TeachAbility

A Unity-based interactive learning application designed as a teaching aid for educators working with students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. TeachAbility provides a collection of simple, engaging mini-games that help develop everyday cognitive and life skills through play.

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About the Project

TeachAbility was built with the goal of making learning accessible and enjoyable for students with special needs. Each mini-game targets a specific foundational skill — from colour recognition and counting to personal hygiene and vocabulary — presented in a clear, low-pressure, interactive format that teachers can use directly in the classroom or during one-on-one sessions.

The app is built in Unity using C# and targets Windows (Desktop), with a pre-built executable included in the repository.

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Games

Colour Mixing Game

Students drag coloured circles across the screen and overlap them to discover what colours they produce when mixed. A real-time preview shows the resulting colour before the student commits, making it a safe environment to experiment. Includes secondary and tertiary colour recipes (e.g. Red + Yellow = Orange, Blue + Green = Teal). Mixed colours can be dragged to a trash bin to reset.

Skills targeted: Colour recognition, cause-and-effect reasoning, fine motor interaction.

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Fruit Tree Game

A tree is displayed on screen with fruit hanging from its branches. Students drag fruit off the tree and drop it into a basket, which counts each piece collected. Teachers can switch between apple, orange, and pear trees using on-screen buttons. The tree automatically respawns fruit as it is collected.

Skills targeted: Counting, drag-and-drop interaction, fruit identification.

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Grocery Stall Game

A shopping list of 5 random grocery items (fruits and vegetables) is displayed on screen. Students tap the matching items at the stall to check them off the list. The list resets with a new set of random items each round, drawn from a pool of over 20 common produce items.

Skills targeted: Reading comprehension, item recognition, task completion, real-world grocery skills.

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Toothbrushing Game

Students drag a toothbrush over a character's mouth. A progress bar fills as the brushing motion is detected within the mouth zone, and the character's expression changes in response — opening its mouth while brushing and showing a happy face when done.

Skills targeted: Personal hygiene habits, fine motor control, following a multi-step sequence.

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Word Builder Game

A picture is shown on screen alongside a row of blank letter boxes representing a word. Students tap letters from an A–Z keyboard to guess the word. Correct letters fill in automatically, and the panel turns green when the word is complete. Multiple levels with different words and images can be configured by teachers directly in the Unity editor.

Skills targeted: Spelling, letter recognition, vocabulary, picture-word association.

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Project Structure

TeachAbility/
├── builds/                        # Pre-built Windows executable
│   ├── MainApp.exe
│   └── MainApp_Data/
└── MainApp/                       # Unity project source
    └── Assets/
        ├── Scenes/                # One Unity scene per game + Main Menu
        │   ├── Main Menu.unity
        │   ├── Colour Mixing Game.unity
        │   ├── Fruit Tree Game.unity
        │   ├── Grocery Stall Game.unity
        │   ├── Toothbrushing Game.unity
        │   └── Word Builder Game.unity
        ├── Scripts/               # All C# game logic
        │   ├── GameData.cs        # ScriptableObject defining a game entry
        │   ├── GameLauncher.cs    # Populates the main menu with game buttons
        │   ├── GlobalNavigation.cs # Persistent back-button across all scenes
        │   ├── BackToMenu.cs      # Simple scene-0 return helper
        │   ├── Color Mixing Game/
        │   ├── Fruit Tree Game/
        │   ├── Grocery Stall Game/
        │   ├── Toothbrushing Game/
        │   └── Word Builder Game/
        ├── Sprites/               # Game artwork and icons
        ├── Prefabs/               # Reusable UI and game object prefabs
        └── Packages/ & Settings/  # Unity project configuration

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Running the Pre-Built App

A ready-to-run Windows build is included in the builds/ folder. No installation is required.

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open the builds/ folder.
3. Double-click MainApp.exe to launch the app.
4. Select any game from the main menu to begin.
5. Press Escape or use the on-screen back button to return to the menu from any game.

Note: The build requires Windows 10 or later (64-bit). DirectX 12 support is included via the bundled D3D12/ folder.

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Opening the Project in Unity

To explore or modify the source:

1. Install Unity Hub and Unity version 2022.3 LTS or later (the project uses the Universal Render Pipeline).
2. In Unity Hub, click Open → Add project from disk and select the MainApp/ folder.
3. Once the project loads, open any scene from Assets/Scenes/ to get started.
4. To build for a new platform, go to File → Build Settings, select your target, and click Build.