"The biggest surprise was how dramatically cognitive abilities varied within our target population. During our user testing sessions, I watched one participant solve complex spatial puzzles in under ten seconds while expressing frustration that the game wasn't challenging them enough. Twenty minutes later, another participant struggled with what I considered the simplest tutorial level. Both users had the same diagnosis. Both were part of our target demographic. But their cognitive strengths and challenges were completely different."
"This taught me that traditional difficulty curves don't work for cognitive remediation games. You can't design three difficulty settings and call it accessible. Instead, you need systems that automatically adapt in real time based on user performance. If someone breezes through the first five levels, the algorithm should immediately jump them ahead. If someone struggles with basic interactions, the system needs to provide more scaffolding without making them feel patronized."
Cognitive remediation game design must account for dramatic variability in abilities among players with the same diagnosis. Standard difficulty curves and a few preset difficulty levels are insufficient for accessibility. Systems should adapt automatically and in real time to individual performance, accelerating progress for quick solvers and providing unobtrusive scaffolding for those who struggle. Scaffolding must avoid patronizing the player while enabling core interactions. Implementing automatic balance poses technical challenges, and the user experience stakes are high; poor scaling can churn both highly capable and less capable players.
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