Cupcakes and Champions

Over the past few weeks we have had the very enjoyable task of trying out various game ideas with a focus group of young volunteers with Down Syndrome. With an essential test kit of cards, marker pens and assorted stickers,we have spent many happy and rewarding hours gathering clues as to the structural and imaginative direction our game should take. Our players are good sports and wonderful company all round, some creating for themselves the role of ‘champion’ with delightful gusto. It is exciting to see this sort of play acting emerge, and to find the children not only problem-solving as the gameplay directs but also taking pleasure in imaginatively toying with elements of our set up. 

Among the questions we were looking to answer, the most pressing were: is it clear to players what they are doing and why, and is it engaging? It is tempting to want to create vast colourful structures around our game mechanic, in itself so simple. I personally find it particularly hard to separate story from basic mechanics in the early design process. Playing various game alternatives through with the kids was a great opportunity to look at the mechanic in simple ‘arcade’ form, but also to begin to experiment with different narrative motivations and rewards. Turns out a cupcake incentive (even in sticker form) will make almost any quest immediately more urgent!

Some careful thought goes into the next move...

A colourful score card.

The sessions were a very valuable opportunity to speak with parents too, and hear their experience of what makes for rewarding play, and what leads to frustration. Many would-be players are excluded from existing popular apps by the rapidly increasing difficulty levels. We need to pace our game to be accessible to children who need a more gentle learning curve. Equally, it should play to the strengths of children with Down Syndrome who tend to be quite visual learners. For us, this means filling our game world with light and colour, with sound and magic. Last but far from least, we are eager that the game easily opens out as a sociable experience to share with friends and family. Humour will be key, and I know we are all eager that we live up to our name, with a little bit of mischief too…

One of our champions wins a gold medallion!