Play-Centric Design and Usability Evaluation of a Block-Based Programming Serious Game for Low Vision Children

Serious games are effective tools for learning beyond entertainment, yet children with low vision face obstacles when playing block-based programming games because these environments rely on small graphical elements, low colour contrast, and drag-and-drop interaction, a barrier specific to block-based programming that does not arise in other game genres. This study presents the design and usability evaluation of a block-based programming serious game for teaching sequences, loops, and conditionals to low-vision children aged seven years old. Accessibility elements were implemented in the prototype, namely screen design, multimedia, keyboard-based interaction replacing drag-and-drop, and language. Usability testing and a pre-test and post-test were conducted with sixteen children in matched experimental and control groups of eight, the control group using a feature-reduced baseline version, with results reported descriptively. The accessible version obtained a Good overall usability score of 3.80, against a Weak score of 1.65 for the baseline. Only 25 per cent of control participants independently reached all three target concepts, compared with 100 per cent in the accessible version. Because only baseline participants who reached the target concepts were compared, the learning gain difference is a conservative estimate of the accessibility effect.

@article{Sheng2026,
  title     = {Play-Centric Design and Usability Evaluation of a Block-Based Programming Serious Game for Low Vision Children},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {17},
  number    = {9},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Huang Sheng and Chau Kien Tsong and Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170954},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170954}
}