Busy Season

Hello again, it’s finally time for another blog update. Things are quite busy again, and there’s a lot to talk about.

I know many people feel that 2022 is kind of a slow year for gaming, but I disagree. Sure, there haven’t been as many AAA games as usual, but I’m actually fine with that. There are loads of indie games coming out all the time, and that seems to be where most of the innovation and unique gameplay is coming from. I’ve been enjoying lots of retro first person shooters, Vampire Survivors and similar style games, and a variety of other indie surprises. PoweWash Simulator is also still a pretty regular addiction.

One AAA exception though is The Last of Us Part 1 for the PS5. This upgraded version now includes all of the accessibility features found in The Last of Us Part 2 from a couple of years ago. It also adds a few additional accessibility features, including audio descriptions for cutscenes. I bought the game, and played through both the main story, and the Left Behind add-on, and like TLOU2, al the accessibility features made the game so much easier, and fun to play. I remember playing the original version back on the PS3. I finished it, but did struggle in several places because some things were hard to see. Between text-to-speech, high contrast, and the navigation assist, the PS5 version is definitely much more accessible, and is totally worth the money. Naughty Dog clearly put loads of time and effort into this version, and it’s not a cheap cash-in, as many people would have you believe…

Things have been, and are remaining busy outside of my day job too. I have had a couple of game accessibility consulting gigs over the past couple of months. Due to NDA, I’m not at liberty to say much more than that, but it’s great to see more developers starting to take game accessibility more seriously.

In October, I may have a couple other consulting opportunities, that I unfortunately cannot talk about yet. I can talk about GAConf though. I was again asked if I’d be interested in presenting as pat of a panel. This time a few of us will be hosting a panel on mobile game accessibility. I could talk about this topic for hours on my own, so this should be an interesting panel. We will be pre-recording the session ahead of time, but I will be in the live chat during the conference. The Game Accessibility Conference has become one of my favorite times of the year. I highly encourage everyone to register for the conference. It’s free if you attend virtually, and there are limited paid seats available if you wish to attend in person.

The fall is here, and that means lots of games to play before the end of the year. I’d love to be a part of The Game Awards again for the accessibility category, as there are several great nominees this year. Sony in particular is killing it, with The Last of Us, and the upcoming God of War sequel. I’m not sure about every accessibility feature included, but some features have been announced. Some type of navigation assist especially caught my attention. No word on text-to-speech yet though…

After the fiasco of my HP desktop being sent back for a refunt earlier this year, I’m still in the market for an updated gaming PC again. I’ve been putting it off because of all the rumors about NVIDIA’s 4000 series of graphics cards, but hopefully we’ll know what’s happening this week. NVIDIA is supposed to make some announcements on September 20th. This is great because then I’ll be able to decide if I want to wait for the 4000 series of cards, or just get the 3080 again. There are also some good deals on current generation cards too, because the crypto market kind of carashed, and manufacturers are sitting on lots of unsold inventory. So… I’m hoping that I might have another updated gaming rig before the end of the year, but we’ll see.

The YouTube channel has also been quite active. I’ve released lots of videos for blind and low vision accessible games, some hardware reviews, apps, and other stuff. I still have a hardware review for the Steam Deck coming shortly, as I finally got my pre-order a few weeks ago. It’s a great device, but sadly Valve still seems to be ignoring any form of accessibility. I also just got my Apple Watch Series 8, so expect a review of that in the near future too.

Since late June or so, I have taken a break from streaming on Twitch. This isn’t necessarily permanent, but I don’t forsee myself streaming nearly as regularly for now. I have lots of other projects going on, and sometimes I just need a break too. Thanks to everyone for supporting the channel and stream.

Keeping Busy

Hello again. It’s been a while since my last post, but I am back with a few updates. First, I have made a couple of updates to the Projects page of the website. I had the opportunity to do a couple of interviews about VR and Game Accessibility over the pas tcouple of months, and both interviews went really well. One was a video interview on Aaron Spelker’s YouTube channel, and the other was a text interview with Equal Entry. You never know, I may have a couple additional interviews coming up in the future too.

