Hi! I wanted to leave some feedback because this game genuinely means a lot to me.
I am blind and use JAWS, a screen reader on Windows. I have been looking for an accessible game like this for a very long time. Unfortunately, there are very few games left that I can actually play independently, especially games with this kind of depth. ChatGPT actually found Hardwood GM for me after doing some pretty extensive research into accessible games that might work well with a screen reader, and I am so glad it did.
The funny thing is that when I first started playing, I knew basically nothing about basketball. I genuinely had no idea what half of the terminology meant or what I was supposed to be doing. 😭 Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand, I would ask ChatGPT to explain it to me, then go back to the game and try again. Little by little, I learned how everything worked. Eventually, things that had seemed completely confusing at the beginning started making sense, and I became much more confident managing my team.
And somehow, the person who started this game knowing almost nothing about basketball ended up becoming a champion! I also managed to surpass Phoenix's 66-win record, which I was ridiculously proud of.
One of my favorite things about Hardwood GM is that my players don't just feel like numbers on a spreadsheet. I became genuinely attached to my team. I love that the players have personalities and that there is a human side to managing them. The interactions, personalities, team management, trades, decisions, and everything happening around the actual games made me care about these fictional players much more than I expected to. At some point they stopped feeling like a collection of ratings and started feeling like my team. I really don't want to say goodbye to them.
I did find Hardwood Rivals on iPhone, and I was very excited when I discovered it. Unfortunately, because it is played in landscape mode and the interface is not accessible enough with VoiceOver for me to play independently, it isn't really an option for me. (maybe it was the wrong game,idk)
The browser version of Hardwood GM, on the other hand, is something I can actually play with JAWS, which is incredibly valuable to me.
That is why I would genuinely love to continue playing Hardwood GM beyond the free demo in my browser.
There is one complication: I live in Türkiye, where PayPal is not available. Because of that, I can't use PayPal to donate, even though I would happily support the game if I had an accessible payment option available to me. I don't want my inability to use PayPal to sound like a lack of willingness to support the project; it is simply a payment method that isn't available in my country.
I have spent a lot of time with this game, learned an entire sport through playing it, built a team I genuinely care about, won a championship, broke the 66-win mark, and had an experience I honestly didn't think I would still be able to have with a browser game as a blind player.
Is there any way you could help me continue playing Hardwood GM through the browser? If there is another way to access the full game or another payment/support option that works from Türkiye, I would absolutely love to know about it.
Thank you for making something I can actually play independently. Accessible games with this much depth are incredibly difficult for me to find, and Hardwood GM has been a very special discovery for me.