New Accessbility Features
Entering this last phase of development I've finally been able to implement some quality of life and accessibility features that I've been planning on adding from the start!
I think it's really important that devs take the time to do these things, even if you're just a solo developer like me. It definitely takes extra time to develop, but the more these things are seen as standard in games, the better the situation is for people of all ability levels to play as many games as possible!
So here are the features I've implemented so far:
Flashing Lights Toggle
At the very top of the graphics settings menu (where you can't miss it) I've added a toggle for flashing lights for those with photosensitivity. Partway through the game it starts raining and thundering and lightning flashes occasionally,
In real life lightning is very unlikely to induce epilepsy in people with photosensitivity, but because this is a videogame and the way lighting in games works is a bit more unnatural than in real life, I've added the setting for anyone who might want it just in case.
When this setting is set off, all lightning flashes are completely disabled.
Hold Hands Input Toggle
In A Walk With Yiayia a main mechanic of the game is having to hold Yiayia's hand to help her around certain obstacles and keep her close.
While I like the idea of making the player constantly hold down a key or controller trigger to mimic holding a person's hand, the reality is that some players have difficulty holding buttons down, or find it uncomfortable.
So to remedy this I've added a toggle setting to allow players to tap a button to toggle holding or not holding hands.
For gamepad players I have also set it so the player can either use the right rear trigger button or the top face button to activate the input, whichever one feels more comfortable for them.
Conversation Log
There are a lot of words in this game. I've tried to let the player choose the speed of conversations wherever possible but for some cutscenes and gameplay sequences I've needed the timing to be very specific, so there are a few parts of the game where the dialogue continues by without the player's input to continue it.
Fortunately, I'ved added a conversation log in the pause menu, accessible whenever the player is out of a conversation. It logs every line of dialogue that runs through the game's dialogue system and filters out all the secret code happening behind the scenes.
Hopefully this can help players who read a bit slower than average, accidentally skip a line or two, or just tend to be kind of forgetful like I am.
I've made the conversation log the second option in the pause menu so you can't miss it!
All of these settings are accessible from the main menu AND the pause screen in-game to make it as easy as possible to tweak the game without having to restart it.
I've also made a point to make all text in the game large, contrasty, and hopefully easy to read for most players.
Even with all of these measures in place, I'm not an expert and I don't have a team helping me develop this game, so if there are any accessibility features I've missed that will help you or somewhere you know play through the game easier, I'm totally open to suggestions!
One final update: progress is going smoothly towards release. I'm hoping to have an updated release date in the next week or two. Stay tuned!
-Trent
