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View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by day, pass type, topic, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view GDC 2023 session details and speakers, and share your favorites via social media. You will be able to build your schedule and access it during the show via export or Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.

It Takes A Village: Building a Gaming and Disability Program

Tara Voelker  (Senior Accessibility Lead, Xbox Game Studios)

Brannon Zahand  (Senior Gaming Accessibility Program Manager, Microsoft)

Location: Room 301, South Hall

Date: Wednesday, March 22

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass

Topic: Advocacy, Production & Team Leadership

Format: Lecture

Vault Recording: Video

Audience Level: All

Creating an accessible product can't be done by one person, it takes a village.

In this talk, Tara Voelker and Brannon Zahand will describe how Xbox Game Studios runs their accessibility team, the different roles that partner to support Xbox Game Studios, and the importance of inclusion of disabled gamers during the process. They'll also go through a variety of platform-agnostic accessibility resources offered by Microsoft and others, explaining how and when to utilize each in your game development lifecycle.

They will also go into best practices on engaging the Gaming & Disability Community, as well as how to turn accessibility-related information about your own products into fantastic resources for gamers with disabilities and others.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn how program managers, designers, user researchers, and quality assurance are all crucial to creating accessible experiences, and know how to leverage these roles in an accessibility program. They will also learn strategies for utilizing platform-agnostic accessibility resources, and best practices for engaging the Gaming & Disability Community.

Intended Audience

This is for game designers, engineers, producers, testers, and release managers. No prior knowledge of game accessibility is required.