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Owlchemy Labs are determined to make their games as accessible as possible. By breaking down barriers through adding various options they’re on a mission to make VR gaming easier for everyone to enjoy. When discussing their new updates for #CosmoniousHigh, Chief Operating Owl Andrew Eiche said that Owlchemy Labs “makes VR for everyone”. Their main aim is to make a very comfortable experience and to stop as many people as possible from feeling sick from the VR experience. He goes on to say that “accessibility is the main goal” and that games “should be as accessible as we can (possibly) make”.

As part of this goal, Owlchemy have announced some new accessibility features for Cosmonious High, their out-of-this-world VR experience that sees you in an alien school with freedom to interact with many things and meet a diverse and interesting bunch of characters. This new update “covers different accessibility needs”, says accessibility engineer Peter Galbraith, helping VR gamers in overcoming many of the obstacles that may stop them from enjoying the game to the fullest.

Firstly, Cosmonious High has been updated to have a one-handed mode that makes every input accessible on a single controller. Should only one controller be turned on, the game will recognise this as one-handed mode and allow the user to play using this mode automatically. This will aid anyone who is unable to hold two controllers comfortably for any reason and also make it easier for VR newcomers to enjoy too.

Adjustments have also been made in regards to the height of the game in the headset. Objects have an option to be lowered should the player wish to play whilst seated and the individual height and head position of players has been accounted for allowing for the level to be adjusted. On top of this, there’s an optional ‘smaller student mode’ which shrinks the environment and enlarges the player which may help with scaling for users so that they can see more of the world in one view. Players with mobility issues will find these two changes particularly useful as it feels much less restrictive in how the game allows you to play Cosmonious High.

Furthermore, if you get stuck during Cosmonious High for a period of time or haven’t completed an action, the game will also remind you of the next task to complete. These reminder tutorials can be turned off if you prefer but they’re there should you need a nudge in the right direction. If there’s something that you can read but not quite understand, there will be additional iconography too which should make it a bit clearer what action needs to be completed.

A helpful quality of life update with object interactions is also part of the update, with certain objects now having more options to interact with to stop any potential nuisance with completing certain tasks. Sometimes, objects would be a little picky with how you use them but this is being improved to make things easier for all players.

Various visual upgrades have also been made, with improved clarity for collectables and to make goals and objectives of card collecting much clearer. 

Lastly, inclusivity is an important factor in Owlchemy’s mantra and they are showing this by adding 2 important things: More languages for localized descriptions of assignments, including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. These will change automatically depending on which language you’re playing the game in so you will get the correct language to match that which you’re playing in. 

The speech trays that come out of the mouths of talking characters will now show their name and pronouns. The pronouns will also be shown on their pictures, which Owlchemy have done to show that they want to make an “inclusive universe where everyone should feel comfortable and welcome.” 

For more information about Owlchemy Labs and their games, be sure to visit their website. Engage with Owlchemy Labs on Youtube, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. You can find more games from Owlchemy Labs to purchase or wishlist at their Steam Developer Page.

This is partner content produced in conjunction with Owlchemy Labs as part of UploadVR’s Showcase.

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