UI Struggles, Second Screens & Accessibility – Dev Update for Gaia

Hey everyone, Quick update from the Gaia development front — and a heartfelt thank-you as well! [h2]A Second Screen (and a Generous Colleague)[/h2] I recently got a huge upgrade to my dev setup: a second monitor, thanks to the incredible generosity of one of my colleagues. It may sound small, but for a solo dev working on a game that’s deeply focused on accessibility, it’s a game-changer. I can now work with the Unity editor on one screen while testing the game fullscreen on the other. It's massively improved my workflow — and made it much easier to focus on something I’ve been struggling with for a while: [h2]UI Is Hard — Especially When It Needs to Work for Everyone[/h2] I’ve always known that UI design is tricky. But designing a user interface that works not just for sighted players, but also for players who are blind or have limited vision, is a whole different challenge. Menus need to be fully keyboard-navigable. Focus needs to be clearly handled. Input has to be intuitive with a screen reader. And in a world where most games rely heavily on visual feedback, that’s… not easy. Unity doesn’t always play nice with accessibility needs out of the box, so I’m working on: Making all menus and buttons navigable via keyboard or controller Giving audio feedback for every UI action Planning to implement narrated menus for players using screen readers It’s far from finished, but we’re making steady progress. [h2]What's Next[/h2] Next, I’ll be tackling dropdowns, sliders, and other complex UI elements, making sure they’re usable without a mouse. It’s a big step forward in making Gaia one of the most accessible 2D platformers ever created. [h2]Thank You[/h2] Thanks again to everyone following the journey of Gaia. Whether you’re here for the story, the accessibility focus, or just to see what’s possible in a solo dev game — I appreciate you. If you have feedback, accessibility tips, or tools you love, I’m all ears. Stay kind, — Max (Dragonspirit Games) P.S. Next time I will try to add some images to this, for now enjoy this (slightly older) look at prototype [previewyoutube=1IffJ0JLj7E;full][/previewyoutube]