With new WCAG 2.1 AA deadlines approaching in 2026 and 2027, education publishers face a critical challenge: how to make complex interactive learning tools accessible without sacrificing their pedagogical power. Filament Games has been on the front lines of this effort, partnering with top publishers and organizations to retrofit and reimagine digital games that serve all learners. The case studies below highlight the technical nuance and design expertise required to get this right.
Phonics Under Pressure
In a recent retrofit for a major education publisher, Filament Games worked on a digital literacy game that featured phonics-based mini-games in a vibrant, early-learning environment. These games were designed to help learners associate sounds with letters and images – a foundational literacy skill. However, WCAG 2.1 AA guideline 1.3.3 (Sensory Characteristics) prohibits instructions that rely solely on visual or auditory cues. Meeting that requirement meant removing references like “click the object that starts with the /b/ sound,” which effectively gave away the answer and undermined the challenge. There’s no exemption in the guideline for educational intent, making full compliance incompatible with the core learning mechanic. Our team collaborated with the publisher to achieve workarounds, but the experience underscored a simple truth: meeting the guidelines is not the same as meeting the learner.
The Handwriting Dilemma
Filament also developed a handwriting acquisition game for young learners practicing cursive. The app included fixed-size ruled lines and on-screen guidance designed to mimic the physical act of writing – a critical step for building muscle memory. Several WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines posed issues. Guideline 1.3.3 again clashed with the need to describe letter shapes and movement paths in intuitive terms. Resize Text (1.4.4) posed another problem: increasing text size broke the visual references learners were meant to imitate. And Text Spacing (1.4.12) conflicted with the need to teach consistent spacing as a handwriting skill. Rather than compromising the integrity of the activity, Filament focused on delivering functional alternatives where possible and documenting remaining gaps with transparency. The outcome illustrates the importance of experience-informed negotiation with accessibility frameworks, especially for skill-building tools.
Built-In Accessibility, Not Just Add-Ons
Across new development as well as retrofits, Filament has expanded its in-house capacity to implement WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility in custom game engines. Our team has built proprietary plugins for PIXI.js and Unity that support screen reader interaction, keyboard navigation, and accessible UI overlays, far exceeding the capabilities of off-the-shelf solutions. Equally important, we’ve trained our entire development staff to conduct accessibility checks throughout production using real assistive devices, not just post-launch audits. That means we can flag and address accessibility blockers during design and implementation, not just at the end. This workflow allows us to go deeper on access without derailing creative or pedagogical intent.
–
Making games accessible is more than a compliance checkbox. It’s a commitment to all learners – and a technical, creative, and ethical challenge we’ve chosen to embrace. If your organization is preparing for 2026 and 2027 accessibility deadlines, now is the time to partner with developers who know how to build for both learning outcomes and real-world constraints. We’re ready.