Making Games for Everyone: Inclusive Design in Unity.

BG Games
3 min readDec 20, 2023

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BG Games

Video games have come a long way from their early days, when they were abstract puzzles designed for a narrow group of users. Today, however, games are played by people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds on a wide variety of devices, from consoles to smartphones. As the gaming audience becomes increasingly diverse, game developers have a responsibility to make their products welcoming and accessible to all players. BG Games is also following the trends, and in full agreement with the phrase “games should be accessible to everyone”, and so let us tell you about the techniques and technologies that will help developers customize gameplay for users with different needs and disabilities.

Unity, one of the most popular game development platforms, provides tools to help authors create inclusive projects. Accessibility features in Unity allow developers to customize games to meet the needs of players with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments. Inclusive game gameplay doesn’t just benefit people with disabilities — it makes the gaming experience better for all players.

Visual impairments

Unity allows developers to support players with visual impairments such as low vision, color blindness and color blindness. The text-to-speech feature allows on-screen text to be read aloud. Adjustable text size and high-contrast color modes optimize the visual experience. Navigation guides can be added for players using screen reading programs for blind play.

Hearing impairments

For players with hearing impairments, visual cues such as subtitles, icons, and vibrations can be built into Unity games. Closed captioning and visual sound representations allow players with hearing impairments to follow dialog and sound effects.

Motor impairments

For players with motor impairments related to paralysis, tremors, or missing limbs, games may provide alternative input methods. Developers can tie game actions to gaze tracking, voice commands, switches, and even brain signals. This allows people to play without the use of traditional controllers.

Cognitive impairments

People with neurological impairments, mental retardation, or autism can appreciate adjustments related to timing, complexity, sensory detail, and presentation of information. Examples include simplifying menus, automating complex actions, removing distracting stimuli, and the ability to pause or slow down gameplay.

The future of inclusive games

Developing games for inclusion requires awareness, effort, and testing. But the payoff is huge — not only in terms of social impact, but also for businesses. The market for accessible games is estimated to be worth billions of dollars worldwide. Players with disabilities represent an untapped audience hungry for games that cater to their needs.

Unity is committed to empowering developers in this area by continually expanding the platform’s accessibility and providing resources. The Unity Accessibility User Group facilitates discussions among creators passionate about inclusive design. A guide to best practices for accessible development can be found on the Unity website. Annual events like the Global Accessibility Awareness Day Game Jam bring the developer community together around the creation of new accessible games.

It’s taken time, but the gaming world is leaning towards recognizing that accessible gameplay benefits everyone. In the future, we expect accessibility features to be standardized and incorporated across all platforms and hardware. Inclusive gameplay will no longer be the exception, but the norm. Unity plans to continue to lead the way until the day when gamers of all abilities can enjoy equal access to the magic of gaming!

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BG Games
BG Games

Written by BG Games

We make games that inspire the world.

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