Ubisoft has made its colourblind simulation tool available for public use, in a move to improve accessibility efforts.
Chroma, as the tool is called, allows developers to replicate the experience of colourblindness by applying a filter over the game screen in real-time without impacting performance.
Now it’s been made open source on github, so other developers can easily check how their games may be viewed differently.
An estimated 300 million people globally are affected by colourblindness, but not all games include accessibility options to alter colour schemes accordingly.
Development on the tool began in 2021 by Ubisoft’s Quality Control team. Since then, Chroma has been improved to use the Color Oracle algorithm to accurately simulate different types of colourblindness. It can also be used on single or dual screens, and has a customisable overlay.
“Over the past few years, Chroma has proven to be a highly efficient tool for us at Ubisoft,” said David Tisserand, Ubisoft’s director of accessibility. “It has allowed us to assess the accessibility of our games for colourblind players much faster and more comprehensively than ever before. Because we believe accessibility is a journey, not a race, we’re thrilled to share Chroma with the entire industry. We invite everyone to benefit from it, provide feedback, and contribute to its future development.”
“Chroma was created with a clear purpose – making colourblindness accessibility a natural part of the creative and testing process,” added Jawad Shakil, QC product manager. “The team faced and overcame significant challenges while building it, but through close collaboration with accessibility experts and by refining the tool based on feedback, they created a solution that eliminated lag and inaccuracies, making accessibility testing efficient and smooth. Chroma is a testament to the team’s innovation and dedication; their work is already making a difference in how we design games with accessibility in mind. Open-sourcing Chroma is a proud step forward, allowing everyone to benefit from this innovation.”
Ubisoft is still navigating the impacts of a turbulent period, after it recently announced a new subsidiary with a €1.16bn investment from Tencent that will own and work on its key franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry.
Ubisoft has also been embroiled in a lawsuit with players of its racing game The Crew, which was taken offline in March last year. The company stated players purchased a “limited license to access the game” as opposed to “unfettered ownership”, in a worrying move for game preservation.
For more on accessibility, Eurogamer recently spoke with Thumb Soldiers, a small company aiming to disrupt the adaptive controller scene by empowering players to modify their own controllers.