Accessibility in Terraria
A video about accessibility in Terraria and some suggestions for improvements to make this already amazing game even more inclusive!
The forum: https://rb.gy/trlotm
The paper: https://rb.gy/idj3yi
Ping sound effect from pixabay.com
The Ablegamers includification booklet: https://shorturl.at/jkRcJ
Family Gaming Database: https://shorturl.at/5NjvY
Chapters:
0:00 Preamble
1:52 Warnings
2:53 Introduction
4:21 Misconceptions about Accessibility
10:33 Terraria
13:40 Mobility
22:55 Visual
33:57 Hearing
36:46 Cognitive
40:28 Making Terraria Blind Accessible
43:37 Language
48:06 Fun Stuff
50:45 Conclusion
51:19 Thank you and Contributions
53:09 Bloopers
Text in warning 1:
I also want to emphasize the ability to toggle off backgrounds. This isn’t just helpful for increasing contrast, but for allowing shitty computers to run the game. You know who you are, you mac users with both a fan underneath the laptop, and another fan pointed at the laptop, with each fan flashing red or blue so it looks like someone called an ambulance on your desk for your poor dying macbook. You know who you are, as in me from three years ago, who also played using a trackpad and not a mouse like an absolute chaotic bastard. But I must note that when the backgrounds are toggled off they should be more neutral; when in hell, there is a ton of detail in the “turned-off” background, which doesn’t necessarily help with contrast.
Text in warning 2:
It’s not a preference thing, I’m not saying that flashing lights are just mildly annoying, but that my brain physically doesn’t process flashing lights properly. For an analogy that’s probably more relatable, you know those awful sounds like styrofoam rubbing together, or fire alarms, or that high pitched tone people play to torture teenagers, that’s how flashing lights feel like for me. They aren’t just annoying, they are physically unbearable. And for people with photosensitive epilepsy, flashing lights are not just unbearable but dangerous. I tried to do research if anyone had gotten a seizure from playing Terraria, and I couldn’t find anything, so let’s try to keep it that way. Flashing lights can also trigger severe migraines in some people, so in general, let’s make sure to accommodate for photosensitivity because it can affect all sorts of conditions.
Text in warning 3:
Terra B Welch made a forum where they shared concerns about thunderstorm lightning, especially when sleeping in a bed that makes the screen flicker faster and more frequently during a storm.
Text in warning 4:
The way wings activate when walking down slopes needs to be reevaluated- they constantly flash on and off if you cosmetically have them turned off. The screenshake before the Moon Lord fight should have a toggle option for those who need it. Actually the whole fight is full of shaking effects and begins and ends with a full screen flash. The color changes during the fight may also present difficulties for visually impaired players. so there should be a toggle to turn off all associated effects for this boss.
I suggest a photosensitivity mode that gives warnings in the descriptions of potentially triggering items such as the lunar portal staff, arcane rune wall, last prism, rune hat and rune robe, living rainbow dye as well as a warning before the Empress of Light fight; a setting that changes the appearance of their particle effects to be less bright could also work here. The setting would also remove other flashes such as those from the teleporter and lava. Another setting with reduced particle effects would also be helpful and would include things such as less or no sparkle on gold items and crystals and less particle effects from using the rod of discord.
For those who want slower game speeds, doing multiplayer on a macbook is an excellent method. But for real, there should be an option for this, similar to how framerate can be adjusted for machine performance.
Text in warning 5:
I would say that most if not all jump scares come from traps killing you instantly; an actual no-traps seed with no traps instead of more traps would be the easiest way to accommodate for this. I want to add that there are players with severe arachnophobia who avoid spider caves unless they really want to get the stylist. Having the option to toggle spider appearance, or seeds that remove them altogether would help out a lot. For those on PC, user MgEggroll has made a texture pack that changes spiders and insects and user ACBob made a texture pack that changes all spiders to lobsters. There is also a texture pack by DK for trypophobia. Another potential jumpscare would be sudden appearance of some bosses and enemies appearing if not summoned intentionally- Queen Bee, Empress of Light, Wall of Flesh, and Dungeon Guardian; a warning or option to forgo the fight could mitigate this.