I have still been doing technology and game accessibility gigs whenever I can. I have participated in a couple of these, but am not allowed to talk about them at this time due to NDA’s. I’m glad to see more companies recognize and start supporting accessibility though.

One project I am very happy about though is the Toby Accessibility Mod for DOOM. MrAlanD1 has been working on making this DOOM mod for a couple of years now, and it’s coming along really nicely. Version 5.0 should be coming out soon, and it’s got some major features and improvements. There are more audio cues for health and ammo pickups, narrated menus, and even a ledge detection system with audio cues. I’ve gotten a sneak peak, and it’s working well. Again, I want to give a Huge thanks to MrAlanD1 for making one of my favorite games ever, more accessible to blind players!

Finally, I am still working with XR Access on improving virtual and augmented reality accessibility. There are some potentially cool things happening in some VR and social VR environments, and I will let everyone know when these things become available. XR Access is a great group though, and they are always looking for more people. I’ve met some great people here, and love what they are doing. If you are interested in VR or AR accessibility, definitely give XR Access a look. Their XR Access Symposium is also coming up next month, and is online and free. Visit www.xraccess.org to learn more.

Even though I haven’t updated the IllegallySighted website much, I’ve still been plenty busy with YouTube, Twitch, and even that little thing called a day job. While I won’t be able to live stream or give my immediate thoughts this year, I’m looking forward to hearing about the upcoming game announcements for this summer’s Summer of Gaming, and other non-E3 events happening next month. I’m also looking forward to that next big game that will offer the next level of game accessibility.

Speaking of which, I have to end by giving a shoutout to Deathloop. I was really looking forward to this game last fall, but after trying the PS5 and PC version, I did have some trouble visually playing the game. Well, a few months later, the developers have released a major update with over 30 accessibility features, many of which will really help low vision accessibility and overall playability for many people. I will try and cover this update as soon as I can, especially once I get myu computer upgraded again.

Right… The computer… Last fall, I finally bought a pre-built gaming desktop to keep up with the new games. When it worked, it ran like a dream. The problem is, it didn’t work all the time, and kept randomly restarting. The motherboard even died on it a few months in. Even after sending it into HP, they still didn’t fix the problems I was having. I eventually sent the computer in for a full refund, so I will be looking at a different machine some time this summer. If you want the full story, check out my April 2022 channel update.

That’s about all for this update.

I Live, Again

Hello again. Yes, it’s been an embarrassingly long time since my last blog post, or website update for that matter. I am back though for another entry. To say the past year and a half has been weird would be an understatement, COVID of course being one of the biggest contributor to this. It is hard to say how things will go in the near future, with winter just starting, but hopefully things won’t get as bad as they did in 2020.

Even through the pandemic, I have been keeping super busy. The YouTube channel is going strong, and won’t be slowing down any time soon. Unfortunately Mixer officially shut down last summer, but since then, I have started stream on Twitch. It has been going pretty well, and I’ve had several great sessions interacting with viewers. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by the stream, and supported both the stream and YouTube channel.

In addition to writing this blog post, I have also updated the other pages of IllegallySighted, including the Twitch stream, and several other podcasts and projects I have been working on. Over the past couple of years, I have been invited to be a guest on several podcasts, so shoutouts to Theory of a Blind Man, Break Down Walls, Blind Vets Podcast, Blind Abilities, and more. For the past few months, I have also become a regular co-host on the Blind Abilities Tech Abilities podcast, which is a lot of fun. I have had a blast being on these shows, and look forward to future opportunities.

I have also had the opportunity to join and present at our local Independent Game Developer Association meeting, a Tech Talk Live through Vision Forward. In both cases, I got to chat game and VR accessibility. It was especially cool to present to more game developers, in the hopes that more titles will be more accessible in the future.

I’ve even gotten to do some game accessibility consulting and play testing, which has been a new, and fun experience. I can’t say too much here due to NDA’s, but I love working with developers and seeing these accessibility improvements happen in the final product.

