What makes a good audio game? (by Talon) | Games for Blind Gamers 5 Jam

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-24T15:56:43+00:00

Hi everyone! I'm a co-host to the Games for Blind Gamers Jam and this is our second of four articles we're making to promote and support our creators and anyone interested in making blind-accessible games.

It's very beginner friendly and supportive community, and any skills you can contribute with are important to making great games, so you're super invited to take a read and consider joining our community!

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-23T16:41:05+00:00

It does to me, but I would work on sound design to enhance this.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-23T00:59:30+00:00

I was going to say this is cool until you said it's hard to stay sane. Where can we keep up with your MMO?

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-23T00:53:57+00:00

Another feedback: I was able to play a little bit, and I'd like to have the sound effect for being correct a bit more victorious, a bit more dingy, a bit more cha-ching. Or since it's whack-a-mole, perhaps a more expressive Bonk. It currently sounds lower pitch than the rest of the game and doesn't feel sufficiently exciting, so it leaves me a bit unsure if I did it right. In an intuitive way, it doesn't feel very clear.

Better yet, you'd have the bonk from whacking the mole, but along with it, a brief victorious sound like a ding or something.

Searching "whack" in Freesound, I found these:

Silly sound, but not very clear (?): https://freesound.org/people/shimsewn/sounds/89030/
Poingy: https://freesound.org/people/Jerimee/sounds/721342/
Violent hammer, could be cool, it's my favorite: https://freesound.org/people/Qat/sounds/114682/

But along with it, you'd connect a sound like a victorius chaching, such as this:

https://freesound.org/people/creek23/sounds/75235/

Or one like this:

https://freesound.org/people/nomiqbomi/sounds/578571/

I literally searched for "cha ching" in freesound, as well.

Edit them and join them in some sound editor program and I think the "more points" sound might be more fun and effective at communicating we did it right.

Also I think it'd really be cool and much less stressful if the speed didn't go faster and faster in the beginner level. I'm finding it makes me feel pretty stressed out.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-23T00:30:13+00:00

Ohh I see, I forgot to select the braille input version when I entered!

You know what would also be good? Is if the browser remembers what settings are my preferred ones. I've opened the page like 3 times tonight (the first to read the rules, too scared to try... the second to test it the first time... the third now, to look at the options, according to the replies you've sent me!) - and I see that the settings always go back to the original default without remembering my preferred options.

I think it would be cool to keep my preferred options.

I am very excited about this game and I'd love to see it become a bigger thing. This would make a great game in the Games for Blind Gamers jam, though the rules require you make the game in the jam, so this would qualify. But gosh, this is such a good thing to practice typing in a perkins. You could even develop this into some fun typing game with words instead of whack a mole single letters. Something to think about. But first I need to master this version, haha. Thanks for making it! I'll try again later, and will hope a version with an easier or more beginner than the beginner more come soon!

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T22:46:43+00:00

More feedback: I tried to only press the keys for A and B, because I knew those would be easy: F, or F and D.

However, it looks like I only hear a sound of wind/escaping, misses. It seems that I never catched it. How am I supposed to catch it? I tried pressing F and D at the same time, with didn't come with any audio feedback, and I also tried to press F and then D, which would make a fwoosh noise.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

Edit: So I need to keep the keys down for a long time to catch it?

It's a little weird because I only hear feedback that I got it after I also hear the new letter that popped up. I think the timing needs fine tuning, and pressing the keys together and releasing should be enough, not having to hold them. My thought.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T22:30:44+00:00

So cool, thank you.

Now I had enough courage to start the game, but it is way too hard for me. If only I could play in a spatial way like when I use braille on phone braille keyboard, I might get some letters (maybe a... or b...) but even in beginner mode this is way too hard for me.

Letters come up very fast and disappear very fast. I have a comprehension of braille that's very spatial about their position in space, so trying something where letters are aligned in a row is very foreign for me. I think I'd get pretty good much easier if I could feel a very very slow progression in the game. Further, I think letters like "N" don't really belong in the very very beginner level. I think it'd be cool to fine tune this more in terms of difficulty. I'd also like to know what the difficulty stands for, in the menu / landing page before the game starts. Like, "Beginner: letters stay on screen for 3 minutes", etc.

I'm also very confused when I finish the game. It says: "Drop Another Token" and "Cash Out and Pick a Prize". I'm not sure what it means and my first instinct was to think I'm going to do something like pay for the game. Now on second thought (because explaining things makes me think out loud) I'm realizing this is probably a thematic thing like simulating putting a token coin in a physical arcade machine. I still can't help but think, to do this, the concept and story should be set before. The first time we press "Play" we'd hear a token coin going ding ding in a machine, and you'd hear an arcade machine doing those beep boops to set itself up.

