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Some things just go together.
Peanut butter and jelly. Han Solo and Chewbacca. Video games and… type 1 diabetes? It’s true! Of course people with T1D play games, but we also make games. There are even characters with T1D in games!
Here’s a growing collection of games that involve diabetes in their gameplay, have someone with T1D on the development team, or are helping to further Breakthrough T1D’s mission to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
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For the people behind these games, type 1 diabetes is personal.
More than 9M people worldwide live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disease that attacks the pancreas—including game developers! People with links to T1D worked on all nine games in this collection, which includes Batman: The Enemy Within, The Walking Dead, Sam & Max Save the World, Never Alone, and more.
Your purchase will help Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF), the leading global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization, fund advancements in T1D treatments and cures.
Breakthrough T1D World & Charity Walk Simulator
Breakthrough T1D World™ is a virtual world built for Roblox, the #1 online gaming platform for kids and teens. It’s a family-friendly place where people of all ages can get together, play games, learn about T1D, and hang out with old friends or meet new ones. Plus, it’s FREE to play!
We created Breakthrough T1D World in 2020, when in-person events like JDRF One Walk® (now named Breakthrough T1D Walk) had to be reimagined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This virtual walk-like experience has since expanded to include UK-based landmarks (in cooperation with Breakthrough T1D UK), the Quest for the Golden Rufus treasure hunt, and a Washington DC sidequest in honor of the Breakthrough T1D Children’s Congress.
In January 2024 we added a portal to Charity Walk Simulator, a new game mode that puts you in charge of your very own Breakthrough T1D Walk.
Omnipod Bay
Animal Crossing™: New Horizons is a popular Nintendo Switch™ game that puts you in charge of your own personal island. Insulet, the makers of Omnipod®, used the tools available to Animal Crossing players to create Omnipod Bay, an island that reflects the experiences of people with diabetes. Breakthrough T1D and four other T1D advocacy groups have a presence on the island.
On Omnipod Bay, you can solve an obstacle maze, sing in a concert, explore themed areas (like diabetes camp, Bolus Beach, and the A1 Sea), walk the runway, and even piece together a hidden code to win an in-game prize. Fashionable outfits are available with pumps and diabetes supply bags built in, so you can customize your character to look more like you.
Level One: A Diabetes Game
Sam Glassenberg is a game developer and member of our advisory council whose daughter was diagnosed with T1D at age five. He and his company, Level Ex, have taken Sam’s learnings about diabetes management and turned it into a game—one that feels like “learning by doing” rather than a crash course in glucodynamics.
If you’ve ever played a physics puzzler on your phone, Level One’s gameplay will feel familiar. As different foods come down the conveyor belt, you dose insulin and juice to keep blood sugar in range. You won’t always get it right… and that’s okay! The beauty of Level One is that it lets you experiment and learn what you’re doing without real-world consequences.
But you don’t have to take our word for it: Level One is a free download on the App Store and Google Play.
The Sims 4
More Games Linked to T1D
Do you know of another game that should be on this list?
This 1992 SNES platformer stars a superhero with type 1 diabetes.
Designer Tommy Refenes lives with T1D and the game has a diabetes-inspired enemy, the Betus. Watch our Twitch playthrough.
Team member Víctor Sabaté has T1D. Watch our Dev Diaries interview.
Writer/director Jon McKellan has a child with T1D.
Executive producer Dan Connors has a child with T1D. (Dan is also a cofounder of Breakthrough T1D Play!)
Executive producer Dan Connors has a child with T1D. (Dan is also a cofounder of Breakthrough T1D Play!)
Executive producer Dan Connors has a child with T1D. (Dan is also a cofounder of Breakthrough T1D Play!)
The Glucoboy was a GameBoy Advance add-on that measured blood sugar and integrated readings into minigames. The DIDGET was a similar product for Nintendo DS.
Designer Tommy Refenes lives with T1D and the game has a diabetes-inspired enemy, the Betus.
Creative director Adam Grantham lives with T1D.
Producer Hans ten Cate has a child with T1D. (Hans is also a cofounder of Breakthrough T1D Play!) Watch our Dev Diaries interview.
Writer Lisa Hunter has family members with diabetes. One of the main characters, Ollie, has diabetes.
The character Amanda Ripley is voiced by Andrea Deck, who lives with type 1. T1D dad Jon McKellan also worked on the game.
John Madden’s grandson lives with T1D. The Madden NFL games also include T1D players such as Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews.
A character, Alice Ivers, has type 1 diabetes, and one of the game’s quests involves finding insulin to keep her alive.
This early 2000s PC game by Medtronic simulates a day in the life of an insulin pump user.
A member of the development team has T1D.
This educational SNES and PC game from the 1990s teaches kids about type 1 diabetes.
This diabetes-themed mobile platformer was created in honor of a girl who lives with T1D.
Developer Jon Bellini is a T1D dad. He added a boss named the Diabeet Sugar Lord to the game so his son could take out his frustration by beating up Diabeet. Watch our Dev Diaries interview.
This zombie-themed survival game includes a side quest where you need to deliver insulin to an NPC with diabetes. Insulin syringes also appear as a miscellaneous item in Dead Island: Riptide.
Developer John White has a child with T1D. Watch our Dev Diaries interview.
Lead programmer Karl Johnson lives with T1D. Watch our Dev Diaries interview.
Publisher E-Line Media's president & cofounder lives with T1D.
Support Breakthrough T1D with Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle has been an important partner, raising more than $1.5M for type 1 diabetes research and counting! Even if we don’t have a Humble Bundle running, Breakthrough T1D will receive a small donation if you make a Humble Store purchase using our affiliate link below.
