I totally understand this! I have ADHD as well, though it seems to help me come up with great ideas. I also have a sister with ADD, so I support anyone with something like them.
4 posts were split to a new topic: Making Accessible Games for the Disability-Aware Era - A Not-Fully-Comprehensive Guide by an Actual Disabled Developer (Private Discussion)
This is a pretty cool guide! Trello on mobile has one of my favourite accessibility features, which adds textured backgrounds to coloured labels. That makes it easy to distinguish between the labels, even if youāre colour blind.
The W3C website also has some articles/documents on developing accessible websites and apps, that could also apply to Roblox games and UI.
In fact, I developed a ColourUtils library which even demonstrates in the README how to generate an appropriately contrasting foreground text colour when given a background colour (based on the W3C guidelines), when making UI programmatically (e.g. Roact, Fusion).
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personlly coming from me an autistic which canāt focus on learning scripting and other things
this is a really great tutorial
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Iām not a dev per se but I am a disabled player who is constantly struggling with inaccessible game design. Iām autistic and I have a jacked up spine, among other things, and the result is a low-energy, irritable person whoās usually in pain when playing games and gets easily overwhelmed. I play with a controller on a PC, which is anā¦interesting experience, to say the least.
Iāve definitely made enemies of some devs by now by moaning and complaining about accessibility issues that I feel would be so, so easy to fix, but then, some other devs have been kind enough to hear me out and go out of their way to fix them (shout-out to the Crown Academy devs for this ā not only did they re-enable gamepad controls after the movement system Roblox ships with was replaced with their own, but they created a unique menu interface! I canāt currently seem to access it, but the game afaik is undergoing a recode). It means a lot to me!
Thank you so much for making this guide. I really, really hope it gets lots of eyes. Iāve definitely annoyed people over my time on Roblox with my constant talks about accessibility this, disability that, but so few people ever actually listen. This is a really, really well-done guide and I hope people take it to heart.
Also, regarding āreeā, yes, I was so disappointed two Christmases ago when one of the Adopt Me reindeer said that to me. Fortunately, it seems to be finally becoming less popular, but a lot of people just donāt know how hurtful it is.
Thank you!
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Iāll definetly keep these in mind while making my game, thanks so much for this post, great work.
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As someone who struggled with dyslexia and ADHD, I extremely do appreciate this post and how detailed this post was. I will be implementing all suggested features into my projects (āgamesā).
I seriously agree with this one and even hold policies within my groups (That I manage/own) over a Safe & Positive Community. I appreciate the fact, you have included a list of words (to ban/blacklist) and knocked down misconceptions (Hopefully, using the right word).
Again, you have formed an extremely detailed post, that I can not thank you enough for spreading this information to developers, so we can not include, but implement such features into projects (āgamesā) and to integrate them into our projects (āgamesā)
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Main posts updated! Added an example of an epilepsy warning and added a link to the support list that offers good insight on game accessibility outside of Roblox.
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This is quite helpful, maybe if i got time il make some open source modules that make it easier for devs to make games that are accessible. But again real good work and thank you for bringing this up!
Sorry about the bump, but I just have a question about making a game accessible. I know that thereās plenty of guidelines on making an accessible game, but I feel like thereās a lack of disabled players/developers which are able to give feedback on what needs work. I want to ensure that any accessibility features are substantial, and not just basic.
Is there any specific place where I may ask disabled players to test my game and suggest ideas? And if there is, how should I approach playtesting in general? (agenda, feedback, compensation, etc.)
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we arenāt terribly difficult to come by, actually! maybe thatās just me saying that because iām in disabled circles and/or i happen to know the signs that another person is disabled (lack of a better term).
i know thereās a good number of groups on roblox that cater to disabled players. a lot of the playerbase for my sensory room are neurodivergent, and a good lot of the regulars have joined my clothing group. you could certainly ask over there.
many kidcore-themed (especially those that lean into weirdcore/dreamcore too) groups will have a good bit of disabled users, since kidcore/weirdcore/dreamcore/liminal space as aesthetics are nowadays heavily pioneered by those of us with childhood trauma and ptsd from youth, or other neurodivergent and mentally ill people. medcore is the same, but i donāt think the specific brand of medcore (driven by those of us with medical-related trauma and ptsd) iām thinking of is terribly popular on roblox just yet, though you might be able to find some.
a lot of lgbt+ circles will also have a decent bit of disabled members, itās an acceptance thing.
and maybe check the comments of disability ugc items? i know thereās a handful of comments from disabled users on the wheelchair ugc items, maybe the neurodivergent pins, etc.
generally if you find one disabled player or dev, others will be around. we tend to flock together.
maybe check out the discords of critterspace, jovialās playground, and pepperās playhouse? i know the large majority of users there are disabled in some way. systemcore caters to those of us with did/osdd/other plurality, but i think thatās the only disability-specific group iām in considering iām very close to the group limit.
hope this helps?? generally whenever i playtest a game iāll find visual/audio issues and thatās about it, maybe an issue with controls, but while iām physically disabled myself i donāt run into as many issues as others do when playing games.
the people who have already posted here who have a disability are also likely to agree to playtest!
