STO - Interview @ AbleGamers

Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich talked to AbleGamers about taking gamers with disabilities into consideration.

AbleGamers:  Do you know if anyone on the development team is disabled?

Zinkievich:  I am aware of several people at Cryptic Studios who are colorblind. Although there may be others who have disabilities, that tends to be personal information.

AbleGamers:  8% of men in the US are colorblind; do you think they will have a hard time playing Star Trek?

Zinkievich:  I hope not. As I mentioned - there are several colorblind employees here at Cryptic. We bring them into the review of anything in the UI where we are using color as a major factor in the communication of information. That being said - good UI never has a single method of communication, so any place we use color it tends to be a secondary or tertiary marker.

AbleGamers:  Game sound is an important factor, especially in a game with such well-known sound effects such as photon torpedoes, phasers, and a well-known opening title.  Will I enjoy the game with no sound at all? Without sound, will I know what is going on? And are there visual cues as well as audio cues for an event or quest advancement?

Zinkievich:  You will definitely know what is going on, and I really do think that you will be able to enjoy the game with no sound.

Good game audio can provide emotion or a sense of place and give extra cues to events that are happening. That being said, our policy is to make sure for any important game event there are multiple UI cues. Nothing is ever indicated only through audio. If there is voiceover, there is text.  If there is a warning claxon, there is a visual UI cue as well.