Adding Accessibility

I am no stranger to disability. I suffer from post-trauma epilepsy that is the result from a scar that runs across the lieft side of my brain, and psoriatic arthritis. My wife is in a wheelchair. My illness gives me difficulty sometimes playing  games that require a lot of multitasking. One day, I might lose full control of my hands and/or legs, and the seizures and states of confusion will increase with age. My wife, on the other hand, can't play any games that require a joy pad or keyboard. That severely limits her choices. She used to love MMOs. She was one of the best damn healers I've ever seen, and she solo'd like no one else. I avoid playing Kinect games in front of her. It still makes her sad that she can no longer dance like she used to. I always wanted to make kinect games one day that are wheelchair friendly. Ones you can play with just your arms or voice and don't require any jumping around.

That is a little ways off, but there are things I can do now.
http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com is a great resource when designing games with disabilities in mind.

I'm colorblind. Since I'm doing all the graphic design, I automatically choose color-blind friendly color combinations. That gives me the advantage that all games I make are automatically designed to be color-blind friendly. Here is a list of other accessibility features to make Rocket Potato more accessible:

• Multiple Difficulty Levels
• Resizeable Interface Elements
• Toggle larger Narrative Text
• Volume settings for music and sound effects
• Custom Key Mapping
• Windowed Mode for use with virtual onscreen keyboards
• Voiceover Option for Narratives
• Optional direct touch screen alternative for game control with 1 finger
• Option to use that same direct control using a mouse
• Slider to adjust game speed

As excited as I am about Rocket Potato, I'm even more excited now that my wife will be able to play it when it's done. We disabled folk have the same rights to live and enjoy life as those of us who can walk, see and hear clearly and have full use of their hands and brains. Why shouldn't we all be designing games that everyone can enjoy?