A r/aigamedev post from Ari, his quadriplegic nonspeaking brother Ben, and his wife Nancy describes how they use AI to build free, open-source games for Ben. The constraint list is the design document: every game runs on one or two switches, speaks everything aloud, and never demands reflexes.
The constraints that shape every game:
- Input model: Spacebar/Return keyup scans and selects; long-hold scans backward or opens charge/context menus
- All interactions need text-to-speech; no or low reflex requirements (mostly turn-based)
- Games must run standalone in the browser, independent of their hub
- Level editors are core — no two disabled players share the same visual needs, cognitive load, or pacing, so each game bends to fit the person instead of the other way around
- Everything is open source: games at switchedgames.org, developer guide at narbehouse.github.io
- The NARBE Foundation backs active volunteers with Claude Code access and AI credits — tooling as support for the work, not payment
The transferable lesson is the level-editor-as-accessibility move: when player needs vary wildly, the game must adapt to the player rather than the reverse. AI’s role is acceleration — it makes a hyper-niche audience economically buildable — and the fork-the-input-logic model turns accessibility scaffolding into reusable infrastructure for the whole community.