Work ahs also been different, but in a great way. We are still allowed to telework much of the time, and I absolutely love being able to work from home. I can sleep in a little longer, don’t have to worry about a commute, and so much more. I still like meeting people in person for some things, but I am much happier, and dare I say, even more productive working from home. I hope this gets to continue for the long term future. Now that winter is upon us, I’m especially glad I don’t have to trudge through the snow and ice, and wait in freezing winds every day.

There is probably a lot more to talk about, but as far as this website is concerned, I just wanted to get another blog update posted, and let people know what I’ve been up to, and what has been updated on the site. Hopefully I will be motivated to post more often in the future. I also hope to find some way of adding a few pictures or something to the site, to spice things up a bit.

Quarantine 2020 Edition

Well, to say the past couple of months have been unique would be an understatement… The first half of 2020 in general has already been a rollercoaster, and it’s looking like it will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Here’s a bit of what I’ve been up to since my last post, and a few things I am currently working on.

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first. Last September I announced in one of my posts that I had finally found someone, yes, I had a girlfriend… Unfortunately I have to write that things didn’t work out, and we have officially broke up recently. I don’t regret giving it a try, but it does suck things didn’t work out. We are still friends, and I don’t have any ill will toward her. On top of all the other chaos of COVID19, we got to go through this, which naturally, again, sucked. I’m doing well enough though all things considered, so on to more positive things…

Speaking of the whole COVID19 virus, It’s been over two months since I last commuted to the office for work. Thankfully I am still able to work from home full time. It is rather weird, even for a homebody like me, to not really leave the apartment complex for over two months straight. I do try to get outside for walks and to take out the garbage. Otherwise, I have been complying with the Stay At Home order put in place since mid-March. Restrictions are starting to lift somewhat, as of today. Some businesses are allowed to be open to the public now, but groups are limited to ten people or fewer, and no large gatherings are allowed.

This includes major technology and gaming events that I look forward to every year. There is no E3. WWDC is delayed and online only. Many other tech and gaming events are either outright canceled or have gone online. On one hand, having these events digitally is kind of great. I’ve been able to attend so many virtual conference and webinars in the last couple of months. I’ve learned a lot, and even started a couple of new projects because of them. More on that later… On the other hand, I will kind of miss the yearly June E3 hype, especially with two new consoles still launching later this year.

Even before the pandemic, E3 was on rocky footing due to many publishers pulling out over the past few years. And then there was the whole security fiasco from last year where loads of attendies’ information was leaked due to poor security practices. Even before the pandemic, E3 was looking to be a different, shadow of its former self this year. Still, I was looking forward to live streaming the press conferences, as I started doing last year. I was also looking forward to doing live reaction streams with both Riley and myself, but that definitely isn’t happening now, for multiple reasons.

Still, I will be doing my best to cover the summer technology and gaming events. Many smaller live events have been announced, like the Summer Game Festival, separate live events from Sony and Microsoft, and others I probably don’t even know about yet. I have already started, and will continue to cover these events via Mixer and YouTube in my new Non E3 2020 streams. When possible, I plan to still give live reactions to major events, and when that’s not possible, to recap my thoughts on the events, including accessibility.

Despite working from home, and being on lockdown for the past couple of months, I am keeping quite busy. I’m still able to work from home, which I’m very greatful for. I have been attending lots of training sessions, webinars and conferences, and working on other projects. I learned of one such project via a recent virtual conference. There was a session on XR Accessibility, which is virtual and augmented reality accessibility. I learned of a group called XR Access that sounded quite interesting. I did some research, E-mailed some questions to the group, and now I am a member, working on improving virtual and augmented reality accessibility through a few teams within XR Access. I’ve already attended a few meetings, and have been diving right in to help. It’s been fun so far, and I’m really hoping that this helps improve the accessibility for both virtual and augmented reality.

I have also gotten to participate in a couple more Microsoft consulting sessions virtually. Unfortunately I cannot ssay much more, as I am under NDA. I can say though that I am excited at the possibilities of game accessibility going forward. I love doing this kind of work, and also love that I am doing this kind of work, even part time, professionally now.

