Towards Cognitive Accessibility in Digital Game Design: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Adults with Intellectual Disability

The aim of this study was to create guidelines for designing digital games that are accessible to neurodiverse individuals, based on evidence collected through a process involving adults with Intellectual Disability (ID). The study involved thirty-one students in their final year of a Bachelor’s Degree in Videogames, who participated in a collaborative project over a period of 12 months where they developed digital games for adults with ID. After the project, a questionnaire was administered to the students, which was designed based on previous empirical studies on cognitive accessibility. The participants were asked to rate different measures according to their perceptions and experiences. Descriptive statistics and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data and to propose a hierarchical and a conceptual model for the cognitive accessibility guidelines. This resulted in thirty ranks of guidelines, which were divided into four levels of priority within the accessibility-driven game design process. The analysis also identified a structure consisting of 10 factors related to cognitive accessibility, such as Cognitive Burden, Game Mechanics, Information Organization, Level Design, Interaction Bandwidth, Tutorials, Color and Contrast, User Interface, Errors, and Difficulty. It is important to note that this conceptual model is preliminary and exploratory, and further discussion and research is needed to refine it.