Madden: Narrator support in Madden menus [ Edited ]

[soerenjensen1988]

Product: Madden 18
Platform:Microsoft XBOX One
I want to talk about something you don't mention above: I'm blind, and find it difficult to navigate the menus, because they are very complex. It's impossible to remember them all. There has been made a really awesome guide in text which blind people can follow, but if you do anything wrong or get lost in the menus, you are stuck. It is possible for a developer to send text to Narrator, the screenreader on the XBox, so it can read the menus in a game. It is my hope and wish that you will consider making support for Narrator in the game menus, which you make accessible by the awesome haptic feedback for blind people. The haptic feedback is a totally amazing experience, and really do make a big difference. I just find it difficult to navigate the menus, because they are very complex.
How accessible is the current experience? I can use parts of it
Summarize what in the product is difficult to use. I easily get lost in all the game menus. Currently, I need to configure the game to upgrade the players automatically. All this is not accessible to blind people because the menus don't speak.
How is this making it more difficult? The text guide is really great, but I find it difficult to always have to follow this guide when playing the game.
How can we reproduce this experience? Close your eyes, turn on Narrator and launch the game. Ask yourself what menuitem is selected.

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Please add support for Narrator on the XBox. That would be a great start for many blind people. Consider making your own screenreader, which works on all consoles, so the menus speaks no matter what console people are playing on.

It is so amazing that you are making games accessible to blind people. This is very unique and a fantastic experience. Therefore, having spoken menus is quite important, so blind people can navigate the menus without trouble, just like people with normal sight.

I hope spoken menus can be implemented in all EA's games in the future, maybe by a TTS engine.

[Vablus]

I'll say, EA has done quite a good job at making Madden 18 accessible. I plan on purchasing the game very soon, and can't wait to play it. I do wish there was an easier way to read the menues myself, I've heard that they can be quite branching, and can change due to advertisements and such.  I hope that one day, it'll be possible to give Madden a screen reader for its menues, that'd make the gaming experience quite a bit better from what I've heard about it. Thank you all for what you've done to make a game like this accessible. Perhaps there will be something that can be done to further accessibility in future years. 

[Orinks1]

Nothing much to say here other than, regardless of the platform, menus should be accessible. Unfortunately, right now Sony does not have such a system like the xbox API. That means that right now, if EA were to implement accessibility, it would be for one platform only. Would EA be allowed to publish accessibility features for one platform only?

I'll be interested to see if any new accessibility features were added to Madden 19.

[Orinks1]

With the recent change of Coach narrating the main menu, here's some suggestions for a patch.

Narrate the accessibility menu.
Narrate top menus of MUT and exhibition.
Narrate game options for setting critical game options.

These are menus that would not require actual text to speech. MUT lineups, for example, are another thing entirely.