Within the past week, the Sable Audio RPG creation tool has been released in a timed alpha version. Sable allows someone to create their own turn-based RPG without any coding or scripting at all. I have worked some with the tool, and even did a live stream of it. Overall I am very impressed and excited for the final product. I have also been communicating with one of the game’s developers, who has been very generous with his time, answering several questions I had about Sable. Huge shout-out to Paul from Ebom Sky Studios for being so helpful. If I can, I plan to create my own small RPG for blind players using the Sable tool, once it’s released. I am currently in the design stage right now, and am trying to write a kind of design document that details the setting, story, characters, enemies, etc. I’m hoping to figure out these things ahead of Sable’s full release, so when it does come out, I can start actually creating the game itself.

That’s a bit of what I’ve been up to, and am working on right now. I’m also still regularly releasing videos, doing live streams, and the usual stuff. Lockdown hasn’t slowed me down at all. I actually think I’ve been even more productive than usual for the most part. Breakup aside, things are going pretty well despite the lockdown. It looks like I’ll be mostly working from home for quite a while, so hopefully I can keep this productivity train rolling.

Early 2020 Update

Hello again. It’s been far longer than I thought since I last wrote one of these posts, so there’s a lot to write about. Where to begin…?

I suppose the logical place to start is to briefly touch on what everyone is talking about these days, the Corona Virus, and how it has completely effected everyone on the planet. It seems like just a few days ago, there were few, if any reported cases in my state. Now there are hundreds, and almost everyone is working from home and/or is on lockdown. I have officially been working from home now for two weeks, and while I have worked from home a few days before, it’s still pretty weird to not leave the apartment for weeks at a time. I’m typically a homebody anyway, but even I’ll go out to the store, a movie, or something, even just for a walk. I honestly don’t know how some people can not leave the house for weeks, if not months at a time, and not go crazy.

That said, I hope everyone is staying safe, docial distancing, and doing everything they can to protect themselves and others. Remember, this isn’t just helping you, it’s helping everyone you may come in contact with, including many people who may be more susceptible to the virus than others.

Since the September update, a lot has been happening, on the channel, on Mixer, and in game accessibility in general. The IllegallySighted YouTube channel is going strong, and it just hit 2000 subscribers. Thank you to everyone who has supported the channel so far, and I hope you have found the content to be helpful and/or entertaining. Videos are unlocked every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Mixer has been going pretty strong as well. I’ve been trying to stream most weekends, usually on Saturdays, but also sometimes on Sundays. Like creating videos, I found that I like streaming more than I thought I would. Late last year, we also got another microphone, so Riley can participate more in the streams, and people can actually hear her. It’s been fun having some color commentary, especially when things get particularly crazy. The Mixer stream doesn’t have many viewers yet, but we do have a few regulars, so thanks to everyone who has followed the streams so far. I should also note that, as long as they record, Mixer streams will be archived on the YouTube channel, and released on Mondays, as kind of a Mixer Monday thing.

One of the best things to happen this year was a surprise trip I got to take in late January. Out of the blue, I was invited out to one of Microsoft’s XBOX studios to participate in a one-day XBOX Design Sprint. This design sprint was to help improve the accessibility for current and future XBOX games. I cannot write much more about it, because I am under NDA, but I can say it was an amazing experience, and I’d definitely do it again in the future. I met lots of great people, got to talk games, development, and other nerdy stuff, and hopefully gave some practical ideas to help improve game accessibility.

I love working in the area of game and vR accessibility, even if it is only in my spare time. I would love to turn this into a full-time career, or even part time on the side. If you are a developer and have any questions on game, technology, or VR accessibility, please feel free to contact me. I am available to answer any questions you may have, beta test apps or games, or work more with you in a consulting role.

The first couple months of 2020 have been a little slow for new game releases, but I’m perfectly fine with this. I have so many games, books, movies, shows, and whatever else to catch up on that it’s nice to have a break in the new releases. Some big titles have started to come out though, with more on the way. The 90’s are back too. Within a week, we got Doom Eternal, Doom 64, and Half-Life Alyx. We got two Doom games and a Half-Life game! Even though it’s VR only, I’m just surprised that we finally got confirmation that Valve remembers that Half-Life exists. Hopefully this will mean more games in the series, without a thirteen year wait.

