CRC PRESS TAYLOR & FRANCIS| AUTHOR

The book ‘How to Build Accessible Games’ is being published by Taylor & Francis due for release December 2026.

Pre-order on Waterstones or other retailers

After a hard day at work where I just want to switch out of being a designer and a manager, I’ll
flick on Balatro or Risk of Rain 2 and pour hours of time into seeing juicy numbers fill my brain
with dopamine and right my balance. Most weekends I’ll sit next to my wife as I kill zombies or noodle on the latest little prototype that I have itching my brain whilst she tends farms and we
share snacks and chat. My friends, wife, siblings, and I will spend evenings together catching up
on Discord whilst proudly tending our grand chicken farms beneath our colossal dwarven mine in Minecraft, ignoring the objective and haphazardly herding ourselves to the rooftops as a group of snipers in Battlefield, or chaotically cackling as my brother is sacrificed to the fog in Peak. During a particularly hard part of my life, I spent many hours building unbelievable structures in Valheim, and used video games as an escape and tool to help me navigate my mental health. When StarCraft II came out, me and my housemates deconstructed our dining room to make room for a house-wide LAN party that spanned weeks, forming friendships that last a lifetime. I spent my childhood sitting in front of Zelda: Ocarina of Time dancing with my brother when we finished a dungeon, and sheltering my sister out of the room whenever Nemesis appeared in Resident Evil 3– memories we share often.

Video games are important to me. Video games are important to many people in the world and
mean many different things to them. Video games are simply put… important. Why should any-
one be excluded from video games? But unfortunately many people are. Video games are complex mediums that enrich many people’s lives in many different ways, but are also a closed door to many who cannot navigate the barriers they create and must carefully select the titles without barriers.

The process of selecting games while disabled is tricky. You have to consider not only if you like the
game’s story but also whether or not its software mechanics are likely to provide a bearable playing
experience.[

qual access to society is a human right; it is not negotiable, and everyone deserves to be included.
Video games are both entertainment and art, both of which are fundamental to a society and the
human condition, offering us culture, relaxation, and social dialogue and acting as a catalyst for con-
nection either directly in multiplayer experiences or indirectly through mutual engagement and love.

Accessibility is not just an extra nice-to-have; it is the mechanism in which people are able to
play. As video game developers, we must tear down barriers to our games and open the door to
everyone.

Video games are for everyone.

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