As an avid gamer and accessibility advocate, I was inspired to do an accessibility audit of one of the games I’ve recently completed.
Disclaimer: Raft was developed by Swedish developer Redbeet Interactive and published by Axolot Games. I am not affiliated with either entity, nor do I own or claim any rights to the game or its components. This case study is for learning and research purposes only.
Game Accessibility - What and why?
I do a quick overview of Raft’s current accessibility options.
Despite catering to a diverse range of gamers with various playstyles, Raft falls short in providing crucial accessibility options, thereby inadvertently excluding players with specific disabilities from enjoying the game.
Challenge:
Discover potential settings and areas that Raft could enhance or introduce, fostering a gaming experience that is inclusive and enjoyable for everyone.
Goal:
Research Plan
To effectively prioritize the necessary features, I conducted primary and secondary research to gain insights into the pain points from an accessibility perspective.
In an ideal scenario, securing funding to interview and play-test with real users with disabilities would be my utmost priority. However, for this particular case, the majority of my research involved personally testing the features. It's important to note that as an individual without disabilities who doesn't rely on accessibility features, my perspective carries inherent biases and a knowledge gap. In a real-world scenario, user testing with individuals who have real disabilities is crucial.
To supplement my knowledge for this case study, I have incorporated authentic user quotes sourced directly from Steam and other online platforms.
Research Goals
What accessibility features does Raft currently implement?
What accessibility features are missing or could be improved upon?
Where do players feel Raft could be made more accessible?
Quotes from Players
“...I need to disable the shark… because I'm going deaf, and the only indication the shark is attacking is audio based unless you're looking right at the point of attack. It's very difficult for me to be productive while constantly looking around for the shark I would normally be able to hear. I realize creative is an option but I want to experience the game more fully”
- Steam user TheAlphaPigeon
“Raft doesn’t have an Accessibility Options menu at all. The only real accessibility options that I found were the ability to remap keybinds, which is the bare minimum accessibility requirement, and enable a ‘Motion Sickness Mode.’... The motion sickness mode is pretty great. I don’t get simulated motion sickness anymore, but I used to have it really badly, so I appreciate that that’s included.”
- Blogger Vanri the Rogue
“Hi :) i really want to play Raft, but at the moment i am not really able to. Well.. my Eyes are bad (no nothing glasses could fix) so i have real problems reading anything in the game, due to the choice of colors. There is just not enough contrast. If there were a way to change the textcolor of the ui to black, this would help a lot! (changing the size would be great, too.. especially for all playing with resolutions under 1080p)”
- Steam user felicat.fairymeadow
Accessibility Audit
The Game Accessibility Guidelines (GAG) checklist categorizes itself into three separate guidelines:
Basic guidelines hold the highest priority as they represent critical issues that must be addressed.
Intermediate guidelines are of moderate priority, as they remain highly significant for ensuring accessible gameplay but aren’t critical.
The advanced guideline pertains to specific impairments and specialized markets, making these changes less urgent and positioned at the lower end of the priority list, to be implemented if time and resources allow it.
Low contrast text with no audio alternative.
Required to hold R in order to rotate the sail.
High-priority issues:
While the game allows for keybind remapping, issues still arise with the click and drag mechanic and the requirement to hold down buttons. In order to move stuff around in your inventory, you must click and drag. To rotate a sail, you must hold down “R” and move your mouse, etc.
Text contrast in many areas (like the journal & signs) is quite low and there are no settings to adjust it.
Certain events like shark attacks and seagulls eating crops are relayed to the user solely through sound cues. If the user isn't looking directly at the shark/seagull, they won't be aware of the event.
Mid-priority issues:
I won’t go over all of the intermediate issues here, but you can view my notes and ratings on the Excel document. Here are some of the intermediate issues I’ll be tackling in this project:
No way to disable item/walk bobbing.
No stereo/mono toggle.
No settings to customize captions or subtitles.
No closed captioning.
No way to move or resize the UI.
Already accessible features
While there are plenty of areas Raft can improve on, I want to make some honorable mentions of their good accessibility features:
Wide range of difficulties for all player types: creative, peaceful, easy, normal, and hard.
Motion sickness setting for all of the ocean waves.
Ways to adjust mouse sensitivity, FOV, and independent sliders for different forms of audio (SFX, speech, music, etc.).
Most of the story notes in the journal can be read aloud to the player.
Adjustable keybindings with alternative versions.
Research Conclusion
There are some critical changes that need to be made in order to allow all users to fully enjoy the game.
The highest priority changes that need to be made include adding in closed captioning and visual cues for important sounds, better contrast and contrast settings, and finding alternatives for holding down buttons (click and drag).
My Solutions
Issue: Certain events rely solely on audio cues.
Solution: Add spacial visual cues to indicate the event and which direction it is coming from.
Example 1: Spacial Indicator
Example 2: Directional Closed Captioning
Issue: No way to disable item/walk bobbing, no stereo/mono toggle, no settings to customize captions or subtitles, no closed captioning, no way to move or resize the UI, and no way to adjust contrast.
Solution: Add in settings to adjust them. Obviously this is the easy part, but recognizing the need is the first step.
Before
After
Issue: Certain actions require users to hold down a button, despite being able to adjust keybinds.
Solution: Add in alternatives to holding down a button.
Example: Remove an object
Current controls: Hold X
Proposed Solution: Press X twice
Example: Moving items in your inventory
Current controls: Click and drag
Proposed Solution: Click to pick up an item, then click where you want it to go. Similar to Minecraft.
Example: Rotating a sail
Current controls: Hold R and move the mouse to the left or right.
Proposed Solution: Press R to enter rotate mode. Users can then move the mouse (or whatever they choose to key-bind to) and then press R again to exit rotate mode.
Future Iterations & Retrospective
The number one priority would be to test my solutions with real users. As this is all hypothetical and I have no way to actually implement my changes into the game for testing, everything suggested could either be a horrible idea or an amazing solution. If this project were to move forward, I would test with users who have a wide range of disabilities.
In addition to some of the accessibility settings listed, I would be sure to add in an audio voice-over for ALL text and menus. I would also implement more of my findings listed in the GAG checklist from the intermediate and advanced guidelines.
In the future, I’d love to work on a project where I can actually implement my proposed solutions in order to determine if they are helpful to the player. This would allow me to iterate on my designs and help create a product that is accessible and enjoyable for all players.