🔤Captions

Captions are essential for players who are Deaf or hard of hearing, but they also benefit many others who may play without sound or have difficulty processing auditory information. Playtesting explicitly for caption accessibility helps ensure all players get the full experience of your game.

Key Points for Captions:

• Accuracy: Do captions match the spoken dialogue and sound effects precisely? Even small discrepancies can be disruptive.

• Clarity & Readability: Are the text size, font, and background contrast appropriate for easy reading during gameplay? Avoid fancy fonts that may be difficult to parse quickly.

• Speaker Identification: In conversations with multiple characters, is it clear who is speaking each line of dialogue?

• Sound Cues: Are important non-verbal audio cues (e.g., alert sounds, footsteps indicating an approaching enemy) accompanied by visual captions?

• Customization: Ideally, players should be able to adjust caption size, color, background opacity, and position, to suit their individual needs.

Additional Accessibility Considerations:

• Subtitles vs. Captions: If your game offers both, ensure players understand the difference. Captions should convey all relevant audio, while subtitles may focus primarily on spoken dialogue.

• Localization: If you're offering multiple languages, remember to test caption accuracy and readability across all supported translations.

• Visual Impairments: Consider optional audio cues that supplement captions for players with visual impairments.

How to Gather Feedback:

• Deaf & Hard of Hearing Playtesters: Their feedback is invaluable! Work with them directly to identify areas for improvement.

• Situational Testing: Encourage playtesters to try playing with the sound off, relying solely on captions to see how well the story and gameplay can be understood.

• Comparisons: Ask playtesters to compare your game's captioning to other games known for good or poor caption accessibility.

• Beyond the Basics: Even if your captions meet minimum standards, always strive to make them even better and more customizable for as wide a range of players as possible.