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January 6, 2021 By Amy Green
For our December design challenge, we asked members of the Playability Initiative to tell us how they would adapt the gameplay in Genshin Impact's combat system to create a one-button mechanic.
We weren't sure how much engagement we'd get this month with the holidays looming and people busy with their end of the year activities. Boy were we wrong. The submissions we received really impressed us and made us so thankful that we have such an incredible community of creative people who care about accessibility.
In this blog, we'll share with you all four entries along with the feedback and critique from two of our Playability Initiative game developers, Brock Henderson and Hayden Scott-Baron.
Patrick Shaw submitted a design that offered some really compelling innovations. Patrick told us. "I would go with a "action-wedge" UI. A circular progress bar moves around a radial menu, highlighting different wedges, each of which represents a different choice. The player press the "one-button" when the desired choice is highlighted." Here's his write up:
Genshin Impact is a polarizing game. Yet, beyond preference for this specific title, action games such as Genshin are not particularly accessible. And creating a "one button" interface for a combat system goes a long way to increase the accessibility of action games to more players. A solid design for such a system can be applied to many similar action oriented games. To address this design challenge I propose an "action-wedge" UI. A circular progress bar moves around a radial menu, highlighting different wedges, each of which represents a different choice. The player presses the "one-button" when the desired choice is highlighted.
Action-Wedge UI In-Depth
In this new system, combat becomes a new game "mode" that activates when you are close to enemies.
During combat mode, the "normal" control scheme is suspended, and a circular UI appears on the bottom of the screen. The circle is divided into "action-wedges," one for each current action. So there would be an action-wedge for normal attack, special attack, etc. Each action-wedge uses both an icon and a large text to indicate its purpose. A circular progress bar moves around the wheel, highlighting the different action-wedge. When an action-wedge is highlighted by the progress bar, the wedge changes color, size, and plays a sound. Also, a detailed description of the currently selected action appears in the left corner of the screen. Pressing the "One Button" selects that action-wedge and executes the action.
The progress bar always repeats moves around the option-wedges during combat. If you miss a wedge or need more time to consider your options, then wait for a moment. The progress bar's speed is adjustable in the game options to accommodate the player's taste and ability.
Some actions require multiple steps. For example, ranged characters can "charge up" to release an attack. For multiple-step actions, a new wheel appears for each step. So for charge attacks, first select the "charge" action-wedge. You would then be presented with a new menu with the choice to "attack" (e.g., fire the arrow) or "cancel" (go back to the previous menu).
While in combat, the AI automatically moves your character on the battlefield. Automatic movement allows you to focus on the most effective, meaningful combat options. The "wheel" would include option-wedges actions to adjust the player's position relative to the enemy (e.g., move back, close in, etc.). Similarly, AI positions the camera to get the best view of the action without adjusting the camera manually.
If all of your enemies are defeated, or you choose the "flee" wedge option, combat mode ends, and standard controls resume.
Should the enemy AI wait while you're making choices? Turned-based combat may not mesh well with the rest of the experience. Yet, having the enemy wait relieves the pressure of possibly getting attacked while waiting for a specific action-wedge to appear.
Where on the screen should the wheel go? Strong cases can be made for both near the screen center and the screen bottom. I have gone with the bottom to give a better view of the game screen. Yet, I don't feel convinced.
Our developer, Brock Henderson, really appreciated that Shaw took speed considerations into account, and had this to say about the design,
"Automatic movement is a good way to keep the speed of combat. Giving players the option to fine-tune their positions is important for larger enemy battles. However, in most of the battles I would imagine not needing those options and simply focusing on switching between elements and timing your attacks."
Hayden Scott-Baron, a designer for the Playability Initiative added,
"Using a stacked radial menu would be an effective way to manage increasingly complex battle scenarios. Nesting extra options also becomes possible so long as every line of action can be cancelled back to the root.
"Managing the speed of the progress bar could be difficult if the number of options varies, or if 'wedges' change location around the circle. There don't appear to be many examples of radial menus in existing one-button interfaces, such as iPhone and Android Switch Access, perhaps because of the timing disconnect for individual choices."
This entry also gets a couple shout outs in the critique of our winning entry, coming up next.
Our winning entry was submitted by Amaury Français, who told us, "the fact that you cannot use hold for the button is super challenging." We think he came up with an excellent design, and here it is!
Our goal is to make a version of combat as close as possible to the existing combat mechanics of Genshin Impact with only one button.
Here are the rules around that button as gathered from the test:
It is one button with only two states : pressed or not pressed
The "pressed" state cannot be continuous (we cannot expect the player to hold the button)
The button cannot move in any direction
It could work on a touch screen but cannot require pressing different zones (it is only one button)
2) The Genshin Impact Combat System
The Genshin Impact combat is, judging from the video, a fairly standard Action RPG combat system. We have, as the things the player can do :
A four dimensional basic movement [left stick]
A camera movement [right stick]
A jump that seems to impact the combat very little (unless there is some sky attacks unseen in the video) [Cross]
An ability to slide/sprint [R1]
A basic attack that can be chained a specific amount of times [Circle]
A special attack whose effect depends on the character [R2]
A super special attack whose effect also depends on the character [Triangle]
For ranged attacks, a button to move into "targeting mode" that transform the camera movement into a targeting movement.
Here are the main important gameplay elements taken from the video:
Movement is crucial to avoid attacks or gain distance from the enemy : There is an element of positioning important to avoid being attacked.
The three different types of attacks are gated behind cooldowns :
No cooldown for the basic attack
Medium cooldown for the special
Very big cooldown (or another mechanic to fill a gauge, not sure) for the super special.
In ranged combat, there is an element of precision and of assessing the time needed to target versus the time needed for the opponents to reach you and attack you
In both combat, there is an element of positioning for the specials that are affecting zones.
Enemy attacks can sometimes be zones that are pre indicated in red, requiring quick response from the player to avoid those zones.
Overall, for a player's perspective, the gameplay requires :
Strategic positioning between avoiding attacks and optimizing the effectiveness of the specials
Skill check between reflexes for avoiding attacks and precision targeting with ranged attacks
A frenzy of continuous inputs (there is no dead times as bashing the standard attack fills up the time when waiting to fire the specials).
We'll try to keep those considerations as much as possible for the design of the one-button combat.
3) Considerations of the possibilities of a single button design
Because we cannot use an alternation between short, long presses or holds, we need to realize there are only two elements we can play around: Number of presses and timing.
Number of presses is quite limited here, and more especially, could be challenging if the presses require a muscle that is not used to very fast repetitive pressing. Even standard fingers would find it tiring pretty fast to require 5 extra fast pressings to do an action repeatedly.
Timing, on the other hand, is a very versatile tool: We can ask players to press buttons at a specific time, or we can also give a sliding bar of different options the player can choose from, and the way to select would be to wait until the selector hits your choice.
4) Conclusion on the design we want to achieve
Let's see how we could apply our three main gameplay points we've taken from the Genshin combat system with a single button design based on timing and waiting to do specific actions.
Strategic positioning
This is quite challenging, as a standard 4 directional movement system offers a very wide array of directions to choose. But it is also a very central component of the game we would like to keep.
We can keep a positioning element by allowing the player to move to predetermined locations.
In this situation, the player only has two options for movements : moving left or moving right.
2. Skill checks
Thankfully for us, this is the easiest : A timing based combat system will already require a great control of timing, and considerations of time needed to choose an option versus the time needed for the opponent to attack you also requires thinking and skill. We can even introduce a ranged combat mechanic where the player's target moves between different zones, and the player needs to press the button at the right time. No need to worry about that one.
2. A frenzy of continuous inputs
We may be able to recreate a button mashing sensation with the standard attack by having it require no waiting time. This would be the most basic action, and we could press the button repeatedly until we want to do something else.
5) Design proposition
1. The "Timing Bar" as an option selector.
Our one button design would show a bar that would allow the player to wait sufficient time to select the action they want to do.
The yellow selector moves along the bar at a specific speed. As long as the arrow is on a zone, pressing the button accomplishes the action of that zone. If the arrow reaches the end of the bar it automatically comes back to the beginning, and repeats that process until the player decides to do an action.
Once the player chooses to do an action, that action is executed and the selector goes back to the beginning of the options bar.
The "Special" and "Super Special" cooldowns or gauge charges are visible as the icons on the bar so that the player knows if they can select them or not.
The first action is the basic attack as it is the action that requires the most button mashing. A player can easily select that option multiple times in a row with this selector system.
The Move left and right actions are then next as they require the highest level of quick reaction from the player to execute. Then, the last three actions are not used that often so they are relegated to the end of the bar, in order of expected usages in a combat session.
2. The enemies movement and positioning.
As seen in our chapter 3 ( Image repeated here), the player would move between pre selected zones.
The orientation of the player should always be towards the main enemy, so whatever direction you choose to move to, the camera would be focusing the enemy or enemies. There is also the possibility of adding more steps, as long as the options stay Left or Right (and therefore form a continuous polygon). See this example having two enemies :
The color of the square indicates which enemy you're facing if you stand on that spot. You can create situations where, for example, Enemy Blob 1 will set fire on all the spots of his color in 10 seconds, so the player needs to move out of its zone, but can focus on the Enemy Blob 2 during that time.
The goal is to offer meaningful decisions similar to the standard Genshin Impact Combat, such as :
Enemies preparing zone attacks that touch multiple squares, forcing the player to move to evade those.
Enemies attacking specific squares that the player want to avoid temporarily.
Special attacks dealing more damage to specific sides of the enemies. An enemy would only face you once you attack them, giving you the interesting decision of moving first around the enemy and then unleashing your special for maximum effect.
3. Potential alternative options based on character class/Game style.
We can recreate the feeling of different gameplay pace between the ranged and close combat characters by creating alternative ways of moving/attacking.
If our current design so far would be made for the swordsman, next chapter is how we would design the ranged class.
6) Ranged Class Design
Here is the options selector bar for the Ranged class:
Here are the new and different options and their behaviour:
1. Attack Targeting:
The attack targeting is a simple target moving between different enemies or zones of the screen. The player would have to press at the right moment. The movement can also be non continuous (acceleration in the center) to create a more difficult targeting experience.
2. Dodge:
The dodge would be a quick movement behind to avoid approaching enemies.
If the map is limited in space for the duration of combat, you can only select this option for a certain amount of times until you reach the end of the zone, at which point you need to select the Move selection option.
3. Move selection:
Instead of the "left/right" decision, the decision is to where exactly you would want to go. As with the targeting system, a selector would move around the map and pressing the button at a specific moment would move you to where the cursor is. This allows a much more precise movement, but takes a lot more time to decide. As an archer, you can select a space far away from the opponents:
7) Conclusion
The possibilities are quite big to create different classes that offer an array of choices between quick decisions like the swordsman or more paced like the archer. Obviously, a lot of testing and balancing would be required to make all options equally viable and fun. Depending on the player, an option to modify the general speed of the game could also allow an experience challenging for any player.
I hope this gave you some ideas for a potential combat design adapted to an interface with a single input!
While reviewing this entry Brock Henderson really appreciated how this entry clearly laid out the parameters in the Definitions section. He had this to say about the design:
"The ergonomics considerations really show care for the audience. The wheel from the first entry might be a more cohesive shape than the timing bar, since the bar would require a jump from the end back to the beginning. I'm really glad that change character was included in the timing bar list because selecting the right elemental matchup in the game appears to be key. These action options feel pretty good. I still wonder if the movement options are really needed for a lot of the game. Perhaps the move options could be replaced with Dodge? It would make sense for the timing bar to scale through play. At the beginning of the game, you would have Basic Attack and Change Character and it would slowly build as you unlocked skills. The thought that went into considering the different needs and play styles of classes shows time and care was put into this entry. I would really like to see some of the AI implementations from the first entry included. The fighting is so fast in the current game and there are so many encounters that I think AI could go a long way to preserve the feel of the combat while still reducing input to meaningful choices."
Hayden Scott-Baron added:
"This is an excellent example of focusing on the needs of the player. A lot of the existing gameplay in Genshin is focused on the player trying to balance just a few options, despite the otherwise complex controls.
"The class specific action bar is flexible enough to allow for new classes, but familiar enough to make each class comfortable for the most common actions.
"Getting the timing right for many of these actions will be difficult without changes made to the gameplay, which is something the design points out carefully and compensates for when possible."
Our next entry was submitted by Jonah Monaghan, who told us, "This is my first time trying to make a one-button system; however, I want to do more one-button game jams in the future." We were so excited to get his entry because we want The Playability Initiative to help spawn new ideas about accessible video games among the next generation of game designers. Here's Jonah's submission to the design challenge:
Genshin Impact – One-Button System
This is a submission for the December One-Button contest for The Playability Initiative.
Understanding the Current Genshin Impact System
Currently, the PS4 controls are as follows:
The key controls to look at for this are:
Triangle – Elemental Burst
Circle – Normal Attack
X – Jump
R2 – Elemental Skill
R1 – Sprint (used for dodging)
L2 – Switch aiming mode
D-Pad – Switch Party Member
This makes for a total of 10 buttons. Now to try and simplify it to a single button.
Normal Attack
The normal attack is the first input that needs to go. Having it as an auto-attack system is the best idea since combos are consistent. There is a heavy attack (hold attack) to apply knockback which I find is used most when enemies are used near a ledge, so the auto-attack system would automatically detect if a ledge is nearby.
This will also be automated since aerial combos aren't a huge part of the game. If the player reaches an obstacle they can jump but not walk over the process will be done automatically. Similar to jumping in Ocarina of Time / Majora's Mask.
Push twice in any direction on the joystick to toggle sprinting, once movement has stopped then the sprint will be turned off.
Character Switching
To switch, you press the button, the switch will go through the party rotation in order. This system will allow you to plan your party based on elemental effects and begin strategizing for an optimal rotation in combat. Since, elemental reactions are the most impactful element of combat it was important to set it as the primary button use.
Elemental Skill / Elemental Burst
To use an elemental skill (provided it's charged) press the button twice. Elemental Bursts on the other hand will activate automatically provided they're charged and the character is still active for a period of time after its charged (i.e. if you don't want to use the skill immediately switch to a different character).
Bow Aiming and Control
Since stealth isn't a key element of the game. I've decided to omit the bow aiming system. It is nice for stun locking enemies, however, it isn't essential to combat.
This is my first time trying to make a one-button system (however I want to do more one-button game jams in the future). I've set the document to accept comments so I would greatly appreciate any feedback people have.
Brock Henderson pointed out that this entry does use a joystick in addition to a single button or switch. While some people with disabilities are able to use a joystick, this challenge is designed to think of the most demanding limitations, which means excluding the use of a joystick. Brock appreciated that this design really focused on the elemental reactions as they are the most important part of the combat system, and was impressed with the decision to use an auto-attack system. He added:
"I really like that this designer isn't afraid to pare down nonessentials."
Hayden Scott-Baron had similar feedback, saying:
"Focusing on the existing controls makes sense for an adaptive accessibility technique (such as a controller adapter), but this design relies on plenty of new gameplay functions. There's sadly no mention of choosing position, just a mention of sprinting that relies on a fairly tricky joystick input.
"I really like the idea of character auto-attack the selected enemy, and initiating knockback when near ledges. The hardest part of this would be choosing which enemy to attack, and whether you would intentionally drive them towards ledges."
Our final entry comes from Matthew Colon, who is our honorable mention two months in a row. This entry really impressed us and almost won the December contest. We were all quite taken with his elegant design.
From the video, I'm seeing a few things that can be abstracted out. On one hand, you have attacking and dodging/recovering. On another, you have different attacking and recovery strategies.
To simplify this for a one-button game, let's drop ranged combat as a consideration for now and only focus on melee. Also, let's remove player-controlled movement and assume the player will be automatically moved to each battle and their one-button selection can determine whether she is physically in an attacking or recovering position. For the core gameplay loop, the player will participate in a string of battles against enemies that are weak against certain auto-attacks she can do, and the player chooses to engage and select which auto-attack to perform or chooses to retreat and select to dodge or heal.
When the player is engaging an enemy, we show four auto-attack options, e.g. fire, ice, earth, and lightning for elemental attacks, and a retreat option. A cursor or selector remains on each option for a few seconds and when the player pushes the button on an attack option it starts auto-attacking using the selected attack, and the cursor or selector continues to move through the options in case the player wants to change her attack or retreat. While the player is auto-attacking, the enemy is attacking the player back at a certain cadence. If the enemy is weak against the player's selected attack, the player will make short work of them. However, if the enemy is not weak against it the player will still damage it slightly but also be taking more damage herself over time.
If the player is taking too much damage, she can choose the retreat option when the cursor lands on it, which disengages with the enemy and moves her physically away from it. The enemy will switch to a ranged attack and continue to damage the player, though either at a lesser amount or a slower cadence. The player's options change from the four attacks + retreat to three: heal, dodge, and reengage. Again, the cursor or selector remains on each option for a few seconds, and when the player pushes the button on heal they regain some HP, when she pushes on dodge she will avoid whatever attack the enemy is currently doing, and when she pushes reengage she will physically move back to melee range with the enemy. This retreat stage allows the player to have a little breathing room with two options that will help them mitigate and recover from damage, and then resume the battle when ready. Upon reengaging with the enemy, the original four attack + retreat options are shown once again.
If the player defeats the enemy, they are physically moved in the battlefield with their current HP to the next enemy, and the loop continues. The player wins if she mitigates her damage received successfully throughout the battles and defeats all of the enemies on the battlefield, but if an enemy defeats her either while she is engaged or recovering she loses.
While reviewing this entry, Brock Henderson said,
"Although this entry does not go into as much detail as some of the other entries, it really solves the problem well. It automates the combat to maintain pace and remove fatigue while leaving the player with only meaningful choices."
Hayden Scott-Baron added,
"Breaking the gameplay into larger discreet action and decision spaces helps the player focus on the most important use of resources rather than dwelling on the inputs. When people talk about the way they won a battle it often focuses on the smart use of elemental attacks and different characters. Having a common language for the way that players react to the group of enemies would allow players to adapt to face new enemies with a core input set. This is a really smart design."
We feel like our whole community learns from the entries we receive every month, and we can't wait to see what January's design challenge teaches all of us. Our January design challenge was posted on Friday, so make sure you're a member of our Playability Initiative Facebook Group to participate.
December 30, 2020 By Amy Green
It's safe to say that no one will feel a sense of nostalgia as they say goodbye to this rough year that has brought everyone so many unexpected challenges. However, here at Numinous Games, we can't ever be totally negative about 2020, because it's the year that we launched the Playability Initiative and we're so grateful for this opportunity to serve the disabled community as we learn and grow as developers. We wanted to take a moment and look back on the Playability Initiative year in review and highlight some of our favorite moments from this past year.
This spring, we learned that we would get to bring the Playability Initiative to life with the support of Novartis Gene Therapies. This had been a dream of ours for almost a year when we first learned about children within the SMA community. We had spent time prototyping games for them and thinking about how we could really serve the community well and let our work creating a game for the SMA community serve the broader disabled gaming community as well. We wanted to do more than make a game, we wanted to launch a movement that would inspire more accessible game design for years to come.
"I loved reading all the blogs written on SMA News Today, and learning more about the ways that technology brings people together. There were so many innovative ways that people used apps, software and hardware. It was especially heart warming to see the community sharing their experiences and supporting one another." – Hayden Scott-Baron
