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Game accessibility guidelines

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  • Why and how

Provide pre-recorded voiceovers for all text, including menus and installers

Recorded voiceovers were one of the most popular parts of the game, among our blind and low-vision players. The fact that the game provided the functionality they needed, but did it in a way that didn’t break their immersion, was something they really liked.
Diana Hughes, producer, FREEQ

It had audio navigation in the menu so I actually didn’t need help from my friend to navigate, I was able to access it independently.
Toby Ott, via YouTube

Either this or screenreader support are essential for use by players with little to no residual vision or literacy.

Self-voicing is more expensive to produce, but can be technically easier to achieve than screenreader support and can produce better results. Blind gamers often associate screenreaders with work, and enjoy as much ear-candy and immersion as possible in games. Voiceovers allow this, making it possible for the information to be communicated within the game, rather than through external software.

Best practice example: FREEQ

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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