Let’s be honest: we’ve all been there. You’re playing an epic RPG, a character is whispering a dark, ancient secret, and the subtitles are either microscopic, blending into the snow, or flying past at the speed of light.
Subtitles aren’t just a “nice-to-have” anymore.
Roughly 60% of gamers use them,
whether they have hearing disabilities, noisy roommates, or just want to make sure they didn’t miss that one weird elven pun. Based on the legendary GDC talk by Ian Hamilton (and some 80.lv wisdom), here are the golden rules to making your subtitles actually… well, readable.
Size Matters (Don’t Deny It)
Tiny text is the enemy of joy.
The Golden Number: Aim for at least 46px at 1080p.
The Battle of Contrast
If your text is white and your game is set in a blizzard, your players are going to have a bad time.
Don’t just rely on shadows or outlines (those can be hard for players with dyslexia). Use a background box (letterboxing) behind the text. Bonus points if you let players adjust the opacity of that box!
⚠️ The Contrast Cheat Sheet: > To keep things accessible, aim for a contrast ratio of:
- 4.5:1 for small text.
- 3:1 for large text.
Not sure if your colours work? Use these handy tools to check:
Keep it Simple, Keep it Clean
- Font Choice: Use a clear Sans-Serif font.
- Case Sensitive: Avoid ALL CAPS. It feels like the game is screaming at the player.
Don’t Write a Novel
- The 2-Line Rule: Stick to a maximum of 2 lines (3 in extreme emergencies).
- Character Count: Keep it under 38 characters per line. If the text covers half the screen, you’re making a visual novel, not a subtitle.
Who is Even Talking?
If there are three NPCs on screen and a disembodied voice from a radio, the player needs to know who said what.
- Label it: Use speaker names (e.g., Geralt: “Hmm.”) or unique colours for different characters.
Location, Location, Location
Keep your subtitles bottom — center. It’s where the human eye expects them to be. Putting them in random corners of the screen is a great way to give your players a neck ache.
Accuracy (No “Close Enough”)
Voice actors love to ad-lib. That’s great for the performance, but terrible for subtitles. If the actor says “Yeah, let’s go,” but the text says “Yes, we shall depart,” it creates a weird cognitive itch for the player. Double-check your script against the final audio!
Subtitle Everything (The “Default” Rule)
Don’t wait until the gameplay starts to offer subtitles.
- Opening Cinematic: Ensure they have text!
- The Pro Move: Have subtitles ON by default or ask the player their preference in the very first “Initial Setup” screen before the game even begins.
Captions vs. Subtitles
Subtitles are for speech. Captions are for sounds.
- If a creeper is hissing behind the player, or a door is creaking to the left, add a caption: [Eerie creaking from the left]. This is a literal game-changer for accessibility.
Give Them Time to Breathe
Don’t flash text on the screen for half a second. Use timings that allow for a natural reading pace. If the character talks like a machine gun, you might need to edit the text slightly for brevity , but try to keep the soul of the dialogue intact.
The Magic Numbers:
- The Minimum Stay: No subtitle should be on screen for less than 1.5 to 2 seconds, even if the character just says “Hi.” Anything shorter is just a blink.
- The Reading Speed: Aim for a pace of about 15 to 20 characters per second.
- The “Linger” Factor: Leave the subtitle on screen for about 0.3 to 0.5 seconds after the audio ends. This gives the brain a tiny moment to finish processing the sentence before it disappears.
- The Gap: Leave at least 2 frames (about 0.1 seconds) of “blank space” between two different subtitles. If one replaces the other instantly, the eye might not even realise the text changed!
The Ultimate Secret: Options!
If there is one takeaway, it’s this: Customization is King. The more toggles you give the player; size, background, speaker names, colors, the more “awards” your game wins in the hearts of players.
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