This paper, described as an extended abstract, describes a prototype for an adaptive game environment to provide real-time adjustments in the user interface that will better serve children’s needs and preferences. The format of the paper is fairly typical: motivation; prototype development and potential value based on an early pilot; and future work plans.

The biggest motivation for the work is serving children with special needs that vary with respect to vision, cognitive ability, and motor issues. Goals for the research associated with this paper include: identifying opportunities in game play for a child to express needs and preferences; simplifying configuration and integrating it into game design; making games better respond to children’s abilities/needs; and using the foregoing to enhance a child’s experience despite traditional barriers. As expected, the approach builds on previous work by others. Characteristics of adaptation incorporated in the current work are a sense of playfulness, progressive and personalized approaches, and responsivity.

A pilot prototype provided some helpful insights for future work. As observed by the author, it is clear that adaptive versus nonadaptive sessions are needed to help validate preliminary observations and insights as the research progresses. This paper should be of interest to researchers in the user interface (UI)/gaming fields who focus on children, special needs, or real-time adaptation. In particular, useful background information and approaches are presented that could lead to a more comprehensive experimental design for further research.