Scriptopia

Game-based social-scenario learning for neurodivergent youth

Archived interactive prototype — selected for the imec.istart Launch Program

Scriptopia was an early-stage team project exploring how neurodivergent youth could practise social situations in a more concrete, low pressure and game-like way.

The project was developed by two founders combining clinical-educational product thinking and practical experience in autism support, care, and education. It resulted in a working prototype, participation in an imec.istart trajectory, early user feedback, and several product lessons that later shaped my thinking on game-based learning and validation.

At a glance

STATUS

Archived interactive prototype

FIELD

Neurodiversity, education, social learning, game-based learning

STAGE

Clickable Figma prototype + later no-code concept iteration

ROLE

Co-founder; concept development, scenario logic, psychoeducational framing, product positioning

Prototype walkthrough

This walkthrough shows the original clickable prototype: social-scenario choices and emotion recognition, answer feedback, avatar personalisation, XP/progress elements and short quiz-like exercises.

Prototype context

The original Figma prototype was an early clickable prototype, built to test the scenario flow, feedback logic, gamification layer, and overall learning structure rather than the final visual design.

All core flows were functional, including social-scenario choices, answer feedback, XP/progress elements, avatar personalisation, and short quiz-like exercises around social interpretation and emotion recognition.

It should be read as a product-learning artefact, not as a production interface. Its value was in making the concept concrete enough to discuss, test lightly, pitch and critique.

What we learned

Early interest is not validation

A small number of users interacted with the prototype and the initial response was encouraging. That feedback was useful, but not enough to claim product validation.

Gamification is not game-based learning

We wanted to go further than classic EdTech. The uncomfortable lesson was that the first prototype still started from a familiar pattern: decide what to teach, then make it more engaging.

Adoption is the harder question

The imec.istart feedback pushed us to look beyond whether the prototype was understandable or appealing, and ask whether professionals would actually use it repeatedly in real practice.

Evidence and viability need a path

Educational and neurodiversity tools need more than a promising concept. They need a credible path to repeated use, learning value, trust, and willingness to pay.

From Scriptopia to EmoRace

Scriptopia started with learning content and tried to make it more engaging through scenarios, feedback, points, and minigames.

EmoRacer came from trying the reverse: start with a simple game mechanic that could be engaging in itself, then explore how emotion-regulation content could be embedded into that mechanic.

That shift — from gamifying content to designing from a mechanic — became one of the main lessons from the project.

Current relevance

Scriptopia is currently archived. The full prototype can be made available for selective review in relevant educational, neurodiversity, or product-development contexts.

The project remains a useful case in neurodiversity-sensitive design, digital learning tools, psychological content, product claims, and early-stage validation.

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