Adventure Gamers: What gaming platforms are best for accessibility, both in terms of hardware and software?

Barrie Ellis: PC for accessibility, followed by the PlayStation 2 (thanks to its massive range of controllers).

AG: What makes these the best, and what makes other consoles, Macs, etc. worse?

BE: The PC has the hugest wealth of accessible controllers, utilities, and is capable of emulating the largest range of games consoles. This combination opens up games that were originally unplayable for many. The PlayStation 2 comes second best, for the same reasons. There aren't so many utilities, although the likes of Datel's Action Replay cheat disks can help massively.

The Xbox 360 is perhaps has the poorest accessibility wise, largely due to the restrictions Microsoft placed on third party controller manufacture. It has the least diverse range of controllers of any modern games console. Macs can be excellent, but have only a fraction of the accessibility utilities available. Believe it or not, the Wii is not that fantastic either for those unable to throw two arms about.

AG: For any game developers looking to make their games more accessible, what resources are there?

BE: The IGDA's Game Accessibility Special Interest Group have a friendly mailing list that people can access for help. They have a blog, too, with many useful links along the right hand pane. A couple of other useful links are Physical Barriers in Video Games and Retro Remakes forum.

AG: If you could choose one thing that all game designers would do to make their games more accessible, what would it be?

BE: Include a choice of adjustable difficulty levels that are meaningful to more people.

AG: How does having variable difficulty levels help improve accessibility?

BE: It simply gives the chance for a game to be enjoyable for more people, rather than a depressing drudge. Any kind of disabilities can make you slower or unable to perform all of the actions you need to do, so an easy level allows that slowness, etc. to be less punishing to the player.

AG: How hard is it to make a game accessible to everyone?

BE: Very hard indeed. There are some that are trying, such as UA-Games. However, I'm not personally pressing for that anyway: right now it's pretty easy to make most games more accessible for more people. There's not enough developers trying though, so that's what I'd like to see much more of now.

AG: Some people point out that the "able-bodied" may only temporarily be so, as illness, accidents and old age can affect anyone's ability to play games. Do you think in 50 or 60 years when all today's teenage console owners have developed arthritis and have slower reflexes that the accessibility of games will have improved?

BE: Surely things will have improved in 50 years!?! There's people now who were playing games 30 years ago (i.e. the Space Invaders generation) in their 50s and 60s now who have flocked to the DS and Wii due to their general accessibility over the likes of a Dual-Shock 3 controller. A greater breadth of games that can be made accessible can only be a better thing for all, whether you are disabled now or for when you very likely become disabled later. People like fun. Why should they be denied it?

AG: Adventure games often have an unhurried pace and require more thought than rapid mashing of buttons. What problems remain for accessibility in adventure games?

BE: Firstly, I want to say that many point-and-click style adventure games, with a pure mouse-based interface (ideally only needing the left click) are often brilliantly accessible for many. The unhurried pace alongside a simple interface is a big plus for many. But there are problems for some…

• A necessity for pinpoint accuracy mouse-skills: where highly precise aiming skills are needed, many gamers are cut out, especially so with eye-tracker gamers.

• No option to play the game within a window: if the game can't be played within a window, it won't be easy/possible for many gamers to make use of an on-screen keyboard if using a head or eye tracker. It can be harder for a gamer to quit the game too when needed.

• The written word: some gamers will struggle if there is no option to have the text spoken out loud (e.g. dyslexics). Some will struggle with tiny text. Some will struggle with words, full stop.

• No one or two-button interface: point-and-click adventure games are a nightmare for those who can only use big button switches (aka "switch gamers") and cannot move a mouse or equivalent - they often require masses of button presses to get anywhere. To my knowledge there is just one – Invincible Island which really works for players limited to using only one or two buttons.

AG: Have you played many adventure games yourself? What's your favourite?

BE: I have played a fair few over the years and pretty much like something from all types. I started with Merry Christmas by Melbourne House, which was a giveaway for the C64. I've always liked the LucasArts games such as Full Throttle and I've always meant to go back and play some Magnetic Scrolls games but never had time. I like Infocom's style of old, love the Ace Attorney DS games. Favourite adventure game of the moment? Spooks still, I think.

AG: Is it hard to find games that are widely accessible right now?

BE: Yes and no. What is accessible depends upon your abilities, obviously, and if you can play with help or play completely independently. A good starting point, besides One Switch itself, might be SpecialEffect.

AG: I don't want to be controversial, but are accessible games boring? Sometimes it seems that they are ones with very simple controls or that are very slow or are a very easy version of another game.

BE: My definition of an accessible game is ANY game that you can play and have fun with. If you can't play it, it's going to become boring very quickly.

AG: Are there any free accessible games that I can try right now?

BE: Of course! How about these for starters...

Peggle and Bejewelled (great for some head-tracker gamers), 6 Differences (eye tracker gamers), Move or Die (head-tracker gamers), Aurikon (one button), Strange Attractors (one button) and a ton of audio games.

Any why not try perhaps the world's most (deliberately) inaccessible game whilst you're here: Game Over.

AG: Thanks for sharing these insights with us, and we at Adventure Gamers would like to express our support for what you're doing at One Switch, and for all those working to make fun more accessible!

BE: Likewise - thanks so much for the chance to get the word out to a new audience. I really appreciate it.