A full line-up has been announced for the free-to-attend online edition of accessibility conference GAconf, taking place on October 11th-12th.
GAconf is a game development conference dedicated to making games more accessible to gamers with disabilities, hosted by the IGDA’s accessibility SIG. The event features talks and networking for all disciplines of the games industry, exploring recent and future advances in game accessibility. The 2021 event will be free to attend and held through video conferencing and Discord.
This was the most inspiring conference I’ve ever been to
– Jess Hider, Technical Designer, Rare
So happy to have first hand accounts from players about their gaming experiences
– Nikki Crenshaw, UX researcher, Blizzard
Topics include Far Cry 6’s methodology for accessibility user research, how the Diablo 2 team tackled accessibility of remasters, audio description for blind gamers, Insomniac’s journey through Spider-Man, Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart; case studies on indie accessibility gems The Vale and The Big Con, how to communicate complex information through sound for blind gamers, a panel discussion on representation of disabled characters, lived experiences of gaming with motor impairments, what legally blind gamers see, how to make horror games scary for all players, how Roblox enables and supports accessibility of user-generated content, and more!
Fantastic day at GAconf celebrating and getting tons of hot game accessibility tips!
– Jenny Lay-Flurrie, chief accessibility officer, Microsoft
Speakers include indie accessibility superstars Falling Squirrel and Mighty Yell through to AAAs and publishers like EA, Insomniac, Blizzard and Ubisoft, and disabled gamers advocates and specialists such as Paul Amadeus Lane, James Rath, and Courtney Craven.
Awareness of the importance of game accessibility has increased hugely in recent years, with ever-growing numbers of developers seeing the benefits. Attendees will take home practical knowledge of how to ensure their vision can reach as wide a range of players as possible, allowing more of those players to benefit from the access to culture, recreation and socialising that gaming brings.
The most informative conference I’ve been to in a very long time!
– David Tisserand, Senior Manager of Accessibility, Ubisoft
Attendees can expect a wide range of topics from all sectors of the industry and an abundance of networking opportunities, leaving with inspiration, new contacts, and practical tips to ensure any game can reach as many people as possible. So no player is unnecessarily excluded from everything that games have to offer.
Registration – http://www.gaconf.com
Line-up – http://www.gaconf.com/schedule
The IGDA Game Accessibility SIG is a special interest group of the International Game Developers Association. The IGDA-GASIG volunteers have worked since 2003 to aid the game industry in making games accessible to all players, regardless of impairments or other limitations. For more information, visit http://www.igda-gasig.org.
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Gamer, dad and supporter of @SpecialEffect Charity. Dark Souls fan and gooner!