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Lair of the Clockwork God

An indie puzzle platformer.

1 source2 tips

Where Lair of the Clockwork God comes up1 episode or test

Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testHow Accessible Were 2020's Biggest Games?
In short

Lair of the Clockwork God, a small indie puzzle platformer, shipped custom subtitles, a dyslexic font, speech that waits for the player and a toggle that disables its colour-based puzzles. Game Maker's Toolkit cites it as proof that accessibility does not depend on budget, since it offered more options than Valorant, which lacks subtitles. Lesson: add subtitles and let players switch off colour-dependent mechanics.

At a glanceAn indie team shipped accessibility basics that Riot's Valorant skipped
Lair of the Clockwork GodWon
  • Customisable subtitles
  • Dyslexic font
  • Speech waits for the player
  • Colour puzzles can be switched off
Valorant (Riot)
  • No subtitles
  • Multi-billion-dollar annual revenue

Subtitles are the baseline, whatever the budget

From Page note on accessibility in games

What was said about Lair of the Clockwork God

  • Lair of the Clockwork God lets players switch off its colour-based puzzles. The game has puzzles that rely on colour, so the developers added an option to disable that aspect for colourblind players. It is cited as an example of making a game playable without a colour-dependent mechanic.

    The alternative named for colourblind support is a customisable palette. Removing colour dependence is the other route, and this game took it. The source's view: "colourblindness is something that all game designers should be thinking about."

  • A small indie team shipped subtitles, a dyslexic font and pausable speech. Lair of the Clockwork God offers customisable subtitles, a dyslexic font and speech that waits for the player. It is held up as proof that basic accessibility options are possible on an indie budget.

    The source sets this against Valorant, a Riot game that ships without subtitles despite the studio's multi-billion-dollar annual revenue. It frames subtitles as the barebones baseline regardless of budget.

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