I haven’t picked up Half-Life Alyx yet, but am strongly considering doing so. After a little research, I have determined that my current gaming rig should be able to play Half-Life Alyx between low and medium graphical quality, which is good enough for now. The other reason I’ve hesitated buying the game, is I had some accessibility concerns, being able to see the game well enough to successfully solve the game’s puzzles and use weapons effectively. Again, I’ve seen a few things online that give me hope.

Speaking of game accessibility, I have been playing a lot of Doom Eternal. I LOVE the Doom series, and was surprised at how well id Software revived the series in 2016. Doom Eternal builds on the gameplay mechanics and story from Doom 2016, and adds even more of everything. Like Doom 2016, the graphics and overall performance are excellent. I’m actually impressed with how well the game runs, and how good it looks, especially when the game throws everything at you in the larger battles. It’s pure chaos and I love it!

What I’m not so fond of however, is the increase of platforming in Doom Eternal. Doom 2016 had some platforming sections, a couple that were kind of problematic as a low vision user. Doom Eternal focuses way more on this, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. There have been several points in the game so far where I have gotten lost because I visually missed that one ledge, pole, switch, or other item I overlooked. The Doom Slayer needs to be really acrobatic this time too, as he has to double jump, dash, swing off poles, climb walls, and a lot more. At times the platforming sections seem quite out of place, and feel like they should be in a Mario game. Some levels even have the spinning fire rods for God sake…

Overall though, I’m quite pleased with Doom Eternal so far, despite a few visual frustrations. The combat, which there is still a lot of, feels great, and is super fast and intense. The mobility options work very well in combat too. I love having the double jump, dashes, and all the weaponry while fighting demons. Oh, and did I mention the Super Shotgun has a demon grappling hook, aka the Meat Hook, and you can eventually set enemies on fire with it? I did now, and it’s glorious!

I’ve also been doing some academic and recreational reading during all this time at home, and have a couple of books I may write about in a future post. They should be great resources for anyone looking for work, wanting to start or change a career, or even further themselves in their current career.

This post is getting long enough as it is though, and I didn’t cover half of the past few months of chaos. 2019 was a rollercoaster ride itself. We’re only about three months into 2020, and it’s probably been an even wilder ride. I can’t even imagine what the rest of the year will bring at this point.

Stay safe, and I’ll be back with another post soon.

Busy Summer

Hello again, I’m back for another update. Things have been quite busy, and interesting, since the past post, so here’s what’s been going on.

We are just starting the fall rush of games, and there many good ones on the way, or out already. Gears 5 just came out. The Link’s Awakening remake will soon be out on the Switch. Then there are games like Shenmue III, Doom Eternal, Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, and too many more I can’t even remember. Quite a few recent releases have also started including more accessibility features as well, especially Gears 5. I will definitely be taking a look at that on a future Mixer stream and/or YouTube video.

Then there are all the indie titles that are also doing some wonderful things with game accessibility. The Vale, Collapsus, and Lost and Hound are just a few off the top of my head. Two cool audio games were also just released on IOS, and in one case Android. Circus Master’s Revenge is now out for IOS, and if you are a fan of Audio Defense Zombie Arena, you’ll probably want to check this one out. Audio Wizards is also available for both Android and IOS, and is doing very well. I definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Speaking of game accessibility, all of the sessions for this year’s Game Accessibility Conference are now available via YouTube, including the panel I was invited to be on talking about low vision game accessibility. Check out the Projects page for the link to that, as well as other recent podcast appearances and other things I’ve been working on.

Speaking of podcasts, the A4G Podcast is back on track. We were having some technical difficulties with Anchor during part of July and August, but the show is back every Sunday for new topics on games, game accessibility, and whatever else might happen.

Which leads me to my final update… Amazingly enough, I now have a girlfriend. Since beginning of July, Riley, my other co-host of A4G, and I have been going out. Things are going really well, and we’re now able to record A4G in person.

So yeah, it’s been a pretty busy, and pretty great summer.

