Meanwhile: Interactive Comic

Category

Description of App

MEANWHILE: an interactive comic by Jason Shiga

On the way home from the ice cream store, little Jimmy discovers a mad scientist’s wonderland: an experimental mind-reading helmet, a time machine, and a doomsday device that can annihilate the human race. Which one would you like to test out first?

MEANWHILE is not an ordinary comic. YOU make the choices that determine how the story unfolds. MEANWHILE splits off into thousands of different adventures. Most will end in DOOM and DISASTER. Only one path will lead you to happiness and success.

  • A thrilling adventure of quantum physics, self-discovery, and kids getting into trouble. (We mentioned the doomsday device, right?)
  • Completely redesigned by the author for an infinite scrollable canvas.
  • Full audio accessibility with VoiceOver; every panel and choice can be spoken.

Version

1.0

Free or Paid

Paid

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

9

Accessibility Comments

This app is accessible with VoiceOver.

Each panel of the comic has a label that describes its content and includes any dialogue. Double-tapping on a panel takes you to the next one. Double-tap on the Review button to return to the last panel. Any choices that you have to make are equally accessible.

You use the app in landscape view, and along the bottom of the page are a series of buttons. You can use these to return to the start of the comic, return to the last choice that you made, or view a short overview of the story so far. All of this is fully accessible.

The last button shows all the panels on a single canvas. This is not accessible with VoiceOver. By its very nature, this canvas is a visual overview of the comic, and it is difficult to image how this could be made accessible in a way that actually offered any real value to the user.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads most page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some minor accessibility issues with this app, but they are easy to deal with.

Other Comments

I actually found this quite repetitive and boring, but that might just be me.

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