All three sets of guidelines displayed together as a single categorised list.
Levels explained
Basic
Easy to implement, wide reaching and apply to almost all game mechanics.
Intermediate
Require some planning and effort but often just good general game design.
Advanced
Complex adaptations for profound impairments and specific niche mechanics.
Motor
(Control / mobility)
Basic
- Include an option to adjust the game speed
- Include toggle/slider for any haptics
- Ensure interactive elements / virtual controls are large and well spaced, particularly on small or touch screens
- Include an option to adjust the sensitivity of controls
- Ensure that all areas of the user interface can be accessed using the same input method as the gameplay
- Ensure controls are as simple as possible, or provide a simpler alternative
- Allow controls to be remapped / reconfigured
Intermediate
- Do not rely on motion tracking of specific body types
- Provide a macro system
- Allow interfaces to be resized
- Allow interfaces to be rearranged
- Avoid / provide alternatives to requiring buttons to be held down
- If producing a PC game, support windowed mode for compatibility with overlaid virtual keyboards
- Avoid repeated inputs (button-mashing/quick time events)
- 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
- Ensure that multiple simultaneous actions (eg. click/drag or swipe) are not required, and included only as a supplementary / alternative input method
- Make interactive elements that require accuracy (eg. cursor/touch controlled menu options) stationary
- Support more than one input device
Advanced
- Provide very simple control schemes that are compatible with assistive technology devices, such as switch or eye tracking
- Include a cool-down period (post acceptance delay) of 0.5 seconds between inputs
- Do not make precise timing essential to gameplay – offer alternatives, actions that can be carried out while paused, or a skip mechanism
- Allow play in both landscape and portrait
Cognitive
(Thought / memory / processing information)
Basic
- Avoid flickering images and repetitive patterns
- Allow players to progress through text prompts at their own pace
- Include interactive tutorials
- Use simple clear language
- Allow the game to be started without the need to navigate through multiple levels of menus
- Use simple clear text formatting
- Use an easily readable default font size
Intermediate
- Highlight important words
- Provide a choice of text colour, low/high contrast choice as a minimum
- Provide gameplay thumbnails with game saves
- Support voice chat as well as text for multiplayer games
- Ensure no essential information (especially instructions) is conveyed by text alone, reinforce with visuals and/or speech
- If using a long overarching narrative, provide summaries of progress
- Employ a simple, clear narrative structure
- Include a means of practicing without failure, such as a practice level or sandbox mode
- Indicate / allow reminder of controls during gameplay
- Indicate / allow reminder of current objectives during gameplay
- Include contextual in-game help / guidance / tips
- Give a clear indication that interactive elements are interactive
- Ensure sound / music choices for each key objects / events are distinct from each other
- Provide an option to turn off / hide background movement
- Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background / music
- Include an option to adjust the game speed
- Include toggle/slider for any haptics
Advanced
- Provide an option to turn off / hide all non interactive elements
- Allow all narrative and instructions to be replayed
- Avoid any sudden unexpected movement or events
- Provide an option to disable blood and gore
- Provide pre-recorded voiceovers for all text, including menus and installers
- Use symbol-based chat (smileys etc)
Vision
Basic
- Provide high contrast between text/UI and background
- Use simple clear text formatting
- Use an easily readable default font size
- Avoid VR simulation sickness triggers
- If the game uses field of view (3D engine only), set an appropriate default for the expected viewing environment
- Ensure no essential information is conveyed by a fixed colour alone
- Ensure interactive elements / virtual controls are large and well spaced, particularly on small or touch screens
Intermediate
- Avoid placing essential temporary information outside the player’s eye-line
- Ensure manual / website are provided in a screen reader friendly format
- Give a clear indication that interactive elements are interactive
- Provide a choice of cursor / crosshair colours / designs
- Ensure sound / music choices for each key objects / events are distinct from each other
- Provide an option to adjust contrast
- Ensure screenreader support for mobile devices
- Provide an option to turn off / hide background movement
- Use surround sound
- Avoid (or provide option to disable) any difference between controller movement and camera movement
- If the game uses field of view (3D engine only), allow a means for it to be adjusted
- Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background / music
- Allow interfaces to be resized
Advanced
- Provide an audio description track
- Simulate binaural recording
- Use distinct sound / music design for all objects and events
- Ensure screen reader support, including menus & installers
- 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
- Allow easy orientation to / movement along compass points
- Provide a voiced GPS
- Provide pre-recorded voiceovers for all text, including menus and installers
- Provide a pingable sonar-style audio map
- Allow the font size to be adjusted
Hearing
Basic
- If any subtitles / captions are used, present them in a clear, easy to read way
- Ensure no essential information is conveyed by sounds alone
- Provide separate volume controls or mutes for effects, speech and background / music
- Provide subtitles for all important speech
Intermediate
- Provide a stereo/mono toggle
- Ensure that all important supplementary information (eg. the direction you are being shot from) conveyed by audio is replicated in text / visuals
- Allow subtitle/caption presentation to be customised
- Provide a visual indication of who is currently speaking
- Provide captions or visuals for significant background sounds
- Ensure subtitles/captions are or can be turned on before any sound is played
- Provide subtitles for supplementary speech
- Keep background noise to minimum during speech
- Provide visual means of communicating in multiplayer
- Support text chat as well as voice for 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
Advanced
- Provide signing
- Ensure that subtitles/captions are cut down to and presented at an appropriate words-per-minute for the target age-group
- Use symbol-based chat (smileys etc)
Speech
Basic
Intermediate
- Base speech recognition on individual words from a small vocabulary (eg. ‘yes’ ‘no’ ‘open’) instead of long phrases or multi-syllable words
- Provide visual means of communicating in multiplayer
- Support text chat as well as voice for 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
Advanced
- Use symbol-based chat (smileys etc)
- Base speech recognition on hitting a volume threshold (eg. 50%) instead of words
General
Basic
- Solicit accessibility feedback
- Ensure that all settings are saved/remembered
- Provide details of accessibility features in-game
- Provide details of accessibility features on packaging and/or website
- Offer a wide choice of difficulty levels
Intermediate
- Allow gameplay to be fine-tuned by exposing as many variables as possible
- Allow a preference to be set for playing online multiplayer with/without others who are using accessibility features that could give a competitive advantage
- Provide an autosave feature
- Provide a manual save feature
- Include assist modes such as auto-aim and assisted steering
- Offer a means to bypass gameplay elements that aren’t part of the core mechanic, via settings or in-game skip option
- Include some people with impairments amongst play-testing participants
- Allow difficulty level to be altered during gameplay, either through settings or adaptive difficulty