Comfort and access

Things this site already follows

Rather than adding switches nobody finds, the site takes its cues from the settings you have already made on your device.

• Light and dark. The page follows your system appearance. There is no toggle here because your operating system already has one, and it knows about sunset and we do not.
• Reduced motion. Turn on "reduce motion" and the site stops animating its scrolling. Nothing on these pages moves on its own in the first place.
• Text size. Everything is laid out in relative units, so raising the browser or system font size enlarges the text rather than clipping it.
• Keyboard focus. Every link and button draws a visible focus ring when you tab to it, in both light and dark.
• Silence by default. No page on this site plays audio, ever.

Inside Flying Penguin

Flying Penguin needs one timed tap or click to swing. Space or Enter also swings. Settings lets you choose English or Japanese, turn sound on or off, and toggle vibration on supported phones.

Inside Iromino

Iromino lets you select a region with a tap or click, then paint adjacent empty cells with taps or a drag. You do not need to hold several controls at once. Undo is available without a limit, and there is no time limit for solving a puzzle.

Settings lets you choose English or Japanese and turn the background music on or off. Those choices are saved on your device. Color is part of the puzzle's rules; there is no alternative palette or symbol mode to replace it.

Inside Break Works

There is one setting, on the stage-select screen: sound on or off. It persists between visits.

The language is chosen from your browser rather than from a menu. If your browser's first language is Japanese you get Japanese; otherwise you get English, on the assumption that simple English travels further than Japanese does.

Physically, it asks very little. One tap to aim and fire, no holding, no dragging and no simultaneous presses. Taking your time cannot fail a stage — the clock is recorded, but only to separate two attempts that spent the same number of balls. It plays one-handed on a phone without stretching for anything.

Inside Formula Warriors and Block Pong

Formula Warriors is a series of single taps and plays comfortably one-handed. Block Pong needs a drag — press, move, release. On a desktop it is a mouse drag, which some people find easier than a thumb.

Neither takes keyboard input either. If that rules a game out for you, we would rather know than not — see below.

Pacing

A stage of Break Works is under a minute and a level of Formula Warriors is about the same. Iromino lets you leave an unfinished puzzle and resume it later. Its hints and Highlight use separate stocks that refill daily, but you can keep solving without using either tool. Unlimited Highlight in the app editions removes the stock limit for Highlight, not for hints.

What is not there yet

An honest list is more useful than a reassuring one. As of today:

• Most games require a pointer. Iromino, Break Works, Formula Warriors and Block Pong use touch or a mouse. Flying Penguin also supports Space or Enter for swinging.
• Screen readers cannot play these games. They are drawn to a canvas, and a canvas has nothing for a screen reader to read. The pages around them are ordinary HTML and are navigable; the games themselves are not.
• There is no colour-blind mode. The games lean on colour in places, and there is currently no alternative palette.
• There is no in-game motion setting. The site respects reduced motion; the games do not offer their own control over camera movement or effects.
• Language support varies. Flying Penguin and Iromino have English and Japanese with a choice in Settings. Break Works chooses English or Japanese from your browser. Formula Warriors and Block Pong are English only.