Hi, I am very interested and excited in participating in this game jam. I have been researching BCI and the P300 system in Unity, but I am full of anxiety because I want to make sure the game works properly with the system. If I just make the game with a single input rather than using the P300 Unity controller, would I still need a flashing light method in order for the kids to play the game? For example, if I just made a game where you only have to jump, and made Spacebar the jumping button but did not have any flashing lights or any other stimuli, would the game still be playable?
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Thanks for joining the jam! We are glad to have you:)
To answer your question- If you prefer to make a game with a single input rather than the P300 controller we have distributed that is 100% A.OK! We can use a different input method to have our children play your game without relying on the visual stimulus. So in that case we can definitely work with what you provide! (Right now we actually exploit this input method with an online knock-off version of Super Mario Brothers to play with some of our kids. We control the left and right movement, and they jump with the BCI controller).
This said, part of our draw with the P300 is in that there is a clear delay built in with the P300 that the user can see and expect. This same delay happens with the other input scheme (e.g. for single button inputs) but the delay/timing aspect is a bit less clear. On the plus side though we will be working with you (and other developers!) throughout the jam to try and help you make the best game you can and understand how these delays could be considered in different game design elements.
Hope that helped some! We are working hard to put together a Discord so that the participants who aren't in the Calgary/Edmonton area can chime in and ask us questions throughout the jam. Let me know if you have any more questions! Cheers.