Design requirements

This section covers interactions between Playables and the YouTube user experience.

Important: Translated requirements are provided for reference only. Refer to the English versions of requirements for definitive guidance.

1 Aspect ratio and orientation

• Game MUST follow responsive design: be playable in all aspect ratios and adjust automatically when the viewport changes. Non-exhaustive examples: 9:32, 9:21, 9:16, 3:4, 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 21:9, 32:9.
• Game SHOULD fill the available viewport. If the game does not fill the available viewport, the game MUST be centered and include a pillarbox (left and right empty padding) or letterbox (top and bottom empty padding).
• Game MUST NOT lock device orientation or device posture.
• Game MUST maintain the game state or progress when the window is resized. We recommend not restarting or refreshing the game unless the user can quickly resume from the prior state.

Visual examples of these requirements:

2 Interaction methods

• Game MUST support touch input for all interactions.
• Game MUST support mouse input for all interactions.
• Game MUST NOT unintentionally delay or ignore any user input.
• Game MUST NOT have any errors or unexpected behavior for any UI components.
• Game SHOULD support keyboard input for directional or text input.
• Game SHOULD allow users to close modals or dialogs using the Esc key.
• Game MUST NOT call preventDefault() on Esc events.
• Game MAY use haptic feedback where appropriate. If the game includes haptic feedback, game MUST provide a way to toggle haptic feedback on and off.

3 Game user interface (UI)

This section covers game user interface (UI) requirements.

3.1 Rendering

• Game MUST render all text and graphics clearly (not blurry, pixelated, or stretched) across all screen resolutions, aspect ratios, and densities.

4 Metadata

This section covers metadata provided with the game.

4.1 Thumbnails

• Developer MUST provide image thumbnails with the required resolution and aspect ratio:
  • 1:1 aspect ratio with a minimum resolution of 512x512px.
  • 5:7 aspect ratio with a resolution of at least 270x378px (minimum) or 540x756px (recommended).
  • 16:9 aspect ratio with a minimum resolution of 1280x720px.
• Developer MUST provides the thumbnails with filenames containing only these characters: alphanumeric (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), _, -, ..
• Developer MUST NOT include any branding or logos in the thumbnails.
• Developer SHOULD include the game title in the thumbnails.
• Developer SHOULD avoid placing any critical information (such as game title) in the top 12% and bottom 12% portion of the thumbnail image because it could be obstructed by YouTube UI.

4.2 Preview video

• Developer SHOULD provide a preview video that is with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a minimum resolution of 1280x720px in a video format supported by YouTube.

4.3 Description

• Developer MUST provide a game description of 150 characters or less.
• Developer MUST NOT include any branding or logos in the game description.

4.4 Title

• Developer MUST provide a game title of 50 characters or less.
• Developer SHOULD provide a game title of 20 characters or less.
• Developer MUST NOT include any branding or logos in the game title.

4.5 Genre

• Developer MUST provide the genre of the game by selecting one or two genres from this list:
  • Action
  • Arcade
  • Brain & Puzzle
  • Board & Card
  • Music
  • Racing
  • RPG & Strategy
  • Simulation
  • Sports
  • Trivia & Word
• Developer SHOULD provide any additional genres they feel apply to their game that are not on the preceding list.

4.6 Publisher or developer information

• Developer MUST provide the name of the game publisher or developer. Note: This name is displayed to users in some regions.
• EXPECT: Developers may be required to provide ratings for their games (example: IARC rating).

5 Completion of content handling

• Game MUST communicate that there is no more content to engage with, such as after the final level or at the end of game progression.

6 Disallowed elements

This section covers elements that are disallowed in Playables.

6.1 In-game sharing

• Game MUST NOT display in-game sharing prompts.

6.2 External links

• Game MUST NOT display UI or links that take users to external content, such as other sites or games.

6.3 Additional user agreements

• Game MUST NOT display an additional user agreement. Users agree to relevant YouTube policies, terms, and privacy details.

6.4 Elements that create confusion

• Game MUST NOT place icons that are identical to Playables actions in close proximity to the actual Playables actions, such as the close, mute, or menu buttons.
• Game MUST NOT have an in-game exit or quit button.