enabled play game accessibility wii game visually impaired
TRANSCRIPT
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The Explorer and the Mysteryof the Diamond Scarab
Rob WillemsHanze University Groningen,Principal Blue (the Netherlands)
Grants:
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How the project started
• A game for blind children?
• NO
• We want a game for all!
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NOS Jeugdjournaal, March 2011(National Television, News for children)
Item on Dutch television about the game. Download the video: http://www.gambas-games.nl/video/jeugdjournaal.mov (large file!)
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GameDevelopment
Facilitate Creative Design Process
ProjectManagement
Project StakeholderLocomotion & Vision Experts
Visually impaired and full sighted children
The project
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Other partners
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Bio
• Projectmanager GAMBAS project (Principal Blue)
• Lecturer Hanze University Groningen
• Expertise: usability, game design and game experience
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The Goals
• Game for blind and sighted children
• Play on an equal basis
• Improve locomotion skills
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Challenges• There are no adventure games where blind and sighted
children can play on an equal basis
• Blind children can play special audio games, but other (co-located) children can not follow the game
• There are not many exercises for blind children to train their locomotion skills in an entertaining way
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Approach
• Designing together: collaborative design
• Blind & sighted children became part of a multidisciplinary team (4 blind and 4 sighted)
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Co-creation steps
create awareness
define shared goal idea creation
experience with new technology evaluate and combine ideas
create team create ideas evaluate & select
shared concepts
build & iterate
evaluate & optimize
experience concept
obstacles
&monsters
torch &
sonar
Friend
who
helps
collect
objects
look for mutual ideas
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Create team
• Analyze relationship with the subject:• Create awareness of their
fun/interesting gaming experiences and preferences.
• Create shared goals:• experience adventures• being smart• learn new things• makes you laugh
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Create ideas• Experience with new technology
– play Wii and keep a journal: • what they like/dislike• how to make the Wii more suitable
• Idea creation - assisted– role playing adventure– creating world with Lego bricks
and toy animals– user walk through of the
interaction (Wii Balance Board & Wii-mote)
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Shared concepts
obstacles
&monsters
Friend/ghost
who
helps you
collect
objects
torch &
sonar
Adventure in
dark world
sound
of walls
information
about
EgyptGateway
to different level
Create a list of mutual elements:
Functional requirements
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Build and iterate
• Game was simulated in a gym:– “experience” the basic
elements of the game concept
– audio feedback: musical instruments or voice
– sighted children had limited vision glasses
• Difficult navigation situations were “solved” in situ
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Prototype evaluation
1. Navigation and orientation1.First focus: navigation, orientation, audio
feedback
2.Equal challenge for the blind and sighted children
• Fun and game play1.Second focus: design and evaluating
game fun experience and the game play
2.Introduction of mini challenges:1. enrich the game experience
2. provide specific locomotion exercises
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Evaluation of navigation
• Children prefer rotation of the viewing perspective, however: – blind children tend to lose their
orientation
– less possibilities to train the children’s balance.
• Faster speed for walking backwards
• Feedback about the direction of your own movements.
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Position paper for “1st Workshop on Game Accessibility: Xtreme Interaction Design (GAXID'11)”, Foundations of Digital Games (Bordeaux, France)
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The game
10 levels
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Conclusions
• It is possible to offer an equal game challenge for blind and sighted childrenSmart combination of audio & visual & tactile feedback
• Co-design works!– valuable method to develop applications for
children with visual impairment– many valuable insights and experiences for the
developers – creative input from children throughout the process– a lot of the final solutions were created by the children
• Very rewarding that, through listening, blind children can give feedback on other players!
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To do
Improvement of locomotion needs to be measured
A method was created for longitudinal testing of the improvement of locomotion skills. This will be implemented in schools for visually impaired children
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Available: Summer 2011 (PAL version)
Info and (pre-) order at: www.visio.org/wii-game
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Demo of the game
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Questions?
• Meet me in the breaks or in the exhibits
• Position paper for “1st Workshop on Game Accessibility: Xtreme Interaction Design (GAXID'11)”, Foundations of Digital Games (Bordeaux, France)
Contact information:
• Rob Willems (Hanze University Groningen, Principal Blue), the Netherlands
• Email: [email protected] , phone: +31 654 296 058
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Thank you !