All three sets of guidelines displayed together as a single categorised list.

General

Basic

• Provide details of accessibility features on packaging and/or website
• Offer a wide choice of difficulty levels
• Ensure that all settings are saved/remembered

Intermediate

• Allow difficulty level to be altered during gameplay, either through settings or adaptive difficulty
• Include some people with impairments amongst play-testing participants
• Offer a means to bypass gameplay elements that aren’t part of the core mechanic, via settings or in-game skip option
• Include assist modes such as auto-aim and assisted steering
• Provide a manual save feature
• Provide an autosave feature
• Allow a preference to be set for playing online multiplayer with/without others who are using accessibility features that could give a competitive advantage

Advanced

• Include every relevant category of impairment (motor, cognitive etc) amongst play-testing participants, in representative numbers based on age / demographic of target audience
• Allow gameplay to be fine-tuned by exposing as many variables as possible
• Allow settings to be saved to different profiles, at either game or platform level

Motor

(Control / mobility)

Basic

• Allow controls to be remapped / reconfigured
• Ensure that all areas of the user interface can be accessed using the same input method as the gameplay
• Include an option to adjust the sensitivity of controls
• Ensure controls are as simple as possible, or provide a simpler alternative

Intermediate

• Ensure interactive elements / virtual controls are large and well spaced, particularly on small or touch screens
• Support more than one input device
• Make interactive elements that require accuracy (eg. cursor/touch controlled menu options) stationary
• Ensure that multiple simultaneous actions (eg. click/drag or swipe) are not required, and included only as a supplementary / alternative input method
• Ensure that all key actions can be carried out by digital controls (pad / keys / presses), with more complex input (eg. analogue, speech, gesture) not required, and included only as supplementary / alternative input methods
• Include an option to adjust the game speed
• Avoid repeated inputs (button-mashing/quick time events)
• If producing a PC game, support windowed mode for compatibility with overlaid virtual keyboards

Advanced

• Do not make precise timing essential to gameplay – offer alternatives, actions that can be carried out while paused, or a skip mechanism
• Include a cool-down period (post acceptance delay) of 0.5 seconds between inputs
• Provide very simple control schemes that are compatible with assistive technology devices, such as switch or eye tracking

Cognitive

(Thought / memory / processing information)

Basic

• Allow the game to be started without the need to navigate through multiple levels of menus
• Use an easily readable default font size
• Use simple clear language
• Use simple clear text formatting
• Include tutorials
• Allow players to progress through text prompts at their own pace

Intermediate

• Include contextual in-game help/guidance/tips
• Indicate / allow reminder of current objectives during gameplay
• Include a means of practicing without failure, such as a practice level or sandbox mode
• Employ a simple, clear narrative structure
• If using a long overarching narrative, provide summaries of progress
• Ensure no essential information (especially instructions) is conveyed by text alone, reinforce with visuals and/or speech
• Give a clear indication that interactive elements are interactive
• Provide an option to turn off / hide background movement
• Support voice chat as well as text for multiplayer games
• Provide gameplay thumbnails with game saves
• Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background/music
• Ensure sound / music choices for each key objects / events are distinct from each other
• Include an option to adjust the game speed
• Provide a choice of text colour, low/high contrast choice as a minimum

Advanced

•  Provide full internal self voicing for all text, including menus and installers
• Avoid any sudden unexpected movement or events
• Allow all narrative and instructions to be replayed
• Use symbol-based chat (smileys etc)
• Provide an option to turn off / hide all non interactive elements

Vision

Basic

• Ensure no essential information is conveyed by a colour alone
• If the game uses field of view (3D engine only), set an appropriate default for expected viewing environment
• Use an easily readable default font size
• Use simple clear text formatting
• Provide high contrast between text and background

Intermediate

• If the game uses field of view (3D engine only), allow a means for it to be adjusted
• Avoid (or provide option to disable) any difference between controller movement and camera movement, such as weapon/walk bobbing or mouse smoothing
• Use surround sound
• Provide an option to turn off / hide background animation
• Provide an option to adjust contrast
• Ensure sound / music choices for key objects / events are distinct from each other
• Provide a choice of cursor / crosshair colours / designs
• Give a clear indication that interactive elements are interactive
• Ensure manual / website are provided in a screenreader friendly format
• Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background/music
• Avoid placing essential temporary information outside the player’s eye-line

Advanced

• Allow the font size to be adjusted
• Provide a pingable sonar-style audio map
• Provide full internal self-voicing for all text, including menus & installers
• Provide a voiced GPS
• Allow easy orientation to / movement along compass points
• Ensure that all key actions can be carried out by digital controls (pads / keys / presses), with more complex input (eg. analogue, gesture) not required, and included only as supplementary / alternative input methods
• Ensure screenreader support, including menus & installers
• Use distinct sound / music design for all objects and events
• Simulate binaural recording

Hearing

Basic

• Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background / music
• Ensure no essential information is conveyed by audio alone, reinforce with text / visuals
• If any subtitles / captions are provided, use an easily readable default font size, simple clear text formatting and provide high contrast between text and background

Intermediate

• Keep background noise to minimum during speech
• Provide a text alternative for all speech (subtitles / captions)
• Allow text alternatives to be displayed before any sound is played
• Provide a text description of narratively / atmospherically significant background noises
• Provide a visual indication of who is currently speaking
• Support text chat as well as voice for multiplayer
• Support visual means of communicating in multiplayer
• Allow a preference to be set for playing online multiplayer with players who will only play with / are willing to play without voice chat
• Ensure that all important supplementary information (eg. the direction you are being shot from) conveyed by audio is replicated in text / visuals
• Provide a stereo/mono toggle

Advanced

• Ensure that subtitles/captions are cut down to and presented at an appropriate words-per-minute for the target age-group
• Provide signing

Speech

Basic

• Ensure that speech input is not required, and included only as a supplementary / alternative input method

Intermediate

• Allow a preference to be set for playing online multiplayer with players who will only play with / are willing to play without voice chat
• Support text chat as well as voice for online multiplayer
• Support visual means of communicating in multiplayer
• Base speech recognition on individual words from a small vocabulary (eg. ‘yes’ ‘no’ ‘open’) instead of long phrases or multi-syllable words

Advanced

• Base speech recognition on hitting a volume threshold (eg. 50%) instead of words