The Trans Video Game Designer With Tourettes | TOTALLY GAME

A YOUNG transgender video games designer with Tourettes is looking to revolutionize the industry - and make dancing accessible for all. Isaac Wirth, 21, from North Carolina, first fell in love with gaming while watching his father play Super Mario Sunshine on the Nintendo GameCube at the age of five. But Isaac found certain games challenging due to motor-neural issues - which made holding a joystick or doing precise motion movements problematic. Age 14 he was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome by a neurologist after beginning to demonstrate motor and vocal tics. And to make things even more complex for Isaac, over the following year he became aware that he was transgender. Isaac is now studying video game design at NYU in New York, with a scholarship from the ESA Foundation, and has already made games addressing real-life social issues inlcuding his time as a high schooler with Tourettes and toxicity within an abusive queer relationship. Isaac’s current work-in-progress, Spotlight, is an adaptable VR dance experience for people who may not get to perform ballet on stage.