In the early summer, we built partnerships with AbleGamers, Games for Change and the Family Video Game Database. We firmly believe that we can all accomplish more together than we can separately. The AbleGamers Foundation has agreed to help us build an assessment level into Painted Waters so people who play the game will learn what other games they can play and what adaptive technology might suit them. We are sponsoring an accessibility modifier in this year's student design challenge for Games for Change and they're helping us design curriculum to prompt students to think more inclusively in their game design. Finally, we've sponsored the addition of new accessibility tags in the Family Video Game Database, so they can help everyone find the video games with the specific accessibility features they are looking for.
In July, we announced the Playability Initiative in a talk at Games for Change. Although, it's possible that Ryan and Mike's glorious beards pulled focus from the design practices we shared. We launched the Facebook group which has grown all year and now has more than 160 members. It's a great place to ask all your accessibility questions and have conversations about design that considers the players. We feel like we learn so much from the incredible community surrounding us.
"I didn't have a singular moment that was a highlight for 2020, but it was always the same type of moment: we'd try to create something with sensitivity, and then share it with our community. But once we shared it, we realized we had made some mistake, that there was something we didn't consider. And from that, we'd grow and learn. All my favorite parts of working on this in 2020 were those moments of growth. And I can't wait to see how we'll grow going into 2021." -Josh Larson
In August, we began meeting with Jack, an adult gamer with SMA. We commissioned him to begin writing articles for the Playability Initiative blog and he taught us a lot about what it's like to play games that don't consider your needs. And over the course of the next several months we learned a lot more about adaptive tech as we tried to find a racing game he could play.
"My highlight has been working with Jack and Al Freedman this year. I think my favorite moment was when we were finally able to get Mindball Play working so that Jack could play it. We had many disappointing sessions for Jack where we just couldn't figure out a solution and he was so patient with us, and gave us so much trust by letting us reach into his computer and change settings. Sometimes it was an issue with zoom, or a misconfiguration on our part in the eye gaze control software, or the computer freezing up and we had to reboot it. We even resorted to Al calling into zoom on his phone and pointing his camera to the screen to make sure teleconferencing wasn't interfering with the computer's speed. But in the end, when Jack loaded up the game, pressed play, and was able to race down the track using his eyes, the result was magical. What a time we live in!" -Ryan Green
"My favorite moment this year was watching someone be able to play a new game that they had never before felt they could. The joy, sense of accomplishment, and feeling of inclusion was staggering. It's been an honor to partner, talk to, and work with such amazing people." – Mike Perrotto
In September, Ryan and Mike spoke at the Gaming Accessibility Conference, where we (virtually) met lots of like-minded people working together to solve hard accessibility problems in video games.
"My favourite moments (there are two) are both during Ryan and Mike's video presentation at G4C2020 and GAConf2020. When the people watching began to react and comment about how wonderful the Playability Initiative is, that warmed my heart. It was awesome to continue to chat with those people after the talks finished, invite them to the Playability Initiative Facebook group and hear how happy they are that we're doing this!" – Katie Postma
In October we began playtesting early demos of Painted Waters with Jack, and a few of our children.
"I loved watching our kids play demo levels of Painted Waters. They have access to a ton of games, so we never know if something we're building will hold their attention. And while we learned a lot about things we'd need to change, it was so exciting to see that a game focused on accessibility had the potential to be a game that everyone could play and enjoy. It is important to us that Painted Waters is a game for everyone, so children with disabilities are getting to play the exact same game, the exact same way as their peers." – Amy Green
In November we began our monthly design challenges to help foster more creative accessible design in games. We are convinced that as we all practice considering the player, our design improves. We've seen that in our own game development, and we love the way this monthly design challenge gives all of us that opportunity on a regular basis. We were blown away by the creative design solutions that were submitted to the monthly design challenge our first two months, and we can't wait to see how much our community continues to learn from one another.
"My year has been filled with positive things that slowly grow and compound on each other. I have a growing empathy and understanding of playing games with disabilities and some of challenges disabled gamers face. I have been amazed watching how a blind gamer can play Call of Duty. I have been stretched creatively to explore new methods of input and locomotion. And have spent a considerable amount of time trying to create a system to support various input configurations. Accessibility challenges on both sides of the equation are hard. It has been a year of steady climbing, but I haven't been able to stop and look out because of the other commitments and life changes." – Brock Henderson
In December we completed our first demo for Painted Waters and began mapping out what the rest of the game will entail for early access players next year. We even posted the first art featuring our in-game characters in a holiday greeting post.
"My highlight for the year was working on the character designs for the small world we created. Working on characters with diverse abilities while considering representation was a new challenge for me. It was hard but rewarding to challenge my own biases. The chronic stress injury I developed last year, despite how minor it is compared to other disabilities, really opened my eyes on how quickly games designed to be fun exclude players with unique needs." – Bridgette Powell
We are so thankful for our first year working on the Playability Initiative. We love the community that has rallied around us, and we can't wait to see what 2021 brings! Happy New Year!
We're Learning that Accessibility begins and ends with people, not features…
Jack wanted to play a racing game. But all the ones he'd tried on his PC required elaborate controls. We couldn't call ourselves the Playability Initiative while letting our collaborator, Jack, be disappointed with his ability to play, and do nothing about it. So we set out on a path to find a racing game Jack could play. And what we learned along the way is that gaming accessibility is never a "one size fits all" solution.
Jack plays video games with his eyes using a system called Eyegaze. He told us that he could only reliably play games that used mouse-only input. We began looking for mouse-controlled racing games.
Our first attempts were rocky. Someone on Twitter suggested Mindball Play. We'd heard it had fast-paced racing-style mechanics. (Even if you were racing a steel marble around a track rather than a shiny red race car.) Most importantly, it was designed with eye gaze users in mind, so it should be an easy win. Jack was excited to try it. However, he told us,
"It was hard for me to learn because I couldn't move the cursor fast enough for me to keep up with the ball on my laptop. I got stuck with trying to navigate the ball with my eyes on the laptop."
Jack couldn't play it. So, he and his dad returned the game to Steam. (We had just told them about Steam's policy that allows players to return any game played for less than 2 hours. This policy meant they could try out games without the fear that they'd be out money if the game wasn't accessible enough.)
Now we were puzzled. Why couldn't Jack play this game that so many people had praised for being a really good eye-tracking video game? We started a conversation with the creators of Eyegaze. We didn't want to reinvent the wheel. Maybe they already knew of some racing games Jack could play?
The creators of Eyegaze let us know that every user has a unique configuration set up that enables them to do the things they like to do most. Some systems are set up primarily for word processing, others are set up for gaming, some users even create special configurations for specific games. They let us know that Jack's configuration was better suited for office work than playing games. Jack used a grid system on a secondary screen to move his mouse on a primary screen. Each micro-movement of the mouse required Jack to "click" (with his eyes) a section of the grid on the secondary monitor.
We realized that some of the problems that Jack had playing games had less to do with accessibility systems in the games themselves and more to do with his personal configuration setup on Eyegaze.
Jack's dad, Al, explained to us that these systems are complicated and they can feel a little overwhelming to people who aren't familiar with technology. Al surmised that most parents, like him, probably think to themselves, "If we change the settings, we might break something and not know how to change them back." So, when an expert set up Jack's system, Jack and his parents tried to leave it alone.
So even though software like Eyegaze is highly configurable, finding the right configuration for every type of activity on a computer is daunting. And for many people, making due with a less than ideal configuration is better than changing a setting and rendering their computer useless to them. Al also let us know that Jack is a creature of habit, trying to change his system could require relearning habits that have taken years to refine.
We realized that this was the perfect education for us. We couldn't just make a game designed to be accessible and trust that everyone would be able to experience it. We had to consider each player, and make ourselves available to talk with them about their setups, one-on-one if necessary. So, "Help Jack play a racing game," became our primary learning objective.
First, we had to ask Jack if he'd be willing to let us try changing some of the settings in his Eyegaze system and experiment with new ways of using his computer, if it meant he could try out different kinds of games. Jack loves games, so he was motivated.
In our conversations with Eyegaze we learned that the device running his eye tracking software was itself a Windows tablet capable of running games.
So we tried running Mindball Play on his windows tablet. At first, this seemed to fail also, the game did not run very well on this tablet which also ran the Eyegaze control software. Eventually we realized that between the eye tracking technology, Zoom screen sharing, video conferencing, and trying to run the game all at once, we were bogging down the computer speed, and it couldn't keep up. So we simplified. Instead of having Jack share his screen over Zoom, Jack's dad Al, signed into Zoom on his phone, and pointed the camera at Jack's screen. Now we could see the game running smoothly and keep troubleshooting without bogging down the system.
Next, we focused on finding a way for Jack to control the mouse easily. The default configuration for controlling the mouse was better suited for pointing and clicking. What we needed was a way to control the mouse pointer and *not* click. This behavior would be essential for steering the marble in the direction he wanted it to go.
Trying to find a configuration just right for a player is an exhausting and frustrating process. Not only do things not always work, but we were constantly asking to take control of the computer away from Jack remotely. This is a very invasive process and it requires a great deal of trust from Jack. We knew that the stakes were high. If we made a change that we couldn't fix, we would be cutting Jack off not only from his gaming pastime, but also his social and work life.
All the failed experimentation was frustrating and tiring to Jack. And it wasn't something we were able to solve in one session. But thankfully, Jack was patient with our inexperience and after learning more about the existing Grid 3 software that was already on Jack's machine, we discovered a setting that would allow Jack to switch between his default "point and click mode," and our desired "move the cursor" mode we needed only while he was playing the game.
We asked Jack about his experience with us changing the settings he typically uses to play games and here's what he told us,
"To play Mindball Play for the first time, I had to use Grid 3 on my Eyegaze to click or navigate my mouse. Now I have a new thing on my Eyegaze Grid 3 called Follow my Eyes for navigating or clicking with my Eyegaze. Following my Eyes helps me to navigate the ball more easily with my eyes."
He went on to tell us,
"I was curious about how Follow my Eyes works. It took me some time to figure out the steps. It was easier for me because I can be more quick about following the ball in the game. I was glad I stuck with it."
