"You have some players who are playing on a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck," Cran says. This is a context in which few of us play. While basic tenets of typography are being ignored, the simple truth is that, Hamilton says, "the environment in which games are made bears little resemblance to the environment in which games are played."ĭevelopers create UI on large, high-definition monitors right in front of them. According to Hamilton, "the way that game UI is usually designed and built today is not fit for purpose." Unfortunately, collaboration between those with grounding in accessible typography and developers appears rare, with smaller text rapidly becoming the norm in a development process in need of reform. "One of the things I love about the collaboration between Lettermatic and Double Fine," Cran says, "is that we're looking at typography in games as a flexible experience that can change based on the players preferences, rather than an immutable aspect of the experience that never changes."Įlden Ring has a huge number of accessibility problems. Coupled with the ability to switch fancy type for something more readable - something Tchia also offers - Psychonauts 2's text became remarkably accessible. These are typefaces that do not size proportionally like traditional typefaces, but rather take up the same space whether they're bold or regular. Interface elements designed around small text can't necessarily be scaled up for larger or bolder text without affecting the balance of the UI.ĭuring its collaboration with Double Fine on Psychonauts 2, Lettermatic's solution was multiplexed fonts. But changing text size, weight, tracking, or leading has major ramifications for UI. You may think this makes the answer as simple as making text bigger - and, to a point, it does. For this reason, Cran tells me via email, "typography should be adjustable, simply to cater to as many of those experiences as it can." 28px may be readable for sighted players, but visually impaired gamers may need text to be much larger. However, this ignores minimum readable text sizes.įor instance, Hamilton says, "For someone with full 20/20 vision on a typical screen in a typical living room viewing environment, text needs to be in the region of at least 28px at 1080p."īut reading isn't an objective experience. "In days gone by," he says, "it just wasn't technically possible to design tiny text as resolutions weren't high enough there just weren't enough pixels."Īs screen resolutions improve, smaller type is able to render in sharper focus, something which developers appear keen to take advantage of. Hamilton suggests our displays are partly to blame. Yet, too often that information is lost to illegible type. Despite gaming's focus on the visual, text is still a primary way in which games communicate. The erosion of basic design principles is leading to typographic failings throughout the design industry and beyond. Tchia's hardly the worst offender, but it's the game that inspired this piece.Ī lack of understanding of typography and its application isn't exclusive to the video game industry. "Miniscule text is by far the most common accessibility complaint," Hamilton tells me via email. To understand why this is happening, and explore possible solutions, I spoke to accessibility consultant Ian Hamilton and lead designer of typeface studio Lettermatic, Riley Cran. But it also represents the most recent example of a growing trend in video game UI, in which text is becoming smaller and less legible. It offers a wealth of accessibility options. If you're like me, however, starting Tchia also involves encountering the unreadable text in its options menus. The music starts, you realise the entire game is voiced in French and Drehu, and you know it's a game built on passion.
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