Video games are for everyone. And they can even be enjoyed by those who live with disabilities
if game developers make certain design decisions, or introduce special options.
In this series of videos, I’ve been looking at how to make games better for those with
auditory, visual, and motor disabilities. We’ve looked at colourblind modes and controller
remapping and subtitle standards.
And for this final episode in the series, I’m looking at one more category: cognitive
disabilities. This covers everything from epilepsy to dyslexia to learning difficulties.
And while it might seem like a challenging topic to approach, there’s plenty of smart
stuff designers can do to improve their games for those living with these disabilities.
Part 1 - Simulation Sickness
Simulation sickness is, to put it simply, your eyes telling you that movement is happening,
while your inner ear tells you that you’re actually just sat still.
That mismatch can cause your body to react in a pretty uncomfortable way.
You’re going to see it the most in 3D games - especially first and third person ones.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so giving players plenty of options will allow
them to hopefully find a set-up that works for them.
So let players turn off features that affect the movement of the camera, like weapon bob,
head bob, screen shake, and motion blur. Giving players control over the game’s field of
view angle is also good - as are sensitivity controls, as these reduce large swinging movements.
And for first person games, you might want to let players turn on a crosshairs of sorts
- even in games without guns, like The Witness.
As a designer, it’s good to be mindful of big, unexpected camera movements - try to
use smooth transitions, instead of quick snaps and fast zooms.
This is obviously a massive deal for virtual reality games, but that’s a whole topic
in of itself. For now, I’ve put links to a GDC talk and a Gamasutra post on VR simulation
sickness in the description for this video.
Part 2 – Sensory Load
A related area is people being overwhelmed by the level of visual activity on the screen
such as bright lights, constant flashes, and lots of things going off at once. This can
affect a wide range of sensory processing issues from autism to migraines and, even
at the far end of the scale, photosensitive epilepsy.
Sensory overload in games is generally based on two things: quick flashes and regular moving
patterns. So identify things that may cause a player to be overwhelmed, and let them disable
those features. Just Shapes & Beats has a mode to turn off flashes. And Stardew Valley
lets you change the falling snow effect, which is a pattern that can trigger sensory overload.
You may want to use the tool that Ubisoft and the other big publishers use, called the
Harding flash & pattern analyser. They have a service where you can upload a piece of
recorded gameplay and have it analysed to see if there’s anything that doesn’t pass
its criteria.
Part 3 - Dyslexia
Dyslexia is an umbrella term covering people whose reading ability doesn’t match up with
their general developmental level. In video games, it can cause players to struggle to
take in written information and dialogue text.
To combat this, try to make text as clear and easy to read as possible. Just like I
said in the subtitles episode - go for a clean, sans serif font, in mixed case rather than
all caps. Go for 1.5x line spacing, and avoid more than 70 characters in a line. And make
sure your text is on a solid background so there’s nothing interfering with the letter
shapes.
But there are also fonts that are specially designed to be easier to read, like the free-to-use
Open Dyslexic, or the premium FS-ME. The developers of the pixelated horror game The Last Door
offered Open Dyslexic as an option and the creators said that 14% of people who finished
the game used this typeface.
Also, try to avoid text that advances automatically. Some players need a bit more time than others
to read and comprehend the text on screen. Maybe let it stay on screen until the player
hits a button and moves on to the next line.
Part 4 – Executive function
Executive function describes the way we receive, process, and then act on information. For
those with learning difficulties, it can take longer to work through these steps. So here
are some key ways to make it easier.
Simplified information
Telling players what to do in clear, simple language is a good start. In a game like Assassin’s
Creed Odyssey, characters will explain your next objective in a cutscene - but then the
game will also explicitly tell you what to do in a few simple sentences, where key words
are highlighted. This text will stay on screen for the duration of the mission, so players
are reminded what they need to do.
And then you might want to think about options for filtering that information. Things like
filters on map screens to only show the really important stuff. Or the hex grid in Civilization
V, which makes it easier to understand the world map.
Navigation aids
Knowing where to go can be a challenge for some players. So consider options to turn
on waypoints, mini-maps, objective markers, and even big floating arrows. Red Dead Redemption
2 lets you turn on a GPS to provide a red line towards your objective. And Super Mario
Odyssey’s assist mode draws blue arrows on the floor, which point you towards the
next part of the game.
Tutorials and practice
Tutorials are important to help all players get up to speed with how things work. But
you can boost their effectiveness for players with cognitive disabilities by letting them
replay these tutorials at any time. Or at least access helpful
instructions from the menu.
In interface-heavy games like Cities: Skylines, optional tool-tips and help windows can remind
players what various parts of the game do - even if they’ve already finished the tutorial.
Practice modes are great, too. Many competitive games offer modes where you can train with
a customisable character, or play offline against bots. This allows people to practice
their abilities in a stress-free environment.
This works in single-player games, too, of course. Hub worlds, like the castle in Super
Mario 64 give players a chance to learn the controls and practice at the game in a safe,
challenge-free area. And the practice menu on Bayonetta’s loading screen gives you
time to figure out the controls before going into battle.
Pause, and game speed
Another consideration is pausing, which gives players a moment to take a breath, and consider
what to do next. This pause screen can contain helpful information, like the current objective.
Or it can show a static image of the game, so players can take a moment to assess the
environment without worrying about baddies and hazards.
Some games build pausing into the experience, like in the The Sims where you can choose
to stop time in the simulation while you look around. Or in Fallout, where the VATS mode
turns a frantic shooter into a more considered, tactical game.
A number of games are also starting to let players simply slow down the pace of the entire
game. Tricky platformer Celeste allows you to change the speed of the game, as part of
its assist mode, to make those precise jumps easier.
Manual saving
Manual save slots let players have more control over the experience. They can save the game,
and then try out different strategies - safe in the knowledge that they can return to an
earlier save point if things go wrong. It’s best when these save files come with screenshots
- to help players remember at what point the game was saved.
Difficulty modes
Allowing the player to reduce the difficulty of the game can be a great inclusion. This
gives people more time to figure things out, and more opportunities to make mistakes before
getting a game over.
Most games simply offer up an array of options, like “easy”, “medium”, and “hard”,
which tweak things like the health of the player character and enemies, or the awareness
of guards in a stealth game, or the speed of other drivers in a racing game.
But other games let you change, or even turn off, individual mechanics and systems. Something
like Dishonored lets you tweak everything from enemy damage and attack frequency, to
the strength of potions and the bravery of guards. And Darkest Dungeon lets you turn
off stressful features like corpses that get in the way after monsters die.
And some titles go even further than that. Underwater horror game SOMA offers an option
to let you turn off enemies entirely. And Furi lets you become invincible, so you can
blitz through boss fights without the stress of dying.
So, making your game more accessible to those with cognitive disabilities isn’t the astronomical
task it might seem. But like all of these videos, the best way is to get your game in
front of players who live with these disabilities and work with them to provide options that
will improve their experience.
The more you can do, the closer the whole industry will get towards ensuring as many
people as possible can benefit from everything games have to offer.
And that’s a wrap on Designing for Disability - for now, at least. I’ve got some other
ideas for future videos on the same subject. Thanks for watching! And thanks to Ian from
Game Accessibility Guidelines for his help, once again. You can find the full series on
accessibility by clicking on the playlist button that’s on screen right now.