GDC 2025 Session Viewer
UX Summit: VR Is For Everyone: Designing Comfortable Virtual Reality
Tabby Rose (UX Director, Mighty Yell Studios)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Design
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Virtual reality games, especially when working with a limited budget or team size, are more greatly impacted by barriers to play than regular games. Simply playing a VR game is hindered by a lot of factors: wearing a headset, needing to physically move around, or feeling motion sick. Although players often express this as discomfort, in reality these are accessibility issues, and addressing low mobility, vision loss, hearing loss, and attentional difficulty provides a better experience for every player. This presentation will explore a range of barriers to play that are unique to VR and how they were addressed for the VR title A Knight in the Attic.
Takeaway
Attendees will learn how to identify, prioritize, and address VR accessibility and comfort challenges. They will explore a range of accessibility considerations and through examples, will see how even teams with limited budgets can apply and innovate on accessibility in VR game development.
Intended Audience
This session is for UX and UI designers working in VR who wanting to make their games accessible and comfortable to play on a small-to-medium budget. Game designers and producers will also benefit, but the concepts discussed are applicable to any developer, especially those just starting out.
