Welcome to the fourth annual Games for Blind Gamers jam!
The goal of this jam is to make games for blind players and build awareness of blind gaming and accessibility in general. We welcome developers of all types (beginners and veterans, sighted and blind, etc.) and encourage them to learn about blind gamers and accessibility to create interesting and creative games!
Note that for this edition, the top game, as rated by our blind judges, will get a $100 prize!
See our past editions for inspiration: 1st (2021), 2nd (2023), 3rd (2024).
What: A month-long chilled jam where you create a game that blind players can play, too.
When: In 2025, from February 1st to Feb 28th, 23h59/11:59 pm (EDT/GMT-4)
Why: Blind gamers have their own set of challenges when gaming. We hope to build awareness and create interesting, creative games that they can enjoy too!
How: Create a game (solo or in teams). Then, public voting will determine the Community Winner (anyone with an account on Itch can vote) and a panel of judges will vote on the Judges' Choice, which will receive a prize.
Prize (Judges' Choice): Since we have a prize of $100 this year, our panel of blind judges will independently vote after the jam ends on which game to award the prize!
Jam team: NightBlade, Ericbomb (leads) and Patrícia (UX help)
The rules are:
Also, to ensure as many people as possible can play your game, please make sure it runs on either Windows, or exports as a web game that runs in a browser, and that it is free to play during the submission and evaluation period.
While you can't work on the game itself before the jam starts, it is OK to:
Please don't actually work on your game until the starting date. We trust you!
That's pretty much it. More clarifications/rules may be added in response to questions before the jam starts. We're on Discord pretty actively.
A: Yes! Our dedicated Games for Blind Gamers Discord server has useful pinned messages about accessibility and a very welcoming community with sighted and blind devs and gamers.
You can use it to:
After the jam, we provide additional support to finish and ship your game, and for ongoing projects and discussions about accessibility and blind-friendly games.
A: This edition, there may be two winners:
The community winner has no monetary prize. This game is chosen by public community voting - anyone with a registered itch account can vote -, and the winner doesn't win a monetary prize.
The judges' choice wins a $100 prize. This game is chosen by our panel of blind judges. They will vote individually for the game with the best overall experience, including accessibility.
A: Fun Gameplay, Sound Design and Creativity.
A: Yes. At any time (before, during and after the voting period) you can fix/edit the game, uploading updated game builds.
A: We have a channel on our Discord server specifically for this! Join and ask away!
A: Yes!
Blindness and visual impairments are in a spectrum, ranging from completely blind to varying degrees of sight. While many blind players won't care about graphics, some will; and graphics will certainly attract sighted players to your game.
A: Nope, blind and sighted game developers are welcome!
A: This depends on the type of game you're making but we do have some advice:
Some other good practices are:
Check out out the Games for Blind Gamers wiki FAQ for more details and tips!
A: This is honor-based: you can re-use some existing code, but the intent is to create something new and exciting during the jam period. Don't take something that's 90% done and submit it here.
It's ok to re-use and work on before the jam:
A: No, you can use any gameplay mechanics and genres.
But it is a valid option - it's certainly easier to create regarding accessibility. You'd be able to focus more on content and sound rather than on gameplay and coding.
Check out out the Games for Blind Gamers wiki FAQ for more details and tips!