An accessible puzzle game that lets players experience the world through different vision modes, each simulating a real visual impairment. Created for the Games for Blind Gamers 5 game jam with the theme "Confidently Wrong."
Sighted people are often confidently wrong about what it's like to live with visual impairments. Spectrum Shift aims to educate players by letting them experience tunnel vision, color blindness, visual snow, and cataracts firsthand while solving puzzles in an ancient temple.
The game is fully accessible to low-vision and blind players through comprehensive keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and voice narration.
No installation required. Serve the files with any static HTTP server:
# Using Python
python3 -m http.server 8080
# Using Node.js (if http-server is installed)
npx http-server -p 8080Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| W / Arrow Up | Move North |
| A / Arrow Left | Move West |
| S / Arrow Down | Move South |
| D / Arrow Right | Move East |
| 1-5 | Switch vision mode |
| E | Examine focused object |
| Enter / Space | Interact |
| Tab | Navigate UI elements |
| Escape | Pause / Open menu |
| H | Help |
| R | Repeat room description |
| M | Toggle mute |
| N | Toggle narration |
- Normal Vision - Default sight with no modifications
- Tunnel Vision - Simulates peripheral vision loss (glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa)
- Protanopia - Red-green color blindness affecting ~8% of males
- Visual Snow - Persistent visual static/noise in the field of vision
- Cataracts - Cloudy, blurred vision with reduced contrast
Each vision mode reveals different hidden elements in the environment. Using special vision modes consumes energy, which regenerates when returning to normal vision.
- Full keyboard navigation
- Screen reader support with ARIA live regions
- Voice narration using Web Speech API
- High contrast mode
- Adjustable font sizes (Small / Medium / Large / Extra Large)
- Spatial audio cues for navigation
- All visual information conveyed through multiple channels
- Vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (no build step)
- Howler.js for spatial audio
- Web Speech API for dynamic narration
- localStorage for save data
- CSS filters and SVG color matrices for vision effects
Modern browsers with Web Audio API and Web Speech API support:
- Chrome / Edge (recommended)
- Firefox
- Safari
Created for Games for Blind Gamers 5 game jam.