I’m Valentin Squirelo, an inventor and developer who has been working in the video game and entertainment industry for the last twenty years.
Since 2013, I’ve built experimental ways to play for game studios and brands such as Red Bull. That work includes the award-winning Nosulus Rift, created for South Park with Ubisoft.
I later focused more of that work on accessibility, building a Nerf prosthetic in 2017 and experimenting with VR prosthetics to adapt controls to different bodies and abilities.
The access problem
In 2018, I began building and testing accessibility tools live on Twitch and YouTube with my community. The same problem kept appearing: traditional controllers do not suit every body, and some alternative solutions cost thousands of euros. Hundreds of millions of people are excluded from gaming as a result.
Video games help people socialize, experience stories, explore worlds, and take on different roles.
I wanted to turn the one-off experiments into a tool that could reach more people.
Building PlayAbility
In early 2023, I combined those years of experiments and feedback into PlayAbility Adaptive Software. I built the first version live on Twitch with members of the community who had helped test the earlier projects.
PlayAbility put those experiments into software that people can configure around their own movements and devices. Community feedback still shapes the software today.
The mission
PlayAbility’s goal is to let people play video games with the movements, devices, and abilities available to them.
I’ve already helped thousands of people play again. I want to make that possible for millions more.
Support My Work
I work on PlayAbility so more people can play or return to gaming. You can support the project by following my channels or contributing directly:
Your support gives me more time to develop and maintain PlayAbility. Thank you.