Options
Controls
(especially helpful for individuals with motor or cognitive disabilities)
- Have Flexible Controls
- Controls need to be customizable (support control remapping), or at least have alternative control presets that are more accessible
- Support external devices (allow players to use their own hardware)
- Easy to pause
- Pause menu needs to be easily accessible, so settings are easily accessible and players can take time to rest
- Toggle control complexity
- Complex actions, such as button-mashing (rapidly tapping), button-holding, quick-time events (QTEs), need to be toggleable (meaning they are not mandatory, and can be switched off)
- Sensitivity controls (how much movement input affects on-screen movement)
- Simplify interactions for input
- Allow players to reduce the input types needed, such as supporting analog-stick-only, mouse-only, or keyboard-only gameplay
- Option to have fewer buttons representing a variety of actions (Bayonetta 2’s fighting combos can be executed with one button)
Visuals & Audio
(especially helpful for individuals with visual or hearing impairment)
- Colorblind options
- Adjustable colors or colorblind color palettes for players to maximize color contrast (generally, blue and orange are accessible colors)
- Shapes, icons, symbols supplement color information (ChromaGun's symbol system)
- Subtitle and UI options
- Customizable: allow players to change the size/font/contrast of the text and buttons
- Identifies speaker, shows ambient noise
- Separate volume controls
- Adjust speaker voice, sound effects, music, separately to allow players to prioritize different auditory information
Assistance
- Gameplay assistance
- Game-specific, some examples: allow the camera to be controlled automatically, assist mode in Celeste
- Difficulty levels (consider making different difficulties separate, like combat difficulty, puzzle difficulty, platforming difficulty)
- Option to toggle certain effects
- Motion sickness: turn off head bob, screen shake, motion blur
- Epilepsy: flashing, certain visual patterns (like the snow in Stardew Valley)
- Other effects that may create barriers or even be harmful to certain populations, such as rumble (may make controllers difficult to hold)