Engaging the Player: Audio, Haptics, and Information: Accessibility

Adding accessibility features when you’re developing your game can help make it playable by a larger audience, even if they aren’t diagnosed with a specific condition. You may unknowingly be limiting your audience by not adding these features.
For instance, many high performing players will play with the colorblind mode on even if they are not fully diagnosed with color deficiency. Colorblind mode has a higher contrast which makes it easier for them to play.
Even for those that aren’t colorblind, when people get in a really stressed situation its harder for people to see color. It’s as if your brain goes into a high-octane mode and optimizes for moving quickly and efficiently. Color information is a lot to process, so you stop being able to see color clearly when you are pumped full of adrenaline. This is the reason why when people are in a situation where someone has a gun, they might not actually remember their shirt color, or if they were in a car accident, they might not remember the car color.
Another time when people can experience a lot of adrenaline is when they play video games, especially if they are in a stressful firefight or a large boss battle. Because of the adrenaline it might be harder for them to perceive color. Running colorblind mode can help in these situations.
Another area of accessibility that’s becoming more popular in recent years is around cognitive differences. People have differences in short-term memory. You might tell a player on one screen that you need them to do this thing, and then they move to another screen. There is a sizable percentage of players that might not be able to remember those exact words transitioning from screen to screen. This is important for game developers to be aware of so you don’t limit your audience from being able to play and enjoy your game.