Description: The game follows the story of a fox that meets a number of animals on its quest to save the forest from an impending flood. It puts the player in various situations that can be mapped to the lives of children with autism, or of their neurotypical peers. It’s a 3D, semi-open world game that runs in the Google Chrome browser, and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete a playthrough. Generally played in an educational setting, a teacher/instructor leads children through a discussion about moments in the game, based on a discussion framework that was co-created with our subject matter expert.
Skills and Ideas Taught: Prism teaches empathy through the subject of autism acceptance. It teaches the concept of sensory overload, helps in understanding the difficulty of social communication experienced by people with autism and aids in strategies to become a better friend to those with autism.
Goal or Challenge: The player plays as a fox who must unite the animals of the forest to help build a dam. The fox has 4 encounters with the animals where it must persuade them to help it. The fox as a nocturnal animal has difficulty navigating during the daytime, and communicating with the unfamiliar diurnal animals.
Primary Audience: Children of all ages.
Assessment Approach: The game includes a moment of reflection where an NPC empathizes with the Fox’s challenges and highlights its strengths. After completing the game, an instructor guides the classroom in a discussion about the various animals the players met and what they can learn from each of the encounters.
Game Engine: Web-based
Operating System: Windows 10
Platform: PC- Google Chrome
Special Hardware: None