Blind Mario, Podcasts, and Wireless VR

Hello again. I know it’s been a while again, but things have been quite busy the past couple of months. During this year’s E3, I covered things a bit different than previous years. Rather than recording video summaries after each conference or event, I decided to do live Mixer streams for each major E3 2019 conference this year, and I think things went quite well. You can find all my E3 coverage on my YouTube channel under the E3 2019 playlist.

I have also branched out into regular podcasting. In addition to a few other guest appearances on Blind Bargains, and a new podcast by Brandon Cole, I was invited to be a co-host on the A4G Podcast starting in early June. Riley Rose Frazy and I are now hosting the Accessibility for Gamers (A4G Podcast), every Sunday. In each episode, we cover a different game topic or two, talk game accessibility, and what we’ve been playing. Riley has also featured a few guests on A4G from the game accessibility and development community.

Starting in May, I also started attending our city’s local IGDA game developers meeting. I’m not an official member yet, but have attended several meetings since may, including a smaller group meeting dedicated specifically to VR. These meetings are fun, interesting, and a great way to meet people. I’m also hoping to introduce more developers to game accessibility, and may even speak at a later meeting. Stay tuned.

Finally, I’ve also recently started another fun and interesting project. Mario Maker 2 recently came out on Switch, and there are a group of us who are trying to make levels that can be played by someone who is totally blind. I got inspiration from someone on Twitterr who posted a couple of level codes for such levels. I played them, and and started having ideas myself. We have been communicating now, and are trying to develop a consistent audio scheme, so a blind player can try any of our levels, and not have to keep learning new audio cues. We have also resurrected the #BlindMario hashttag on twitter, and encourage others to join us in using Mario Maker 2’s creation tools and sounds to create some truly unique and accessible levels.

I even reached out to Patrick Klepek, of Mario Maker 1 fame. He regularly does Mario Maker Mornings, and plays people’s levels. He was also part of the huge competition between himself and Dan Rykert from Giant Bomb, and those were some fun videos to watch. He may be interested in trying some of our #BlindMario levels on stream, which may get the accessible Mario Maker levels trend going.

If you want to try these levels for yourselves, the Course ID’s are below. Be sure to play them blindfolded. There are audio cues that indicate jumping straight up, jumping forward, running, sliding, pipes, and other gameplay, that we are working on solidifying. Enjoy.

My First #BlindMario level: KXK-6DG-DPG

And these 2 levels are what inspired me to creat my own levels. I started with his audio cues:

F2c-K63-L0H

M76-0H8-BLG

That’s it for now.

GAConf 2019

This past weekend was the third annual Game Accessibility Conference (GAConf as it’s more commonly called) in San Francisco. Since its first year, I loved the idea of this conference, and always thought about attending. This year though, I actually made the trip. Not only did I attend the conference, but I was also invited to be a presenter as part of a low vision panel.

The panel I participated in was called “Gamers First, Blind Second” and featured three low vision gamers, including myself. We talked about what we found helpful, frustrating, and everything in between, for low vision game accessibility. Each of us had at least tried VR as well, so we did talk some about virtual reality accessibility. The panel ended with a surprising but fun question, that may have paid off. We were asked, if there were any game developer in the audience you’d love to talk to, who would it be. My answer was id Software/Bethesda, as I love most of their games, and DOOM is probably my favorite game of all time.

The rest of the conference was also excellent. I’m glad we are past the stage where we need to define game accessibility, and why it’s important. Each session was able to go deeper into a specific aspect of game accessibility or recent product/game. The Forza and Adaptive Controller sessions were quite interesting, but my favorite surprise was the session on Collapsus, an upcoming indie game that will include over 40 accessibility features. His story behind the game and its growing level of accessibility was fascinating, and I can’t wait to play the game when it comes out later this year.

One of the best things about the day though had to be meeting so many awesome people. Both during the conference, and after it during the Microsoft reception, I met so many a great people, especially after our low vision panel. I was able to exchange business cards and have conversations with many game developers, students, and others in the games industry. Remember that last question of our session? Well, it turns out I did get to briefly speak with someone and exchange business cards with someone at id Software. There are just too many people to mention and thank here, because I know I’ll end up forgetting someone. It was a lot of fun though, and I look forward to working with everyone in the future.

