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Game accessibility guidelines

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Ensure that all areas of the user interface can be accessed using the same input method as the gameplay

If I can perform 90% of in-game actions using ONLY the mouse, don’t make me pick up a keyboard for the remaining 10%.
radiosilents, via Reddit

You can only move around the menus in the game with the D-pad and not the sticks. I’m physically unable to use the D-pad thanks to my disease…I’m devastated that I will not be able to play the latest instalment of my favorite game series because of such a silly thing..
vantezzle, via Reddit

Seems obvious but is often overlooked, resulting in a game that has a mechanic perfectly accessible to a certain group, but that group isn’t actually able to get to the gameplay because the interface and menus use a different type of input.

A common example of this problem is gameplay controlled by keyboard, but menus controlled by mouse.

So if for example you have designed gameplay controls for a choice of either keyboard or joypad, ensure that all menus also work for both keyboard and joypad, or if you’ve designed gameplay controls that work solely using motion controls, ensure your menus can also be controlled solely by using motion controls.

All guidelines

Three cogs, smallest coghighlightedBasic
Three cogs, medium sized cog highlightedIntermediate
Three cogs, largest cog highlightedAdvanced
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Help & advice

How to work with these guidelines

FCC Chairman's Award for Advancement in Accessibility
finalist 2016, tiga games industry awards
DFA foundation best practice award, Horizon Interactive Bronze Winner, 7-128 industry & community leader

About the guidelines

A collaborative effort between a group of studios, specialists and academics, to produce a straightforward developer friendly reference for ways to avoid unnecessarily excluding players, and ensure that games are just as fun for as wide a range of people as possible.

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