You might be a fan of Bungie’s free-to-play shooter Destiny 2, and while there’s a new update seemingly on the way next week, some accessibility features are being introduced. These features will improve accessibility for motor control and mobility.
In the blog post, staff designer Lisa Brown at Bungie explains exactly what the controller remapping feature entails. This feature should be available for all Destiny 2 players in the upcoming season which is currently titled “Season of [REDACTED]”.
Brown explains how Bungie has been working with accessibility specialists Cherry Thompson and Ian Hamilton to create the support needed for button remapping on controllers.
By navigating to the controller section in the settings screen, players will be able to create custom controller layouts. Players will still be capable of choosing the default layout and preset options, but the new custom feature is available from the dropdown list.
The button controls can be assigned for character actions, vehicles, and general settings such as selecting emotes. With such a range of remapping options, players can always reset the layouts to another preset and start from that point by remapping existing inputs.
Brown details how a keyboard allows for more actions to be assigned than a controller. In order to allow players to assign more of these actions —detailed as “verbs”— players will be able to assign actions to input types. So rather than inputs being assigned to button presses, players will be able to also assign actions to long-press inputs, and also double-press inputs.
Double press inputs can also be given a delay anywhere from the default 167ms up to 392ms. Chord support is also going to be present, allowing two buttons to be pressed simultaneously in which the player can assign actions to the face button using Chords.
Brown also details that the remapping feature only covers gameplay actions, and doesn’t affect the UI input or the menu navigation. Some actions can also have the input changed from hold or toggle, but not all actions have been able to have this change applied. It’s also stated that some remapping options are controller specific, meaning they won’t show up for those using keyboards yet.
There are examples shown of the custom controller layouts in the blog post which is nice to see. Additionally, Bungie clarifies that this is just “one step on Destiny’s journey to improve accessibility across the game.”
Destiny 2 is available to play for free on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The next season is still to be released but a reveal event is to take place on June 9.
