For those who are demanding that accessibility be a priority venture on daigonite's part, I propose the following exercise. Create a simple game (a quick side scroller, for instance). You must make it both sonicly and visually appealing, but you may go about it in which ever order you choose. You'll be scored separately for both aspects of the game, but must meet a one-week deadline to propose the game to potential adopters. The target demographic for the game is predominantly visually impaired, with a ratio of 70% VI players to 30% who are sighted. You are solely responsible for procuring any resources necessary for the project.
Now. Being that most of us on the forum are either totally or partially visually impaired, our interest will probably be in making the game sound great, as well as relay pertinent information to the player, without overwhelming him or her. How many of you will end up working on the sounds and accessibility first, since the interest margin weighs more heavily on the side of the VI audience? How many of you will work on the visual aspect first?
Can you make an acceptable product in the one week margin which possesses top-tier sounds and accessibility features, but also sports gorgeous graphics to please your sighted customers? Can you do so whilst checking and double checking for bugs?
The point here is that you guys are expecting version 3.9 of a game that's only in a concept stage. You're making demands for a game which, lets be honest, you may or may not even buy in the end. You're expecting the developer to be completely able to implement all accessibility features, as if she were blind herself, and thus has a first-hand understanding of what you as a player expects. You're expecting her to alienate her larger market of backers, just to make sure a relatively small group receives attention first, a group which, as I have pointed out in my previous post, has had a track record of not even donating to projects committed to their needs and expectations.
I quote from the first post:
All of the assets are made by me, including the visual ones.
This means the game is primarily targeted at a sighted demographic, with a generous bonus that it will also contain accessibility features! The fact that the game focuses on colours (a VISUAL concept), means it probably was conceived with sight in mind... You know, since the developer is sighted.
Have any of us sat down and, with a visual impairment, decided "Hey! I'm gonna make a game to beat Dark Souls 3!" We work with that which are most familiar. In Daigonite's case, she's going to make a game that involves visuals, because, you know, she's sighted. That's her primary sense... that's what she's familiar with. I doubt she'd just wake up one morning and say "I'm gonna make a program to print out tactile graphics, so I can feel them!", nor would you as a visually impaired person just wake up one day and say "I'm going to paint me a mural of the celestial heavens."
If I condescend in my point making, it's only because you guys haven't exactly been respectful of Daigonite, and it drives me up the wall that you guys aren't able to consider the development process from her point of view. It's easy enough to say "I demand accessibility!", but if you don't understand the various facets of project management and game development, such demands can only be detrimental (to both the developer and the community).
Need I remind us of the debacle of wherein visually impaired players inundated an iOS game developer with requests, complaints, and what not so much that he flat-out refused further interaction with the AG community? What a loss! What a waste!
In no wise am I saying we need to praise and worship those who implement accessibility, nor am I saying we shouldn't advocate for accessibility. On the contrary, I urge all of you to make well informed arguments and petitions to improve or introduce accessibility where possible... Demanding it ruthlessly, however, is the draconian method which will only alienate potential developers from including us in their plans.
I sincerely hope Daigonite does manage to add accessibility, but I also hope that she manages to interest enough people, sighted or not, to fund her project. If that means she needs to work on making it pretty first (reality check: eye candy sells, just ask Apple), does it really hurt you guys to have the slightest modicum of patience? Is her game providing an essential function worth the demands and recriminations, despite the fact that accessibility's already in her plans?
In conclusion, I think several of you need to examine the reality of being an independent game developer. Daigonite's not Sony, nor is she Microsoft, nor is she EA Games. If she were, she wouldn't even be listening to your undiplomatic demands for features. Since she isn't any of these big publishers, she needs to market her product harder, and numbers win the day. It's not discrimination, it's practicality. Give her a break, support her work, and you'll have a developer who enjoys contributing to the AG community, rather than one who finds it tedious and unprofitable. We've already had dedicated developers leave the community because of this "give it to me now!" mentality, do you guys intend to drive more off?
Kai
Spill chuck you spots!