Halo Infinite | Motor Accessibility video

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Halo Infinite is a first-person shooter developed  by 343 Industries, and is available to play on Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles and PC. The game is a single-player campaign with co-op to be added to the campaign at a later date and also consists of a range of free-to-play multiplayer modes. As well as being a first-person shooter with multiple weapons to use when on foot,  there are various vehicles which you can  control from a third-person viewpoint and a variety of different in-game settings that may make Halo Infinite more accessible. There are also several modes which can be both fun to play and useful for practising or for trying control settings. In this video we’ll have a look at the motor accessibility of the game through the controller settings and also some of these game modes. Whilst mouse and keyboard are available on each  platform we’ll be looking at controller settings.  The equivalent setting is often available for mouse and keyboard too, however. All footage is captured on an Xbox Series S.

The controller settings can either be accessed via the Main Menu or by pausing the game at any time.  Pause the game by pressing the Menu button and then go to Settings. Controller Settings are then the first available option. As well as the Default Layout there are five  alternative layouts that gamers can choose from.  These are Legacy, Bumper Jumper, Recon,  Button Puncher and Hell Puncher. Alternatively you can create a Custom  Layout by remapping button presses.  We will cover button remapping a bit later on in the video. There are four different thumbstick layouts. These are Default, Legacy, Southpaw and Legacy Southpaw.

It is possible to Invert Look for  both horizontal or vertical directions and you can also Invert the camera when in flight.

You can toggle the controls for Crouch, Zoom and  Sprint. This means that you can tap the button to start the action and tap it again to stop,  rather than needing to hold the button down.  Crouch and Sprint are toggled by default but Zoom is set to Hold.

By default, driving vehicles in Halo Infinite  requires the use of both analog sticks, by pushing up and down on the Left Stick to accelerate and brake and reverse,  and the Right Stick is used left and right for steering.  With Movement Assisted Steering switched On, you can now use Left Stick left and right to help with steering, in addition to steering with  the Right Stick. It is set to Off by default.

With Maintain Sprint switched Off you will stop  sprinting after certain actions such as jumping.  With it switched on you will continue to sprint after those actions which  means you would not need to press the  Sprint button again. It is on by default.

With Auto Clamper set to On, if you jump near a ledge you do not need to press Jump again to climb onto the ledge. This is also on by default.

By default your in-game jump can be quite high  which is helpful when trying to jump onto higher ledges, but can also make it difficult when  trying to accurately jump to lower heights.  Having Step Jump switched on reduces the  jump height when jumping to lower ledges  meaning it can be easier to accurately reach them. It is set to On by default.

There are a range of Sensitivity, Acceleration and Deadzone settings that may be useful for players. To find the best combination for you it would be best to try experimenting with the different options. Adjusting these may mean that less or more movement of the analog sticks is needed. Look Acceleration allows you to set the  acceleration for the Look thumbstick.  You can set the Look Sensitivity for both horizontal and vertical directions. Holding down Left Trigger in Halo Infinite will cause you to aim down sights and to some extent zoom in depending on which gun you are using at the time. It is possible to change the sensitivity for each of the different zoom levels separately so the sensitivity of an assault rifle could be different than the sensitivity of a sniper rifle when aiming down sights, for example. First select the Zoom Level that you wish to adjust. Now go down to Zoom Sensitivity and adjust how sensitive you want that specific zoom level to be. This will only change the sensitivity of weapons that use that specific zoom level. The Center Deadzone setting allows you to set  how far the Move or Look thumbstick is from the centre before the minimum input registers, with lower values feeling more responsive. The Max Input Threshold setting allows you to set how far from the edge the  Move or Look thumbstick needs to be before the maximum input is registered. The Axial Deadzone setting allows you to change  how far the Move or Look thumbstick is from the X or Y axis before the minimum input registers. The  lower the value the more responsive it will feel.

You can remap your controller by scrolling down to On Foot and selecting which control you would like to remap.  First select the button you would like to remap and press A. Now press the button you would like to remap it to. You may get a warning letting you know that you are now unbinding that button from another action. Press A to continue. You can remap most of the buttons on the Xbox controller but you cannot remap button presses to joystick directions or vice versa.

We will now have a look at some of the  different modes available. The Campaign Mode specifically has several difficulty settings which can make the game more or less challenging. Difficulty can be selected when starting a new campaign or if you want to change it mid-game, go to End Game and then from the Main Menu choose Load Game and choose one of the options:  Easy, Normal, Heroic or Legendary. There are also several different modes that can be both fun to play and also useful for practice for players trying new settings or those who want to progress to playing competitive multiplayer matches online. Bot Bootcamp can be selected from the Multiplayer Menu and is a multiplayer match where four people online can cooperatively play  a variety of different match types versus bots.  Within the Academy Menu players can select a tutorial which is described as basic training, running through the controls and learning how to play the game. There is also the option to participate in weapon drills. One of the guns featured in the game can be selected and there are three different drills for each gun. The first drill has you shooting your chosen weapon at stationary bots for a specific period of time to see how many points you can get. In the second drill the bots are moving which creates more of a challenge and in the third drill the bots are moving but will also try and take cover. To play a game versus bots in Training Mode, first you have to select a map or you can choose to play on the pre-selected map. Once the match has started, pause the game and  you will see multiple options that you can select. You can choose different primary weapons secondary  weapons and two different types of grenade. You can also select different types of  equipment such as swapping out the Grappleshot (or grappling hook) for a Threat Sensor  that highlights enemies if they’re within range. You can also select how many Friendly Bots from 0 – 3 and how many Enemy Bots from 0 – 4 and there  are also four levels of Bot Difficulty. It is possible to have Reveal Enemy Location set to Default or to Always On, potentially making it easier to find enemies on the map. Switching Playfighting On means  that Enemy Bots will not fight back. Switching on Infinite Ammo means that you will not run out of ammunition for any of the weapons that you are using. You will still need to reload  but can do so an unlimited number of times. The Deathless setting makes you invincible when switched On. Although the mode can help as a way to create training matches, it can also be  a fun way to experience the game with no pressure to progress to playing online versus other players. Within Custom Game you can create your own multiplayer matches which you can play online versus other players or offline versus bots. Although it doesn’t have the same number of settings as Training Mode and as such may not be as accessible for all players, it does allow you to replicate the type of matches you’ll be playing if you then choose to go online.

We hope that this post has been helpful. If you would like any help with video game accessibility, please contact SpecialEffect.

Halo Infinite [PEGI 16] is a first-person shooter developed by 343 Industries, and is available to play on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. In this video we will have a look at the motor accessibility of the game through the controller settings and also some of the available game modes. All footage is captured on an Xbox Series S.

Timestamps: 

0:00 Intro 

01:14 Controller Settings 

02:14 Movement & Aiming 

04:12 Sensitivity & Acceleration 

06:05 Controller Remapping 

06:42 Game Modes 

10.24 Outro

More posts on accessibility features in games can be found on our site using the Accessibility Feature tag.

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Video by: Cara Jessop

Music: Quiet Pull by Tamuz Dekel, from artlist.io.

Developer Resource:

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For more video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their games, please visit https://specialeffectdevkit.info/