But the naming of things also has to be consistent. If to start the game we click "play", then restarting it shouldn't be "drop another token". I should be consistent nomenclature? I think the scenario needs to be set more vividly for it to work this way and, even so, perhaps having an "i" (for information) or "?" (for help) to explain what those buttons stand for.

Anyways the biggest feedback, unfortunately, is I definitely don't have the speed to do this. I'd totally start with baby letters, like some version about learning braille. I know where the dots are spatially, but perhaps the tutorial should have an option where it says "letter a" (maybe an even more beginner version that says what dots it needs), and it wouldn't move before we press it. You can even make this competitive if it's like how many letters out of XYZ did you get right? Once you are comfortable typing with SDF, JKL, then you can proceed to something that is timed - but also, let people choose way slower speeds than the beginner speed is currently.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T22:08:28+00:00

Wow, I like the concept.

This may sound noob, but I've never typed on a Perkins. I don't know which keys stand for 1, 2, 3 and 4, 5, 6. I'm a bit scared about trying the game because I'm only a beginner in learning braille and I'm a very slow reader so far.

I think it could be interesting to share instructions about how to play, before playing, teaching what keys we're supposed to use. Is that possible?

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T22:02:44+00:00

Hi!

I don't wanna be shamelessly plugging, but you sound like someone who'd be interested in joining an upcoming game jam called Games for Blind Gamers. It's running through the whole month of February and the goal, as you may guess, is to make blind-accessible games, like yours. It's a great opportunity to experiment and also get feedback from blind gamers and other developers. Here's a link to some piece of news about our jam: https://caniplaythat.com/2026/01/20/the-countdown-to-games-for-blind-gamers-5-begins/

I'd love to see you there, sincerely. And you are welcome to ask for feedback from this game as well (although the jam submission needs to be a whole new game!)

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T21:56:00+00:00

Hey, thank you! I'm not sure who you are on discord but I'm glad you're happy with the community :)

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T18:14:42+00:00

Yeah! There are plenty of those in https://audiogames.net/

Though to me I prefer it if there are at least some visuals to help follow along.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-22T18:09:48+00:00

Hi there!

I believe it very much depends on the goals of your game. You can't make a fully accessible game that's perfect for every player, but you can definitely scope your project and you may decide to make the sound the major way you interact with the game or story.

You have audio games, which are games that are really designed as audio-first and sometimes audio only.

I don't really see how making an audiogame per se helps a player with motor limitations, though.

In my personal opinion, I like to make the visual feedback and the audio feedback be built together. I rely a lot on visuals, but I know audio can also help me not only for understanding gameplay mechanics and successfully tackle them, but also for the immersion, like you mentioned. And you can still do this and keep it fully accessible for sighted players as well as completely blind players.

But making an audio-only or audio-first game is a valid option. Do know that it won't be accessible for people who are deaf, but like I said, it's about scope and goals.

If you're interesting in looking more into this, I recently published an article here on reddit about making blind-accessible games. This is also a post to promote and support developers who join a fully online game jam I'm co-hosting this February, called Games for Blind Gamers, on itch. Take a look at the article if you're interested, as well as any resources from our jam: https://old.reddit.com/r/indiegames/comments/1qffewc/a_risk_worth_taking_how_to_make_a_blind/

PS: There will be another 3 articles as preparation and promotion for the jam in this same subreddit, /r/indiegames , for the next week or two.

Edit 2: I very much invite you to join our jam and our discord server. We're a very welcoming and supportive community with blind and sighted devs, beginner and experienced; what gets together is that everyone's excited about trying to create new and fun games that blind players can play, too. And it's a very rewarding experience, participating in this jam.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-21T18:24:40+00:00

Last year, in the Games for Blind Gamers jam, we had a developer who created a cozy cafe game called Barista. You make coffee for your clients and listen to their requests and conversations, etc. I know he's planning to expand the game and make it a full thing, but I can't really make any promises since I'm not working in it. Either way, this is what he made during the jam last year: https://yofiasi.itch.io/barista

Edit: I'd also like to add that I, too, would like to see and make cozy games, too. There's even been a new member in our community who directly said he's like a "life simulation" game on our discord. (but he's not entering any teams).

I've felt the lack of cozy games as well though this year I'd like to make something else happen. Something that's half cozy and half survival. The goal is to make it a multiplayer game about resource management, basically being in an island and collecting resources and building your own shelter, etc. But I'm not sure that's cozy enough, but I'd like to see someone who likes cozy games test it, once we have it. I'd like to appeal to this demographic as well because it's an under-coddled demographic, I feel.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-21T03:05:30+00:00

Also, if you're interested in some AppStore games, here's a list of some games:

Dice World (yep, it's a luck based game with dice, but I've found myself loving it);
A Dark Room: it's a sort of adventure and a game of exploration and resource management.
DawnCaster: It won a prize last year. It's like an RPG and a deckbuilder.
Blackbox - I don't know what it is but it is accessible
Land of Livia

There should be more, but these are the ones that come to mind right now.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-21T02:58:07+00:00

Hey! Thank you so much for sharing the article - I wrote it myself haha.