We loved watching Jack get to play a fast-paced game. And he, like most men in their twenties who enjoy playing video games, seemed to enjoy having an audience watching him play as he zipped around the course. Before this, he had stuck to mystery games which he could enjoy because they typically don't rely on quick reaction times, although even these games occasionally had timer-based levels that presented problems. Fast-paced games had seemed out of reach for Jack, but after we helped him adjust his settings, he was cruising.
"The stuff that I like the most about Mindball Play is that I'm able to move the ball down the path because I don't keep falling off and the game is longer. I'm quick enough to navigate the ball with my eyes!"
Jack Playing Mindball Play
Of course, no game is perfect, and Jack told us that if it were up to him, he "would try to adjust the speed of the ball to make it go slowly and not too fast." But, even with that small criticism he could see himself recommending the game to others.
"The player that I think would enjoy playing Mindball Play would be other Eyegaze users like my friend Amber from Vent Camp."
We wanted to know if we had succeeded in our goal of helping Jack play a racing game. Did Mindball Play count as a racing game in his mind? He told us,
"It does feel like a racing game to me." But he also said, "There are other racing games that I would like them to make easier for playing by using the mouse and not the keyboard (Train Simulator and other car racing games)."
So the push for more inclusive-thinking in game design marches on.
As we keep learning from Jack, we're identifying new priorities for the Playability Initiative and our one-button game, Painted Waters. First, we want to make sure that we offer some fast-action areas of Painted Waters where kids can experience the thrill of speed with one-button controls that aren't dependent on quick responses. And second, we want to prioritize one-on-one help for players who need guidance on adjusting their gaming setups. Accessible games aren't enough, each player has unique personal needs that may have to be addressed. And that's one reason we're so excited about the work that AbleGamers does to analyze a player's needs on an individual basis. We are honored to partner with them to help Painted Waters reach the widest audience possible.
November 23, 2020 By Andy Robertson
Building a database that lets you search video games by accessibility features and inclusive design means we get to talk to developers of some amazing games! Many of these games are already available but some are still in development.
Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB TEEN
Platforms: Nintendo Switch and PC
Genres: Adventure, Narrative and Puzzle
Developer: @DaisyAleSounds
Lost and Hound is a game in development. We had a chance to talk to the developer and get the low down for the database. It's an adventure puzzle game where you play as scent tracking rescue dogs, Corgi and Biscuit. You use your sense of smell to find missing items and solve mysteries. Your heightened hearing and other senses enable you to progress in your goals, eventually becoming a professional tracker.
In the game, your attuned hearing allows you to access information that's inaccessible to humans. This means you can solve puzzles and find items. But it extends to detecting if someone is lying by being able to hear their heart rate increase. You can even hear through walls to track people and match up items such as those left at a crime scene with their owners.
The game depicts these senses in different ways. At any time, you can call up your sense of smell to find the direction to go. In this way, you travel the world taking on the role of real-world working dogs. You might work in a hospital assisting with seizure or cancer detection. Or you could find yourself being an emotional support for zoo animals and more. Your work as a K9 tracker will take you to the Australian outback, Swiss Alps, the American wilderness, and many other locales. In between each mission, you'll have the option to complete mini levels to earn extra money and travel to more exotic locations.
The game is designed to be fully playable to players without sight or without hearing. It does this by matching audio cues with visual representation. This is also a mode where the display changes to increase the contrast and the depiction of the world to make it much more visible. Stamina is depicted on screen but also with the panting sound of your dog. Although there isn't a difficulty setting, selecting particular companion dogs can make the game easier to play as they have helpful abilities. The sniff function is always present and tells you where to go next.
Beyond its novel play style, this game also offers a unique and light-touch way to engage with themes of criminal activity and the importance of other people to make us feel safe. Your owner is present throughout the game and depicts strongly the power of being cared for while being offered protection and reassurance.
It's an exciting game that can teach us a lot about how a game about our senses could be designed to be inclusive even to players with impairments in the same senses the game highlights. We can't wait to play it. You can use this search in the database to find more Upcoming Games with Accessibility Features.
When Games Hurt
We can all recount the injuries we've suffered from playing some of our favorite games. Even non-athletes have fantastic injury stories to share from games like red rover, dodgeball, or even the annual cast party favorite for high school theater kids like me, "kissing rugby." (Yes it was every bit as violent and flirtatious as it sounds.) When you agree to play these games, or any number of contact sports, you know pain is part of the rules of engagement. The risk involved increases the enjoyment of the activity. But what happens when games that should require no physical discomfort inadvertently inflict pain?
When we talk about accessibility in video games, we are often discussing the consideration that is required to design a game for someone with a disability. A designer has to consider the player and their unique abilities in order to create a game that is enjoyable for them to play. But discomfort while gaming can be experienced by any player. And this reminds us that good game design considers all players.
Comfort in game playing is different for each person. What is comfortable for one player, may not be comfortable for another. If a video game causes you physical pain, it is not accessible to you. And so, accessibility impacts all players, not just players with diagnosed disabilities.
I remember when Plants Vs. Zombies 2 first came out and I binge-played it for two weeks before I noticed a sharp pain in my wrist and some mild numbness in a couple of my fingers. It took me a day or two to recognize that my excessive playing had given me temporary tendinitis in my wrist.
In my case, the solution was simple enough, I quit playing the game for a few days. When I returned to it, I spent less time playing than I had before. But what if the solution for player discomfort wasn't simply "play less?" Surely the goal for the game's developers wasn't to encourage me and other players to play less. What if instead they had considered me more and thought through the ergonomics of gameplay before their game had been released?
In this case, the game's design was probably not to blame. It's possible that any mobile game I played for such long stretches would have caused me similar discomfort. However, some games are poorly designed in ways that, unknowingly, inflict pain.
Hayden Scott-Baron, a designer on the Playability Initiative told us a similar story of playing a video game every night with his partner. They both really enjoyed the game and looked forward to their time spent playing it, until they came to a specific level that required such a difficult configuration of their fingers that it actually caused them physical pain. The game required the player to quickly switch between pressing buttons and holding the right stick in different directions. They quit playing the game. It didn't matter how much they had enjoyed the game up to that point, when the game stopped considering their needs and began to inflict physical pain, nothing else mattered.
I suspect a lot more games expose players to physical pain than game designer's realize, and this is even more true for players who have pre-existing injuries, special needs, or chronic conditions. Hayden didn't write an email, or issue a help ticket, he just quit playing. I didn't contact the developers, I just stopped spending as much time with their game.
Accessibility work isn't just for games that are being designed for people with disabilities, all games should be accessible to players. When we don't intentionally consider accessibility and think about the comfort of our players, we may inadvertently create games that aren't accessible to anyone at all.
Is Awareness A Dirty Word?
October 31, 2020 By Amy Green
Awareness fatigue. Even if you've never heard the term before, I suspect you've felt it. Awareness fatigue is a crummy feeling because we usually acknowledge that the cause the awareness is rallying toward is a great cause, but we've just heard about it so much we find ourselves bristling. Because the Playability Initiative wants to help raise awareness about the need for more accessibility in video games, it's important for us to understand the factors that make us resist the call to help raise awareness. Awareness fatigue works against all of us. So, I'll give you an example of my personal awareness fatigue, if you promise to remember that I'm not proud of it.
October can grate on my nerves. Everywhere I look, I see pink ribbons, fundraising campaigns, waiters in pink t-shirts, even professional football teams get in on the breast cancer awareness action. And why would that bother me? Am I an unfeeling monster? No, of course not. It's just that before October each year, I live through September, childhood cancer awareness month. What's that? You've never heard of it? You've never seen gold ribbons plastered all over your town? Exactly. And that's why I can get a little salty in October, when the importance of "awareness" goes from 0-60 literally overnight. (It doesn't help that I lost a son to cancer and that childhood cancer research receives only 4% of the total government funding for cancer research.) And that's one tricky thing about awareness; it can feel like every good cause is competing for attention. Even when we know it's not a competition, we each have our own special causes that we want to see acknowledged, and while we don't begrudge any good cause that needs more attention, it's hard not to wish the things that mattered most to us were acknowledged as quickly as the big causes people universally support.
We all bring our own circumstances into our awareness encounters. My lived experience explains my catty response when a woman checking me out at a cash register asked me if I wanted to round up my purchase to fund breast cancer awareness? "Oh, you're raising money to increase the awareness of breast cancer? What a great idea. It needs more awareness. Not enough people have heard of breast cancer. We need to spend more money to really help people become aware of this very under-acknowledged issue." Thankfully the girl at the register laughed a little rather than publicly shaming me for my bad attitude. It had been a long October. The truth is, had she told me I could round up my purchase to fund research, I probably would have agreed. And that's another component of awareness fatigue; we may feel like it simply isn't enough. Awareness is the first step in advocacy, fundraising, or demanding change. But we can camp on awareness for too long because it's the easiest step, never moving on to the harder work of making life better.
So today, I talk about advocacy and awareness, knowing that it can be a bit of a dirty word. We're all sick of people posting a few sentences on their social media pages and acting like they've saved the world. Every day is a national awareness day on some important issue or another. And we've all changed our profile pics to add a border that raises awareness about important topics, and wondered if it makes any difference or if we're just broadcasting our "enlightenment" to our friends and family.
Does advocacy really matter? Is raising awareness valuable? Is it enough? Even though we may all have awareness fatigue, the answer is still yes. The reason October keeps flooding our lives with pink is because it works! Six billion dollars is raised for breast cancer every year. And that's fantastic! It's a worthy cause, and the money is helping save lives. We may all get a little tired of "awareness" as a concept. It may never feel like anyone is doing enough. But the next time you feel awareness fatigue creeping in, think of those pink ribbons in October and remember that awareness works. It is the crucial first step. Awareness leads to understanding, and understanding leads to change.
