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Offer a wide choice of difficulty levels

I recently showed this game to my brother after I played and finished it for the first time. He really seems interested in it, but he’s disabled. I got it worked out where he can use a console controller to play the game, but the game’s difficulty will really kill his experience.

CeliceTheGreat, via GameFAQs

Offering a simple choice of difficulty is a fairly blunt but still good first step in accessibility, allowing some flexibility in the main challenge involved, such as level of AI, speed of enemies or difficulty of puzzles. This can be taken further by offering more detailed options for individual elements of game difficulty.

Allow as wide a choice as possible, at both ends of the scale, and avoid giving demeaning names for lower levels or or mocking players who use them. Bear in mind that difficulty is about allowing people with different levels of ability the same level of experience, even the easiest setting you can possibly implement will present a significant challenge for some.

Best practice examples:

Category & Level:

  • General (Basic)
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