Here's an idea prompted by the recent article about Mark and AbleGamers in Escapist.

Suppose there was a program called the Universal Configurator.

It would include all the controls a gamer would ever need to configure a game.
It would generate an XML file that any game could read to configure itself.
Its own controls would be configurable and maximally accessible.

The advantages would be:

1. The target game would not have to have an extensive configuration UI.
2. The target game companies would not have to put a lot of expensive resources, time, and decision making into the configuration part of their games, instead focusing on the actual accessibility implementation.
3. Selling a standard interface to an industry is easier than fighting individual battles.

The caveats might be:

It might undercut configuration efforts at individual companies.
It could become a political football.

Anyway, this is just an idea, not a proposal.

What do people think?

John Bannick
CTO
7-128 Software

Interesting idea, but this idea would most likely never get support. Companies are just so overprotective against cheaters and botters. They would say that opening up the game to third-party software is too dangerous.

I love the idea though, it would be a really great accessibility win.

I think you should talk to Barrie of OneSwitch about his universal controller interface idea/project thingy. There is more hardware involved, but I bet you guys could share some great ideas and experience.

Believe me, all of us in the accessible gaming "circle" talk to each other - sometimes not so friendly but we talk.

Ben Heck has been looking for a project John, might be a good idea to hit him up as well.