When we started making games, we didn’t make them with autism in mind. Yet over the years, we’ve received many emails from the parents of children on the autism spectrum, thanking us for creating experiences that they could share with their children. Messages like these have raised a question in our minds: why do our games resonate with the autistic community?

Last Friday, Cipher Prime partnered with The Philadelphia Science Festival to hold an autism awareness event titled “Gaming as Therapy: A Pathway to Interaction.” At the event, we shared Auditorium, Pulse, and Splice with attendees. We also helped organize a series of speakers for the event, including Craig Newschaffer, the founding director of the Autism Institute at Drexel University, Amanda Almon, scientific and medical illustrator, and our own Dain Saint.

Dain’s talk explored the neurodiversity-friendly aspects of our games, including our approach to rewarding player action and creating accessible experiences.

Without further ado, here’s Dain’s talk!

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