And this is especially true when it comes to less well-known topics, like accessibility in video games. I see so many of you talking about accessibility, and I'm sure you wonder if it makes any difference. The answer is yes. Large game studios are beginning to add more and more accessibility positions to their teams. In the last year, full-time accessibility management jobs were added at Xbox, Ubisoft, SquareEnix, Riot Games, Twitch and Unity. Accessibility is moving from something game devs did in their spare time to something that large studios are actively paying attention to and recruiting for because suddenly they care. Why do they care? Because their players care. Advocacy has grown. When players insist on accessible features, companies begin to pay attention. Awareness has been shifting into advocacy, and we're seeing the first hints of change.
I'm sure you're thinking, "Yes, awareness matters at the beginning, but what can my advocacy do at this stage in the game accessibility movement?" Most game developers already know what they need to do to make their games accessible, and they already know that they should be creating accessible games. But the sad truth is, there is a big gap between knowing what we should do and prioritizing that work under tight budgets and pressing deadlines.
A game designer for the Playability Initiative, Hayden Scott-Baron told us a story recently about a game he worked on. He had mapped out all the accessibility features for the game. The designs were ready to implement, but they were deprioritized before release. There was too much else to do. Here's a perfect example of a game studio knowing they should include accessible features and knowing exactly how to accomplish it. The plan was to make the whole game playable using just a mouse, but additional modes were accessed via keyboard. Hayden designed an onscreen panel that let players change modes with the mouse, but the programmers weren't able to implement every mode before launch. Players could still complete the game but couldn't use every feature. A month later, a player emailed the studio saying they were enjoying the game but struggled with the controls. That one advocate, reaching out accomplished in a single request what Hayden couldn't do as a game designer inside the studio. The player created an immediate priority. The accessibility designs were implemented, and the game was updated.
I share this because you may think one voice won't make a difference. Your awareness fatigue may have convinced you that you're just being a nuisance and aren't accomplishing anything. But remember, there are people inside all the game studios you love who care a great deal about accessibility. They are trying to make a case for a bigger portion of the time and money spent on developing a game to go toward accessibility. But they can't make that case without the voice of advocates, regularly increasing awareness about specific games and specific needs.
Awareness is not a dirty word; awareness is a catalyst for change. And if you ever forget it, walk into any business any day in October, look around, and let the sea of pink remind how much impact awareness can have. Acknowledge your awareness fatigue, and then share the blog anyway. Tell your story anyway. Keep talking about accessibility anyway. It all matters. Awareness works, even when we're tired of it.
Interview: Scott A Jacobson, One Button Game Jam
October 29, 2020 By Katie Postma
We recently told you about the One Button Game Jam created by Scott Jacobson, a teacher at Lake City High School. We asked Scott to share more about his motivations and inspirations for the game jam!
Hello Scott, thank you for being our first interview here at the Playability Initiative!
For those out there who don't know you yet, please tell us about yourself, what you do and what brings you to the Playability Initiative!
Wow. How far back should I go? My first 3D dungeon game I made on a TRS-80 in under 16 KB? That's when I first fell in love with making computer games. Years later after graduating from university, I eventually ended up teaching science at one of our local high schools. I gradually added computers to my classroom and in 2002 I was asked to create some electives as we switched to a block schedule. I created 2 new offerings, a web design class and a game design class. As much as I loved coding, I decided to cater more to the writers and artists by using graphical and block coding software. That really paid off as I watched my sections quickly grow from one to four. And it turned out that about one in ten of my students would be developmentally delayed or on the autism spectrum, responding well to the atmosphere in these classes. In 2002 my 12 year old son Tyler (a master of Unreal Tournament level design, Flash, RPG Maker and Clickteam products) would come to the high school and help with my after school Lake City Game Creator Club. He ran the club until 2008 when he graduated. The club was the birth of game jams for me. Eventually itch.io became my choice for managing them. Over the last 12 years, as a bit of a hobby, I've found pleasure in helping people rapidly prototype their "worthy" game ideas in hopes of garnering funding to have it professionally produced; or just help them decide upon next steps. By "worthy" I mean games in the "serious games" and "games for change" realm. Ultimately all of these experiences converged to tee me up and respond eagerly to the Playability Initiatives call to action.
Scott Jacobson
What was your inspiration for holding the game jam?
I have been a fan of Numinous Games and Ryan and Amy ever since I attended the CGDC Portland game developer conference back in 2017, attending their session "Beyond Choose Your Own Adventure: Crafting More Immersive Narratives". More recently, I assisted Matthew Colon with the CGDC 2020 Virtual conference where Ryan and Amy conducted the session "Designing For The One" and introduced the Playability Initiative. Both of these experiences, along with having many students and friends over the years with varying levels of disabilities, fanned into flames my desire to do something to raise awareness and do something personally. I also teach introductory game design at the high school level and typically run a game jam on itch.io twice a year using themes I hope appeal to that age group. Outside of class time I love to help others prototype worthy projects in the "serious games" genre as well. All of this seemed to come together at the right time and materialize into the One Button Game Jam.
Is this something you want to make into a regular event? Would you use different #accessibility criteria?
It is indeed my intention to make this a yearly event. I was even thinking of running it again before summer starts so that my new set of next semester students could give it a go as well. It would also allow me some lead time with my intro students to teach to and supplement their curriculum and cover algorithms specific to this type of game, e.g. gui element cycling and timing calibration. As far as changing the criteria, I am really content with the current state, especially "preventing the player from losing or causing detrimental outcomes if they step away". I'd like to see how far this can be taken without ruining the gameplay.
What rules and criteria were involved for the jam / games itself?
I started off thinking it would be very easy to explain the criteria but found out in short order that the target Spinal Muscular Atrophy Community had very specific needs that needed to be addressed and I was missing the mark in describing it. Ryan Green, Matthew Colon, and Barry Ellis from oneswitch.org.uk came to my rescue and were very responsive in helping me craft the criteria clearly and precisely, i.e. using a mechanism for when a button is pressed down is required, not held, released, or mashed; not relying on reaction rates or precise timing or frequent button presses that can become tiring, to name a few. I was a bit concerned that with so many restrictions it might limit participation, but once again my "rescue crew" provided game mechanic suggestions and examples to motivate the entrants.
How did the students' respond to the challenge?
Sadly, thanks to Covid, my school schedule changed so much these past few months that the contact time I had with my students was cut drastically, meaning most of my beginner kids wouldn't have the required software experience to participate. This put the onus on my advanced students which are a much smaller group and with them it couldn't be compulsory. To compound the problem, I had to adapt all my lessons to be Chromebook compatible. This really limited the software options. As a result only a handful of the entries were from my students but those who didn't enter are playing, rating and commenting on the games.
My only regret is that I feel a little disappointed Jack didn't get his driving game at the end of this jam. Next time around I'll add a special driving game category award and provide some attractive incentives for the One Button Game Jam 2 entrants in hopes of making that dream come true.
Huge thanks to Scott for speaking with us! You can find the results of the One Button Game Jam 2020, by clicking here.
One Button Game Jam – 2020!
As we welcome people into the Playability Initiative, we're thrilled and awed by how much meaningful work is being done in the accessibility community by our members.
Friend of the Initiative, Scott A Jacobson has created a One Button Game Jam for his web and game design students this year. The judging round is happening now!
One of our goals in the playability initiative is to help inspire philosophies of inclusive design principles and consideration in future game designers. We believe that when young people participate in accessible game design challenges, they will consider the world around them in new ways, noticing who the spaces in our world have been designed for and who hasn't been considered in the design process. Whether these students go on to have careers in game design, customer service, engineering, HR, education, or almost any other field, the consideration they've learned in a one-button game jam will help them make the world a little more accessible for anyone they encounter.
You can help encourage these students by voting for winners in their game jam. We've been very impressed with the entries we've tried out and think you'll enjoy your time seeing what these budding game developer's have come up with.
You can see the entries and vote, here:
https://itch.io/jam/one-button-game-jam-2020
We'll follow up with a blog post about the inspiration for the game jam, student reaction, and we'll share the news of the game jam winners!
Games Designed To Be Easier To See
October 15, 2020 By Andy Robertson
Working on the accessibility database has made me look at games differently. The first thing I do when I test a new game is go to the options settings to see what you can change to make it more accessible.
It's also changed how I look at game design as a whole. Along with offering specific settings to make games accessible, some of my favourite games of late have been those that have been designed avoid the barriers that may prevent players from enjoying them.
This inspired me to put a list together of games that were designed to be easier to see. These titles either have settings or are are created from the ground up for low vision players.
Many of these games include:
Fonts: Larger, scalable font sizes and bold fonts, like Moving Out.
Zoom: Ability to increase the size of all objects on the screen such as in Untitled Goose Game's zoom feature.
Contrast: Settings to adjust contrast and brightness, as well as distinct colours with good lighting, like Splatoon.
Non-Visual Cues: Sounds and haptic feedback that help direct the player, like Lego games.
Colourblind: Modes that invert colours or change colours to accommodate different types of colour blindness, such as in Hue.
Screen Readers: Functions that read text and menus as they are highlighted and appear on the screen, such as in Eagle Island.
You can see the full list here: Games Designed to be Easier to See, that Christy Smith (thepuppiesNpink) helped me originally compile. Some of my favourites are:
Frequency Missing, a point and click adventure designed to be playable without any sight. You touch the screen to hear a sound of different items. My moving your finger on the screen you can home in on them to interact, pick them up, or start conversations.
Ord Gameplay
Ord, is another game that offers a visual design that focuses on super large fonts. This was in part the aesthetic style of the game, but also meant that the words were easier to see with a visual impairment.
Krunker is less likely candidate. It's a fast moving shooting game that you play in your browser. However, the settings it offers to adjust the screen mean that you can make the heads up display information very visible. These setting are likely included to make the game work on different size screens, but have a secondary accessible benefit because they are implemented in a flexible way.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of some games that are designed to be easier to see. It shows that inclusive game design is as important as accessibility settings.
There are more visual accessibility settings in the database for you to explore, including:
Colorful Palette
Large Game Elements
Clear Interface
You can browse more of these settings on the Accessibility Data Page.


