How HyperDot Got it Right, and the Importance of Accessibility in Gaming

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My latest vlog is all about an amazing game called HyperDot, developed by GLITCH! It was created with accessibility from its early planning stages, and the developers had many disabled play-testers; they listened to our feedback and reworked different aspects of HyperDot to make it playable for even more disabled gamers.

I also touch on the importance of accessibility for developers and how GLITCH got the process toward inclusion spot on. Transcript is below the video and the video is fully captioned.

You can comment on the video for a chance to win a copy of the game!

Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome to another vlog! Today’s gonna be a short one, where Iwanted to tell you about this game that came out today called HyperDot. And it’s made by Tribe Games and GLITCH. It’s a minimal arcade action game where you try to survive as a dot amidst a level filled with various projectiles and attacking shapes.

Every level has a different objective like surviving for a certain amount of time or picking up a certain amount of symbols. As you progress through the campaign, it becomes increasingly difficult to dodge everything and stay alive. There’s also free play where you can pick the type of level you want to play or a level editor where you can make your own level.

HyperDot is so addictive and frustrating, but like in the best way possible. And with over a hundred levels, you can’t really get bored. And they’re definitely replayable, in my opinion. The music is even relaxing, making it the perfect game to zone out with, which I think we all need a game like that.Oh, and there’s local multiplayer where your friends can just drop in and dropout with like the push of a button. So easy, and this game, it’s amazing.

And what makes me love this game even more is GLITCH’s commitment to accessibility.I was part of their beta testers where I gave feedback about my experience playing before it was released. They consulted with many disabled people and it definitely shows. HyperDot has a lot of accessibility features like the ability to play with a mouse or a keyboard, Xbox Adaptive Controller, a standard controller, eye tracking, touching or tilting. And you can also play in high contrast mode or color blind mode. You could also disable background animations, vibrations, and screen shake. So the setup is customizable to meet your needs.

Developers should use GLITCH’s research and dedication to accessibility as an inspiration to implement it for their own games. Disabled people should have access to cultural activities. And while developers are understanding this more and more, we still have a ways to go. But seeing what GLITCH has done gives me, gives me hope and lets me know that the work the disability community is doing makes a difference. HyperDot is available on Microsoft and Xbox Store, as well as Steam and itch.io.

The folks at GLITCH were also kind enough to give me an extra key on Steam, so if you want to play this game, post a comment [on YouTube] below telling me your favorite game and I’ll choose a winner before I post my next video. So again, thank you so much to GLITCH and the whole team there because they’re amazing, and I was so honored to work with them. Thank you so much for watching and thank you to my Patreon supporters. If you want to see more content for me, make sure to like this video and subscribe. I have some really awesome videos coming up, including one of me trying to make art accessible. So see you next time, thank you so much. Bye!

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