App Store Award winner Unpacking takes a common rite of passage – moving – and transforms it from a stressful experience into a meditative puzzler. So it’s no wonder the game’s creators wanted it to be accessible to as many players as possible.
“Many millions of disabled people want to play games,” says Wren Brier, creative director of Unpacking. “It’s often not difficult to accommodate their needs with simple but carefully considered design decisions.”
Moving in
Playing Unpacking is simple: pull clothes, books, trinkets and other objects out of cardboard boxes and find a fitting place for them in adorable pixel-art rooms. There are no timers or scores to fret over, and quick reflexes won’t give you a leg up.
There’s flexibility in each puzzle too. Shirts can be folded in a drawer or hung in a closet, while books might be lined up on a shelf or stacked on a coffee table. There’s more than one way to complete a level.
“The design inherently lent itself well to accessibility,” Brier says. “But we thought, ‘Why not take it further?’”
So the team did.
For instance, the game delivers no vital cues solely through audio, so deaf and hard of hearing players aren’t excluded from the experience. A handy zoom feature makes it easier for people who have low vision to appreciate the game’s charming 8-bit objects.
Many millions of disabled people want to play games. It’s often not difficult to accommodate their needs with simple but carefully considered design decisions.
You can also change the colour of the red line that appears around objects you’ve put in the wrong place. “Maybe you don’t see that colour, or perhaps red stresses you out,” Brier says.
Players helped shape the game as well. A special education teacher thought some of his students might struggle with the puzzles, so the team added an optional mode that lets you progress regardless of where you place objects.
“Turn it on if you just want to decorate – anyone can experience the story that way,” Brier says.
Getting personal
The more you play Unpacking, the more you learn about the unseen protagonist through her belongings, whether they’re the soccer trophies in her childhood bedroom or the art supplies in her home office.
In later levels, you unpack items related to the character’s health – pill bottles, wrist braces, a walking cane – which were inspired by Brier’s own life. In 2019, just as work on Unpacking started ramping up, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
“It was very scary,” Brier says. “I wondered if it was going to ruin everything. What is this going to mean for my life?”
Fortunately, modern MS treatments can dramatically slow the disease’s progression and reduce the frequency and severity of symptoms, which has been the case for Brier.
“When I realised it wasn’t the end of the world, I was like, ‘I want to put this experience into the game.’”
Brier lives with MS, but her illness doesn’t define her. Likewise, the character’s journey in Unpacking “is not about someone who is sick and deteriorating,” Brier adds. “It’s about someone who just happens to have a condition that they’re managing, and there are ups and downs.”
A lot of what we hear is, ‘This is the first time I’ve seen this aspect of me represented; I’ve never felt so seen.’
Unpacking’s representations of disability have resonated with players facing their own chronic health conditions or accessibility challenges.
“A lot of what we hear is, ‘This is the first time I’ve seen this aspect of me represented; I’ve never felt so seen,’” she says. “Knowing someone saw you, thought about you, and wanted to portray someone like you – I think that feels pretty powerful.”