Development of a Game Engine for Accessible Web-Based Games

The Web is rapidly shifting towards more dynamic and interactive content. One clear example is the increasing use of web-based digital games. However, the more interactive a piece of content is, the more difficult it is to make it universally accessible. Besides, users are increasingly demanding ubiquitous access to the content and applications they use (including games), resulting in a need for ensuring that Web content is also multiplatform. These trends are adding an extra technology challenge for ensuring content accessibility. In this paper we describe our technical approach to create an accessible multiplatform game engine for the new version of the eAdventure educational game authoring platform (eAdventure 2.0). This approach integrates accessibility as a core design principle instead of adding accessibility features a posteriori. We expect this to facilitate the creation of web-based digital games that are accessible regardless of the context (device, assistive tools available, situation, etc.) in which they are being used. In this work we describe the general architecture, as well as some specific examples of accessibility adaptation plugins already available.