Escaped Reality Podcast - Simple Games and Accessibility To Games

[@the_dark_jumper2211]

25:25 "I didn't play it, because you'd have to leave your house" ... this is so painfully accurate.

[@tomatooverlord2764]

Something I saw pop up in a few of the comments you talked about is people thinking accessibility is a synonym for difficulty. On the one hand, I think difficulty can go into whether or not a game is accessible, but I don't think that's the only element. Take, for example, The Messenger. It's an homage to both old-school Ninja Gaiden and old-school Metroidvania games, and is pretty dang difficult. There's one moment in particular where you swim through a cave filled with a ton of entrances and exits, and the only way to know which is the right way is by using an item you get from another area that allows you to hear a song underwater. That song gets louder the closer you are to the correct exit. The problem is, the difference in volume is subtle enough that people who are hard of hearing, let alone people who are completely deaf or who just don't like to play with the sound on, couldn't figure out where to go. Upon hearing about this, the developer updated the game so that, as long as you have the aforementioned item, the correct exits will also slightly glow when you get near them. This doesn't make the section any easier, just more accessible to people with hearing issues. tl;dr difficulty does not equal accessibility, although it can be a factor.

[@RealityEscape]

I have a hearing loss and so I can definitely identify with not hearing a subtle volume change. Big kudos to the developers who received feedback, understood there was a problem, and took appropriate steps to fix it!

[@FarCritical]

That mention of StickDeath brought back so much memories, gonna go find some old vids of it now

[@AthrialAdonis]

I'm lovin' it and not in a "2 hours after McDonalds" sort of way! I think it would be fun to really analyze some of the offshoots you began to see when you brought up this topic on Simple Games. Here's a few subsets I thought of: -casual(Candy Crush) -easy(Journey) -accessible(WarioWare) -minimal(Nidhogg) -simple but expand with crazy permutations(The Witness) And, of course, I'm sure I'm missing several other subsets. What do you guys think?

[@FrozenFyre52]

Gotta say I love all your videos so far. They're so relatable to me since I'm the same age as you and grew up playing more or less the same types of games that you talk about. Keep up the great work!

[@erik39978]

Randomly stumbled upon this channel and I'm glad I did. *subscribes*

[@gnomeshells6876]

Finnaly, a game my simple mind can understand *HAIL THE ALGORITHM*

[@davidyostrum604]

Love your channel! I get excited every time I see your videos pop up on my feed!

[@shadda8472]

Just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying all your videos! I'm always excited when you upload a new video. This format is so calm and enjoyable, keep it up man :)

[@Abukovec]

playing games while listening to podcasts is the best

[@l-brainstorm-l9576]

100% agree

[@cookies23z]

Hey, I enjoyed the talk :) I can easily some people as taking the guest as “casual” but I also dont think that is a bad thing, people only have so much time. As for the “soudning like a sjw” dont worry, a lot of people have empathy for others, sjw is a basically meaningless term, it gets used by people as an insult, gets used hy some people who hate, so dw, you just care about people, and thats good So on difficulty, I understand both PoV’s. some people want to stick to developer intentions, where as some value the accessibility more. I honestly agree that there is no right answer to it. The guest brought up mods and cheats, and I like that, it leaves 0 ambiguity between what the devs intended vs what the player wants, also they make cool easter eggs. I hope you have a good day dude :) and imo, dark souls brings up hbomberguy because of his insanely long rants/videos/critiques of then

[@gonemad_r6404]

Is it weird that I like the podcasts more than the episodes themselves sometimes?

[@coconutai6586]

no

[@GoldErebos]

I'm not colourblind and I always turn on colourblind mode, if there is one. It's just easier for my eyes and especially in games that can get very hectic (League of Legends is a big one there), I can observe the situation better.

[@kristert_k]

In my honest opinion i feel like games should have different difficulties: For example, I'm a guy who plays PC games mostly and I suck with consoles, but sometimes my PC isn't good enough for a certain game so i need to play it on my console (which I suck at playing with) and that's why i would like a difficulty option that can make my game easier or atleast easy and gradually getting harder over time.

[@riomh]

What type of games do you usually play? I've found that I prefer certain types of games using a controller (I don't have an actual console) and others using mouse and keyboard. I tend to play platformers, third person non-shooters, etc. using a controller. I leave RPGs and FPSs for the mouse and keyboard lol Personally, I don't care too much about difficulty. Some games without difficulty settings are really good. They're designed in a way that makes them playable for lots of different people. So devs should certainly IMO find ways to make games without difficulty. I do think, though, that things like aim assist can really help out in a manner that is a bit less destructive to the game experience ;)

[@kristert_k]

@@riomh I understand your opinion alot but tbh this is something people are gonna be fighting over probably forever. Also i play all of my games on my PC I rarely use my console. In my opinion tho football/soccer games are definitely way better on consoles, maybe (not sure) some shooter games and Platfromers. But overall i rarely use my console and i really suck at it.

[@riomh]

​@@kristert_k Yeah, difficulty is one of those things lol When I did have a console I never used it because of how limiting it was. For me, I've gotten all of my practice and enjoyment out of using a controller on my PC where I can pick and choose my input method for each game.

[@kristert_k]

@@riomh I mostly mean controller when I'm talking about a console, I am not used to those.

[@Nightsmith_After_Dark]

Every time I am like he's not going to make his schedule you upload XD keep up the good work

[@WaitingIdly]

I know you probably already have a couple of video ideas planned, but I just wanted to ask if you are thinking of doing a video on Sim style games.

