Accessibility audit: Cuphead

I did an audit about the accessibility of Cuphead for a course in UX research and design for video games. To be specific, I used the Game Accessibility Guidelines as a basis. The intent was to identify issues that visually-impaired players might face. For each issue, I described its context, impact, and evidence. I gathered evidence from comments on the web, including blogs, forums, and social media. I already had some evidence from an earlier project.

I developed recommendations to mitigate the issues that I identified. I imagined options for subdued backgrounds and colors of parryable objects. I also imagined options for enlarged HUD sizes. Independent volume-control for Super Meter effects and contrast settings are my other recommendations. To realize these ideas, I sketched them by hand. Then I used screenshots, Adobe Photoshop, and Figma to produce mockups.

The mockups showed how these options could be selectable and how they could look in the game. I found the game’s typefaces and used them to make the mockups look more authentic. I posted my work on a message board and got helpful feedback.