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First-person wheelchair video game

Oct 06 06:58

I recently came across an interesting series of video games made by a Spanish software company. AccessAble Games has made something I’ve never seen before: Video games designed exclusively for people with disabilities. Their latest game - Slalom, The Video Game - lets wheelchair-users practice a game from real life: Wheelchair slalom. By being able to practice in a video game, people who weren’t able before can now train independently, without assistants or equipment.

It’s an interesting idea to design a game from the ground-up knowing your end-user uses a wheelchair. No other software company has yet to do this. There’s no profit in it, even though we, as in people with disabilities, desperately need more advancements like this. That is why it finally took a government agency, the Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad of Spain, in collaboration with The Game Kitchen, to create such an accessible game; and from the looks of Slalom, The Video Game, they’re headed in the right direction.

To date they’ve made Slalom, The Video Game, Attractor, a puzzle game with advanced accessibility options, Iredia: Atram’s Secret, a game that teaches players about the world of functional hearing diversity using a Super Mario Bros-like format, and My Green City, where you play a lounge singer on the run. Each of these games has accessibility options enabling anyone, no matter their physical limitations, to play. Some of these include:

- Game speed setting

- Keyboard or mouse control, one hand control

- Eye tracking mouse friendly mode (no click mode)

- One button control mode

- One button mode plus automatically stops on crossroads

- Voice control (one button mode with a microphone as button)

- Music and sound volume settings

- High contrast mode

What’s even better is all of these games can be played on the PC, and even cooler - they’re all available for download FREE here.

What adaptations would you like to see in the video game industry?

Want to play regular games but need an adapted controller? Check out Broadened Horizons

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1. seeandbesafe.co | Oct 13 12:13

This is great news. There is certainly a niche market for this among PWD. I have not played a video game since years before my injury. It would be great to see more gaming and recreational technology created with us in mind.

2. Tiffiny | Oct 20 01:57

@seeandbesafe: you got to get playing again! fun as ever, and lots of adaptations available too :)

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By Tiffiny Carlson

Tiffiny Carlson Disability buzz, travel, fashion and dating — fun things to amp up everyday wheeling life.

Tiffiny Carlson is freelance writer and writes the “SCI Life” column for New Mobility. She's also a C6 quad from a diving accident that occurred when she was 14 years old. A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Tiffiny has been a writer in the disability community for over 10 years and writes for several publications and blogs, as well as her personal blog BeautyAbility. Her work has also appeared in mainstream publications such as Nerve.com and Playgirl.