Ubisoft launches Chroma, a free tool to make games accessible for the visually impaired

Ubisoft has announced the public launch of its internal tool Chroma, designed to help developers create video games that are accessible to people with visual impairments. After several years of successful internal use and continuous improvement, this valuable tool is now available to anyone looking to make their games more inclusive.

Here's What We Know

Chroma allows developers to recreate the visual experience of players with colour blindness in real time, directly during gameplay. The tool applies a special filter to the screen that does not affect the performance of the game. According to the statistics of the non-profit organisation Colour Blind Awareness, one in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (0.5%) suffer from colour blindness, making it one of the most common disabilities.

The main advantage of Chroma is that developers can observe the game in real time from the point of view of a player with colour blindness. This is significantly different from other tools that require viewing static screenshots or running the game in a special configuration. Chroma can be used on one or two screens, supports hotkeys, and has a customisable overlay.

"Over the past few years, Chroma has proven to be a highly effective tool for us at Ubisoft," said David Tisserand, Ubisoft's Director of Accessibility. "It has allowed us to evaluate the accessibility of our games for players with colour blindness much faster and more comprehensively than ever before. Because we believe that accessibility is a journey, not a race, we are excited to share Chroma with the entire industry. We invite everyone to use it, provide feedback, and contribute to its further development."

Chroma was developed by Ubisoft's Quality Assurance team in India to provide real-time feedback to developers as they work on their game. Developers interested in downloading and using Chroma can find it on the Github page.

Source: Github