AbleGamers Exclusive: Wizard 101
When we were invited to come to Austin to tour Kingsisle H.Q., I was very excited. Not only do they make one of my favorite MMORPG's: "Wizard 101," but they have included many great accessibility options within their game. Wizard 101 is essentially a card-based battle game, but features many MMO standards like housing, crafting, collectibles, customization and pets. The game uses a "freemium" payment model, meaning that most of the game can be played free, but some areas require some payment. The cash shop sells clothes, items, pets, and housing items.
After taking a tour of the studio, which included stops to see everything from concept art to yet-unseen mounts, I sat down with for an interview with James Nance, senior producer.
First, I wanted to find out some of the secrets of the games success. James said: " One of the guiding philosophies is that the answer can never be to just put it back on the user, whether it's spyware, virus software issues or just addressing a crash in the game. On any other project, the answer would have been "...oh this is a driver issue." and to just tell the user to upgrade their driver. We cannot assume that the casual user will ever update their drivers, or will install a service pack. We had to do a software workaround, we would just program around the problem. It's the only way to do it."
The game is entirely mouse-selectable, and has keyboard shortcuts for almost every button. He actually brought up the issue with remapping keys, saying, "That's definitely something that we can improve on. One of the biggest things that I've struggled with because it's something I want to add, but its a little bit of an advanced configuration feature, is the ability to re-map all of the keyboard keys. Right now you can do it, there's xml files and configuration files in the directory that you can edit and it's pretty easy to do, but I might actually type up a little tutorial that we can post to say "...Hey, here's how you re-map your keyboard." We don't have any capacity to do that in the game now, but that's something I've been meaning to get to." This is great news, being that more options are always a good thing, and remapping keys is important to players that have limited use of a mouse or keyboard.
While the character can be moved by holding down right and left click at the same time, click-to-move was not supported even from the beginning because of the lack of path finding. Even with that, the game has specific zones and even safe sidewalks to stick to, and travel times are small.
When I asked about any color blind issues, James admitted to being color blind himself, and that early in the process of making the game he had difficulty determining different duel slots (players fight mobs and other players in a circle with 4 slots for each combatant) that used hot and cool colors. Soon after, the colors were replaced with white symbols.
The game even features a pre-made chat option that many disabled players could use for communication. It uses a very smart series of pre-made sentences for players to string together to ask questions, to chat or to say hi to fellow players. It even places more-frequently used words higher on the list for easier access. For the between 13-18 crowd, a list of "white words" that come directly from all of the quest text in game allows players to chat more freely while still being safe, and there is a "free chat" for adults. The system is useful for many that might have issues typing, and for the safety of younger players.
It was nice to hear James tell us a personal story of his mother who suffers with painful arthritis. She is able to play and enjoy the game, and was even so good at it she gained max level on several characters! It helped to take her mind off the discomfort with its engaging story line and game-play.
The audience for Wizard 101 is varied, from hard-core raiders taking a break from the stress of downing giant dragons, to parents playing with their kids. Although the target demographic for Wizard 101 is 8-14, it has reached well into other age groups almost equaling an even split between the kiddies and adults.
Another example of that commitment to quality, (while maintaining access for everyone) was their decision to add voice-overs for every quest in the game. When you approach an NPC, they not only have the text for you to read, but a wonderfully acted voice reads the text for you. James said, "Going back and doing the voice over was a huge win for us. We have five and 6 year olds, players with learning disabilities and people learning to read reading along with the voice-overs. It added a level of polish of course, but we have received so many reports from parents and players about the voice-overs helping them or their kids to learn to read."
At first glance, Wizard 101 might seem like a "kid's game", but I assure you that with an open mind you will find yourself logging in more and more as you go along. It has a depth that you will not find in many games. And it has more accessibility options than most games out there, but for the few issues I brought up, James said "Well thanks, that's definitely something that we can focus on, sounds like that with just some attention we can make some gains there. That's definitely a community that we want to get input from."
In addition, they hinted at other possible Wizard 101 products, from stuffed animals to a playable real-life card game. With their "commitment to usability and the casual player," they will more-than-likely turn out some amazing products.
We would like to thank Kingsisle, especially Fernando Blanco and James Nance, for allowing us the HOURS of access they gave us to the studio, for sharing the exclusive look at the new mounts, and especially for listening to my accessibility concerns. And for allowing me to pull one of their actual programmers in to fix my Netbook to run Wizard 101! (Which it does beautifully!)
