games with larger player bases accessible, > well the problem as I said is that generally as the saying goes the bigger > the ant hill the bigger the stink. This is why the storm8 games like > vampires live have had no fix to make the id system accessible, and why > haypy monster has had no fixes for the chaotic interface or very random > lables, sinse while not made by mainstream developers the companies are > pretty big and it's not generally possible to individually talk to the > developers. > > Of course this isn't to say it's entirely impossible. There are cases where > > the game is mostly accessible but requires say some labeled images where > even larger indi companies have been helpful. Two particularly good > examples of this are Kingdom of loathing and torn city. Both are pretty big > > games, ---- big enough to make the newspapers and be reported in innumerable > > other media, but because they're text based browser mmorpgs, the access > basically involved correct image lables and in the case of Torn city, an > audio capture (and this one is actually perfectly understandable). > > So, it's certainly worth a try, albeit I tend to think your better off with > > companies where you can actually speak to the developers themselves, like > trees brothers who make startraders elite. > > As regards how, well the first thing is be extra polite, considder it a > formal letter that you are writing to a company. As such use any correct > titles or information you can. I for example always sign my letters "Dr. > Luke hewitt, aka dark, audiogames.net admin" not merely "beware the grue > Dark" --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
