Last week I created a survey in order to try and determine what art style to use for my project. The results of the survey can be found here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-K898HBWL/

One key thing I noticed is that the majority of people said that they prefer bright, but potentially unrealistic colours over realistic or subdued colours. I also noticed that the most popular art style was a low-poly art style, which is something I would actually like to experiment with, and would potentially allow me to create more assets, as low-poly assets don’t tend to take as long to create.

A lot of people also said that in order to make the collectibles in my game stand out from the environment, I should make them brighter coloured than the rest of my assets. This could be challenging if I’m already using bright colours in my game, however when combined with other techniques, I think it could be possible.

In the images below, you can see my notes on the pros and cons of different colour schemes:

 

In the next few images you can see the notes I’ve made on the pros and cons of different techniques that could be used to make the collectibles in my game level demo stand out:

In these last few images, you can see the notes I’ve made comparing the pros and cons of different environments:

 

One thing to notes is that among the results of my survey are some responses that involved comments. These comments don’t how up on the graphs, unfortunately, however I will copy and paste them below:

Which of these colour schemes do you prefer?

• Darker themed colours
• I feel like if the 3D form has pretty clear shadows and values are clear, then colour choice doesn’t matter so much? (If you were to turn a screenshot to greyscale, you’d see blacks and whites instead of a mess of gray)

Do you prefer high-poly or low-poly art styles?

• Hybrid of both
• I think for indie games low-poly allows you to have more freedom in your character and environment design. Once you start getting toooooo textured and detailed, then you can’t go cartoony as easily

Which of these environments do you prefer?

• Cities
• Broken Cities

In the context of a scavenger hunt, which of these features would you prefer the collectable items to have?

• Keep the art style the same, just explain in detail what it is
• I think changing the poly art style would make it a bit too jarring and draw attention to the state of the poly art. (Which if you’re deep enough in game, you don’t need to keep giving attention to) Whereas colour tends to hold meaning so having something a different colour like red could add a mood or symbol to your overall story

Which of these do you prefer?

• Lonesome environments
• As a general design principal, there should always be proportions of detail:simplicity, whether that ratio is 1:3, 3:2, etc.

 

 

Based on all of this, I am initially planning on creating a brightly coloured, low-poly environment, however, I will most likely experiment with a few different art styles before finalising my decision.

Stamina bars are quite a common feature in many games. In some games, the player’s stamina is depleted by performing certain actions. One good example of this is in the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where the player’s stamina bar is depleted by actions such as power attacks and sprinting. When the player’s stamina is fully depleted, the character will not be able to perform these actions.

Many games also have health or magic bars. A good example of this is in the Kingdom Hearts game series, where the player has HP and MP bars. The HP bar shows how much health the player character, Sora, has left, while the MP bar shows how much MP Sora has left for casting spells. The player can replenish their MP by successfully attacking enemies, while their HP can be replenished by using certain magic and potions.

I still need to determine how the player could potentially replenish their stamina in my game, however I’m not yet sure whether I want that to be an option, or whether it would be better to just have the stamina bar slowly replenish by itself. The latter option feels like it would be a better representation of fatigue, and is therefor the option I am more likely to pick, as I feel that it would give the player a better idea of how people with fatigue need to pace themselves and can’t simply use “quick fixes” to feel better. I also feel that making the player have to pace themselves to avoid running out of stamina instead of giving them options to replenish stamina would make my game more challenging without necessarily compromising on accessibility.

One negative of not being able to replenish the stamina bar, however, would be that it would take longer for the player to get around the environment since they would be unable to sprint. This could lead players to get bored or frustrated and potentially even stop playing the game. I could potentially try to counteract this by making the environment itself interesting to look at and explore, however this would take more time and therefor may not be possible for me within the time constraints of the project.

Sources:

• Skyrim stamina bar: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Stamina_(Skyrim)
• Kingdom Hearts MP and HP bars: https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Heads-Up_Display
• Replenishing health in Kingdom Hearts: https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Hit_Points

The main idea for my game concept is fairly simple – a scavenger hunt. This is a common feature in many games, since a lot of games require the player to collect various items. Some games, such as Life Is Strange, require to player to take part in mini games to collect a certain number of items before the game can progress (such as a mini game in which the player has to collect glass bottles), while other games, such as Kingdom Hearts 3, have the option to collect certain things (in this case, photographing “lucky emblems”) in order to unlock the secret ending and get certain rewards. Having the option to search for collectibles without them being necessary to complete the game can be a good way to give a game more replay value, however since my game demo will require the player to collect all of the items in order for them to complete it, this won’t apply.

sources:

• Life Is Strange bottle minigame: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-12-14-life-is-strange-bottle-locations–junkyard-bonfire-bottle-4939
• Kingdom Hearts 3 lucky emblems: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-02-08-kingdom-hearts-3-lucky-emblem-locations-6012