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
With the problems that I have with my head injuries, I try many new games but just can't do all interactions and movements. Unfortunately, I can't understand how to do enhancements of weapons, etc., and so I get discouraged and quit. With Wizard101, I haven't had any problems.
Wizard101 even saved me from needless running when they designed "quest help" which features an arrow putting to where you should go and how many steps it takes to get there. Other games give you an arrow but you run into a mountain and there is no help finding your way to the other side. Before Wizard101's "quest help" feature, I kept going left when I should have gone right (head injury thingy) and wore the tread off my fancy wizard boots and wasting a lot of playing time. It had been ok when I was playing with a wizard who knew that I get lost easily, but it is was tough trying to solo.
The Wizard101 staff responds to emails and tries to get you online asap ... and they seem to love what they are doing; there is no drama in the chat section; there is humor, history, mythology, cuteness, and a "wow" factor thrown in when they introduce a new world.
Wizard101 is a game for all ages. There are Grandmothers who play and get to chat free (online chat) with their grandchildren in another state. There are Mothers who play during their lunch break or dinner break and meet up with their kids on the "Rainbow bridge." There are entire families who when they get together for Sunday dinner at a sibling's home discuss how they did a quest or plan how they will do a quest together. How wonderful is that!
I have had so much joy playing Wizard101 that I can honestly say, "I love this game!"
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am 48 yrs old with arthritis in my knees and hands. This game helps me stay alert and interact without causing pain! It is by far the best game I have ever had the pleasure of playing! Maybe you can work on making the furniture in our houses accessable so we can sit, lay down ect. like in yoville? That would really be fun!
Not only does this game provide a fantastic way for parents to interact with their children that may be separated by distance, it also provides a wonderful virtual environment where by social interaction and behavioral patterns of all types of persons, young and old may be displayed providing real life education in an environment more convenient and way more safe in most cases for children under the guidance of their parents. It is a truly fun and adorable game for all ages! As with many games as such as this one some my say it can waste away "real life" time. I for one know I get much more done in "real life" while playing this game by utilizing off and on time between quest it helps me to focus and bracket important goals into realistic daily achievements! I tell as many kids as well as adults about the magic of wizard101.com YOU GO WIZARD 101!!!
Not only do I love this game, but have gotten so many friends hooked they have warned me they're going to get a shirt that reads "Wiz101 Pusher" to warn the rest of my friends of my devious plot to get the world hooked on Wizard 101. LOL 
Honestly one of the best games I have played in years; ever changing, awesome graphics, easy to "get", interesting, challenging - but still easy enough for young players, funny, quirky, surprising...and so much more.
This is a wonderful game addition for any age group's collection. Can't say enough good things...other than it is soooo addicting.
Hi everyone!
My name is Fernando Blanco Jr. with KingsIsle Entertainment, makers of Wizard101.
I wanted to drop by and say that meeting with Beau and Leala during the interview with James Nance was the most fun I've had in a long time!
I've spent some time now on your site as part of your community and I can honestly say it's one of the most close-knit, friendly, and helpful online communities I've ever seen.
Thanks for sharing Wizard101 and feel free to message me anytime.
I didn't know about this site before I linked to it from the Wizard 101 Discussion Boards. I LOVE it here!
I am 53, as is my husband, and we are avid 101 fans. It is a family thing here, as we play together, along with our 12-yr old son, who has multiple exceptionalities. (Seizures, Tourette's Syndrome and more.)
The biggest thing - and I am not sure KingIsle is aware of it - is that our son can play for HOURS at a time and has had NO reaction to the game animation, colors, etc. No seizures, no huge ticcing from the Tourettes, or anything. It is amazing! Most games I have to make him get off every hour or so and focus somewhere else for a couple of hours. Not this one!
THANK YOU KingIsle for Wizard 101 - and thank you AbleGamers for providing this site and for your support of Wizard 101 as well.
You are ALL top notch here!!
Thanks for a great interview Beau and Leala. Im glad more people are getting to know the greatness of W101 and how fun it can be for so many different kinds of people! My daughter (who is 7) and I both have an awesome time playing it together.
I cant wait until all the dust settles at my house and Im able to game again!
