Monday, January 4, 2010

Handicap International's disability awareness game: Handigo

The Games Press release:


Ubisoft has joined forces with Handicap International to create a ‘serious game’, as part of the charity’s new campaign “AbilityTogether”. The game’s objective is to make young and old aware of the difficulties encountered by disabled people on a daily basis, and of the realities of disability in today’s world.

The game is made up of a main menu and 3 mini-games, each representing a different impairment which puts the player in the shoes of someone with a physical disability, a sensory disability or learning difficulties.

Each level of the game ends on an awareness-raising message. The audience therefore learns, in a fun way, to distinguish between different types of disabilities, and to identify the obstacles encountered by disabled people on a daily basis.

A ‘serious game’ is a game in which the goal is not necessarily to win or lose, but to learn about an issue

The game is a key tool of “AbilityTogether”, and the graphics are inspired by the campaign. Like the campaign, the game is trilingual (French, English and German), and it is hosted on the website www.abilitytogether.com.

In order to ensure that our games are accessible to deaf or hard of hearing gamers, Ubisoft has made a commitment to including subtitles in all of our in-house produced video games. This commitment entails modifications to some of our game engines, as well as the inclusion of subtitles in the conception phase of game development. For our games that are already well into production, Ubisoft will include subtitles in all games in which it is technically possible. The first games with subtitles included will be Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding.

To play, visit http://www.abilitytogether.com/.