Making a game accessible to the deaf is an interesting challenge we've just begun getting into at 7-128 Software.

With some major guidance from Reid Kimball (www.rbkdesign.com) we've added captioning to our latest games.

But we're still learning the best practices for layout and content.

Determining the entertainment factors for deaf users comes next.

John Bannick

Thats fantastic John!

I have been trying to get my mom into gaming for quite a few years now. She really needs something to do to relax! lol Her hearing is almost entirely gone now and thats always been one of the sticking points in trying to sell her on gaming on her computer.

I do appreciate the work that you, everyone at 7-128, and Reid are doing. I wish that more people and companies knew how important it really is. We are just going to have to keep on bugging them until they do understand!

There should be closed Captioning for the Hearing impaired and Deaf in the games for example, Half-Life 2 and Sin Episodes. but unfortunately, these other games manufacturers are not aware of Deaf players playing the games... So please keep pestering these games manfacturers to provide the captioning so that Deaf playeres can understand... thanks

higgie

Hi there Higgie! Welcome to the site.

I know we are a good ways away from where we need to be with CC in gaming. But I honestly feel that is one area that is ripe to be jumped on by game developers. I wouldnt be at all surprised if it is the next big area they tackle in making more games accessible. And with a new accessibility rating system in the works - a kin to the current ESRB ratings - I think that will add even more of incentive for them to get with the program. Earning that CC designation on their game will be a feather in their cap for which ever gaming house decides to pursue it.

So many devs have said to us that CC is an easy thing to add. They will certainly increase their user base and make themselves more money if they do it. We are all just going to have to keep pushing for it the way they pushed to get TV CC.

I can promise you we will continue to be a pain in the butt of developers and until there is no more need for our services.

Check out this article on Joystiq.

There should be closed Captioning for the Hearing impaired and Deaf in the games for example, Half-Life 2 and Sin Episodes. but unfortunately, these other games manufacturers are not aware of Deaf players playing the games... So please keep pestering these games manfacturers to provide the captioning so that Deaf playeres can understand... thanks

i think that there are applications that can popup a notification once a sound is heard, so if someone is sneaking you can see what is the sound that is being played, however i do not know how would this improve the gaming experience as i think that the experience should be realistic

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CC can be easy to add.
It can also be hard to add.
Case in point is the travelogue game we recently shipped.
It includes a bunch of recorded interviews.
In order to convert these to CC or OC, we must have someone manually transcribe these.
And please don't suggest voice recognition. Been there. It does not work so well.
There are similar issues with CC, OC, and subtitles for videos, if the dialog is not scripted.

Not to say don't do CC etc.
Just that "easy" is easy to say, but not always easy to execute.
And, oh, even when it is easy, it adds time and cost.

John Bannick
CTO
7-128 Software