Snakes & Ladders is a new game on eyegazegames.com that can be played using eye movement alone with an eye gaze camera. Gameplay uses just one onscreen button to roll the dice. You can choose your character and compete with up to three other players locally, or against the computer.
Other input devices, such as touch, a switch (or switches), a keyboard, a gamepad, a mouse or an assistive mouse are also supported.
In this post, we will go through the options available to customise the controls for eye gaze players and introduce the options for other input devices.
Eye Gaze Settings
The game and website itself do not include eye control software, but offer options and controls to support its use within the site. You will need to use your eye control camera’s own software to control the mouse using eye movement or compatible software.
You can choose to use your own Left Click (such as a dwell or a blink etc available through your camera software) or the built-in dwell click on the site. This option works when using eye control software that gives you constant onscreen control of the mouse cursor position. It centralises the dwell animation on the onscreen buttons, which some may find helpful to focus their gaze.
To use this option, open the Settings cog from anywhere on the site and click on the Dwell Click slider. Please note the Settings menu may not be accessible to all input devices currently and a mouse and Left Click will be required. In this menu you can also choose your Dwell Click Time (how long you need to look at a button until it is selected) and also the Dwell Animation between either a shrinking dot or a pie.
Alternatively, other mouse control software compatible with your eye control camera can be used, such as those that do not give you contact control of the mouse cursor position. For example, the image below shows Tobii’s ‘Control’ software in ‘Advanced’ and ‘Continuous’ modes being used , whereby you look to the dice roll button, briefly dwell, then the mouse cursor moves there and you can look at the Left Click icon that appears, to click:
Counting Mode
On the Level Select page where you choose the appearance of your board background, you can select Counting Mode, which helps make the numbers more prominent. See below for a comparison.
Counting Mode off:
Counting Mode on:
Select Player Type
After choosing a level, the next choice you have is how many players will be in the game and whether those players are controlled by other players on your PC or by the computer AI (‘bots’).
To do this, select the onscreen button above each character’s head until it changes to the type you would like that character to be in your game. You can play with two to four players. Individual settings for each player cannot currently be selected on the site, so if you turn on Eye Gaze Mode and Dwell Click for instance, these will be on for all players. Therefore, players will need to actively avoid taking each others’ turns.
Mouse and left click (or touch) are available at all times alongside other control mode choices. Eye Gaze Mode and Switch + Keyboard modes can both be turned on, but, as before, these will work simultaneously and players will need to actively not take each others’ turns.
Switch Options
A single switch can be used to play by clicking on the Switch + Keyboard slider in the Settings menu (accessed via the Settings cog icon anywhere on the site) so it is on the right, and then selecting the 1 Switch option below this. You can then alter the 1 Switch Scan Time to alter the time the scan pattern will take moving between buttons onscreen. Spacebar is the input to set your switch to for 1 switch scanning. This can be altered for the rest of the games on the site by accessing the Settings menu, but is not currently available for Snakes & Ladders.
2 Switch scanning can be chosen for manual scanning, with Enter as the input used to select and Spacebar used to scan.
Other Input Devices
Keyboard inputs can also be used to play, with the Arrow keys used to navigate directions and Enter as the input used to select. Click the Switch + Keyboard slider in the Settings menu so it is on the right to use this feature.
A Gamepad can be used without needing to change any settings and will work by default if compatible. Use Left Stick or D-pad to navigate and Button 1 (‘A’ on an Xbox controller) to select.
Mice can be used without changing settings on the site, but some players may like to make use of the dwell options in the Settings menu, by turning on Eye Gaze Mode and altering them.
Touch is also on by default with compatible devices.
Visit eyegazegames.com to try the games for yourself and read other posts about other eye gaze games, using the links below:
Eye Gaze Games Website – Eye Gaze Set Up and Options – https://gameaccess.info/eye-gaze-games-eye-gaze-setup-and-options/
Eye Gaze Games Website- Gazey Golf – https://gameaccess.info/gazey-golf-eye-control-options/
Eye Gaze Tag – https://gameaccess.info/tag/eye-gaze/