Hey yall! Welcome to the first ever Facebook Status Friday, where you get to see some of my fave status' from this past week, and hopefully other's will join in as well and we can see theirs! This is a really easy hop. Basically, just copy and paste your favorite status' from this past Saturday-Thursday, grab the Facebook Status Friday blog button, publish your blog post and link up here! So without further ado, I give you MY fave status'.
In hopes of having a successful run at reverse psychology, I asked Brayden if HE could hold ME. He looked at me funny, then said "OK". So we sat on the floor and I sat in his lap. After 5 seconds he said "Mommy, off!" hahaha. Oh well. It was a good try on my part!
wow J. Lo. The hair. It's... indescribable.
So what are you waiting for? Join in!


We're well into the television season, and I realized I'm so behind. It's not even that there's not good stuff. Earlier I was looking at my Netflix account and I realized I hadn't yet finished the latest seasons of Orange Is The New Black (once my favorite show) or The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And these are shows I really like!
As for new shows? Forget about it. I haven't watched a new show in ages.
I think the culprit is the cancellation of The Good Wife. That was a show that really kept me in tune with the television season. For 24 weeks out of the year, for the last seven years, I've had a show that I looked forward to. And when you get in the mindset of looking forward to a show, and of watching at least an hour of TV every week, then you also make room in your life for other television shows.
Without that regularity, I just have less room for television.
It also doesn't help that Marvel is ruining TV the same way it ruined the movies, and now all the hype all over my FB feed is inevitably for something I know I'm gonna hate. But that's really only a secondary culprit. Really it's the The Good Wife thing.