• Deafness/hearing impairments – Visual cues are very important. My game concept doesn’t really rely on the player being able to hear, so it shouldn’t be to difficult to make it accessible to deaf/hard of hearing players. Generally, conveying information visually instead of, for example, only having the collectibles emit a sound to show where they are, is important.
• Blindness/visual impairments – Similar to with deaf/hard of hearing players, it’s important not to have all of the information being conveyed using only one sense. In this case, having audio cues is important, for example, I could have the collectibles emit a noise that would give the player an idea of where they are and how close they are to them. For players with low vision, having high contrast graphics can be very useful. Making the collectibles brightly coloured would be a useful feature. If I had more time to develop my concept into a full game, I would have an option to turn on a high contrast mode.
• Sensory overload, seizures, migraines, etc – For players with these conditions and symptoms, having brightly coloured/high contrast can range from being uncomfortable to being outright dangerous. Bright colours, flashing images, and certain patterns can trigger seizures and migraines, as well as leading to sensory overload, which can be very distressing. For some autistic players, sensory overload could also lead to meltdowns. Once again, if I had more time to work on this project, I would create a high contrast mode that could be turned on and off so that players can choose the safest and most comfortable option for them. Having too many sound effects and too much movement on the screen can also trigger these symptoms and conditions. Fortunately, I don’t plan on having too many sound effects so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue, and there aren’t likely to be moany moving objects within the game demo.
• Motor impairments – For players with poor dexterity, things like button mashing or holding buttons for prolonged periods of time can be difficult. Fortunately, my game concept doesn’t feature anything that would require the player to press buttons very quickly, however the player would need to hold the buttons/keys down for extended periods when moving around the map. I am going to look into ways to work around this, however at the moment, I don’t have any ideas for a workaround. For some players, reaching certain buttons or keys could be difficult too, so I may look into which buttons would be easiest for mobility impaired players to reach. If I had more time to work on the project, I would potentially look into having options for players to customise the controls.
• Cognitive impairments – These can include brain fog, memory problems (Eg, memory loss, false memories, etc), dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, etc. These conditions can make it difficult for a player to remember what they need to do, or to focus on the task they need to complete. In order to accommodate for these conditions and symptoms, it’s best to not make the gameplay overly complex. Having the player try to complete more than one task at a time can be confusing and stressful, so it’s a good idea to only set a second task after the player has completed the first one. Some cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia, can make it difficult for the player to understand information that they are provided with while playing the game. For dyslexic players, certain fonts can be useful, and having audio as well as text can help too. It also helps in general to not present the player with too much information all at once, and to not have text disappear too quickly, since some players may not be able to read very quickly. Making it so the player can click through the text at their own pace can be a good idea. Luckily, my game won’t include much text, other than the counters for how many objects are left to collect, so there aren’t likely to be too many accessibility issues associated with that. I also don’t plan on having the player complete tasks that are too complicated. The player won’t be required to find objects in a certain order or do other tasks while looking for the objects, for example.

• Migraines – I could try to figure out a way to simulate visual and auditory migraine aura. This could include certain patterns appearing in the player’s field of view. I can do this based on my own experiences, and I can ask other people about their experiences of it. One potential issue with this, however, is that many migraines include scintillating scotomas (flickering shapes) which could potentially trigger seizures in some players. Because of this, I’ll need to work out a way to reduce this risk.
• Brain fog – I can apply incandescence to the collectibles, as well as having a counter to show how many are left to collect or how many have been collected. These two things could periodically fade away, simulating the experience of forgetting what you need to be doing or what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, doing this would potentially make the game inaccessible for people who actually experience these symptoms, which means I need to determine whether I should prioritise representation over accessibility.
• Fatigue – I could include a stamina bar, or a counter showing how much energy the player has left. When the player’s stamina gets low, they start experiencing symptoms more often or even constantly, as well as being unable to do things like sprinting and jumping. There are unlikely to be any problems with this in terms of accessibility, however I’m not sure how difficult this will be to actually code.
• Sensory Processing Disorders – Since I’m looking at potentially having sound in my game, this could be interesting to include. As someone who has auditory processing issues, it can be difficult for me to interpret where a sound is coming from, or what the sound actually is. I was planning on having the collectibles emit a sound so that players could hear where the objects are, however I could have it so that the sounds occasionally seem to be coming from the wrong direction or not from any particular direction. Unfortunately, this would make the game inaccessible to blind/visually impaired players who rely on sound to navigate within the game, so I am unlikely to include this symptom.
• Mobility impairments and variable mobility – I could have the player be unable to reach certain areas of the map in order to simulate having mobility impairments, however I would like to go into more detail than that. Many disabled and/or chronically ill people have variable mobility (Eg, ambulatory wheelchair users), which I could perhaps represent by having the plyer be unable to access certain areas when their stamina is low, and to be unable to access those areas randomly from time to time. Once again, I’m not sure how difficult this would actually be to include within the game, and therefore is not amongst the main symptoms I plan to include.
• Visual impairments – There are many types of visual impairments that could be represented within the game, however This would make the game less accessible/inaccessible for deaf/hard of hearing players who rely on visual cues. Some visual impairments could also cause nausea, dizziness, motion sickness, etc, for certain players, which would also make the game less accessible. some examples of visual impairments that would be interesting to include and represent include double vision, nearsightedness, farsightedness, blind spots (which also occur with migraine aura), intermittent blurred vision, colorblindness, etc.

 

One thing I’ve noticed while deciding what I want to include in my game demo is that in many cases, when trying to represent a disability in a video game, you can end up making the game inaccessible to the people who have that disability or illness. In many cases, you have to determine whether to sacrifice representation or accessibility.