What are your recommendations for developers to build games that are friendly to photosensitive players?
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If you follow the WCAG guidelines on photosensitivity you'll usually be fine. In a nutshell:
- No more than 3 flashes (Light to Dark to Light transitions) per second. (I'd still squint, but it doesn't hurt)
- Bright red specifically should be avoided.
- There's more leniency if flashing occurs outside the areas of focus (eg in a small corner of the screen).
There's a point about disabling motion entirely, but that's not an option in games outside of screen shake. Additionally I'd try out other means of emphasis depending on the genre and art style. Stuff like:
- Subtle particles
- Squash-and-stretch
- Knockback (for action games)
- Gradual tinting
- Freeze frames
- Dedicated animation frames (if constraints allow it)
Thanks for the link and your recommendations. I think my games meet your recommendations with the possible exception of using static bright red. Does bright red cause an issue when it's not flashing? For example in Return From the Tavern, the timer turn red when there is 10 seconds left then it stays red and I convey urgency only via a ticking sound.
You make me think that browsers need a shortcut to disable/enable animation, just like Ctrl+M mutes/un-mutes a tab.