While the U.S. has recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, most of the world still insists that the territory properly belongs to Syria. Douglas Feith explains why Syria's claims to the area rest on shaky historical grounds, and why the Middle East is better off leaving it to Israel.
Syria has been an unhappy political experiment. It never secured for its multiethnic population freedom, prosperity, or domestic tranquility. Aided by Iran and Russia, the Bashar al-Assad regime has just won a long civil war through mass murder of its own civilians (including by use of prohibited chemical weapons) and by imposing on other countries millions of desperate, impoverished refugees. Under the circumstances, there is no compelling reason for local or world powers to remain committed to reassembling Syria as it existed before the civil war, [let alone before 1967]. . . .
Syria's borders do not have deep roots in religion, culture, or history. They reflect nothing profounder than the interests of France and Britain at a moment in the early 20th century. [And they] have spawned resentment and belligerence among the country's leaders, who have never respected the lines. They have continually used their military forces or terrorist proxies to violate the sovereignty of Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. . . .
When Syria someday, with new leadership, seeks to reestablish official relations with the United States, it will now have to do so on the understanding that Israeli retention of the Golan is a closed issue. Syria's new leadership would not then be asked to humiliate itself by ceding the territory but only to recognize that President Assad lost it permanently as one of the many consequences of the civil war.


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The Centurions secure the points at Evesham
Pitching In Southern League
Division 1 South
Evesham United 0 - 3 Cirencester Town
For the August Bank Holiday Monday fixture Cirencester travelled to face Evesham United and after a slow start by their standards they gradually began to work their way into the game and a goal at the mid-point of the half helped them to settle. A second goal just before the interval gave them a 'cushion' and although their hosts pressed after the re-start a third before the hour mark was enough to secure victory.
Evesham started positively but as the mid-point approached it was Cirencester that opened the scoring as TOMMY ANDERSON was released into the home box to fire the ball home from a narrow angle.
Encouraged they pressed forward and a few minutes before the interval this resulted in a corner kick that SHAYNE ANSON converted at the near post with a sublime volley.
After the interval Evesham pressed forward but Cirencester dealt with everything they had to offer and before the hour added a third when a series of passes worked the ball to the left corner and the resulting low cross was tucked away from close range by JOSH PARSONS.
The home side continued to push forward searching for a goal but the Cirencester defence stood firm and their midfield and forwards countered quickly to cause some concern to their hosts enabling The Centurions to secure the three points.
Click here to read Dave Pyzer's match report.
This entry was posted on 30 August 2021 at 21:21 and is filed under First Team | Miscellaneous. You can leave a response here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ki-Jana Delano Hoever (born 18 January 2002) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for Stoke City on loan from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Hoever is a Liverpool youth academy graduate, but limited appearances brought him to join Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020.

