Thread on one-handed gaming

[Andytizer 269]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/ ... ded_gamer/

 

Hey guys,

 

My Brother-in-Law and sister love playing Wii games together. Generally, she'll sit there and play, while he'll watch - he lost his right arm in an accident about 10 years ago and can't play (most) games. I got them a copy of Donkey Kong Country for Christmas this year, expecting that, as usual, she'd play. Little did I know that apparently my brother-in-law is a HUGE DKC fan. He spent probably an hour fiddling with the game in an attempt to play, but no dice :(

 

I felt pretty bad :( I looked around on the internet for awhile to see if I could find a one-handed adapters - those that were created seem to have been most popular a few years ago, and are now lost to the sands of time. I'm now wondering if I can make one myself. I vaguely remember having soldered something at some point in my life :P

 

Anyhow, and leads or advice anyone could provide would be amazing. Hate to see a brother locked out of his fav game like that.

 

Merry Christmas, Reddit Games!

 

TLDR; Brother-IL wants to play DKC Wii, can't because only one arm. Any advice?

 

EDIT: Said 20 years ago, meant 10 :P

 

EDIT2: Have contacted a hardware modder. We'll see what happens when I hear back from him.

 

EDIT 3: in response to everyone suggesting PC games (LOL, TFT, etc)... Thank you so much, but he's not into that stuff. Imagine him as your girlfriend who LOVES Angry Birds...but only Angry Birds. Except for him, it's DKC. DKC is his thing, and I intend to make it happen. Hopefully with a minimum of pomp and circumstance st the he feels his handicapped as little as possible ;)

 

EDIT 4: OK impressed and thrilled at the responses so far, thanks r/games. I'm pursuing a couple of leads, but nothing solid thus far. I'll keep you guys updated!

 

Anyone had any experience with one-handed gaming, or disabled gaming?

[Pendragon 6]

Interesting topic...not one I thought about much. I was reading a discussion elsewhere on left-handed gaming (which was interesting, because I am left-handed). Even with that one small issue, games are designed for right-handed, able-bodied people. One-handed gaming is a strange subject, as most games are designed for two hands. Even if you don't realize it.

 

If a game allows for custom keys, then it's possible to play it one-handed. Also if a game allows a joystick for control, it could be done. Sadly, most games these days use a lot of buttons, and you often have to press them simultaneously while moving, which makes one-handed gaming very hard.

 

Does make me think of an article I read once as a kid about a man who learned how to play Nintendo with his toes, after having an arm amputated. So it's possible, but very difficult. I know in my old line of work, we helped disabled people with a variety of tools, sometimes invented on the spot. It's amazing what innovations you can come up with to overcome disabilities...there is no reason you can't have a working controller for one-handed gamers. I just don't know of anyone who does it, since there's not a huge market.

 

So, if you are going to make or modify an controller, you'll need to think about what you're replacing the movement with. What do you want the hand to do, and what will do the other job? If it's Donkey Kong Country, and the commands are like the old SNES version (I'm not a Wii gamer, so I don't know if this is a rerelease or a remake, or a new game), there's only movement and three commands. Jumping is the only really sensitive command. So the hand could handle movement and the buttons easily enough. (Two buttons the fingers can press, a joystick, and the joystick doubling as a button). It can be done, you just have to be creative.

[Andytizer 269]

Thanks for input. I'll be continuing my research for a feature here: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=162

[Wastedexistence 0]

I've recently been playing don't starve, it's essentially a point and click game but it's really good and I've played ~30 hours so far. Really frustrating too but I get a bit better everytime. I play one handed slouched in my chair!

http://www.dontstarvegame.com/ and http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dont-starve hope this helps!

[Mestaris 2]

I don't know of a place that would sell them... But the internet is a treasure trove of items if you can find the right place.

[Andytizer 269]

Thanks for everyone's input :). I actually was commissioned by PC Gamer to write a piece on SpecialEffect (a UK charity for gamers who are disabled) and have submitted it, will post up a link when it's ready.

[Andytizer 269]

Here's the print version I ended up writing for PC Gamer:

 

Web version: http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/08/specialeffect/