#dysfluent

[mad-pride]

Disfluency flag

Source

[twinegardening]

Dysfluent by Allyson Gray

Sometimes talking is easier said than done.

[manonamora-if-reviews]

Dysfluent by Allyson Gray

============= Links

Play the game (IFComp) See other reviews of the game

============= Synopsis

Sometimes talking is easier said than done.

============= Other Info

Dysfluent is a Twine(Harlowe) game, submitted to the 2023 edition of the IFComp

Status: Completed Genre: Slice-of-life

CW: / - timed text, animated text

============= Playthrough

Played: 14-Oct-2023 Playtime: about 30min Rating: - [IFComp vote] Thoughts: Untimely struggles...

============= Review

Dysfluent is a fairly short slice-of-life story, where you spend the day as a person with a stutter, trying to get through their day. The game uses text animation to highlight the struggles of living with a stutter. While the game includes achievements, linked to choices throughout the story, there is only one ending.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

Aside from my gripes with the timed text (more on that later), the game was quite enjoyable. I found the story especially quite touching with its representation of the realities of living with a stutter (the colour use for the choices were smart!*). Trying to go through the whole checklist of actions made me feel quite anxious (would I manage to go through the day before just calling it quits?), which was pushed further with the formatting of the text. Social interactions felt like a nightmare, and the flashbacks made everything worse. *though I was a dummy, and put the same thing for the best and worst dish... played myself there...

Though there are heavy moments throughout the story, I felt like the game tried to be as light-hearted as possible (save for the flashbacks). You may have a bit of a hard time saying certain words, or get some weird looks from people, but you leave each sequence with what you needed or did the best you could. It sometimes felt like you struggled more with your own feelings than other around you? Which I makes sense if your upbringing laughed at the ailment or looked at you with contempt at best.

It was a bit of a bummer to find out you wouldn't get the job, but it also didn't feel much of a loss when it happened - partly because of the conversation you have with your friend just after the news, but also because there is not much information on the job itself or what the MC thought of the job. Was it a job where talking is required or an added bonus? Did we really want that job? Did we need the job? Was there outside expectations with getting this job? Why didn't we disclose that we had a stutter before*? Would it have changed anything if it did? Was the company open to accessibility? Did we prepare ahead of the job at all? Just having to pick up a suit at the dry cleaner didn't feel enough, I guess? *maybe because we feel ashamed, prob

I understand the choice of using animation and timed text to emphasise on the hardships of having a stutter, how seconds feels like minutes when words don't want to come out, how frustrating it can be to be blocked for no reason, how anxious it can make you knowing something requires speech... but the overuse and drawn-out length of the timed text becomes more a friction than pushing the point (especially as a fast reader). For many passages, I would be doing something on the side, waiting for the page to load fully before continuing to play. As the animation setting is locked behind the ending (for understandable reasons, also makes replaying the game more smooth), I would advise a reduction of the use of the timed text (instead of bits of sentences, show the whole paragraph) or of the time between each block (at least by half, not more than 2s), or transforming it into a type-writer animation, or making the player click-to-reveal (trying to push the words out of their mouth).

It was frustratingly nice.

[mylifeinvizcomm]

Dysfluent

Dysfluent is a non-profit, independent magazine about people who stammer. It was edited, designed and self published by Conor Foran who designed the magazine as part of a final year project. It has been added to the 100 Archive which charts the past, present and future of Irish design by publishing 100 notable communication design projects,

The interviews within, demonstrate that there is power in owning our differences, whether communicative or otherwise. Instead of presenting speech as broken and fragmented as is typically done, the magazine use Dysfluent Mono, a bespoke typeface that emulates the stuttered voice. It stretches and repeats its letterforms, implying that stammered speech is forming and close to completion.

I really love how this magazine is highlighting the vulnerable moments that a person with a stammer experiences. Its not trying to cover up or look at ways people might overcome their stammer but rather it embraces. I love the way the images are treated - almost stuttering across the page. For me, reading this makes this situation much more understandable.

Images: https://stamma.org/news-features/dysfluent-magazine