Inclusive Game Design
Inclusive Game Design Guide: Creating Accessible and Empowering Games for All
This guide draws upon direct insights from disability-led consultations (notably from Zavod Odtiz), best practice toolkits from recent EU-funded initiatives, and thought leadership from organisations like the Geena Davis Institute and the IGDA. It is meant to support game designers, educators, and facilitators in making games that are not only inclusive in representation but also accessible in practice.
1. Why Inclusive Game Design Matters
Inclusive games ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, background, or identity, can fully participate and feel represented. Inclusion enhances both the learning potential and emotional impact of games, making them transformative tools for education, empathy, and empowerment.
2. Inclusive Design Principles
Representation
- Include diverse characters across age, gender, ethnicity, disability, body types, and LGBTQIA+ identities.
- Avoid stereotypes by building multidimensional roles with agency and depth.
- Ensure stories resonate across cultures; consult with cultural and community representatives when needed.
Accessibility
- Design for varied physical, sensory, and cognitive needs.
- Include large, high-contrast visuals, symbols alongside colour, and dyslexia-friendly fonts.
- Provide written and visual rules, use plain language, and offer audio formats where possible.
- Design components to be easy to pick up, with clear tactile feedback (rounded vs sharp corners, card holders, thicker tokens, etc.).
Fairness
- Offer modular or scalable difficulty.
- Allow various ways to win or progress.
- Avoid relying on fast reflexes, fine motor skills, or one exclusive playstyle.
Team Diversity
- Involve people with lived experience in design and testing.
- Build diverse creative teams to reduce bias and increase innovation.
3. Designing with Disability in Mind
Card & Board Games
- Provide cardholders and non-glare coatings.
- Use thicker, larger cards; include braille or tactile overlays where possible.
- Avoid shiny finishes and use fonts at least 16pt in size.
- Ensure contrast on boards and pieces; larger dice with tactile features improve usability.
- Decentralise gameplay areas (personal boards) to avoid reach-based limitations.
- Allow team-based play to include assistants if needed.
City Exploration or LARP Games
- Ensure all routes and locations are wheelchair-accessible and check for accessible toilets.
- Avoid time pressure as a competitive element.
- Design interactions to be at various heights, avoiding floor-placed cues.
- Use weather-proof, wearable item carriers (not boxes).
- Integrate QR codes and GPS as adaptable interaction formats.
- Include buddy systems and group tasks to balance cognitive or navigational challenges.
Digital and Hybrid Games
- Allow font size and contrast adjustment.
- Include keyboard-only or screen-reader compatibility.
- Avoid purely colour-based mechanics.
- Use subtitles and audio descriptions.
4. Testing for Inclusion
- Invite diverse playtesters: people with disabilities, different cultural backgrounds, ages, and gaming experience.
- Use structured debriefs (4Fs: Facts, Feelings, Findings, Future) to reflect on accessibility and inclusion.
- Document insights and revise accordingly.
5. Beyond Design: Building Inclusive Communities
- Include accessibility and inclusion information in all materials and on your website.
- Provide support for facilitators with toolkits and training.
- Establish clear codes of conduct and safe play environments.
- Celebrate inclusive success stories publicly.
6. Tools and Resources
These guidelines were developed thanks to insights from Zavod Odtiz (Slovenia, 2023), combined with the following resources:
- Game Design Steps for Inclusion (Game On)
- Accessibility Toolkit & Inclusivity Guide (UpGameIn)
- Geena Davis Institute Playbook
- Guide to Designing Inclusive Games (Brain Games)
- Inclusive Game Design and Development (IGDA)
Conclusion
Inclusion in game design is not an add-on; it is a mindset that shapes the entire process from concept to playtesting. The more accessible, diverse, and inclusive a game is, the more powerful its impact becomes. Let’s build games everyone can play—and be transformed by.
