Kirjolla - Within the Spectrum
When the Ordinary Becomes Overwhelming
Kirjolla - Within the Spectrum is an immersive virtual reality learning experience designed to increase understanding of neurodivergent experiences in everyday learning environments. The game helps players experience how sensory overload, distractions, and competing stimuli can affect concentration, performance, and wellbeing.
The game is developed in the InnoXR project in cooperation between Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and the Wellbeing Services County of Kainuu. Its technical implementation is created by the Clever Simulation. The game is intended for social and healthcare students and professionals, educators, other professionals, and family members who want to better understand neurodivergent everyday experiences.
Gameplay
In Kirjolla – Within the Spectrum, the player takes the role of a student sitting in an ordinary classroom. At first, the environment appears normal: a teacher stands in front of the class, other students are present, and the room includes familiar classroom elements.
As the experience progresses, the classroom becomes increasingly challenging. Background noise, overlapping speech, visual distractions, and changes in lighting begin to interfere with the player’s ability to focus. The player is given simple real-world tasks by the teacher, but because of the growing sensory and attentional load, completing them becomes increasingly more difficult.
The game is played with Meta Quest 3 VR headsets, and the player’s view can also be shared with a larger audience, including remote participants. This makes the experience suitable not only for individual play, but also for group learning, hybrid teaching, and guided workshops.
A single play session lasts approximately 5–10 minutes. The game is not scored, as its purpose is to generate insight and discussion rather than measure performance.
Teaching Content
Kirjolla – Within the Spectrum is designed as a tool for experiential learning. Rather than relying only on theoretical information, the game enables learners to actively experience how neurodivergent challenges may affect studying, participation, and coping in everyday environments. This kind of immersion can strengthen empathy, reflection, and client understanding.
The game is intended to be used as part of guided teaching or training. A key part of the learning process takes place after gameplay, when the experience is reflected on together through discussion and debriefing. This helps connect the virtual experience to real-life work, studies, and interaction with neurodivergent individuals.
Because the player’s view can be shared with a group, the game also supports collaborative observation and discussion, making it useful in classroom settings, staff training, and remote or hybrid learning situations.
Game Design
The content of the game has been developed using service design principles and in close cooperation with educators, professionals, neurodivergent higher education students, and others with lived experience. The challenges presented in the game are therefore based on real experiences rather than assumptions or stereotypes.
Particular attention has been given to illustrating the kinds of sensory and attentional challenges that can be difficult for outsiders to notice or understand. Because virtual reality is especially well suited to demonstrating visual and auditory overload, the game focuses strongly on distractions related to sound, speech, movement, and environmental stimuli. Some experiences that would normally involve other senses, such as smell, are represented visually in the game world.
The design goal is to create a short but intense and immersive experience that helps the player understand the contrast between an environment that appears ordinary from the outside and one that can feel overwhelming from within.
Future Development
Kirjolla – Within the Spectrum will be piloted and finalized during autumn 2026.
Alongside the game itself, the project will produce a facilitator’s handbook and technical instructions to support its use in teaching, training, and competence development.
Download
The game is planned to be released by 2027 at the latest and will be available free of charge for Meta Quest devices.
The long-term aim is to provide a practical and impactful tool that supports more inclusive practices and deeper understanding of neurodivergent experiences across education, social and healthcare services, and everyday life.
