Goal
Ensure all audio portrayed by the game can be understood by players who can’t rely on audio — d/Deaf or hard-of-hearing players. That includes FMVs, cutscenes, NPC chatter, and important audio cues (gunfire, footsteps).Overview
- Subtitles are text equivalents for speech / dialogue.
- Captions are text equivalents for all audio — background music, SFX, tone, speaker identity, and directional cues like “over the radio.”
Scoping questions
Does your game include:- FMVs or cutscenes?
- NPC chatter or dialogue?
- Audio cues (gunfire, footsteps) that inform gameplay?
Implementation guidelines
Subtitles
- Provided for all spoken content.
- Identify the speaker. Label the speaker’s name each time a new speaker starts. Once established, the label doesn’t need to repeat on every subsequent line for the same speaker — only when the speaker changes or after a significant pause (≥ 1–2 minutes).
- Spatial indicators. Use
</>arrows or explicit descriptors (e.g.(on radio)) when the source isn’t obvious. - Color can distinguish speakers, but never as the sole channel — pair with a name label.
- Enable by default at first launch, or let the player enable it before the first cinematic plays.
- Narrator lines don’t need a
Narrator:prefix when there is only one narrator and no other speakers.
Captions
- Provided for all important sounds not already communicated visually.
- Spatial indication (arrows) for off-screen sounds.
- Toggleable and configurable through a discoverable setting.
- Allow different caption categories (main dialogue, background chatter, ambient noises) to be toggled independently.
Platform integration
- Whenever possible, use the caption / subtitle settings the player configured at the platform level by default. Let players override in-game.
Text presentation for subtitles and captions
Preview and persistence
- Provide a visual preview of subtitle / caption presentation reflecting the player’s current configuration, ideally in a realistic game context.
- Persist captions and subtitles into screen recordings, captures, and other UGC so viewers can enable them.
FMV transcripts
- Full transcripts of FMVs are made available via an accessible website.
Sign language interpretation
- Provide sign-language interpretation for scripted in-game cutscenes and pre-rendered FMVs with speech.
- Signing requires localization (ASL, BSL, JSL, etc. differ substantially).
Potential player impact
Resources
- Provide subtitles for all important speech
- If any subtitles / captions are used, present them in a clear, easy to read way
- Provide subtitles for supplementary speech
- Ensure subtitles/captions are or can be turned on before any sound is played
- Allow subtitle/caption presentation to be customized
- Words-per-minute for the target age-group
- Provide captions or visuals for significant background sounds
- Ensure no essential information is conveyed by sounds alone
- Provide a visual indication of who is currently speaking
- BBC Subtitle Guidelines
- API: XClosedCaptionGetProperties (NDA)
- API: XClosedCaptionSetEnabled (NDA)