Cherry Thompson (the mo-cap actress to the right in the leftmost photo) provided idle motion capture for an inhuman NPC named Cerise (shown in the rightmost photo).
To begin, what are some of the things you have done to raise awareness around accessibility in the team and in the studio?
Meagan Marie: Our accessibility initiatives at the studio started with a "rogue" group of passionate allies who were advocating and making efforts in their own work as far back as the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. That resulted in some great initiatives, but momentum really began when we formalized into a team with a dedicated producer and started to centralize our efforts.
For Marvel's Avengers, we leaned heavily on industry experts. For example, we brought in accessibility specialist Cherry Thompson for early feedback on our game.
Cherry also presented a poignant talk to the studio, which I think helped those less familiar with accessibility initiatives understand the large impact their efforts have on a wide scope of people. Colleagues beyond our team of accessibility allies really started to become involved after that.
Mariah Robinson: Before I knew how involved people at Crystal Dynamics were in accessibility, I championed my own passion for accessible gaming loudly.
When I met Meagan, I was thrilled to have someone with me to help. We've done talks together and attended GAConf as well. But my big break was when Meagan introduced me to Mark Barlet , founder of the AbleGamers Charity.
After learning more about them, I started to become even more involved and challenged myself by doing presentations (by myself and with people). Public speaking is not my area of comfort at all, but this was too important. One of the coolest points for others in the studio was when we started mocapping people with disabilities for Marvel's Avengers.
Since this wasn't something that we had done before, it was wonderful to see a different perspective through other devs. We all learned a lot during that process!
Have you worked with experts or consultants for accessibility-related matters?
Meagan: Crystal Dynamics worked with consultants in order to receive it's APXP certification late last year, which was a defining moment for the studio. It means we now have employees certified in accessible player experiences - something we're proud and excited about.
Not only did it help unify the language used by our team in relation to accessibility, but it was also great to contribute and support the AbleGamers Charity.
Mariah: Our Director of HR, Dionne Hubbard, was the one who helped get our certification training with the APXP program. It has been very empowering to be able to pass that knowledge on in an effective way around the studio.
Now we have a shared language in the studio surrounding accessibility, which allows for more cohesive communication. It's helped us feel more confident in knowing that we now have the right tools for the job and the ability to properly educate within our teams.
And what about diversity and representation?
Meagan: When we look at accessibility for Marvel's Avengers, we aim for a holistic approach. Our efforts are for both the game; but we also want everyone to enjoy social content, events, and other services with as few barriers as possible.
In terms of representation, Cherry Thompson was a huge resource here as well. Representing disability in entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all solution, as evidenced by their really fantastic and informative talk "You Can Take an Arrow to the Knee and still be an Adventurer".
Our goal is to normalize representation within our game world by reflecting the diversity of the real world. We have scenes in the game like A-Day which is essentially a comic book convention - having representation in a crowd of people who are all there sharing a passion for Super Heroes is important to us.
Cherry even did some baseline motion capture for us in their wheelchair, to help idle movements feel more organic. A true first for Crystal!
Mariah: We have been working on a variety of ways to represent diversity. We see all kinds of people in our society, so why not reflect that in our in-game world?
We tell the story of characters finding their way through hardship, tragedy, transformation, and searching for self-identification. In the end, it's a story about people.
If you want to read more, check the full article in the link below.
Source: Square-Enix Games
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