What Being Neurodivergent Means in Game Development



In this GDC 2022 session, a diverse group of game developers share their experiences with neurodivergence while developing games, and how neurodivergence affects the game development process.

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19 thoughts on “What Being Neurodivergent Means in Game Development”

  1. I'm autistic and ADHD, unemployed at 40, and I spent most of my life unemployed. I'm still seeking for a game design job, but I think because of my age my chances are very low. Most studios in my country are run by people much younger than me, and I don't even have an answer when I send them my resume, and the culture of hiring young people who have tons of social skills is strong here. I want want to make accessible games that have a positive impact in people's lives, but it seems impossible to find a job…

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  2. Self-admittedly I'm usually pretty pessimistic about these kinds of talks but I tried coming in with an open mind and I think I got a few things out of it which was good. It'd be nice if we had a definition of 'neurodivergent' a bit earlier in the piece than 34:45 because a lot of us have not heard this term before. All the best everyone.

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  3. Is there a way to make games that can cater to both neuro-divergent and typical? Maybe settings toggles that might affect the in-game behaviour in some way. Guess it depends on the game / genre heavily.

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  4. Interesting topic with a lot of stuff I wouldn't have thought people went through. Hiding your true self? Moving letters? I'm a forgetful person, if anything – and believe me that increases with age.

    26:00 – hugs are fine, but hugging strangers? Heck if anything I simply FORGET to hug family ppl.

    Too bad the industry isn't looking for mappers who like to design for retro-styled games, like 3D Quake environments. But one could dream!

    36:00 – triggers? Hmmm not just map logic for spawning in more baddies, eh?

    Artstation – Shadesmaster (links don't escape youtube bot apparently)

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  5. Neurodivergence? Somehow, somewhere among ca. 100.000.000.000.000 connections โ€“ the workings of which we have but the slightest inkling โ€“ there's something that differs from the average?! An absurd term that I think will muddy the waters for many years to come.

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  6. The doodling thing Patrick talked about is so real. If Iโ€™m NOT drawing in a meeting/class, Iโ€™ll burn through my mental energy so much faster, to the point where after a 45 minute meeting I can feel completely cooked. And because of that it really helps me listen!

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