Making Games Better for Players with Cognitive Disabilities | Designing for Disability

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.