Last time, we shared some thoughts about depth in Causeway, and how to design for it without adding needless complexity.
Today I'd like to share some thoughts around another important topic, which is accessibility.
What is accessibility?
Broadly speaking, we're exploring how players answer the question: "can I bring friends to this game?"
Everyone has some friends they can't bring to a lane-pushing game. Common complaints include:
- "I can't make the time investment"
- "The community is too toxic"
- "At this age, playing games is a waste of time"
- "The art or characters don't appeal to me"
There are also realities of the genre — it's real-time, there's a learning curve, and whatever camera angle you choose won't suit some folks.
We accept these constraints, and nonetheless aspire to make a lane-pushing game that people can bring friends to wherever we can.
Community
The biggest accessibility issue in modern lane-pushing games is toxic behaviour — which we define as harassment, exclusion, and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Nothing discourages players from participating more than the risk that a play session will leave them feeling worse than when they started.
The reason we're doing Causeway instead of some other lane-pushing game is that this is the most important, interesting, and unsolved problem in the genre. Causeway is extremely well-positioned to serve players who want to enjoy a lane-pushing game for an hour in the evening without toxicity.
That's a big accessibility win!
The Three C's
Game designers are often taught to get these 3 things right: Camera, Controls, Character!
In the lane-pushing genre, Camera and Controls need a lot of work — because what players want is customisation.
Many of our testers have spent 100's (or 1000's) of hours in one of the mainstream lane-pushing games. Any new game has to support the key options from most of the others, so players can enjoy their familiar setup.
In that sense, it's harder to make a game now than it was 10 years ago!
We learned if an option that a player expects isn't available, it creates huge friction and pretty soon they'll quit playing. Thanks to great feedback, we've got most of that ironed out.
We also chose to be early adopters of options that some players find really important:
- Scaling the size of text, cursors, and UI elements
- Colour-blind mode
- Cursor crosshairs
- Custom keybinds
That leaves Characters. We aim for variety in how demanding they are to play, so both beginners and experts can participate and contribute fully, even if certain skills aren't their forte.
Closing Thoughts
This is just some of what goes into making an accessible game — one that players feel very comfortable in bringing their friends to.
I'm sure we'll have more to share on this topic in future!
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