Log
Throughout my career I have been a passionate advocate for games, accessibility, inclusivity and education. Below is a log of publications, interviews, talks and panels I’ve been a part of.
Accessibility Now
Interviewee
MCV Develop, May 2024
Article edited by Richie Shoemaker.
I was asked to be part of a panel of accessibility experts answering questions on the state of accessibility in gaming. This feature took up 13 pages and was the cover story for the issue, featuring experts Ian Hamilton, Stacey Jenkins, Laura Kate Dale and SightlessKombat.
Guide Dogs UK 250 Stream (GAAD)
Guest
Guide Dogs UK, May 2024
I was invited to guest alongside The Wobbly Gamer for a special Global Accessibility Awareness Day stream with Guide Dogs UK. Our section of the stream highlighted Blind Bake, and had Wobbles guiding our host - Alex - through the perils of the bakery levels through audio alone.
How accessible are game engines?
Interviewee
GI.biz, April 2024
Article by Chris Sutcliffe.
There has been been significant investment in adaptable controllers, awareness campaigns, and more, but how accessible is the tech behind the games themselves?
I was asked to weigh in with thoughts on game engines and their accessibility.
Baking Audio Navigation into Level Design
Speaker
GAConf, April 2024
Cari & Scott Simpson cut into the layers of Blind Bake, a dough-lightful puzzle game where one player takes on the role of a blind croissant, while another deploys chorusing confections to guide the way! This experimental game, cooked up at the Global Game Jam, serves to teach effective audio navigation through 3D levels. In this talk we’ll roll out the core gameplay, exploring the ingredients that make effective audio navigation, sprinkled with developer insights and feedback from gamers without sight.
Weaving Accessibility into Workflows
Speaker
GAConf, April 2024
Accessibility helps more people play our games, but it also takes an army! So how can you take your passion, and train people across disciplines to make more inclusive choices?
Inspired by Xbox’s Inclusive Design Sprints, this talk covers the creation and content of Inclusive Design Workshops I developed for Rebellion, covering feedback, development, result and impacts.
IGDA x ReadSpeaker Accessibility Stream
Guest
IDGA, February 2024
IGDA and Readspeaker invited me to showcase Blind Bake, a Global Game Jam creation that utilised ReadSpeaker to create a cooperative experience where one player guides another through audio beacons. During this livestream it was announced that Blind Bake had won the accessibility award for Global Game Jam 2024.
More here: IGDA x ReadSpeaker Livestream Snippet
Accessibility in Gaming
Interviewee
BBC Newsbeat, December 2023
Article & Piece by Andrew Rogers and Tom Richardson.
An interview that was written and also published on BBC Newsbeat about accessibility in gaming, with myself and SightlessKombat.
This is one of my interviews, as Andrew and Tom were really interested in the topic and spent a lot of time capturing the experiences of myself and Sightless.
Accessibility at Rebellion: Including Everyone
Moderator & Panellist
EGX, October 2024
I moderated a panel on accessibility at Rebellion at EGX 2023 which delved into advocacy, learning, and the collective mission to shatter barriers so that every gamer can find their place within the gaming community.
The panel featured The Wobbly Gamer and Little MoTAC, who joined forces with Rebellion developers Adriaan Scheepers (UI) and Edd Waterhouse-Biggins (Design).
RNIB VI Gaming Webinar Tabletop Games
Panellist
September 2023
This webinar discusses visual accessibility in tabletop roleplaying games including topics like the challenges of running games as a person with a vision impairment, playing online vs. in-person, and dice; contrast, tactility and size.
Accessibility in Gaming
Interviewee
Sky News, September 2023
Article & Piece by Rachel Venables.
A news piece focusing on accessibility in gaming, featuring interview and insights from Mollie Evans, SpecialEffect, Xbox and Rebellion.
Customisation & Accessibility in Joyride
Author
Joyride Kickstarter, August 2023
I wrote an accessibility update for Rebellion Unplugged’s board game kickstarter, Joyride. The update focuses on the games key accessibility features like the modularity of the components and our choice to include High Contrast versions of assets where art would have previously been repeated - being as efficient as we can with the assets we have.
Sniper Elite 5 Motor Accessibility Review
Review
Rebellion, August 2023
Review & Presentation by Antonio Martinez.
This isn’t something I created, but it’s one of the things I’m most proud of! I commissioned this review as an internal learning talk for Global Accessibility Awareness Day at Rebellion, and decided to share it publicly to help other developers learn from the incredible insights that Antonio provided. I’m so proud that we published this publicly and hope that it inspires more studios to do the same!
Accessibility in Tabletop Games
Moderator & Panellist
UKGE, June 2023
Recording/Transcript In Progress
While we’ve seen the explosion of accessibility in video games such as The Last of Us, how can we make tabletop games more accessible?
This panel discusses tabletop games with accessibility specialists and tabletop game developers, covering the many ways to enhance accessibility of tabletop games, from the way they are played at the gaming table to their core design. Anyone who plays games or designs them will learn how to be more inclusive for their players.
Can Everyone Play?
Co-Host
Rebellion, May 2023
A deep dive into some of Rebellion’s accessibility initiatives over the past year, discussing the good, the bad and the ugly so we can all reflect and learn. Offering advice and support for other studios trying to aim for a more accessible future.
Story x Story Podcast:
Cari Watterton
Interviewee
Mayamada, May 2023
Senior Accessibility Designer, Cari Watterton, talks to Nigel Twumasi of Story x Story to unpack the story of her journey from a young aspiring actor to a career making video games accessible for more people. They discuss the process of designing games to be more accessible and challenge assumptions about including accessibility as they look at popular examples in modern day games.
