Game developers are creating new options for people with phobias
Game developers are creating new options for people with phobias
Game developers are creating new options for people with phobias
By Stephen Totilo
May 15, 2023
Summary
In the past month, developers of three major video games have announced special modes designed to help people with certain phobias play their games.
Be smart: Developers behind these modes consider them a necessary matter of accessibility, no different from letting players who are colorblind select an option to change how colors appear in the game.
What they're saying: "We realized that our game features spiders very prominently, and they're very large," Brian MacIntosh, a programmer at Obsidian, tells Axios.
Developers at the studio had also taken note of 2019 indie game Satisfactory, which had a fear option that switched out its spiders for cats.
At PlayStation studio Guerilla Games, developers had heard from players who viewed the 2020 debut trailer for then-upcoming Horizon Forbidden West.
Implementing an alternate thalassophobia setting involved "a ton of different people from all kinds of disciplines on the development side," to ensure the optional mode didn't break the game.
The audio team had to make sure that the game never triggered choking sounds or drowning animations for its hero as she swam underwater.
Reference
Totilo, S. (2023, May 15). Game developers are creating new options for people with phobias. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2023/05/15/video-games-phobias