Help us improve Accessibility for players in Candy Crush Saga!

*Edit by CM: off-topic

Hi there 

iam so angry since last update all my inventory gone then 2days later gone again and the game frozen alot what can i do for that its not good and not as i used to playing it 😕😕😕

Dear @Pounawea:

I’m touched by your empathy and advocacy in tirelessly advancing the accessibility of our beloved Candy Crush. Wow. I've got a Crush on you! It means a great deal to those of us Crushers with disabilities who seek to savor the magical saga that is Candy Crush.

Before a Crusher with disabilities can even salivate about crushing their first candy, they need access to the Candy Kingdom. Crushers with disabilities need tools, such as clear text and flexible precision levels, to ensure that they can tune the magical crushing experience to meet their unique needs. Once they have the tools, it is time to ensure they can consume the saga. Some may say, “but these make Candy Crush easy or make a dumbed down second version of Candy Crush for disabled players” and that is simply not true. They make the saga enjoyable for all Crushers. As you will see, there are options such as helping refresh a Crusher’s knowledge of gameplay operations and adjusting gameplay speed, which continues to challenge the Crusher as the Saga unfolds, no matter their ability.

So, with that spirit in mind, in the first part of my submission I include accessibility ideas (making the Saga itself accessible) and challenge modification ideas (allowing the Saga to be enjoyable for all Crushers while maintaining a constant difficulty level).

My top 3 accessibility suggestions are as follows:

(1) Some Crushers are unable or unreliably able to take in information from the Saga. Crushers who have low vision may need an alternative to or enhancement of visual information (e.g. audio or haptic presentation). Crushers who have low hearing may need an alternative to or enhancement of sounds (e.g. visual or haptic presentation). Crushers who are in noisy environments may need an alternative for visual information (e.g. audio or haptic presentation). A ‘Visual Assist’ mode within Saga menus could allow Crushers to successfully crush by tracking the different rumble indicators. ‘Full Captioning’ could provide subtitling of candy being crushed, story-related environmental cues, and specific player actions to the subtitling. Full captioning would allow Crushers to manage their awareness and thus increase the likelihood of improved performance. In doing so, Crushers will be able to select additional channels of information via different modalities so they can reliably take in information from the Saga. 

(2) Some Crushers cannot be precise in their actions in the Saga or its interfaces. Crushers with physical disabilities may need slower or more precise movement of cursors to target things in games or their interfaces. Crushers with physical disabilities may need slower or more precise options for zooming the camera to be able to successfully move to their preferred zoom level. Crushers may need slower or more precise movements of camera perspectives to properly see the action in the Saga. One idea is that there could be sensitivity settings that can be adjusted to increase precision and control (e.g. general sensitivity, vertical sensitivity, horizontal sensitivity). In doing so, Crushers will be better able to adjust the precision of actions so that they can successfully target, move, or navigate in the Saga.

(3) Some Crushers cannot reliably identify differences within the Saga or its interfaces. Crushers can change the presentation of information so that they can distinguish between, attend to, and use different elements of information in the game or its interfaces. Crushers with color vision deficiencies may need to recolor the game or its interfaces to keep colors out of their zone of confusion. Crushers with color vision deficiencies may need symbols alongside colors to distinguish between different information in a game. Crushers with low vision may need a higher contrast to distinguish information in the foreground from the background. Players who use captions may require a dark contrast in the background to distinguish the text. One idea is including settings based a player’s type of color vision deficiency (Protanope, Deuteranope, or Tritanope) and make further adjustments based on the color blindness strength indicator (e.g. a slider ranging from 0-10 with 9 increments in between each whole number, this makes for 99 different strength levels for each type of colorblind setting). To the right of the color blind selections, the Saga could have multiple examples based on the Ishihara color test that players may use to adjust the color blind settings to their preference. By including the Ishihara color test examples, Crushers would be are able to select their preferred color blind settings without having to repeatedly return to gameplay to see how their selections have changed the appearance of colors in Saga.

My top 3 challenge modification suggestions are as follows:

(1) During in-game Saga challenges, some Crushers find it difficult to progress through challenges (variously due to the speed, volume or variety of events happening at once). It will be great to have an "Assist Mode" screen during gameplay to adjust the speed of the Saga (e.g. 'Game Speed' option). The Game Speed option could be set at various levels (e.g. 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100%). Upon selection of one of those options, game speed could be instantly adjusted to that setting upon unpausing the Saga. Crushers could choose to decrease/increase the speed of gameplay at different points of the Saga in order to make progress at the Saga speed they feel is appropriate for their gameplay experience. An alternate idea is to have a "Wait Mode" screen during gameplay which causes challenges to pause. The amount of time a Crusher has left could be displayed by a bar (e.g. “Pause Timer”). The inclusion of such a feature could allow Crushers with cognitive disabilities an opportunity to get their bearings during a hectic Saga installment, giving more time to make decisions and better plan their crushing strategies.

(2) During in-game Saga challenges, some Crushers cannot progress through the challenges presented by the Saga without assistance from the Saga itself. Crushers with physical disabilities may need assists for aiming and targeting at objects in the Saga. Crushers with cognitive disabilities may need help from the Saga to solve in-game puzzles. For example, there could be dynamic detection of players stuck in the Saga using a statistical model which could predict that the delay is being caused by a disability (e.g. studying how disabled and non-disabled players progress through the Saga, seeing where each group tends to get stuck, seeing how each group tends to get stuck, seeing how they react to being stuck). If the statistical model predicts the issue is a matter of accessibility (i.e. caused by a disability) rather than ability (i.e. had the disability not been present, it is probable the Crusher would have progressed), then an appropriate option could be offered (e.g. option to get extra bonuses, option to skip and progress to next stage without needing successful completion, adjusting the difficulty level to a more realistic level given the level of disability).

(3) During in-game Saga challenges, some Crushers cannot progress through the challenges presented by the game without assistance from another Crusher. Crushers with physical disabilities may need another Crusher to control some aspects of the Saga experience, possibly on a different controller. Crushers with cognitive disabilities may need another Crusher to help solve Saga problem-solving challenges. Crushers may prefer to play with another person sharing some of their Saga challenges as a form of mutual understanding of the accessibility issues they need to overcome in order to successfully complete the Saga. One idea is that a Crusher could virtually hand over control to another Crusher temporarily while both would see progress (screen share). It would allow Crushers to permit another Crusher (e.g. carer, therapist, child) to assist them with a Saga they are currently pursuing. In this way, the Crusher hosting the shared session may progress through a difficult level or learn new strategies for the Saga with the assistance of another Crusher.

I will love to get your feedback (and any spare gold / swag you can throw my way!). As an older lady avoiding the outside due to COVID-19, Crushing has been a great lifeline for me. I’m up to level 5,264 crushing super hard to break my personal goal of level 6.000 by July 1 and will LOVE all the help I can get 😊

/Gegan

[removing photo]

*Edit by CM: off-topic