I recently had the pleasure of writing my first ever post for the Microsoft Accessibility blog.
Everything I had done before was limited to Xbox land, so this was a really cool experience for me.
Check it out!
Blog
Wow!
I am completely humbled and amazed by everyone around me. After one day, I raised all the needed funds to get my talk subtitled. Thank you! I can’t express how happy I am for all the support and love that has been shown.
Now begins that actual process of getting the work done. ❤
Hey guys!
So you may remember that when I posted a link to my GDC talk “Evolve: An Adventure in Accessibility Retrofitting,” I noted it didn’t have subtitles.
Basically, GDC doesn’t put subtitles on videos in their Vault player. That’s the first roadblock. They can however, migrate videos to Youtube where they rely on autogenerated captioning for Youtube, which I guess is technically better than nothing. But let’s be frank, autogenerated captions suck for tech/game talks because of all the slang/jargon/made up words. They’re pretty much useless.
Obviously, having my content about video game accessibility be accessible is really important to me, so I reached out to some GDC folks. Chatting with them, we’re getting my talk migrated over to Youtube and I’ll be able to provide a closed captioning file that they’ll upload and we’ll have captions! Yay!
But, there is some bad news. Generating accurate closed captions is really time consuming, especially when the video is an hour long, even if you’re good at it. And well…. I’m not good at it, I don’t have time and I have to provide the captions for my talk if I want it to be subtitled .
So, I’m outsourcing! I’ve selected Kait Paschall (@8bitKnitWit), the person who captions all of the Unreal Tutorial videos and all of the vids for #GAConf! Why did I go with her?
- She’s from games, so she knows the terminology.
- English is her first language, the language the talk is in.
- She’s gonna give 100% Grade A subtitles, no partial automation here!
This is where I need your help. I don’t have $315 laying around to pay Kait for her work, but I want my content about accessibility to be accessible, and I want to support someone else as passionate about accessibility as I am.
I’m going to be spending some time fund raising. If you can, please chip in. Every little bit helps! ❤
Check me out on Twitch 7PM PST on Wednesdays while I fund raise!
Donations can be submitted here! PayPal and Credit cards accepted!
Good news! My video is in the fault, and no log in is required! (Bad news, no captions. Sorry 😦 I’ve complained, I promise).
View it here >> http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024058/-Evolve-An-Adventure-in
(It’s not on Youtube, so the video can’t be embedded. If it gets migrated, I will update this post.)
If you’re interested in the slides, I’ve already posted them here.
Hi all!
Many of you have ask for my conference slides for my talk, Evolve: An Adventure in Accessibility Retrofitting, and here they are! The slides were slightly different between the two talks, so this is actually from GDC, which was a slightly longer version.
The slides alone don’t provide much info, so I tried to fill some stuff in the speakers notes to kind of give the slides context. You can view the speakers notes by clicking the little gear icon below.
- Non-embedded version located here.
- PPT version (with broken fonts) downloadable here.
- You can also get a link to the report card listed in the report here.
Hopefully soon I’ll get to make a post about the overall #GAConf/GDC experience, but I’m a bit busy right now (cough*playing Zelda*cough), so we’ll see when I get around to it.
Thanks!
UPDATE: Video of the talk is now up at the GDC Vault. No log in required.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024058/-Evolve-An-Adventure-in
Hello again!
I am pleased to announced that I am also going to speaking at GDC17, in addition to GaConf, on the topic of game accessibility.
My GDC talk is an expanded version of my GaConf talk about the work required to retrofitaccessibility features into Evolve and Evolve Stage 2.
I will upload my slides once the talk it over.
Find it in the official schedule builder here:
http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/evolve-an-adventure-in-accessibility-retro-fitting
Details:
Location: Room 3020, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 1
Time: 9:30am – 10:30am
Format: Session
Track:
Advocacy
Description:
It’s always said that you should plan for accessibility from the beginning, but what happens if you don’t? Turtle Rock Studios learned the hard way with ‘Evolve’, but gained a lot of knowledge taking steps to make their game more accessible post launch. In this session, learn not only how to avoid the challenges they encountered but how thinking of gamers with disabilities made their title more appealing to the general audience for ‘Evolve Stage 2’ .
