{"id":75,"date":"2026-09-30T12:30:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/iah1g25\/?p=75"},"modified":"2026-10-21T14:32:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:32:52","slug":"blind-accessibility-in-gaming-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/iah1g25\/2026\/09\/30\/blind-accessibility-in-gaming-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind Accessibility in Gaming Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had originally taken an interest in how audio design can almost completely support a game when i stumbled on a Paper Will YouTube video called A (Blind-Accessible) History of Blind Gaming.\u00b9 When i started to think about how my third ideation for a game pitch, I decided to rewatch this video as i remembered it to include a reference to an indie game about a dog that has a mode that allows for complete blind accessibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video starts with a short history of how gamers who are blind had managed to make games that hadn’t been created to be blind accessible into blind playable games through very limited audio cues or text to speech programmes. It then goes onto describe how a lot of games that have a lot of audio cues are horror games. I hadn’t considered this before, but it is true. This is something that i really want to make sure i don’t lean into in my game pitch. I don’t want my games focus to be on a lack of visuals but instead on its varied sound design and strong audio cues. I don’t want my player to feel scared of the dark room but instead resourceful with the audio they can pick up on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game that i had remembered Paper Will mentioning before is called ‘Lost and Hound’ and is available on steam. I haven’t played through it, but from what i could tell from the Paper Will playthrough, there was an emphasis on not feeling helpless without a lack of sight. The player plays a rescue dog and so is helping others, and I think i should try to implement that into my game pitch in some way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa had also suggested to me that I look into The Last Of Us accessibility features. I am in the middle of playing through the first game and Ive managed to avoid spoilers so i didnt want to watch a whole playthrough, but i started to watch
‘Guy Born blind Plays The Last of Us Part I 1: The Beginning’ by
DeadeyeJediBob. \u00b2. The first thing i noticed when watching it was how much audio description there was. I suspect it is because The Last of Us is a visual game and so describing the colour of the watch or exactly when Joel sits down is good if you want to be able to imagine the little details, but it was very different from a lot of audiobooks I had listened to, which allow the listener to imagine whats happening through the sound design. I’m not sure which one is better for people who are blind, it almost certainly depends on the individual. When imagining my game, I hadnt expected to include quite so many descriptions but to put more of a burden on the sound effects to shape the world, as i feel like a lot of actions can be intuited through them. I also found the way the player could map the space by using a sonar-like mechanic that played a sound effect in the direction of an interactable object really interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After watching this, I wanted to try playing a section of the game myself with these accessibility features turned on and a blindfold on. My first attempts were very tricky, in hindsight i probably should have read all of the audio cues and what they meant but i wanted to see how much i could work out intuitively. I spent my first few attempts mainly in the wall but i started to get the hang of it as i attempted more times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the settings I used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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