There was a thread about one-button already: https://itch.io/t/1046693/accessibility-common-misunderstanding-on-itchio-one-button-accessibility but it was archived.

(by the way I’d like to notify the OP of that thread that I’m continuing the discussion, but I don’t know how to notify a user not taking part in a thread, just using their name)

The thread mentioned the fact that too many games not exactly using “one button” were using the tag incorrectly. The admin’s reply was about flagging them as Miscategorized. But this doesn’t solve the issue of people with games using “almost one button” still unsure whether they should keep the tag and mislead some people, or drop the tag and lose potential players.

My first suggestion is to decompose the “one button” tag into multiple more precise ones. Examples:

• Unique button: aka “strict one button”, you only need 1 button to go through the game’s main content (note that this button may be “any key”). Imagine having one finger stuck to one key and you can only use that. It’s the one described by the OP of the thread mentioned above.

There may be some options reached via extra keys as in https://fizzd.itch.io/a-dance-of-fire-and-ice I suppose, but the main game should be entirely playable with 1 button. I suppose Kinetic visual novels would enter this category, as just advancing will not make you miss core content (however, options and extras may be inaccessible, so this may need some discussion). Visual Novel with branching would not fit, because the choices are important and generally done via arrow keys (it could work with time-based input like A Dance of Fire and Ice, but that’s a different story).

• One button at a time / No input holding: no need to hold anything. For instance, just press arrow keys one by one, then press Space. The game must not require reactivity, etc. as moving from one key to another may take some time. Imagine you can only use one finger and move it slowly across your keyboard.

Examples: Visual Novel, turn-based RPG, etc.

• Just mouse move and click: the game can be played by moving the mouse, then clicking.

Examples: Visual Novels again. Relaxed strategy games (not RTS which often require dragging to select a group of units; only, the need for quick timing requires more discussion).

For an example that has “Just mouse move and click” but not “One button at a time / No input holding”, see https://wenderlygames.itch.io/assessment-examination: indeed, it supports Mouse but not Keyboard. In that case though, the Input methods will already indicate it.

• Just mouse (with drag): the game can be played by just using mouse actions, but it includes advanced actions like drag and scroll wheel.

Examples: https://edmond00.itch.io/timeline, or RTS as we’ve seen. However, for RTS, keyboard is required to play efficiently, so that’s a moot point again.

I admit that’s a lot of tags already, and there is still some things to clarify (what is “main content”? Should we dedicate a tag for games that show 100% of the content with a single button, vs “almost everything”? Do timing and reactivity matter?). I suppose we could add orthogonal tags like “No reactivity needed” so we don’t need to create 2 or 3 variants of every existing tag, instead letting the developer combine them.

What do you think? Maybe there are ways to create even fewer tags by combining things cleverly? For instance Input method: Mouse + No holding button = You can play with the mouse, and no dragging is needed.

As a side note, the Input methods have some ambiguity when it comes to combinations. If I add Keyboard and Mouse, does it mean I play with Keyboard and Mouse or Keyboard or Mouse? Maybe we could have a special entry “Keyboard + Mouse”…

My second suggestion is to add a link, below the Accessibility field in Edit game > Metadata > Classification to the full list of tags used specifically by itch.io with their descriptions and examples. Currently, it only points to https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/ which is a great resource but only has a lot of information where the developer must search through. For instance, I went to Full list (https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/full-list/) then searched “button” but it didn’t mention one-button specifically (the closest is “Avoid / provide alternatives to requiring buttons to be held down” but it doesn’t say when your game is considered “one-button”).

This way, if some tags are still unclear, the developers could refer to the tag descriptions and compare their game to examples to be sure if they should tag it or not.