Stardew A11y Redesign

A low-vision accessibility video game redesign. Interaction Design | Inclusive Design | WOZ Prototype

As part of my education on Accessibility, I completed an individual project to evaluate the accessibility of the indie video game Stardew Valley for players with low vision such as low visual acuity, night blindness, and limited central or peripheral visual fields. My initial evaluation showed a clear lack of features that allow access for low-vision players and I make suggestions for future development to help increase the accessibility of Stardew Valley (SDV).

Accessibility Critique 

I chose to focus on Low vision as the area of accessibility for this project and more specifically, people with low visual acuity, night blindness, and loss of central or peripheral vision. According to the Cleveland Clinic, all of these types of impairments are part of the low vision umbrella definition of sight that is not able to be corrected with eyeglasses, contacts, or surgery. A focus on low vision was chosen for this project because there is a wide range of techniques that can be used to help supplement the current game visuals to make the content more accessible. Also, while not specifically targeting fully or legally blind players, I believe that some of the suggested features will help make the game more accessible for players with more severe visual impairments.

To conduct my evaluation, I used the accessibility standards developed by GameAccessibilityGuidelines.com since I had no experience with inclusive game design and these guidelines include a large list of ranked features for accessibility.

Critique Findings

SDV has some basic accessibility features in the Vision category but lacks some basic requirements as well as most intermediate and advanced access features because the game is heavily reliant on reading on screen text. As a point toward accessibility, the text formatting throughout the game is clear and readable including passing WCAG 2.0 guidelines for contrast. There are also some accommodations for low-vision players that allow UI resizing but there is nothing for fully blind players because reading and seeing are required to progress in the game.

Overall, SDV gameplay is heavily reliant on being able to see the screen completely and understand what is being seen. The three areas I focused on based off of my evaluation are to increase the contrast for dark maps, increase the contrast and size for interaction indicators, and create an audio-based GPS for map navigation

Feature Redesign

Increasing Contrast

Mostly dark image with a slightly visible player in the center to demonstrate worst example of low contrast situations in the game.
Example of very low contrast. The player is in a combat zone with virtually no light to see enemies or interaction items.

While most areas on the map are well lit and easy to see, there are certain levels in the mines where there is virtually no lighting which makes it difficult to see. The image above shows an example of this from the game where the player is at the center of the image but virtually nothing is seen with almost the entire screen being black. This type of game location is especially difficult to see for players with night blindness because the contrast is so low you cannot really see anything even as a normally-sighted person.

To address this issue, I created two options that can be applied individually or together to increase contrast and highlight the important interaction areas. These changes were made using a combination of Figma and Adobe Lightroom to address visual needs and were checked with WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to ensure that all changes were compliant with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

Adding high contrast boxes on low-contrast game pages.

I created brightly colored highlight boxes on enemies, elements you can interact with, and the character itself seen above. In green are the non-enemy interaction elements such as rocks to mine or exits from this location while light red-orange is used to highlight enemies that may attack the player and blue is used for the player’s character. While the color indicators will not be beneficial to players with colorblindness as the only indicators of what type of item is highlighted, the boxes all meet WCAG AA standards for UI components with contrast ratios over 13 and are intentionally designed for players whose biggest need is increased contrast.

Brightening the playable area in the dark locations.

The next feature I created was the option to brighten the entire location. This illuminates the entire playable area to a degree that is not possible using in-game items in all areas that may be too dark to see in. As seen in the image above, this redesign helps to raise the contrast and makes the area much easier to see for those with night blindness or anyone who needs higher contrast ratios when viewing images.

Adding both the highlight boxes and brightening the background.

Finally, since these two changes are not mutually exclusive, I demonstrated how my suggested features may interact with each other. Seen above, the highlight boxes now appear on the much brightened background and the colors chosen did not have to change because they meet WCAG standards even with the brighter background.


Interaction Indicator Contrast and Size Increases

A close up version of the left picture showing the small interaction area of the dandelion with a small, low contrast green plus showing that the item is interactive.
Example of the small, low contrast indicator that the item can be interacted with.

Another area I fixed was the icon that appears on the players mouse when they mouse over items that can be picked up. While the UI in general is able to be enlarged, there is no current system to enlarge small individual elements like the interaction icon. The current indicator is a small, green plus sign that appears at the bottom right of the mouse when the item is hovered over. This indicator is usually over green or brown backgrounds and unfortunately has a very low contrast ratio which makes it difficult to see for anyone with low visual acuity or with any issues seeing contrast. The photo above shows the current state with the original size and color of the indicator.

To correct the indicator, I used Figma and a current game screenshot. First, I made a pixel-perfect recreation of the indicator to serve as my base for the redesign. Then, I experimented with different colors and used WebAIM’s contrast checker again to evaluate the changes I made.

A now blue interaction indicator that is still difficult to see because of how small it is.
The indicator is now blue which is slightly easier to see on the brown and green background but still small.

The first change explored was changing the color of the indicator from green to blue in order to increase the contrast with the background. The main green color of the plus sign indicator failed on both background colors but the blue I chose passed on both as did the dark blue outline of the indicator. This change does help increase contrast but does not address visual acuity issues because the indicator is still very small and hard to see as seen in the image above.

Interaction indicator change to size. Made four times larger and it is much easier to see.
Changing indicator size to be 4 times larger than the original symbol.

Next, I increased the size of the original indicator from about 30x30 pixels square to 60x60 pixels to create an indicator that has 4 times the visual surface area. This helped make the indicator easier to see even with the low-contrast colors and benefits people with low visual acuity. The above image shows the new, larger indicato


Combination of color and size changes to the interaction indicator resulting in a large, blue plus to show what can be interacted with.
A larger, higher contrast blue plus for interaction indication.

Finally, seen above, I combined the two changes to show how a higher-contrast, larger indicator could help people with low visual acuity and with higher contrast needs. This change is the easiest to see overall and I suggest implementing the two changes together to make this indicator as accessible as possible.

Audio-based GPS

The final area I redesigned was an audio GPS system for navigation around the map that alerts players to their location on the map. There is currently no audio-based navigation system available and only a visual map is available. This is difficult for people with low vision and especially for people with central or peripheral vision loss because they may not be able to see where they’re located or what is near them on the screen. 

To address this, I simulated an audio GPS navigation system to tell players when they enter and exit a map screen, what direction they're walking, and when they’re near a point of interest. My system is designed to help orient players on the screen and find areas of interest with minimal player input. When the system is turned on, all movements will be vocalized as seen in the video below to ensure users know where they are. The new system helps low and no vision players navigate around the map easier and tell when they are close to important interaction points.

I developed the GPS using a screen recording of the original game and Voice Flow, a conversational agent prototyping tool. Each map location audio was recorded, trimmed and aligned to the game video to create a simulated, Wizard of Oz experience prototype. 

Impact of Redesign

The impact of my three feature changes helps increase the accessibility of SDV for low vision players quite a bit. While not all people with visual impairments are helped by these changes, those with night blindness, low visual acuity, and impairments to their visual field are helped quite a bit. The increased contrast and sizes of UI elements helps to make sure all game elements are noticeable by more players and helps those with mild to moderate visual impairments. The audio GPS system can help those with more severe visual impairments up to possibly even totally blind players better navigate in the game which is not possible at all in the current version. While not fully accessible, these changes make the game playable and much more visually accessible.

See full project report →

Created by Amanda Crawford, 2025.