Project Black Kat:
A Sightless Stealth System
Speaker
GAConf EU, April 2023
Cari Watterton and SightlessKombat present Project Black Kat, a fully accessible prototype gameplay experience for blind/low vision players. This talk will showcase Project Black Kat, detailing its origin, purpose and goals, documenting its ongoing development process; focusing on the challenges overcome and successes achieved. Our goal is to share our findings for you to demystify BLV accessibility at your studio and inspire you to start your own prototypes.
Implementing Accessibility Across a Studio: Year One
Speaker
GDC, March 2023
Rebellion took a step forward in accessibility when it became one of the first UK studios to hire a dedicated, in-house accessibility specialist. This talk looks at the evolution of Rebellion's accessibility initiative over the past year, covering education, practices, and advocacy. Cari Watterton, Senior Designer of Accessibility at Rebellion, will also provide practical examples from the past year, and the impact on the studio and the content it creates.
Making Games Accessible
Panellist
Evolution Gaming, February 2023
In this episode, we explore the importance of creating games that are accessible to people with disabilities and discuss some of the key strategies that game developers can use to make their games more inclusive.
Leveraging Text to Speech as a Game Dev
Panellist
IDGA, December 2022
In this IGDA webinar, three game devs will champion their use case of text to speech (TTS) in their games. Namely: Accessibility, Character Voices, and Prototyping. With dynamic runtime TTS embedded in a game project, game devs can harness that power of voice in their games and utilize it in many creative ways. Learn more from Jamin, Cari, and Conor about how they used this dynamic solution to elevate their games and processes.
How Indie Studios are Pioneering Accessible Game Design
Interviewee
Wired, December 2022
Article by Grant Stoner.
This article focuses on how independent games studios are championing accessibility. I was interviewed to give my thoughts on indie game dev development and how Rebellion handles accessibility to build more accessible games that more people can play.
Accessibility in Adventure Presents
Author
Tiny in the Tower Kickstarter, December 2022
Accessibility update I wrote for the Adventure Presents: Tiny in the Tower kickstarter.
Adventure Presents is a TTRPG system designed by Rebellion Unplugged. It’s low-complexity, making it very approachable, and this update focuses on those key areas and the plans for easy read and screen reader accessible versions of the booklets.
Accessibility and Games
Panellist
EGX, September 2022
No recording/transcript available.
Games should be for everyone, and there have been incredible strides forward in accessibility over the past few years which have allowed more games to be played by more people. This panel will discuss accessibility with a range of panellists from across game development and research. Highlighting the role that players play in accessibility and touch on the wider benefits for all users, as well as insights on creating more inclusive game experiences.
A beginner's guide to making your game accessible
Article
GI.biz, July 2022
Article written by Marie Dealessandri
Rebellion's Cari Watterton offered Develop:Brighton attendees advice on getting started with accessibility and user testing.
Accessible Accessibility
Speaker
Develop: Brighton, July 2022
Not available publicly.
Accessibility can be intimidating at first glance – but whatever stage of development you’re at, this compact talk aims to give you places to start. We will start by defining what accessibility in games is and it's importance before covering where to begin with accessibility features, testing methods and building a culture of inclusivity across your studio. From her experience working in indie start-ups to large scale game development teams, Cari presents an approachable process for getting started with accessibility.
Interview with Cari Watterton
Interviewee
Game Accessibility Nexus, June 2022
I had the honour of being interviewed by Antonio Martinez, editor in chief of the Game Accessibility Nexus, about my new role as accessibility designer and the upcoming accessibility features of Sniper Elite 5. This article touched on the importance and responsibilities of a dedicated accessibility designer - it being one of the first roles in a UK games studio.
Scoping Out the Accessibility Features of Sniper Elite 5
Author
Xbox Wire, May 2022
I wrote this article for Xbox Wire to go live around Global Accessibility Awareness Day and ahead of the launch of Sniper Elite 5.
The article covers the accessibility features and settings available in the game, describing the efforts the team went to to ensure that anyone can be an elite!
An Indie Approach to Accessibility
Speaker
GAConf EU, April 2022
This talk tells the story of how Skye Tales went from 0 to 40+ accessibility features over the course of 4 months; what else could we have done if we considered accessibility earlier? We’ll show what worked and what didn’t, and how successful we were in the end, giving indie developers examples to learn from in their own accessibility journey.
Doing More With Less
Panellist
Games UX Summit, December 2021
How to integrate UX methodologies into your development process, as an indie dev! Moderated by Coraly Rosario. Panelists: Anthony Nicolosi, Elaine Gomez, Gabriel Gutierrez, Cari Watterton.
Skye Tales: Creating a UI that couldn't be happier to see you
Speaker
Develop: Brighton, July 2021
Not available publicly.
The brief for Skye Tales was to create a user interface for a game that didn’t want a user interface. Join Cari as she discusses the process of UI / UX development and explores how the team tackled creating an interface that felt more like another part of the world than a menu.
10 Reasons Why You Should Make a Board Game at Your Next Game Jam
Speaker
IDGA Micro Talks in May, May 2021
10 Reasons why you should make a board game at your name game jam is a micro talk from SGDA Micro Talks in May. This talk is exactly what it sounds like on the tin, advising developers and students about the benefits of thinking inside the (game) box!
Successful Crowdfunding: A Kickstarter Post-Mortem
Speaker
Develop: Brighton, July 2019
Not available publicly.
This talk examines the Kickstarter campaign that I ran for my honours project in university; Flutterby. The Kickstarter, although small, was successfully funded by over 200% which allowed me to produce and distribute origami kits from my project worldwide.