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Deserves two monthsā worth of a necrobump.
This is an informative post giving valuable insight into areas that a majority of developers havenāt acknowledged. Itās good to see so many people accepting this, but itās not enough.
Most of my friends, acquaintances, and strangers Iāve talked to have a mindset that games and skills fall into a āsurvival of the fittestā world. āThose who canāt, just ācanātā. Too bad.ā Some are not even bold enough to admit that this mindset is wrong, including my younger self. The word āprecautionsā is an alien word in a game description. Iāve seen some players (on a different platform) ridiculed and blacklisted for requesting aid/change in something impairing their gameplay. Caring shouldnāt hurt anyoneās reputation.Ā¹
I often find that disabled players have to ask about harmful features themselves/become aware of them when playing. Taking a quick look at this post and its replies can give you a notion on how you can help and make others aware.
Perspective is everything.
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I should clarify though I donāt have any major incapacities, my opinion is based on past experience(s).
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literally. the amount of times i find a cool game i need to stop playing after a period of time for an accessibility reason is high, and the count of when i approached the devs/community about it they argued with me is even higher. COUGH critter chaos COUGH.
i understand a lot of games cant implement accessibility features. some devs just dont know how to do it or lack the manpower to do so- im one of those devs! because im 99.9% solo and not a scripter by any means, accessibility-specific settings are out of the question.
however, this doesnt mean i cant try to make my games as accessible as possible, which i try my best to do! that means, when a person approaches me about an accessibility issue, i address it, not get upset at them for it. one player mentioned the bright colors of my sensory room to me once, which as its part of the aesthetic, i cant really change it, but as a result i did end up including a content warning in my gameās description.
really, making games slightly more accessible isnt that hard. devs just make it hard. like good god.
anyway little rant out of the way, youre very very right and you should say it.
i dont know how the people who are bizarrely against this thread or the mods feel, but this thread is always deserving of a necrobump no matter the reason why ;3
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6 month necrobump for some minor announcements. mods plz dont kill me
im aware the images on my original post are mostly broken/missing! i submitted a bug report about it.
really sucks, but for now i cant do anything about it but wait. if it takes too long to fix, ill go manually get those screenshots myself again. EDIT: whoever archived this via internet archive back in februraryā¦ i owe you my life.
im also going to be a panelist on level upās online designing for accessibility panel, thanks largely to how well this thread was received! if you wanna join us for a discussion on roblox accessibility and maybe get some questions answered live, rsvp here!!
this thread will have its resource post updated with a link to that panel after it is published on youtube.
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I really appreciate this information. I have something to add, too.
I have a visual perception disorder, of a mild variety - there is a delay between my brain receiving signals from my eyes, to actually processing it (compared to ānormalā people). Because of this, I obviously have a hard time with PVP focused games - by the time I see someone is killing me, iām usually dead before I can respond. Easy solution - avoid those. However, games that require precise timing of actions (some obbys for example) are very stressful for me because I just canāt see fast enough.
Now, I donāt know how common this disorder is, but it is something to keep in mind - some players may not enjoy the game if something requires perfect, or almost perfect, timing.
Again, I appreciate the information youāve provided, and will keep it in mind when designing my own game 
Yo here is a suggestion:
ADHD people are capable of bionic reading, which is a pro.
Maybe games could have this as another settings so they can read faster.
And now imagine this: A roblox chrome extension that does this on roblox game descriptions and group walls etc, Imagine the time cut from reading.
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Just chiming in here to say thanks for writing this!
Unfortunately I donāt develop games anymore but I do develop other things and advocate for inclusive design and critical thinking. I really appreciate the content, effort and thought you put into this guide!!!
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Great post that goes more in depth then some other accessibility topics. Although if your still interested in adding on to this post I suggest adding language accessibility, sure Roblox will automatically detect the words and set the language and yea the subtitles exist but maybe this should be talked about a little more, like games that include a lot of words or almost non. But just a suggestion donāt have to add it.