User-interface design is a tricky part of game development. You have to find the right balance between usability and attractive aesthetic choices. This is only taking an "average" gamer into account, but there are many different types of gamers with larger hurdles to overcome than that which any game presents.
Legend of Grimrock developer Petri Häkkinen received an interesting comment after showing off the newest additions to the game's user interface. Commenter HarpoonIPA wrote, "I'm disabled and use a mouth stick for typing, I always used the mouse in [Dungeon Master] just easier for me, but I will learn to play you're way." How did the Petri and Almost Human Ltd. respond? Why, by simply redesigning the user interface to accommodate larger keys for player movement and item usage.
By taking the time to listen to their fans, they have not only made their game more accessible for a multitude of newer players but have also shined a lesser-talked-about area of design. Judging by the time it took Petri to create and implement those UI changes as a small indie developer, it also shows the big boys how quick and simple it can really be if you take a few moments to consider more than just the "average" gamer. It's stories like these that make me really appreciate indie gaming and the strong connection that it can create to its fan base.
Gaming vs Disability - an immediate and awesome reaction... [Reddit -- Thanks, J.]
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Contest:
6:00 PM on 01.27.2012 | 
It also becomes more about the money, and how "time efficient" things become. This isnt something related to the game industry, but business as a whole. Its a shame because you like to see the little guys get bigger then getting bigger results in them losing the things that made you like them.
Fucking society. /rant
This shits always nice to see, reminds me of how a Splash Damage dev helped players on the Steam forums crack controller support into the PC version of Brink because there were a number of people(that dev himself included) with disabilities needing to use controllers.
Well actually I won't really, I'm more disappointed in the likes of jeff Keighley who seemingly never bring up such an important issue.
These guys are a class act, but I wish it was the norm.
I can't wait to purchase the game.
I have been SUPER excited for Grimrock, but to know just how damn cool the devs are? Man. That's some nifty stuff right there.
Cheers to that.
Mind, they'd already botched color assist mode, so maybe they were gun shy. While color assist was meant for helping color blind players, others quickly found that the devs had mistakenly made stealth bombers easily visible on radar when color assist was on. (They are intentionally nearly impossible to see on regular settings.)