One Switch Gaming!

Since I have been writing the report alongside the blog and development of the game, formatting it and gathering it together took a lot less time than I expected. I have spent the extra time on making the 'One Switch' control option functional.

The game now has three methods of play:

• Default (Mouse movement and clicking)
• Gaze Controlled (Same as default, except no clicking is required to turn in game)
• One Switch (Single button play)

For anyone not in the know One Switch is a method of control that relies on a single button, usually the left click or spacebar. There are no pointers, no analogue devices and the button has no analogue properties itself, it is a single, binary switch. One Switch is designed to be used by players with the most severe disabilities and usually requires a large change in the way games are played, automating a lot of the game play elements.

Fortunately for a game like Sugar Mine, the game play aspect is simple enough that it can merely be modified to be controlled through a single switch.

The big problem in this implementation was in the menus; without mouse pointers, joystick or arrow keys, it is impossible to manually select a menu option. This is an example of the aforementioned modification and automation required.

To make the menu accessible with One Switch, it has to scroll automatically through the options available and provide feedback about which option is selected.

This seemed simple and was until I got around to making the accessibility menu accessible: with drop down menus and sliders to be used, it was a little more awkward.

Nonetheless it has been implemented completely and functions: The entire game that is open and available to someone using mouse pointer and click controls can be accessed, customized and played using only a single button. I take great pride in that.

Accessibility Menu

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post and my attention has been divided in these last couple of weeks:

• An online course on Gamification I was undertaking reached its conclusion
• I built a personal website and business cards in preparation of leaving university
• Both of these as well as working on Sugar Mine.

Coming back to one of my original intentions with Sugar Mine, I have the accessibility menu implemented and functioning.



In the accessibility menu the player can customize and control game elements such as initial spawn rate of bombs, how quickly the spawn rate will increase, the initial velocity of the player and their acceleration as well as changing colour schemes.

Unfortunately the changing colour scheme only affects the menu at this moment and the high visibility scheme does nothing yet. Whilst the control scheme menu is implemented and works, it does not alter anything.

Now on to the good news: All other options and sliders function just fine and the game can be altered allowing you to set your own level of difficulty. All accessibility menu visuals and sliders conform to the visual schemes and change in real time. Any values changed stay changed when coming into and out of the menu and game.

A small change though: I had to set a default for vsp and spawnSpeed variables at the beginning of the game and reset back to them at the end, as these variables change during gameplay.

Otherwise all is well. Expotees is tomorrow and I intend to go. I'm not being exhibited but it can't hurt to be in attendance. After that the rest of the time I have available on this project will be spent writing and formatting the report. The product will be incomplete when submitted but I will work on it more when the project is over.