VR COSMONIOUS HIGH UPDATE

The path to creating this update offered some challenges to consider. Opening testing to remote players from anywhere in the world allowed us to get a wide range of perspectives on the project, with feedback coming from people with varying levels of vision. We teamed up with VROxygen to find a group of playtesters with blindness and low vision to provide feedback on our iterations and help us prioritize improvements we needed to make, which worked out well. We did a lot of research, experimentation, and testing to determine what worked best and what we could execute successfully.įor the vision accessibility update, we knew we needed to branch out when finding playtesters with low vision to help provide valuable feedback and help with our design. Consulting with Steve, we were able to identify the features we would need and what expectations someone with low vision would have. Thankfully, we had a great start to the project after meeting with Steve Saylor, a video game accessibility consultant who is blind. When we started developing this update, we anticipated a few challenges, ranging from design decisions to playtesting. We haven’t seen narration or TTS in other released VR games before, so we knew launching our approach for accessibility in this area – after researching best practices and playtesting with those who are legally blind or have low vision – would benefit the industry. Each feature is built to follow expectations regarding screen-reader standards, such as ducking non-TTS audio and allowing the user to cancel TTS mid-description.

Our game features are similar in the sense that they allow players to navigate virtual spaces using their hands or a joystick as methods for reading out objects and descriptions. Most people who are blind or have low vision use assistive technology called screen readers, which allows them to navigate screens with a keyboard, and their computer or phone will read out the text. Other aspects of a game, like completing a puzzle or a task, become difficult when not all pieces are clearly visible for players or when vital clues are given without any text or visual queues.įrom our research, we found it was important to create a way for players to receive game information through audio descriptions using Text To Speech (TTS). A storyline could be complex and challenging to follow without context or subtext. Oftentimes, there is no subtext available for all of the scenes in a game, and different scenes are used to advance the story. When we started our research in developing for blind and low-vision players, we found that the main issue was the inability to follow a storyline or in-game directions. We take pride in forging new paths through research, testing, and partnerships to ensure gaming is available to the widest possible audience.

If a game can only be played by an audience with no disabilities, it is a sign of an unfinished product. We encourage every developer to create with accessibility in mind, and actively incorporate accessibility into our games at launch and through post-launch updates.įor our last accessibility update to Cosmonious High, we added a range of gameplay options, including one-handed controller mode, seated player mode, subtitling, and more. Historically, our team has prioritized making significant strides in unsolved areas of accessibility in VR including subtitles, physical accessibility, and height accessibility. The studio touts “dynamic characters that respond to natural gestures” like high fives and first bumps with the ability to chat, as well as the “biggest space Owlchemy Labs has ever built.” Players can have fun with alien powers and explore interactive environments (Grand Hall, Life Wing, Creation Wing, and Measures Wing), as well as the playful art style.In this guest post, Owlchemy Labs Accessibility Product Manager II Jazmin Cano dives deep into how the team used Unity to develop an all-new vision accessibility update for Cosmonious High in virtual reality (VR).Īt Owlchemy Labs, we have made a dedication in our Accessibility Statement to the pursuit of creating VR games for everyone. It’s up to the player to explore our largest world yet and discover what’s causing all the chaos at Cosmonious High.

This welcoming place is alive with interactive characters and quirky creatures but plagued by mysterious malfunctions. In Cosmonious High, players crash-land into their first day at an alien high school. The latter includes the Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift. However, it still owns VR game studio Owlchemy Labs, which is launching Cosmonious High later this month.Ĭosmonious High was first shown off last year and it today got a March 31 launch date for Meta Quest 2 and Steam VR. In recent years, Google has pretty much shut down most of its earlier virtual reality efforts.

Vr cosmonious high