My name is Kenn, and I’ve spent my life living between two worlds.
In one world, I’m an autistic adult who struggles with things many people find easy: interviews, office politics, and stable employment. I work hard, I learn fast, but the traditional career path often closes its doors on me based only on 'culture fit' - which is code for: 'I behave somewhat differently in social situations".
In the other world, I’m a builder.
I create virtual spaces where people can:
- Train for real jobs
- Attend concerts and events
- Walk through 3D storefronts and shop
- Explore STEM and space habitats
- Tell their stories in living, interactive worlds
Now I’m trying to turn that second world into my actual future — and I need help to cross that bridge.
I'm not alone in this. One in 100 people are born autistic. One in 32 have some form of neurodivergence. Yet even with so many of us, our rates of steady employment are low and our risks of homelessness and early mortality is higher.
What I’m Building: Many Worlds, One Platform
Over the last few years, I’ve been building a flexible interactive 3D platform that powers different kinds of worlds:
1. Training & Onboarding Worlds
- Virtual restaurants for first jobs
- