The State of Subtitles
Why talk about subtitles?
Subtitles are included in almost in al games nowadays.
Inform players what’s going on around them.
Allows able and disabled players to enrich the game experience.
When design poorly, subtitles are like burned toast (not delicious).
Ubisoft tracket subtitle ustage in its games:
- Assassin’s Creed Origins, subtitles usage where 60%
- AC Odyssey, enable by default 95% players kept them on
According to WHO, deaf people make up 5% of the world population.
Subtitles help improve comprehension and are an important tool in storytelling for games.
Poorly done subtitles mean players can have a negative experience.
What can we do as developers?
- Needs to be readable on any size screen.
- Large text in a legible font (if text is too small it is unreadable)
- Sans-serif fonts are better!
- Having different options for text sizes and fonts is better, because it allow players to allow what’s better for them.
Having contrast for the subtitles
- White text with a black outline helps to create contrast
- A letterbox can prevent the subtitles from blending into the background
- Give players more options to control
Avoid too much text
- We speak faster than we read
- Too much text can be overwhelming
- 2 lines of text maximum is ideal (to prevent spoilers)
- Limit characters per line (nexflix limits to 2 lines)
Options
- Empowers players to make their own decisions
- Change colour contrast and brightness
Where do we go from here?
- Add closed captioning, like environmental sounds when enemies are getting closer
- Copy what Movies and TV are doing for subtitles
- Customization options are improving, but they should be the norm. Example Spiderman Accessibility menu
Conclusion
Game devs have to put the needs of the players first,. Games are for everyone and we have to stireve to design on our games so they can be played by everyone.
References
- How to do subtitles well - basics and good practices by Ian Hamilton on Gamasutra
- http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com
- http://www.caniplaythat.com
- Netflix’s English Timed Text Style Guide