Special Effect Interview

Let's start with a bit of a personal story first. At the Eurogamer Expo last year, as part of a pre-event walkround for press, I had the pleasure to sit in on a short presentation by charity organisation Special Effect. Based in England, the company seeks to help disabled youngsters to enjoy video games by helping develop and utilise new and adaptive control technologies.

SpecialEffect has set up multiple projects such as Stargaze, a motion-sensing technology setup that enabling players to control games, which was demoed during the event. It's also launched Gamebase, a site dedicated to tracking and discussing the accessibility of both consoles and PCs.

I couldn't help but be touched by both the work and the results the company were achieving. We take our gaming for granted, allowing us to escape the real world for a virtual one and leave our everyday problems behind for a few hours. but what if you weren't able to use a controller? It was something I'd never thought of before.

Gaming can be a great joy, and as Mick Donegan, the company Director explained: "The great thing about gamers is that you don't need to explain the benefits of video games to them. To them it's simple - they love video games and they understand very clearly the importance of our work in terms of quality of life to people with disabilities."

Mick, along with R&D Co-ordinator Bill Donegan agreed to an interview to discuss the charity and its work.

How and when was the charity founded?

Bill: The charity began in 2007. Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and Director, had spent 25 years supporting the Assistive Technology Needs of People with communication difficulties. He realised that many people with disabilities were missing out on the many benefits of being able to play video games and decided to establish a charity with specialist professionals, including therapists and educationalists - as well as computer games experts - to work together as a team to enable everyone to play computer games.

How are funds raised for the charity?

Mick: The charity works very, very hard to raise its funds through Trust applications and fundraising events, for example. We are absolutely delighted that people involved in the games industry and individual gamers are becoming more and more helpful. The great thing about gamers is that you don't need to explain the benefits of video games to them. To them it's simple - they love video games and they understand very clearly the importance of our work in terms of quality of life to people with disabilities. They fully realise how much benefit and enjoyment people with disabilities can get if we can find a way in for them. GamesAid, the industry charity, have been particularly helpful to us.

What's the scope of your work? Do you work on technologies with companies, lobbying for developers to include certain control styles in their games...can you give us a general overview?

Mick: In brief, we (a) provide information on accessible gaming through online support and our gamebase - https://www.gamebase.info (b) we collaborate with developers on making games more accessible (c) we loan games and specialist technology to enable people with disabilities to try them out before buying from a supplier of their choice (d) we go out all around the country to enable people with disabilities to trial systems and software in our Roadshows.

Who do you work with in creating and evolving the technology?

Mick: SpecialEffect is very keen to work with anyone who wants to improve their technology for users. We offer free advice to anyone who wants. We also work with Universities on new technologies, such as Cambridge astro physics department.

Has the charity worked primarily on altering pre-existing technologies, or have you had to wait until the specific technologies were developed that you could apply them for the charity?

Mick: We spend a lot of time finding software to work with particular existing hardware and vice versa. A lot of this work involves using technology which was originally developed for other purposes such as communication and applying these technologies to leisure activities such as playing games.

Can you go into detail about the range of technologies you use, and explain how they each operate?

Bill: SpecialEffect works with a wide range of technology from switches to eye-gaze technology and well as its own ‘creations' such as with adapting console controllers.

Here are three examples:

1)Switches come in many forms; from large buttons pressed using various parts of the body to EMG Impulse switches which require only a small muscle movement such as raising an eyebrow to trigger them. By having just one switch as an input, the user can have full control over a computer. The best type of games to play using a switch are often of the one-button genre. Well known examples are games such as Canabalt and G-Switch.

2)Eye-Gaze technology uses infrared light combined with a camera to locate the position on the screen the user is looking at. The infrared light reflects off the back of the retina and as it comes back out through the pupils, the camera picks up the point at which the left and right eyes converge. Eye controlled technology can either be used to directly control the cursor or through using grid based software which requires you to look at cells to make selections and perform functions. Games which work well with eye-gaze include point and click adventure games which have little time element to them and require solely the use of the cursor and a left click. Turn based puzzle games such as Bejewelled or Peggle are also ideal.

3) For those who want to access consoles, sometimes a small hardware alteration is all that is required to allow them to enjoy the full range of games offered. Whether it is making a wii remote lighter, moving the buttons on a PS3 controller within a user's finger reach or finding a way to allow a user to play a console using just a couple of switches, we will try and find new ways for people to play games when the ‘normal' route is not possible.

Where is the charity based, and how many people are working for it now?

Mick: The charity is based at The SpecialEffect Centre in West Oxfordshire, England. We have 8 full/part time staff plus some voluntary help.

Bill: We are developing a strong core group of volunteers who all enjoy and see the benefits of playing games. They are helping in various ways from creating accessible flash games to trialling games and contributing to our ‘accessible GameBase' site. Many of our volunteers, both able bodied and disabled, have heard about us as gamers and come to us wanting to help.

