EA are making more of their accessibility tech free for other devs to use, including a personal game coach
After offering up some of their accessibility inventions for free a couple of years ago - including the context-aware ping system seen in Apex Legends and code for a colourblindness tool - Electronic Arts are opening up even more of their accessibility features for anyone to use.
Included in the latest batch of tools released as part of EA’s promise to share accessibility tech with the industry are four patents and a tool for helping analyse photosensitivity risks with games.
The photosensitivity analysis tool is called Iris, and effectively looks at frames within videos that could trigger reactions in those with epilepsy or affected by other photosensitive symptoms - for instance, due to flashing lights or other “rapidly changing spatial patterns”.
EA themselves have used the tech in sports games including Madden and recent FIFA replacement EA Sports FC 24, with plans to use it more widely in the future.
In the case of Iris, any developer can go and grab the code for the tool to start using it for free.
The other four accessibility features made public by EA aren’t readymade tools in the same way, instead being patents that EA have effectively made open-source - so anyone can create their own version of the patented tech without being sued.
The first is an especially nifty concept for Automated Player Control Takeover, which automatically detects if a player stops controlling a game - for example, during moments where motor, cognitive or visual disabilities may be affecting them. When that happens, the tech aims to take temporary control of the game, mimicking the player’s movements and inputs within the game itself until the player can regain control.
Along similar lines is the patent for an Adaptive
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