Using a compatible eye gaze camera, Othello on eyegazegames.com can be played using eye movement alone. The game is available for free to play in a browser on the website. The aim of Othello is to place your pieces on either side of your opponent’s pieces to change them to yours. The player who holds the majority of the board in their colour at the end, wins. The rules can be found on the How to Play page.
Depending on your camera and the software you use with it, Othello has various controls and settings to enable you to customise it for you and how you use eye gaze. In this video we will look at what some of these options are and also show some of the options for other input devices, such as switch access.
Classic/Precise Eye Gaze Controls:
Like the other games on the site, Othello has two control modes – Classic or Precise. With Classic mode, you use the large buttons on the left of the screen during gameplay to make your moves. First, survey the board to choose where you would like to move. Once you have decided on a square to place your piece, select the Cycle arrow to first select the quarter of the board that your square is within. Once highlighted, use the Play arrow icon to select it. Then use the Cycle arrow icon again to choose the square you want to place your piece within. Once highlighted, select the Play arrow icon to place it.
In Precise mode you can directly select the squares on the board.
Eye Gaze Dwell Options:
For both Classic and Precise control modes, you can choose to use the website’s built-in Dwell option [‘Dwell Click On.mp4’]. Using the website’s inbuilt Dwell can be useful for some to help with accuracy as it is centralised on the button you are selecting and so can help to keep your eye in the centre of the buttons and reduce drift when trying to select it.
To use the inbuilt Dwell, you will need to turn off any other left click option your eye gaze camera’s software uses, so as not to conflict with it. If you are using a style of eye gaze interaction where you do not have constant control of the mouse cursor’s position on the screen, and instead move it from one position to another in stages, you will likely need to keep using your own left click, rather than use the website’s inbuilt Dwell option. However, if you use eye gaze to control the mouse cursor with constant control of its position, you may be able to use it with the website’s inbuilt Dwell option.
If using eyegazegames.com’s inbuilt Dwell option, you also have additional options. These allow you to change the animation between a Shrink or a Pie, change the Dwell time, and also to allow Repeating mode or not. Allowing Repeating mode means that you can keep selecting a button without moving off it, whilst keeping it Off means that you will have to look off the button and back to it, to select it again.
Other Input Devices – Controls/Options:
In addition to eye gaze, these options may also be compatible with other forms of mouse control, such as a standard mouse, a head mouse, a joystick mouse, and other assistive mice.
Othello is also compatible to play with switch access, gamepad, keyboard, or touch. If using switch access, the following options are available.
You can choose either 1 switch or 2 switch controls. If using 1 switch, you can choose the switch scan time for the auto scan. For both 1 and 2 switch modes, you can customise the keyboard inputs used for your switch input, to suit the switch interface you use..
If using 1 switch you press your switch to start a scan cycle through the four quarters of the board. It will scan each quarter that has one or more squares you could choose to place a piece in and also other onscreen buttons you may wish to select. Press your switch again to select the quarter of the board you wish to place your piece. Then, within the selected quarter, press your switch to scan through the available squares and press it again to select it and place your piece there.
For 2 switch controls, you manually press your second switch to do the scan cycle, instead.
Other games on the site have similar choices for controls and options to customise them. Play them for free at eyegazegames.com.
Othello is a new game on SpecialEffect’s website, eyegazegames.com. The site has a range of games you play in a browser that are created to be played using eye movement alone with an eye gaze camera. Other controls, such as touch, 1 or 2 switches, keyboard, gamepad, mouse, and assistive mice are also compatible.
In this video, we take a look at the controls used to play Othello and some of the options that can be used to customise these.
Information on the other games can be found on the GameAccess site using the Eye Gaze tag. Othello and other games can be played for free at https://eyegazegames.com/
Video by Cara Jessop
Music: Call It – Instrumental Version by dazeychain, from artlist.io.
Developer Resource:
For more video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their games, please visit https://specialeffectdevkit.info/
