There are a lot of video games out there. Most require vision, many require manual dexterity, some require hearing. But there are many people without these abilities, whether due to a disability or just because they don't have all of the tools the game was designed to be played with. The goal of this jam is to make games that almost anyone can play.

Games in this jam are going to need options, because obviously you can't make a game that relies on absolutely no input or output. Some people will want to play with a keyboard, others with a controller, and some just with a mouse or touchscreen. Some people will be playing on mobile, and many don't want to download anything. Some people may need a screenreader, while others won't be able to hear the game sounds, and still others will be distracted by them. A quite large portion of people need accessible text, whether due to farsightedness, nearsightedness, dyslexia, or colorblindness. Hopefully, people in all of these groups will be able to find submissions in this jam that they can play and enjoy.

Each game is rated for its accessibility in 8 different categories. 5 are based on  groups of disabilities, and 3 are based on what hardware people are using, for whatever reason. These probably won't be revealed, because the games should be accessible as possible in general, not just for specific criteria. If you have an argument as to why they should be revealed, feel free to post it in the discussion.

The other criteria  are "Different gameplay options," "Clear instructions," and "Overall game." The more customizable a game is, the higher you should rate it on "Different gameplay options." This can also include availability of different platforms: eg, in browser and different kinds of downloadable files. Games should give instructions on how to play, in the game itself or at the top of the game description. It shouldn't be at all difficult to find out what the controls are, what the goal is, or how the game ends. The "Overall game" criterium is there for all non-accessibility related concerns: Did you like the graphics? How did the gameplay feel? Was it fun? Accessibility is still 90% of the rating though, because it requires just as much effort and skill to make an accessible game as it does to make one that will be liked by people who can play whatever they want.

The games can be rated by anyone with an itch.io account. If you're not much of a game maker, your input is still valuable! Especially if you're disabled and have been struggling to find games you can play, feel free to play any of the submissions during the month of October and rate them. If you have friends who have complained about this issue, please share!

If you have any tips for how to make games more accessible, feel free to share them! The discussion forum is open for tips and links, and there's also an optional field for a blog post URL in the submission entry.  If you're really competitive and want to hide your secrets until the end, you can avoid the forum and just add a blog post to your submission, because the link won't be visible until rating begins.

In the interest of accessibility, the allotted submission period is 2 months (August and September) and the allotted rating period is 1 month (October). You can start on your projects beforehand, but a theme will be announced at the beginning of the submission period, so I suggest keeping your ideas flexible.

Theme: Two Worlds

The theme was voted on via this poll but it was a tie so I decided between the two.

These were some randomly generated themes from Let's Make A Game's Game Jam Theme Generator.