Marvel’s Avengers: Everything You Need to Know about Accessibility
Over the last decade at Crystal Dynamics, we’ve worked hard to implement and build upon a foundation of accessibility in our games. What started as a small and scrappy band of advocates evolved into a formalized accessibility team and has only gained momentum since centralizing our efforts.
When developing Marvel’s Avengers, we also leaned heavily on industry experts for our accessibility pursuits. We brought in Accessibility Consultant Cherry Thompson for early feedback on our game, who also helped us with improving representation within our world (more on that here: Accessibility On Marvel’s Avengers – The Journey So Far).
We also worked with the AbleGamers Charity to receive our APXP certification late last year. A defining moment for the studio, our certification means that we now have employees certified in accessible player experiences – something we’re proud and excited about.
Accessibility is an ongoing pursuit, not a finite goal. Marvel’s Avengers is an incredibly ambitious game for Crystal Dynamics, and so we plan to continue addressing accessibility and rolling out improvements well beyond launch.
With that in mind, check out our current and future accessibility features below!
AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH
SUBTITLES & CC
- Subtitles: Marvel’s Avengers features subtitles in 15 languages, including: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Traditional & Simplified), Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish (Iberian), and Spanish (LATAM).
- Subtitles are turned off by default, but can be easily enabled via the Display menu.
- Subtitle options include a presentation with white text, or one that color codes to each character (ex: Hulk = Green).
- Closed Captions: We’ve not only added closed captions for sound effects, but narrative tracks for descriptive play as well! When subtitles are turned on, you will also see closed captions added to cinematics by default.
GAMEPLAY
Our gameplay customization options include:
- Vibration: On/Off
- Multi-Tap Interact Style: Default/Hold/Tap – This feature allows the adjustment of input requirements for interactions that require rapid button presses to complete, such as QTEs. Setting this option to HOLD changes the requirement to holding down the button. Setting this option to TAP will auto-complete the interaction with only a single button press.
- Difficulty Options
- Easy: This mode is mainly focused on the story by reducing combat barriers and it includes:
- Decreased enemy attack and defensive strength
- More enemy attacks are easily countered
- No enemy attacks are unable to be countered
- Normal: For those who like a balanced combat experience.
- Hard (+5 Power): For those unafraid to take on a greater challenge:
- Increased enemy attack and defensive strength
- More enemy attacks are difficult to counter
- More enemy attacks are unable to be countered
- Brutal (+10 Power): For those looking to prove their worth by facing a considerable challenge
- Significantly increased enemy attack and defensive strength
- More enemy attacks are difficult to counter
- More enemy attacks are unable to be countered
CAMERA
Our Camera customization options include:
- Camera Sensitivity: Scaler (0-10) – Allows for the adjustment of camera movement outside of aiming.
- Shake Sensitivity: Scaler (0-10) – We heard a ton of feedback on screen shake during Beta. and tested a slider option in open beta. If you want to keep the camera moving like a blockbuster movie – you can! Or, if you’re prone to eye strain or motion sickness, you can tone it down as desired.
- Combat Camera Distance: Default/Wide/Close – If chaos of the battlefield makes it difficult for you to concentrate on the tasks at hand, adjusting the combat camera distance may help you focus!
- Y Axis Flight Direction: For inversion of flight controls
- X/Y Access Aim Sensitivity: Scaler (0-10) – Separate scalers that allow for adjusting aim sensitivity on both the X and Y access.
- Target Lock: Manual/Off – This option adjusts the behavior of the camera during combat. When enabled it will keep the camera focused on the last target until the enemy is defeated, or until the camera is manually aimed at another combatant. We received some great feedback about this feature during the Beta, and have implemented some improvements for launch!
- Targeting Assistance: Off/Light/Moderate/Heavy – This feature adjusts the amount of assistance applied when aiming at targets. We received feedback during the Beta that this could use some additional tuning, and we are looking into it!
- Combat Camera Recovery: Off/Light/Moderate/Heavy – This option adjust the aggressiveness with which the camera returns to the default position/orientation after manual adjustment during combat. If you’re sensitive to sudden movements, this may help!
CONTROLS
Button Mapping: In a first for our studio, Marvel’s Avengers will have button remapping across PC and Console. This will allow players to use input devices and create control schemes that fit their individual needs!
HUD / UI
- Menu Cursor Sensitivity: Low/Default/High – This feature allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the cursor within menus.
- Text Chat: Currently we support Speech to Text and Text to Speech chat on Xbox via their Game Chat Transcription setting, and through the PlayStation 4 companion application PS4 Second Screen.
IN-GAME
- Tactical Awareness: Triggering Tactical Awareness highlights points of interest, guides you to your next objective, and highlights AI or co-op companions. Hit this option if you ever need a reminder of where to go next!
- Auto-Equip Best Gear: Our game has a huge array of gear and a deep customization options. If you are a fan of min-maxing your heroes, great! If you are new to this style of game or find the gear system a bit overwhelming and just want to get back to smashing, then hit the “equip best gear” button. While you will forgo customizing buildouts based on your favorite Gear perks or upgrades, we guarantee you’ll still have a ton of fun playing.
WORK IN PROGRESS UPDATES
- High Contrast Mode UI: While we hoped to have this ready for launch, we lost a bit of production time in our transition to working from home. Our High Contrast UI is nearly finished – a feature that makes it easier to navigate our menus for low vision users or those who prefer simpler interfaces. We’ve got a few fixes left to ensure the feature is ready to roll out!
- Subtitle Sizing Options: We received lots of feedback during Beta about options for adjusting the sizing of subtitles, and we’re already working on implementation! More information as we have it.
- Motion Blur: Motion blur reduction was a common request during Beta. We toned down Motion Blur during combat as a result of Beta feedback, but are still looking into additional options for this feature – be it a slider or an on/off option. More news to follow!
- We’re also in the early stages of evaluating some customization options that could help reduce cognitive load based on feedback from Beta. While work has not begun on adjustments, we wanted to make clear that your feedback has been heard!
GET IN CONTACT!
Accessibility is incredibly important to our studio, and it is an ongoing pursuit to make our games, marketing, and communications continually more accessible. To do that, we need you! Please share your feedback with us on social media, or directly at CrystalAccessibility@crystald.com.
We can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks for helping make our games better.
If you missed yesterday’s blog, check it out below:
Tomorrow we’ll run through an overview of online play, detail gear & cosmentics Friday, share a look at our learnings from BETA on Saturday, and give some insight into the weekly gameplay ritual on Sunday!
