Challenge Patterns

The 10 patterns that make gameplay itself — not just access to the game — accessible.

Overview

Making progress possible

Once players are playing, they may still be unsuccessful because the challenges in the game may be too much for them, even after optimal configuration of access. Challenge Patterns move on from Access Patterns by thinking about how players with disabilities might be able to make progress in the game. Challenges in games aren’t easy to define, but our research shows they can be broken down into four types: performance, emotional, cognitive, and decision-making.

For a player with a tremor in their hands, it may be that no amount of precision in the mouse can get them to the point where they can jump over an obstacle at just the right time, in just the right place. Perhaps what they need is a way to Slow It Down, where the speed of what the player needs to do is reduced so they have time to steady themselves at the crucial moment. Alternatively, they might need a Helping Hand, where the game relaxes the required precision. Finally, in some cases maybe they don’t really need to jump over the obstacle at all — maybe they could just skip the jumping puzzle, as discussed in the Bypass pattern.

Changing the challenges changes the experiences players get from the game. Not all challenges can be made accessible and remain the same challenge, but different patterns suggest different ways to move challenges in a game from being impossible — or unreasonably difficult and unfun — to possible and accessible. By using our patterns to ideate and inspire new ways to design challenges, you’ll still be able to deliver the experiences you want players to have, to the widest possible set of players.

The 10 Patterns