Over the last few weeks I've been scouring the web looking for video games design theory based around the concept of designing for the mentally handicapped. Unfortunately my search has turned up empty, it would seem that the mentally handicapped are too small a demographic for any conventional companies to take notice, or that the restrictions on design would be too tough for a team to put the effort. It’s probably a mixture of both.
So why the sudden interest in a subject that seems largely unexplored with a high risk of failure? Turns out one of my computer science classes (project management [CS 365]) is looking for a project to work on for the Spring semester; originally we thought about making an Xbox Live Indie game (Our classroom computers are outfitted with XNA, which makes Indie game development streamlined), but that type of self-indulgent program wouldn't land us any community service credit hours, which are necessary for each student to achieve before graduation.
Now my professor has brought this new concept to the table; design a game for a group of mentally handicapped individuals with various IQ and physical disparities that range from kindergarten levels of intelligence to blindness and autism. Although we would be developing under the aforementioned restrictions we would have full control over everything else in the game design process (although obviously the team would have that anyway when designing an Indie game).
Personally I'm stoked to be working in any development environment, no matter what potential pitfalls there are, simply to practice my development skills. I am worried about the rest of my teammates however; according to my professor they have shown signs of disinterest in this project, and possibly even disdain. Now as any good producer knows running a ship filled with a crew that would rather stay onshore is a suicide mission. Which is why the development team and will be meeting in class tomorrow to discuss our individual feelings on the project and what course of action we should take.
I'll be playing the role of devil’s advocate in tomorrow’s proceedings, trying to open up the teams minds up to the possibilities available to us no matter what way they decide to push forward. Hopefully the team will come to an understanding regardless of our final decision.