Takeaway
Attendees will leave with a practical example of game accessibility in a launched title, as well as the knowledge of how to evaluate their game for accessibility and how accessibility becomes good design for all players.
Intended Audience
Anyone interested in helping gamers with disabilities, looking how to make their game more generally accessible to a wider audience, or are interested in ‘Evolve’. Although no prerequisite knowledge is required, the added context of shipping at least one title will make it more relatable.
So, I sometimes (all the time) forgot that I have a website that I planned on putting information and blog posts and all that cool stuff.
One of the major events that I totally spaced on was the panel I was on at PlayStation Experience (aka PSX).
This event was exciting for a few reasons
- It was the first accessibility talk at PSX ever
- The panel members were great
- It was on the MAIN STAGE and livestreamed to PlayStation’s social
- Shawn Layden pushed his flight out to introduce the panel personally
- I got to sit in a chair Kojima sat in the day before
So, sorry I forgot to post about it before hand, but I hope you enjoy watching the VOD. ❤
I’m really excited to announce that I am Co-Director of #GAConf, a one day conference dedicated to game accessibility. I’m also a speaker!
Press release below ❤
SAN FRANCISCO, January 17 th, 2017 – A packed schedule has been announced for GAConf, a new one-day conference dedicated to making games more accessible to gamers with disabilities. The event features talks and networking for all disciplines of the games industry, exploring recent and future advances in game accessibility.
GAConf is hosted by the IGDA’s Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, and takes place on February 27, 2017 at the Mission Bay Conference Centre, San Francisco, CA.
Attendees can expect a wide range of topics from all sectors of the industry – indie to AAA, academia to accessibility specialists – and leave with inspiration, new contacts, and practical tips to ensure any game can reach as many people as possible, so no player is unnecessarily excluded from everything that games have to offer.
“We’re at a tipping point right now where developers want to make games more accessible, so we’re holding an event to give them the resources to do so. They’ll have everything they need and access to like-minded individuals and industry experts.”
– Tara Voelker, Gaikai, event co-director
“Video games are becoming more complex all the time. Their stories are richer, their worlds more vivid and full of life. Truly, they are incredible. Nobody should be excluded from experiencing the things only video games can provide, and they want those chances. That is why game accessibility means so much.”
– Brandon Cole, blind gamer & advocate, speaker
Awareness of the importance of game accessibility has increased hugely in recent years, making 2017 a perfect opportunity to take stock and exchange experiences and expertise. Attendees will take home practical knowledge of how to ensure their vision can reach as wide a range of players as possible, allowing more of those players to benefit from the access to culture, recreation and socialising that gaming brings.
Sessions at GAConf include:
Accessibility & VR
– Bob De Schutter, Miami University
‘Evolve’: An Adventure in Accessibility Retro-Fitting
– Tara Voelker, Turtle Rock / Gaikai
Gaming Without Sight: We Wanna Play Too
– Brandon Cole, blind gamer & advocate
Friction That Fits – Unlocking Inclusive Fun
– Bryce Johnson, Xbox
Accessibility as a Micro-indie
– Giselle Rosman, Global Game Jam
– Henry Hoffman, Fiddlesticks
– AJ Ryan, AbleGamers
– Nicole Stark, Disparity Games
– Nathan Fouts, MommysBestGames
Uncharted 4 – A New Adventure in Video Game Accessibility
– Naughty Dog
Full schedule is available at www.GAConf.com/schedule .
I’ve started making silly Youtube videos about accessibility.
There was a lot of amazing video game accessibility info put out for Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
Videos, live chats, articles… everything! Ian Hamilton put together an amazing list that contains a ton of videos, articles, blogs and tweets from the day that you can check out if you’re interested in seeing for yourself.
I was pretty disappointed in myself for not having anything ready, especially after the Uncharted 4 videos that were released, so I threw together a very last minute Twitch stream to answer some questions and talk about accessibility in Evolve, a title I’m currently a producer for.
Here’s a clip of the livestream. Next year I hope to have something properly put together.
Tara Voelker 