Uligo: A Slime's Hike

Uligo : A Slime's Hike

Primary role : Gameplay & accessibility designer

Steam page

My contribution

As a Gameplay Designer on this project, my contributions were :

Designing the core mechanics of the game : character movement, jump, dash, grappling & sticking mechanic; 

Designing the game accessibility features (more below);

Helping with the tuning of the controls and game feel (CCC);

Helping with the writing of the GDD;

Organizing and overseeing playtests.

Accessibility

Without getting into too much detail, accessibility was our biggest design pillar. We designed more than 30 features that players can tweak to better fit the game to their abilities and preferences. 

For visual aid, we designed different options to let players change the look of the game and UI so that they wouldn't miss out on anything. These options include a color picker, customizable UI and a grey-mode (inspired by the "Magnify high contrast" accessibility feature from The last of Us Part II from Naughty Dog). 

Hud Settings

Grey mode

Difficulty

Regarding difficulty, we didn't want to put players in boxes or make them feel bad for not playing at a certain difficulty level. That's why, instead of difficulty levels (ex. easy, medium, hard, etc.) we offered individual features so players could adjust only what they were having problems with. These adjustments can make the game both easier or harder, so players of all skills can benefit from them. These features include ; game speed, stamina system adjustment (having more, less or infinite stamina), a shield mode (can take up to one hit before dying) and a god mode (makes the player invincible).

Compatibility

The game also includes full controller and keyboard remapping and is compatible with any controller that is recognized by Steam (ex. Microsoft Adaptative Controller).

Moreover, we were careful not to put any flashing lights or quick image change in the game to be as "photosensitive-friendly" as possible. That being said, photosensitivity is a complicated condition, and unfortunately, we cannot insure that the game won't trigger any reaction or seizure for certain players. 

My learnings

My biggest learnings in this project are tied to the design of the accessibility features. When designing with accessibility in mind : 

People of all skills, abilities and limitations should be included in the design process of the game to bring a plurality of perspectives and experiences to the table;

If not possible, people of all skills, abilities and limitations should at least be included in playtests to point out the barriers they encounter; 

When designing an accessibility feature, the people concerned by that feature have to be consulted and test it to ensure it is really useful and serves its purpose.

We are really proud of the features we were able to add to our game, but in hindsight, it is clear that the game would have benefited a lot from the feedback and perspectives of a more diverse pool of players.