Grow Forth

Gaming Beyond Words: An acoustic approach to inclusive playing experiences

A video game showing a bird crying, causing a flower to bloom.

growforth1.PNG

A video game showing a bird bouncing on a mushroom.

growforth2.PNG

A video game showing a bird laying down in the grass as the snow starts to fall.

growforth6.PNG

growforth1.PNG

1/5

How can a 2D puzzle game that substitutes linguistic elements with universally understood sounds, develop emotional cognition through acoustic connections, to create a more inclusive playing experience?

Many video games today rely heavily on linguistic elements to convey gameplay and narrative, so I wanted to explore techniques to make gaming more accessible using universally understood sounds. To do this, I created a 2D puzzle game named Grow Forth, which relies on acoustics and emotion-based mechanics rather than words or speech to guide the player through the experience.