GDC 2025 Session Viewer

During the prototyping of 'Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown,' one genre became evident when modernizing the gameplay: the metroidvania. However, this type of game is not known for being the most accessible. The team aimed to create a challenging game while opening it to as many players as possible. The question of accessibility and its impact on difficulty arose early on, but there were a lot of challenges for the team, which was smaller than a usual AAA production.

In this talk, Rémi Boutin presents the philosophy and solutions used to achieve the team's vision. He will detail how accessibility can be a strength for discovering innovative core concepts, how to provide a challenging game with a deep combat system while making it accessible, and how to plan and develop accessibility without a dedicated team.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn how considering accessibility early on not only opens the game to more players but also enhances its quality and fosters innovative concepts. We'll also present how accessibility allows designers to create a more challenging game if it suits their vision. Additionally, we'll discuss organization and production, highlighting how involving every developer, rather than having a dedicated team, can lead to more polish and extra detail.

Intended Audience

This talk is for designers seeking solutions to offer a challenging experience while opening their game to more player. It is also intended for producers and anyone involved in production, as it will cover the holistic approach to our accessibility development. No prerequisite are necessary to understand the content of the session..