Early years
Hoever was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and is of Surinamese descent. His father, a former American football player, named him after former NFL running back Ki-Jana Carter.

Youth career
Hoever started out in the youth ranks at AZ Alkmaar before moving on to Ajax in 2014. Hoever played 13 times and scored two goals in the Under-17 Eredivisie during the 2017–18 season. Described as equally as comfortable playing at centre-half and right-back, Hoever completed his move to Liverpool in August 2018 from Ajax but had to wait until September 2018 for international clearance. As he had not signed a professional contract, Liverpool only had to pay a minimal compensation and Ajax were reported to be bitterly disappointed to lose the player. Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea were also reportedly interested in making the signing. Hoever made his first Liverpool appearance in a 4–1 win for the under-18s against Newcastle on 15 September. Following that he was given a substitute appearance in the Reds' UEFA Youth League match at home to Paris Saint-Germain that ended in a 5–2 win on 18 September 2018. He later played the full 90 minutes at centre-half in the 5–0 win over Napoli that sealed Liverpool's U18s place in the knockout stages of that tournament.

By November 2018, Hoever had his U23s debut as a wide right midfielder against league leaders Everton at Goodison Park, which Liverpool won. His performance earned praise from U23 manager Neil Critchley, who said, "I thought his calmness and assurance, his decision-making, his intelligence without the ball, it was terrific. I was very impressed with him indeed." Hoever made further appearances at right-back for the U23s including receiving plaudits for his performance in a 4–1 win against the reigning Premier League 2 champions Arsenal.

Professional career

Liverpool
In December 2018 Hoever began training with the Liverpool first team, with manager Jürgen Klopp describing him as "confident" and "a joy to watch." Hoever was given the squad number 51 ahead of the FA Cup game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux Stadium on 7 January 2019. He started the match on the bench, but replaced an injured Dejan Lovren at centre-back in the opening minutes. Hoever's appearance made him the youngest ever Liverpool player in the FA Cup and their third youngest in any competition.

He signed a long-term professional contract with the club on 31 July 2019.

His first professional goal came on 25 September 2019 in an EFL Cup match against Milton Keynes Dons. Upon scoring, at the age of 17 years, eight months and 10 days, Hoever became the fourth-youngest player to find the back of the net for Liverpool, behind Ben Woodburn, Michael Owen and Jordan Rossiter.

Wolverhampton Wanderers
On 19 September 2020, Hoever completed a £9 million transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Hoever made his first appearance in the Premier League, and his debut for Wolves, as a second-half substitute in a 4–0 defeat away to West Ham United on 27 September 2020. He made his debut Molineux appearance for Wolves in the team's next match, a 1–0 victory in the Premier League over Fulham on 4 October 2020, also as a second-half substitute.

Hoever made his full Premier League debut away to Manchester United on 29 December 2020, a game which Wolves lost narrowly to a  deflection in added time.

Loan to PSV
On 23 June 2022, Hoever joined PSV on a season-long loan.

Loan to Stoke City
On 27 January 2023, Hoever joined Championship club Stoke City on loan until the end of the season. On 10 March 2023 he scored his first goals for the club, netting twice in a 3-2 home victory over Blackburn Rovers.

International career
Born in the Netherlands, Hoever is of Surinamese descent. Hoever is a Netherlands U17 international, scoring three goals in his first five games. He participated in the U17 European Championships in Ireland in 2019, a tournament which the Netherlands won. Hoever started as the Netherlands beat Italy in the final with a scoreline of 4–2, a game which saw Hoever hit the post from a free-kick, which provided the assist for the Dutch's second goal.

Career statistics

Honours
Liverpool
UEFA Super Cup: 2019
FIFA Club World Cup: 2019

PSV
Johan Cruyff Shield: 2022

Netherlands U17
UEFA European Under-17 Championship: 2019

Individual
UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2019

References

2002 births
Living people
Footballers from Amsterdam
Dutch footballers
Netherlands youth international footballers
Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent
Liverpool F.C. players
Association football defenders
Dutch expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in England
Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
AZ Alkmaar players
AFC Ajax players
PSV Eindhoven players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
Eredivisie players
Jong PSV players
Eerste Divisie players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Sheikh Abdur Rahman ibn al-Jawzi رحمه الله has observed that a believer is not in sin, rather he detests disobedience and has no resolve to transgress. If he slips into sin, he does not commit the sin again.
Sometimes one is in affluence and at times one is reduced to poverty and affliction. On some occasions, a person is honoured which results in his friends to rejoice; whereas at other times disgrace replaces honour and then the enemies rejoice. The yardstick of intelligence is that a believer always observes Taqwa (righteousness) because he acknowledges that he will pass through favourable circumstances and he needs to be grateful. Sometimes a believer faces adversity but here too, he practices patience. The unique temperament of a believer is that he will find comfort in illness and he will find protection in difficulty.
In life, everything is meaningless and temporary. On the other hand, Taqwa is enduring and does not allow one to falter. The believer has conviction in the fact that the observance of Taqwa in every aspect of life, be it favourable or unfavourable, will ultimately ensure blessings in the Aakhirah.


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The main topics of Surah Ale-Imran are Tawhid, Prophethood and the truth of the Qur'an. As Surah al-Baqarah discussed the issues related to Bani Israel, Ale-Imran discusses some issues related to the Christian community and their religious positions. It also discusses the subjects of Hajj, Jihad, Zakat and Riba. It will end, like Surah al-Baqarah, with a profound Dua.
Emphasis on charity. To Allah belongs everything. His Throne extends to heaven and earth. No compulsion in religion. Allah brings out people from darkness unto light.
Allah's power over life and death, some examples: Prophet Ibrahim's dialogue with Nimrood, a man in the valley of dead, Prophet Ibrahim asks Allah how will He raise the dead to life. Allah's answer to Prophet Ibrahim.
Allah blesses charity: some examples of how Allah blesses charity.
Emphasis on charity: spend good things, give openly and secretly to the poor and needy.
Conclusion of Al Baqarah. Everything in the heaven and earth belong to Allah, the prayer of the believers.
Allah is the Ever-Living, Self-Subsisting. He sent the Qur'an as He sent before the Tawrat and Injil for the guidance of people. True believers are those who accept every thing of the Book of Allah and try to understand it. Believers pray always for Allah's guidance for them.
Those who reject the truth, their wealth and their progeny will not avail them anything against the chastisement of Allah.
Allah bears witness for His own Tawhid as well as the angels and the people of knowledge. The religion acceptable in the sight of Allah is Islam.
To love Allah one must follow the Prophet. Obedience to Allah and His Messenger are necessary for faith. Allah chose Adam, Noah, Family of Ibrahim and the Family of Imran to guide humanity through them. Many prophets and messengers of Allah came for this purpose.
Birth of Jesus and his true message. Jesus preached the message of Tawhid. His true followers are those who recognize Tawhid. Jesus' birth was miraculous, just as Adam's was miraculous.
Some Christians argued with the Prophet. He asked them to come for an open Mubahalah (invoking the curse of Allah upon the liar).
Invitation to the People of the Book to come to a common word of Tawhid and obedience to Allah.
Some People of the Book try to discredit Islam. Muslims are warned to be conscious of this challenge. Previous prophets and their scriptures confirm the truth of Islam.