"kunin;d-268993" wrote:
So this isn't really a question because I doubt anyone would have the answer, but just something I thought of. I'm visually impaired, and my site has gotten worse overtime. I used to play this game a lot when I was younger but as my vision has gotten worse it's gotten to the point where it's pretty much impossible for me to play it. But the thing is, I don't really see any reason that this, or other games like this, don't have accessibility features. Functionally they're just pressing buttons and reading stat sheets, so there's nothing that something like voiceover, the built screen reader on Apple devices for those unfamiliar, would have any issue with reading if it was implemented.
There's probably a lot of functionality that would work fine with a screen reader. I'm not so sure things like combat would be manageable with such a tool - but at least the farming and collecting aspect of the game could largely be covered by something like that.
As for why it's not implemented - that comes down to sheer ROI on development hours. If the app isn't built to be compliant for screen readers from the ground up it's very time consuming to go back and add that. If it's designed with accessibility in mind from the start then it's much less daunting, but still adds enough time to the development process to be noticeable.
Video games are an inherently visual medium - I would be surprised if most studios even gave more than a moment's thought to improving accessibility for the visually impaired. That's not to say that they shouldn't - just that it's not something that would increase profits enough to be worthwhile from a business standpoint. Unless you have a financial incentive to do that development work, it probably doesn't get done. It's unfortunate - sad even - but it's the reality of the business.