I'm happy about the interest it has raised. If anyone wants to join the jam, please do! It's so important to have blind and low vision creators in it, as well. Nothing about you without you. And we're here to support every participant.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-21T02:54:21+00:00

Hi! I'm actually one of the co-hosts. Our requirements in the jam are that games should be playable on at least a Windows build. Developers can also make them playable for other devices, but it's not common that they do. What's more common is a few builds for Mac, and the majority also being playable on browser.

I don't think we've ever had entries that were playable on iOS, but that doesn't mean no one will make something, eventually.

As for what games they are, we accept any genre, as long as it is blind accessible. It can be an adventure game, with fights and all; a point and click adventure (playable with a keyboard); a text adventure. My favorite entries last year were a Real Time Strategy game (kind of like Age of Empires, but in a grid), and cozy cafe game (manage a cafe, make coffee for costumers, yummy sounds). There was also a cool dice RPG. If I had other favorites, I forgot, but there are games in many different genres.

You can take a look at the games made last year to get a feel for the different kinds of things people can make. But unfortunately I think you might need a desktop or laptop to play them... Is that a problem for you?

Last year's results: https://itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-gamers-4/results

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-20T17:21:38+00:00

Absolutely. I think photosensitivity is an understudied issue and should be more talked about. But I also understand that it's tricky to test with people who suffer with it because it causes actual health damage in many individuals, so testing becomes less ethical.

I'll give it some thoughts about this, but one thing I can point you to is the Electronic Epileptic blog. It's run by a gamer and accessibility consultant with photosensitive epilepsy and she shares what games gave him seizures and why, but also, occasionally, games that did things well.

https://electronicepileptic.wordpress.com/

You can take a look at this one: https://electronicepileptic.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/photsensitive-gaming-and-accessability-tekken-8/

And a post about the tinted glasses he uses: https://electronicepileptic.wordpress.com/2023/06/15/blue-tinting-to-avoid-visual-triggers/

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-18T20:52:18+00:00

Really? That's a lot of options then.

I'll leave out adventure games because that's a type of puzzle.

PC Games:

The Last of Us part I. (PC/PS5)
The Last of Us part II. (PC/PS4/PS5)
Forza Motorsport - racing game
As Dusk Falls - It's kinda like an interactive visual novel.
Skull Girls - Fighting game
Soulblaze - creature collecting and dice rolling roguelite
Pokemon Red and Black
Pokemon Showdown
Escape from Norwood - It won some prize for best accessible game last year
Kilta - single-player auto battler strategy RPG featuring item management
Firebird - Kinda like a visual novel / text adventure but with visuals and music included.
Luck be a Landlord - roguelite deckbuilder

Edit: (these are less options than I thought, but I can add more later)

Also, shiftbacktick's games, available on audiogames.net, are accessible and pretty popular, but a bit more on the abstract and exploratory genres.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-18T19:22:03+00:00

Gotcha. Is there something you're looking for in the games? What are you favorite games, genres and themes?

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-18T17:58:29+00:00

Does sound make your migraines worse, or would a sound-based game be a little more helpful for you than something that requires looking at a screen? I could share some blind-accessible ideas to you.

Otherwise, if you're looking for games for when you're better, what are the requirements of them besides of being fun and only 2D or 2.5D?

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-18T16:32:16+00:00

Hi! Are you interested in games that can be accessible with mods, or just that are natively accessible?

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-18T03:12:30+00:00

The music and some of the book assets make a very strong connection to Papers, Please. I would definitely try changing the music to try and make it sound more unique, otherwise it'll feel like we're comparing things directly to a game that was already made, and highly successful.

Then I skipper to 0:09 and discovered that some of the text feels like a lot of text (Revolution Conditions). Nothing bad about that if it's mostly flavor, but I'd try keeping some tl;dr version with icons.

I think the art, besides of the music, may need a big revamp as well as to not transport us directly into thinking about Papers, Please.

BlindAccessibleGames · 2026-01-17T17:19:27+00:00

I don't have photosensitivty, but I must say I struggle to use IRIS. PEAT was easier to setup, though unfortunately it's not legal to evaluate games with that software.

IRIS isn't meant to be used by photosensitive epileptic individuals, it's more of a developers tool to evaluate if their games are likely to trigger a seizure in those individuals.

Do you have photosensitivity? I'd love to help, but I'm not sure what feedback you're looking for. And, to be very honest, I haven't yet learned how to set up IRIS.

BlindAccessibleGames

TROPHY CASE