Ubisoft Showcases Accessible Features of “Skull and Bones” in Impressive Move

Skull and Bones, a highly anticipated pirate-themed game developed by Ubisoft Singapore and Ubisoft Kyiv, prioritizes accessibility with features such as text scaling, menu narration, and customizable controls, and seeks player feedback to continually improve the gaming experience.

Accessibility is a key focus for the development team, ensuring that as many players as possible can enjoy the game.
The team has made efforts to support text scaling in crucial features such as text chat, as well as ensuring that font sizes for key information meet certain standards throughout the game.
The team in Kyiv is particularly proud of the customization options available for controls, allowing players to tailor their experience to their specific needs.

Skull and Bones, the highly anticipated pirate-themed game, is set to release on February 16. Developed by Ubisoft Singapore and Ubisoft Kyiv, this co-op open world pirate action RPG takes players to the Indian Ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy. With fast-paced naval combat, port plundering, and contracts to grow their Infamy, players will have the opportunity to rise to the top as a pirate kingpin.

Accessibility is a key focus for the development team, ensuring that as many players as possible can enjoy the game. In addition to the standard accessibility features like remapping, colorblind options, and subtitles, Skull and Bones goes a step further by including gameplay-related accessibility options. For example, players can disable camera shakes while sailing and automate harvesting minigames and QTE sequences. Balancing these accessibility features with the overall gameplay experience is crucial, and the teams in Singapore and Kyiv are working closely together to achieve this.

One of the challenges in creating an accessible online game is ensuring that players can effectively interact with each other. This includes considerations for text chat, voice chat, and the ability to see details of other players. The team has made efforts to support text scaling in crucial features such as text chat, as well as ensuring that font sizes for key information meet certain standards throughout the game.

When it comes to balancing accessibility and gameplay, the team has not encountered any major issues. Any conflicts that arise tend to be identified as bugs rather than balancing challenges. For example, there was a bug where text-to-speech and menu narration would read out details of enemy ships before they were even spyglassed. This issue was promptly addressed to maintain a fair playing field for all players.

Directional indicators for sounds and chat play an important role in enhancing accessibility. When players turn on closed captions and directional indicators, they will see a line on the right side of the screen indicating the direction and cause of sounds, such as cannon booms or ship explosions. These visual cues help players with hearing challenges to better understand their surroundings.

Menu narration is an area where the team has invested a significant amount of effort. They prioritize menu narration to ensure that players who need it can understand all the elements on the screen. Whenever a menu is presented, all UI elements and the corresponding controls are read out. The team has also made considerations when menu narration conflicts with other gameplay elements, ultimately prioritizing menu narration in those scenarios.

The team in Kyiv is particularly proud of the customization options available for controls. Players can remap keys and controls, swap actions, invert axes, and more. The level of control customization provided ensures that players can tailor their experience to their specific needs.

Skull and Bones is a live game that will be continually updated, and accessibility remains a priority for the development team. Accessibility requirements are always considered when developing new features and content. Feedback from players is highly valued, and the team actively seeks input through social media platforms, Ubisoft’s customer support site, Discord, and other channels. Accessibility features will be supported and improved based on player feedback.

With its commitment to accessibility and a wealth of features designed to cater to a broad spectrum of players, Skull and Bones aims to provide an inclusive and enjoyable gaming experience for all. The game will be available on XBOX Series X|S, Playstation 5, Amazon Luna, and PC (via Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store) starting February 16. Players can also participate in the Open Beta from February 8-11 to get a taste of the pirate life. Pre-ordering the Premium Edition or subscribing to Ubisoft+ Premium grants three-day early access to the game.

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