One of my goals for attending GAConf was to increase my visibility in the game accessibility field, and hopefully make some industry connections. I am very interested in doing technology and gaming accessibility consulting, testing, and beta testing. It would be even better if I could, even part time, turn this into a paid career.

This is just a brief overview of my day at GAConf. If you want to hear more, check out my video on GAConf 2019. And thanks to everyone who helped make this event possible. I had a blast, and look forward to see where game accessibility goes from here.

One Week and Counting

The Game Accessibility Conference (GAConf) is just over one week away. I’ll be heading out a week from tomorrow to present at this year’s GAConf as part of a panel on game accessibility for blind and low vision users. I’m really looking forward to the presentation, but I’m more excited about meeting everyone else at the conference. I’ll get to catch up with a few friends I’ve gotten to know over the past several years, and also meet some of them in person for the first time. I’m most excited though to network with developers. It will be great to get my name out there more, as an accessibility advocate. I’ll be happy to answer any questions developers have, and to connect and consult with them in the future. I’m really hoping to meet someone from Oculus, as I’d love to talk overall VR interface accessibility, especially for their upcoming stand-alone headsets.

There’s a great line-up of sessions this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of them live. The Microsoft reception Monday evening is where everyone will really get to socialize though. I even have 500 IllegallySighted business cards ready for the occasion. I’ll definitely be posting an update video on the event when I get back from GAConf, probably that Wednesday’s video. Who knows what other cool news I may be able to report. I don’t know if I’ll get any live video of the event, but I may try for a couple of short interviews, and maybe a hands-on look at the Microsoft Adaptive Controller.

Stay tuned. It’s going to be a fun few days. If only I were also attending CSUN and GDC too…

Better Late Than Never?

Yeah, I know it’s been a while since the first, and last update… At least I’m back before a whole year past.

It’s been a busy, but exciting year since starting the website though. The YouTube channel is still going strong, and that isn’t about to change. I’ve even been trying a few new types of videos. Last summer, I also started this game streaming thing, and now have a Mixer stream. This too has gone surprisingly well, and I like how Windows 10 makes it easy to start a stream without installing or buying extra software. I’ve also been having some really interesting conversations via Twitter and as a guest on several podcasts episodes. Check out the Projects page for more updated links and information on all that. And it looks like there will be even more podcast appearances to come.

I’m also really excited about an upcoming trip this March. I have been invited, and have accepted, to be a panel member at this year’s Game Accessibility Conference in San Francisco. I will be speaking in a session on video game and VR accessibility for low vision and blind users. I’ve wanted to attend GAConf since its first year, and I’m finally going to make it this year. I think presenting as part of this panel will be fun, but I’m also excited to make some connections with others in the game accessibility field, and game developers themselves. If I get really lucky, maybe I’ll find a contact at Oculus to start having a serious conversation about implementing VR accessibility to games, apps, and the Oculus experience overall.

There are lots of other things going on too, like beta testing apps and games, testing Windows and XBOX stuff as part of the Microsoft Low Vision group, and of course my day job.

That’s about it for this post, and I’ll try to update this section way more often in the future.

Hello World

Hello.  This is my first post to the IllegallySighted blog.  I am currently just experimenting with the creation tools Squarespace has to offer, including a blog section.  Their web creation interface is highly visual, and I'm not sure I'd want to try using it with a screen reader, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of how things work.  

In the future, I don't know how often I will update the blog, but there are times where I find myself wanting to write something rather than doing a video.  Keep checking back, and follow me on Twitter to keep up with any new posts.  

I'm still working on the overall site design, and things will probably stay pretty simple.  I basically took a fairly straight forward template and modified it like craxy, mainly switching things around to a dark theme.  I went with a kind of Steam gray background look, so hopefully everything will appear clearly.  

Anyway, welcome to another IllegallySighted experiment.  I had to get the domain while it was still available, and wanted to do something with it.  Enjoy.