ZomBool is an interactive game in which players survive the zombie apocalypse by learning about search strategies and by using Boolean operators. Even though the game features interactive elements, music, sound effects, and art, it can be played without a mouse and without ever looking at the screen.
This post-mortem will cover both deliberate and accidental game design choices that favored inclusivity and diversity, and reflect on which strategies can be extended to the creation of non-game instructional content. For example, deliberate choices included spelling out all the punctuation used in Boolean search expressions in the alt text of the game so that the screen reader doesn't skip it, not blocking the progress of players unable to come up with the right solution to the various puzzles, and using a random number generator to help diversify various characteristics of non-playable characters.
We will also discuss the remaining barriers that prevent the game from being a completely inclusive experience and what might have been done differently. And of course, we'll get the chance to play the game and see whether or not we might survive a zombie apocalypse together.
