Aspergers - Mile in my shoes game

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Hello there,

First time posting here, so nice to meet you all. I'm a graphic designer that's currently studying graphic design at my local art school. One of my classes had the assignment of making something interactive that sends a message you believe is important. For me that message is autism awareness, so I'm currently working on a game that lets people walk a mile in an aspie's shoes with little minigames.

One example is a game where you guess whether someone is being sarcastic or not, without showing there face. You then select if you think the person is being genuine or not, and the game shows whether you were right or wrong.

Since I'm quite high functioning, I was wondering what kinds of things you guys were having trouble with, and what you'd like to be able to let someone who can't understand you, feel and understand. What did you always want to explain, but couldn't?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Also, a game that I used as inspiration that explains loneliness quite well is the game loneliness. I can't post the link unfortunately, maybe someone else can. If you google loneliness game by necessary games, you can find it.

Great! I'm looking at those, but couldn't find that many, thanks for your suggestion, I'll check it out.

EDIT: Ah, np. I agree it's tough, but I think the whole "mile in your shoes" thing can go a long way here.

Just tried dys4ia; very impressed. Reminded me of Loneliness, but whereas Loneliness tells its story only through its mechanics, dys4ia is a lot more pronounced in saying what it wants to tell you.

I would like for people to comprehend mutism issues better.
I once had an interactive puzzle game called Journey, which was beautiful. I was told you should be able to communicate with others in this game in a simple fashion, but my monitor was glitchy. This gave me a similar effect to real life communication issues. Other players would want to help me with puzzles, but I could not tell them what the problem was. Also, i had trouble sharing hints to bonus areas others had not found yet. It was very frustrating and yet so like my real life. You could also share beautiful moments with others, in silence.
Silly me had a meltdown over the game when one of these moments of sharing silent beauty with somebody who comprehended the communication problem and did not care. This was interrupted by a very petty phone call. And my husband was flabbergasted. What are you so upset about? I could not explain it. I still have trouble with this.

That's very interesting, thanks.

That sounds like a really interesting project!

Some examples from my own experiences:
- trying to guess who someone is, because you have face blindness
- not knowing when it's your turn to talk in a back-and-forth conversation
- hearing two people talk at once, and not understanding any of it
- being so pained by somebody's harsh "S" sound that you have a meltdown
- hearing multiple-part instructions, and having no idea what any of it meant

I can probably think of a lot more, if that's the sort of thing you're looking for? I'm not sure if these examples are well-suited for a game, but I think it's a great idea!

Thanks, that's exactly the stuff I'm looking for, if a little less specific. I'm thinking about doing something that explains behaviour. Like showing people some of the difficulties there are, and then letting them choose to approach those again, or maybe get out of their way. If you have more examples that'd be great, but thanks already.

Ok, many of us have trouble with sensory overwhelm. This affects our behavior.
How about giving a neurotypical sensory overwhelm while trying to function interactively within the game?

Another idea would to have people make choices and have the program misinterpret them.
I get a kick out of this game? Kick!
I understand someone? (Squished by them! Lol)
Try to advance in the game? Hit a wall.
Try another way? Hit a different wall.
Back up? Find a predatory employer, or bully.
All while being overwhelmed by a screen which flickers and flashes, and makes random piercing noises. This would frustrate them!
Want to keep playing? No. You can't stop. Ever.

Maybe a part where a NPC makes a strange face that isn't a facial expression people actually use and then the player has to guess from a large list which emotion they're trying to express. If you guess wrong the NPC could say something like YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT HOW I FEEL! or get angry in some other way.

They say that individuals with AS often have a disorientated sense of distance. Perhaps you could literally have a mini-game be an adventure where they walk a mile in your shoes, but that mile isn't actually a mile. XD

_________________
Unapologetically, Norny.
-chronically drunk

I don't think society as a whole will ever understand the passive, shy side of being autistic. I don't go for what I want. I'm not just afraid, I don't know how. I prefer to avoid confrontation as a whole and stay in my comfort zone.

People see it as a sad way to live, or I'm told to "man up" and "stop being a p****" but such is life.

I suck at some spontaneous interactions (such as ordering pizza on the phone) a lot of time I have to write down what I'm going to say and read it out loud. Maybe create a set of complex rules that players must abide to engage in an "appropriate" dialogue. (For example, all questions must end in a vowel, all sentences longer than five words must contain the word "salt" in them, etc...) then have them face a dialogue with an NPC in which they have to choose from different dialogue options in a limited time. If they pick a dialogue that follows the rules, they pass the test, If not, the NPC acts confused or even angry.

Narrow Attention:
A film clip of a person talking directly to the player is shown. At random intervals shapes appear on the screen at random points, moving about. While the shapes are onscreen, the talker's voice is muted or a noise plays that drowns out the talker's voice. The shapes disappear and the talker's voice is restored only when the player clicks on the shape. Scoring can be for how quickly the shapes are clicked or for how long the talker's voice is able to be heard or for answering questions about what the talker was saying once the clip has finished. For more subtlety in the gameplay, don't have shapes appearing. Instead have talker's voice drowned out by a sound effect and to stop it the player must click on an object in the background that makes the sound, for example a ringing telephone, a radio playing or someone else talking.

Alternatively:
A film clip is shown of an environment where many activities are taking place (park, home, office etc). Only the area under the player's cursor is in sharp focus. The rest of the clip is blurred. Only sounds relevant to what is happening under the player's cursor are heard. The player moves the cursor around the screen for the duration of the clip. Once the clip has ended, the player answers questions about what activities took place during the clip.

I wish they could understand that sometimes I literally, physically cannot talk and I feel like just curling up in the corner on my own.

I wish they could understand that I'm not ignorant, I just don't know that they are talking to me unless they address me.

If they could feel the fear I feel every day of my life, then perhaps they would understand why I put on a tough exterior.

If they walked a mile in my shoe, they would see that there is absolutely nothing in this whole world for me.

I would randomly have parts in the game where there is a party your invited too or an errand to run (like grocery store, hardware store, bank, traffic) and just have a very quick loud unsuspecting noise to startle them and throw them off (sensory) and like when walking through a store to find like... peanut butter, you kinda make sight a bit blurry and have constant mumbling sounds as a challenge to find the peanut butter lol. Or like recently I had a meltdown. Have the NT say and do all the wrong things to you and allow their to be a meltdown meter or something and the object is to help the Aspie with having control of the meltdown. Seems like a lot of work, but thats the best I could give you and those are the hardest things I go through daily. This sounds awesome, I wish I could make my boyfriend play it.