Download the Instructions for 'Ballyland Stay Still, Squeaky!' here (accessible Word document).
General
- To turn a page, swipe left on the screen
- When you hear the bell, turn the page
- Double tap the start page to go to the Bonus Game (only after completing the interactive story and having gone to the game at least once), or play directly after finishing the story
- Double tap the button in the bottom right corner to return to the start page.
Tips
- In this app for beginners, ‘touch’ or ‘swipe’ should work with any amount of fingers, or even with a flat hand. So also non-conform VoiceOver gestures are acceptable.
- Please note that if you have Zoom turned on in your accessibility settings, a three finger flick left will not work. If that’s the preferred “swipe” of the child, then you should turn off Zoom.
- For children with low vision, the images in the story (first part of the app) can be enlarged by way of the zoom gesture: pinch out on the screen with two fingers (pinch in to zoom out again).
Bonus Game
After you complete the interactive story, you will be able to play Squeaky’s Bonus Game. The goal of the game is to select different spots of dirt from the story in a specific order, using finger drag*.
- When you drag into a spot of dirt, you will hear which dirt it is, and a count down from three will start. To select the current spot of dirt, keep your finger on the spot until the countdown is complete. Or drag away from the spot to find another spot, remembering that you need to select the spots in a specific, given order
- Each of the five routes of the game specifies a different order of dirt spots
- Note that the grid which is shown on the screen is only for visual support, and is not relevant to the gameplay for children who are blind
- To skip the instructions of the Bonus Game, or to replay them, double tap the button in the bottom left corner of the active screen. Once the game starts, this button disappears.
- On the Start page, swipe left to start the story again, or double tap the screen to go to the Bonus Game.
* Finger drag
Drag one finger over the screen to explore what is there.
Put the fingertip of one finger on the screen and then lightly drag the finger around the screen, without lifting it up. Finger drag is of particular importance as this interaction (‘touch’) will result in audio feedback from the device that enables a user who is blind or has low vision to scan and explore the touch screen. The finger drag gesture needs to work in harmony with the child’s listening skills and should help the child to discover and remember what is located where. As long as the child is able to achieve this, in principle, he or she can finger drag in any direction on the screen. Just remember that in the Bonus Game, the dragging movement should be slow.
Note: from the latest iOS versions, finger dragging from the top and the bottom of the screen, from outside the active screen, may pull the dock and other items into the active screen, potentially resulting in exiting the app. To avoid this from happening when a child with no or low vision is playing the game you can do one of three things:
- Supervise the dragging movements
- Turn on Guided Access in the Accessibility Settings of your iPad (no need to select any areas on the screen, simply activating it is enough).*
- Use an iPad case that covers almost all of the inactive bezel, such as Otterbox Defender (try to keep finger drag one millimetre away from the inside borders of the case).
* For first time users of Guided Access:
STEP 1:
- Go to Settings on the iPad
- Then go to “General” - > “Accessibility -> “Guided Access”
- Turn on “Guided Access” and “Accessibility Shortcut”
- Go to “Passcode Settings” -> “Set Guided Access Passcode”
- Enter a new passcode – making sure it’s an easy one that you can remember
- Go back to “Guided Access” - and close down Settings
STEP 2:
- Open Squeaky’s app
- At the Instructions page: Triple click the Home Button (you can do it at any page)
- If you have already set VO to start on triple click - you will now get the option to start either VO or Guided Access
- Select “Guided Access”
- If you are asked for your passcode then enter it
- You will get the option to “start” Guided Access - do that.
You can now play Squeaky’s game without opening anything if dragging from the top or bottom.
When you want to leave Squeaky:
STEP 3:
- Triple click the Home button
- Enter your passcode if asked for it
- You will now get the option to “End” Guided Access - and you can then close down Squeaky.
It may sound like a lot but you only have to do STEP 1 once.
For parents and teachers who normally use VoiceOver:
This app uses self-voicing. The cover page is accessible with VoiceOver and will instruct you to turn off VoiceOver, and then flick left to start the app. When you want to leave the app, turn VoiceOver on again, and press the Home button. Double click the Home button to open the App Switcher and swipe up with three fingers to fully close the app. When you next open the app, it will start from the cover page again.