What's been the response to your work?

Mick: In a nutshell, we have been delighted by the positive response from the games industry and gamers themselves who have ‘spread the word' about our work through online media incredibly effectively. As a result, more and more people know about our work and more and more people are either offering to help or asking us for help. Sometimes both!

The development of the technology has been for a good, worthy cause, but have you had to battle the stigma videogames have had from certain corners?

Mick: So far we have heard no negative comments about our work. In a nutshell, many of the people we support are unable to participate in real-life games or sports (many of them spend their lives in a wheelchair or in bed) so access to video games is a vital way to interact with others, compete and enjoy themselves independently. The general public and particularly gamers fully understand the importance of our work and support it.

What games, developers, publishers have you worked with in the past, who are you working with presently and are there any firms you're eager to work with in the future?

Mick: Many small developers have been excellent at making changes to their games to make them more accessible and allow more people to play them. Developers such as Smila and Stu, Super Sidearms and Gamevial have come to us for advice on alterations to make to their games and consequently created games which are much more accessible to more people by making a few small alterations.

Recently, Microsoft asked for our contributions towards making the Kinect, as well as the Xbox 360 console in general, more accessible. We offered many ideas, hopefully some of which we will see implemented in the not too distant future!

Bill: We are eager to work with any developers who are interested in making their games playable by a wider audience of gamers. On a personal level I would love to work with EA on their Fifa games.

Are there particular game genres that work best with the technology at hand, or that are particularly dominant for one reason or another? Are there any specific games you're looking to, or wish to adapt?

Bill: Many forms of alternative access technology work on different ways of controlling the cursor, therefore for eye-gaze or head mouse use, pointer only games are often ‘accessible' to users depending on the gameplay and the players abilities.

We try and find as many genres as possible for each type of technology as everyone has their own preferences and abilities which affect what games they want to play. This is why we work hard to try and find ways of playing mainstream titles as many people, understandably, want to play what their friends or siblings are playing.

Has the introduction of Sony's Move and Microsoft's Kinect in recent months given the charity any food for thought, either in adapting the tech or talking to the creators about the potential use of them with your specific area?

Mick: Oddly enough, the Wii and more recently the Move and Kinect have been a mixed blessing. YES, you have a simple control device (or none at all with the Kinect) but, unfortunately, many people with disabilities find it difficult to make the necessary moves in the timescale allowed. However, these developments ARE exciting and we look forward to collaborating with games developers to make the (often very minor) modifications to enable far more people to use these control methods to play such games.

How do you think the industry has adapted to disabled gamers, and what do you think it still has to do?

Mick: We are delighted to say that the industry is already doing some good work in this area. They are taking an increasing interest in our work and I am confident that increasing numbers will come to organisations like ourselves for advice on how to make their games accessible to as many people as possible. One of the services we offer is for developers to come to see us either at the point when a game is at its early stages or when it is being updated, to see if it can be made accessible to more people in as cost-effective a way as possible.

I saw you at the Eurogamer Expo - do you use trade shows such as this for more exposure, and what's been the response from the public coming to see you?

Mick: To date Eurogamer Expo has been SpecialEffect's only trade show. Howerer, as mentioned above, the response from the industry and gamers was so positive - we plan to do more of these shows in the future as they are such an excellent way to ‘spread the word'.

Do you work on a case by case basis or do you try and implement control schemes based on various disabilities?

Mick: We do both. For some people their request for help may be dealt with by a phone call, email or sending out an item for loan to try for themselves. Other people might have more complex difficulties and they might need a visit from our specialist team or, if they are able, to visit our centre to try out the technology. Whatever it takes!

How much do you need to raise each year to keep the operation going, and do you offer fundraising challenges or is it just by donations from the public?

Mick: We raise funds on a project by project basis.

Our most important project is the Loan Library that we are just starting. This is a project that started itself! Basically, as more and more people became aware of our work, more and more severely disabled people got in touch with us for help. Everyone from small, profoundly handicapped children to war heroes who have been severely injured have been referred to us for help. Our 2-year Loan Library needs approximately £100k per year over the next two years to meet establish this service. Anyone is welcome to contact us for help or advice on how to help raise funds. One of our severely disabled volunteers is doing a parachute jump for us in the spring but you don't necessarily need to go that far! Raising a little money by, for example, getting a few mates round for video game competition along with a pizza and a few beers might not be too painful!

You can see Special Effect's work at its official website. The charity offers the ability to donate funds through the site, so rather than drop a couple of quid on that latest digital title, why not click through and donate? It all goes towards helping someone else the chance to enjoy a pastime that we take for granted day by day.

You can follow the company on twitter @ twitter.com/SpecialEffect.