Snowy Toy Shelf

This is a toy shelf of cozy digital toys/scenes inspired by my experiences with Visual Snow Syndrome, made in a week for the Patient73 Game Jam.

Photosensitive Epilepsy Seizure Warning: This game contains lots of brightly colored flashing dots/lights. Please exercise discretion if you have photosensitive epilepsy.

Note: Game requires keyboard & mouse or trackpad. For the web browser build of the game, depending on your computer/internet, the game may experience temporary lag spikes in the beginning of the scenes when things are loading and generating (especially the night driving scene). Take a few deep breaths and give it a few seconds to catch up, and it should be smooth after that. Or download the PC version of the game for better performance.

About Visual Snow Syndrome

Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS) is a neurological condition where a person sees tiny dots or specks that look like TV static in their field of vision, all the time. People with VSS may also experience other symptoms such as difficulty reading, sensitivity to light, poor night vision, and seeing afterimages.

Some people are born with it, while other develop it later in life. There's no known cure for visual snow syndrome yet.

The causes of visual snow syndrome are not well understood. Some studies suggest that it may be related to changes in the brain's processing of visual information. There is also evidence that suggests that the condition may be related to other neurological conditions such as migraines or epilepsy.

For more info, latest research/news, and resources/hope for people with Visual Snow Syndrome, please visit the Visual Snow Initiative.

Backstory behind the different scenes

I've had Visual Snow Syndrome all my life. I didn't know until a few years back that this is not how every sees. After all, cameras and old TVs see static and grain. In poorly lit places especially, the colorful static dances and pulsates, sometimes with my heartbeat if I'm paying attention to it. High contrast (especially lights on black backgrounds) quickly causes grungy burn-in and heavy grainy streaks. I have heavy near-sightedness and when my glasses are off, the world is blurry, but the overlay of static/effects stays the same, making for very interesting visuals.

Night Driving: [This scene may have some lag in the beginning as things load/generate. It goes away.] I hate driving at night. The glare of headlights blinds me and leaves all sorts of streaks across my vision, and it interacts wildly with the visual snow, leaving me with a light show. In the daytime, the glare of the sun off of reflective surfaces leaves my vision heavily spotted and streaked.

Bubbles: What would the world look like without visual snow? I've never seen it without the static. Would it feel more boring, or would I appreciate the clarity? With this scene, the monkey blows clarity bubbles. When you look through the bubble, visual snow is removed.

Rock Garden: I often see grainy after-images of everything, especially with bright things, or high contrast situations. These after images interact with the static, creating cool/annoying effects. It's like raking across sand in a Zen garden, leaving a mark in my vision until it gets raked over by something else, or until it fades away.

Elephant Trampoline Piano: Stressful situations, lack of rest, and spending too long game jamming will aggravate my visual snow. Making this game has increased the intensity of my visual snow, perhaps because I've been paying a lot of attention to it, and not sleeping much. Rest and relaxation, as well as trying not to pay any attention to the visual snow may help to decrease it. I don't know how all this relates to this scene, but I wanted to see an elephant jumping on pianos, and I always notice my snow if I'm playing piano and staring for a long time at the piano keys and sheet music.