Breaking Down Accessibility: Let’s Talk About Text

I decided not too long ago to sit down and write a list of various concepts in games that warranted accessibility. The idea for the “Breaking Down Accessibility” series was actually an idea I had before my latest article on gaming with Chronic Pain. I wanted to take each aspect of accessible gaming and put a spotlight on it so that people could take bite-sized lessons or at least discussions of them in their gaming lives.

This process got a little complicated when I started thinking about a few ideas in particular. Things like subtitles, and anything regarding text, suddenly feel a little too similar to separate. So, today we’re going to talk about text in games and how various elements can be accessible or inaccessible. Let’s start with subtitles.

People with hearing impairments often use subtitles, that’s what closed captioning is used for in TV, and you know the basis of that. However, I find them useful if you have a character that talks quickly, or in a voice that isn’t always clear. Additionally, if I can’t have the sound on for some reason, I may want to have subtitles on.

There are several recent developments toward accessibility that have made subtitles more effective too. Games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Psychonauts 2, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy have added subtitle backgrounds, different sized fonts, the ability to change subtitle color, and more. You might wonder “Why would I need a background or different colored font?” and the answer is surprisingly simple.

I have played several games, Rise of the Tomb Raider comes to mind, where you play in a lot of snowy areas, or areas with a lot of white. When you have white subtitles, that makes them very hard to see when you are navigating. Unlike modern Japanese RPGs, such as the Neptunia franchise, you can’t scroll back and look at subtitles or previous dialogue.

Thus you may want to change the color of the subtitles or even just give them a black background (of varying opacity) so that you can read things properly as they come up on the screen. I would also say that symbols and numbers qualify as text here too, so there are several other accessibility options that we should talk about.

For one, there are fonts that are more easily read by dyslexic people than others. Additionally, after speaking with Keiran on the subject, he mentioned that sometimes the option to change the font color or the color of the background of the text can mitigate issues caused by dyslexia. There is actually a study by the American Psychiatric Association that shows that some video games can positively impact those with dyslexia, I’ll link the article here for you to peruse.

Games like Loop Hero and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, offer various font options that can help if you struggle with reading the standard font. Though honestly, I’m not dyslexic myself and I feel like more games should learn from this since there are some stylized fonts that are hard to read, especially when they are in small tooltip text.

As much as I groan every time Fortnite is in the news, one thing I’ve found that is interesting is they offer a visible symbol on-screen with a directional indicator that shows when various things are around you. Maybe it shows a gunshot blast for gunfire in one direction, or even the sound of footsteps, or a treasure chest. It is great for people with hearing issues, or even for deaf players altogether. In fact, directional damage indicators are helpful in all sorts of applications.

Colorblind modes can also be helpful in games that require you to color-coordinate text, or color match things. Symbols have been used in puzzle games as a colorblind option, and though we’re stretching what constitutes as text, developers need to examine their gameplay to figure out what aspects of accessibility apply.

I could probably write a few more pages on how text in games could be more accessible. Heck, making voice acting an industry standard is important for those who have reading issues. That is a reason why I’m always disappointed when JRPGs and Japanese games don’t get proper localization and voice acting. It creates barriers for people who (unlike subtitle purists) might have a harder time keeping up with subtitle speeds. In fact, being able to adjust text speed is a helpful tool itself.

These are the things we need to think about as games are being developed. Some accessibility features won’t always be necessary for every game. Other features may not be feasible for the budget of a game. However, making sure that there are as few barriers to entry as possible is important if games are meant to be truly for everyone.

I said this in the last article and I’ll say it here too. None of us are getting younger. Some of those accessibility features are going to be necessary if we want to game into our 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. Now is the time to start working on these things.