No Barriers to Fun!

We met our friend Giddeon at the AbleGamers Accessibility Arcade in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When he first sat down with the AbleGamers crew, Giddeon didn't want to play any games. He told us that with his disability gaming was difficult. Giddeon has a rare disease that caused the growth of his arms .. Read More
A Window to the World

Shepherd University invited the AbleGamers Foundation to come on campus and do one of our Accessibility Arcades for the students and local disabled community. The event was a roaring success with hundreds of children and adults coming out to see the technology and in some cases experience gaming the first time. Read More

About the AbleGamers Foundation

Since 2004, the AbleGamers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, has served more than 56 million members of the disabled community by advocating greater access in video games. Today, AbleGamers is a leader in the development of equipment, programs and services to those living with disabilities, hardships, and quality-of-life issues that are a result of chronic illness or trauma. It is our goal to ensure that all people, regardless of their disability, can use gaming as a tool to have enriched social experiences with friends, family, and the world at large.

AbleGamers's Web Game of the Week: Fly or Die

Written by Steve Spohn

Published on 20 June 2010

fly_or_die_multi {sidebar id=1}In the tradition of multiplayer flying games, turn-based fighting is king. This week’s AbleGamers’ Web game of the week is a fine example of turn-based aerial combat!

Fly or Die features five World War II style planes for your killing pleasure. Each client has five special maneuvers; one basic maneuvering and four offensive or defensive abilities. You can do things from rockets, bullets, and even fancy 360 spin maneuvers, all one turn at a time.

It is a multiplayer game, which means you are actually playing versus other people as opposed to robots. The good part about playing versus other people is that it is generally more exciting, but the downside is that there are always enough people on to get a game.

You need between 2 to 8 people in order to get a good game. There are even multiple modes including Team and FFA, each offering their own unique styles of play.

The accessibility is rather simple for this title. There are no instructions audio or text. In order to move your plane, you simply click your mouse on the ability you want to use and drag it onto the screen where you want your plane to end up.

Once the timer is done ticking your plane will follow the path you set out for it. Unfortunately, the timers will be a problem for the cognitively disabled as there is no way to turn off this feature. However, you can adjust the amount of time between turns depending on the host of the game.

Deaf gamers will be able to play this with little problems. There is an advantage of being able to hear a plane shooting at you to determine how close it is off-screen. However, it is not game breaking and I normally play with sound off.

For the motion impaired gamer, you should have no problems as long as you can use the mouse. There are no keyboard shortcuts for any of the abilities and the mouse is completely necessary. You should be able to enjoy the game completely as long as you have the ability to move the mouse small amounts within 8 to 10 seconds.

Overall, a rather accessible title and a good time shooting down enemy fighters. Find out if you're an ace today in Fly or Die.