Ease of Accessibility

Jesse Anderson

With so many games being released on every platform, it can be difficult to get your game noticed. What if there was a huge untapped audience that would love to play your game? People with disabilities are an often overlooked group of players who would love to play your game. This presentation will explain and demonstrate some common accessibility features that will make your game more playable to not just people with disabilities, but for everyone.

Jesse Anderson is a legally blind gamer and game accessibility advocate/consultant. He runs the IllegallySighted YouTube channel, website, and Mixer stream, which focuses on technology, gaming, and XR accessibility from a blind and low vision perspective. He also consults with app and game developers on making their products more accessible to people with disabilities, with an emphasis in blindness/low vision accessibility. By day, he works as an assistive technology specialist with MN State Services for the Blind.

The Joy of Digital Playtesting

Peter Yang

Due to COVID19 and the need for social distancing, there have been challenges in getting valuable feedback from live players. The solution has always been in front of us - Digital Playtesting! Using the magnificent technology advances we have such as Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia and Parsec, you can find players online. Though it will require being active in the communities, reaching out, and a little bit of elbow grease to get your game on-line.

Peter Yang is a Game Designer and Creative Director who specializes in Personal Communications. His goal is to help developers better voice their games to their communities through playtesting and events.

Black lives matter.

The events that occurred right here in the heart of the Twin Cities have given rise to a unified cry around the world - a cry for justice. As the board of the IGDATC chapter, we want to add our voices to that chorus. We sincerely echo the sentiment our parent organization shared in their official statement.

All members of our community have been impacted by the killing of George Floyd, but for some among us, the suffering is nothing new. We see and care about you. We will be making space at our meeting for community members who would like to discuss their experiences, and beyond that, we also want to specifically invite the Black voices in our community to take the time to speak at our meeting, on this topic or literally anything else, including (and especially) what you’re working on right now!