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Game accessibility guidelines

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Indicate / allow reminder of controls during gameplay

I have cognitive impairments including a truly shitty short term memory. I can’t remember which of six buttons uses my magic doobers. I can’t remember which one is fast attacks and which strong. I can’t remember which button parries, although I remember you can either parry or counter attack. How could it have been improved? Allow me to display them on the HUD.
Andrea Chandler, via Twitter

Complex controls can sometimes be difficult to recall for any player, but especially with impaired memory.

Being able to access reminders through UI can help greatly, and not only for the basic controls themselves – providing summaries of any game-specific mechanics or actions covered in tutorials to be accessed at a later date is also beneficial.

Best practice example: XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Best practice example: Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture

All guidelines

Three cogs, smallest coghighlightedBasic
Three cogs, medium sized cog highlightedIntermediate
Three cogs, largest cog highlightedAdvanced
Three cogs, all  highlightedFull list
ExcelExcel checklist download

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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