[@ZxCrono]

thank you for your kind response, I'll try to be brief this time because we more or less agree in everything you've responded to. People in general need to think about the "why" when making any choice, to be honest. I didn't forget disabled people, I just consider "game accessibility" and accessibility options separately, as one is a matter of being capable vs. being unwilling, not having time, etc. . It is a much bigger conversation that I feel should be separated from the "accessible games" conversation because I don't like the idea of easy mode being "disabled mode", when all some disabled people need is a peripheral or a compatibility option (like colorblind modes, I fully endorse). I've heard too many cases where able bodied people beg for easier game modes on behalf of the disabled, and it only served to shut down the "accessible games" discourse, for me at least.. I think we arrived at basically the same conclusion, that less accessible design choices should only be made after careful consideration. At the end of the day though, I'd still rather someone be sad they can't play one game out of millions than not being able to play because that was the only option, and all the difficulties suck to some degree. I picked up mini metro while watching this video, I had the money and the game has been on my radar for awhile now. I can understand why you like it, and was able to affirm alot of your statements regarding its accessibility. The game is hard starting out and not knowing what todo when playing normally quickly sees you shut down in a matter of months. yet, the game feels completely different in endless mode, and it seems like it was by design rather than by necessity. That is what really matters to me, "how much accessibility is necessary?", and this game seems to nail it perfectly, so props to you for having a good example, in my opinion, of a very accessible game... and a good, productive conversation.

[@firockfinion3326]

Gosh dang it, my life for more fun games with cheat codes. There seriously needs to be more nowadays.

[@kristert_k]

Something i didn't notice you guys talked about at all are blind people, and I know its very hard to make a game that is enjoyable for blind people but its not impossible for example: "Dancing line" (which is a simple mobile game) its completely based off the music you hear its probably still hard to make games for blind people but I don't think this was made for these people and if someone actually focuses on that he could make a great game that even blind people can enjoy and this can go in many different ways like rhyme games, or games like "The Messenger" referring to "Tomato Overlord's" comment (Pretty nice comment you should read) so in "The Messenger" there is a part of the game where you are in a cave and you have to listen to some kind of sound that gets higher the more you get closer to the cave exit, that's a pretty nice thing for blind people but not too good for deaf people, and it actually got an update for deaf people too but ill leave that for "Tomato Overlord" to explain. I know i wrote too much but this is something i have never thought of during all the years i have been playing games and it actually blasts my mind when i think about it. .Thanks for reading.

[@MarvelousBilly]

When it comes to hard games and accessibility, Celeste does a great job to give options to change certain aspects, just as infinite boost or 10% game speed. The game is still hard, but for those who have challenges playing, they can still enjoy the game with the accessibility features.

[@JayJay-ht9hi]

Hello from 2020, I want to mention that sometimes it's not just time that makes a game unaccessible, but also the price. I want to play overwatch, but the price is out of my budget and getting a good computer to play is even further. Sometimes I feel disappointed in being stuck with mobile games, because their cheap (free), and I want to play these big title games, it's just that I have not enough money to spare on them.

[@theniftycat]

I found your channel through the clicker games video because I play them regularly. and this podcast is great! I'm sorry you seem to have moved on from your channel. I'm disabled and can only play games with one hand. it made me steer towards quests, hidden object, strategies and casual games. about 10 years ago I played Dragon Age: Origins that could be played by only using a mouse. I fell in love with it and thought that I discovered a new genre to play. Dragon Age II also allowed that kind of controls, I completed it. then I tried a couple of older rpgs and found them very unforgiving. I hate just dying in the first hour because something unforeseen happens (like choosing the wrong dialogue option), especially, as I don't tend to save the game every 5 seconds. so, I never had a great rpg run. and then Inquisition came out and it didn't have the mouse controls. tbh, only clicker games feel safe now. I don't want to play strategies often, especially as I work. hidden objects have declined as a genre, quests throw weird mechanics at you and visual novels are too much reading.

[@rolerroleris533]

I agree that there should be easy and hard games, and if the developer wants to make a hard game, he shouldn't be pressured to make difficulty options. The best way around this would be old school cheats or ability to mod the game. Cheats are fine if you don't want to or can't make a game moddable (this word sounds weird), but i'm really afraid that modding will cease to exist because of game streaming services like Google Stadia, and generally games becoming a service rather than a product. If for example Steam goes bankrupt or whatever, everything in your steam library becomes nothing. Even the games you have installed from steam would stop working. This may be off topic , but i guess you could talk about this some other time.

[@DeathofHeavens]

MORE!!!

[@jorkasantiago3351]

How do you create this kind of game? What kind of knowledge do you need? I'd like to learn

[@robbycooper6787]

please cover plants vs zombies 2

[@analogkid0039]

I love this

[@cronch8903]

Hey! Do you have a discord server? If no then why not make one!

[@bo2add_a_few_charactures]

watching a video i listen to it after :D edit watching edit2 good video

[@robertharris6092]

13:50 lol regret.

[@Luar77]

Cheating in a game as more "impact on yourself" than pirating a paid game

[@Dragonfire973_]

Check out VaatiVidya for very high quality Dark Souls lore videos

[@martinpejchar9011]

is person who play boardgame gamer?

[@quickpawmaud]

I don’t really consider disability an excuse as there is a blind guy who plays ocarina of time a game that is hard for me a normal person if you have the passion and the real desire to play you can do it

[@quickpawmaud]

Pillars of eternity is not turn based it is real time with pause there is a difference divinity original sin is turn based

[@quickpawmaud]

I am autistic it does not make playing games any harder virtue signal using something else please. I have played all the dark souls games. Also autism usually only affects communication not motor functions.

[@quickpawmaud]

Dark souls is not that hard and you can play with your friends to beat the game together anyone can do it if they try later you mention cheating or having your brother beat it for you I have done that to get through a dark souls game before you get a better friend to help you beat that hard area or boss