Sky’s the Limit: New Game Design Minor Teaches Accessibility 

A set of headphones rested on Dr. Sky LaRell Anderson’s head as he waited for guests at the Jon Henner Memorial Accessibility in Games Speaker Series to settle in their seats. The University of St. Thomas faculty member appeared remotely, from his Minnesota office adorned with framed college degrees and the glow of purple and blue lights on the wall behind him. 

An interactive Twitch livestream was an apropos way to present his topic on accessibility in video games. 

“A lot of the people were there because they love video games and a lot of them watch livestreams of video gameplay, so it was really fun to take that format that they’re really familiar with and use that visual medium to present research and present advocacy,” Anderson said. 

Anderson is a game studies researcher and educator of visual media theory, mass media and game design at the University of St. Thomas, where he is an associate professor for Digital Media Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences. He researches and publishes articles about disability and accessibility in games and games culture.  

“Games by their very nature are about ability, which really crashes into culturally grounded notions of disability,” Anderson said, adding that given people have varying abilities, it is important to explore what video games mean for people with disabilities.  

In 2022, Anderson created a game design minor at St. Thomas. The courses in the minor address critical ethical questions regarding identity representation, accessibility for people with disabilities, and making games more inclusive. 

After all, as he told the conference attendees, “When games are accessible, they are open to entirely new audiences.” Whereas “a lack of accessibility features can alienate players who otherwise would love your game.”

To Anderson, there is a “ground floor to accessibility” that game designers should consider while creating a video game: visual clarity, subtitles for all spoken languages, input remapping and adjustable difficulty. Solutions can also include vibration cues, speech-to-text options, audio descriptions for visual elements and sound and brightness adjustments.  

He wants people to know that accessibility is about intentionally creating an inclusive experience that takes into account a variety of people. This may include those with hearing, visual or speech impairments, as well as those with light and sound sensitivities, dexterity issues, cognitive disabilities, and even those who are color blind.  

He even teaches that it is important for game developers to include players with disabilities in the testing and feedback stages of game design. 

“I just want games to be more accessible to people. We can’t understand how they can be more accessible, especially for people with disabilities, but also for everyone, unless we investigate their relationship to disability,” he said. 

And that’s a core message he hopes to get across through the game design minor and the courses he teaches for it. 

“It’s important for us to address student interests, and we know that video games remain popular,” College of Arts and Sciences Dean Bill Tolman said. “The minor meets students where they are, and by designing the curriculum to help students think about possible applications of video games that serve the common good, we do this in way that aligns with the mission of St. Thomas.” 

Fourth-year student Chloe Petersen said, “I’ve always loved video games. I wanted to learn how to make them because it seems like something that felt really inaccessible for me as an English major.” As a student in one of the game design courses, she said, “It’s very hands on, learning through troubleshooting and figuring stuff out and just having the freedom of creation.” 

Although Anderson encourages his students to stray away from the exploitative game design field, he believes the media skills can be applicable outside of design. 

“I created the game design minor because I believe that St. Thomas can be the hub of game design in Minnesota, and I wanted to introduce students to virtual media, as well as the benefits of learning good interactive design principles to help them in their own careers, regardless of what it may be,” Anderson said. 

In the first game design class, students are taught a beginner game engine and make two full games. In the following class, students hone their skills in digital media production where they make more polished games that are published online. Students who complete this minor will leave St. Thomas with a portfolio of designed games that they can showcase in job interviews and graduate program applications.   

Reece Fish, a third-year student, is working on a group “surrealist RPG-esque game” titled “Forget Me Not.” In the game, the character experiences depersonalization-derealization disorder, a mental health condition that can leave one feeling disconnected from their body. The player will solve puzzles to find “pieces of yourself” while the game teaches grounding techniques to deal with depersonalization.  

“The goal of this game is to help others who suffer not only from depersonalization but from mental health in general,” Fish said. “I believe the tips and advice that we give through the course of the game would help with all sorts of conditions.”  

This is exactly the type of learning Anderson expects from his students. 

“Every single game that gets made in my classes has to either engage in a difficult social conversation, educate players about some critical topic, etc., or otherwise engage in the common good,” Anderson said. “These are not games made for entertainment exclusively, these are games to improve people’s lives.”  

In July, Anderson published Ability Machines: What Video Games Mean for Disability, a book based on his doctoral research about disability, mental illness and accessibility in video games. 

All of Anderson’s published works can be found on skylarell.net, along with his video games. Through his research and teachings, he stresses that it’s not enough to have one or two accessible features in a video game; it’s about creating an inclusive experience. And that’s his goal with his own games he creates. 

“I grew up loving video games. But really what drives my passion for games is the fact that I get to make them,” he said. 

Each game he designs reflects a part of his personal life, like “Lost Him,” which is a 60-second game based on his anxiety-filled experience of losing sight of his son at a playground, or “Not Alone,” a game based on the hypothetical concept of losing his wife.  

“Most of the games I make, I make because I’m trying to communicate something. I feel like there’s something I need to express,” Anderson said. “I really see them as art, like this is the art I’m putting out in the world because I’m thinking about something or engaging with something.” 

He is currently working on a game that involves jetpacks, photography and a wide personality of ghosts to educate others about the exposure triangle of photography.  

Yet some of his published works were made through participating in game jams with his classes, a weeklong project where St. Thomas students get to make a full game.  

"We must prioritize accessibility not just because it’s the right thing to do,” Anderson said, “but because it makes games better."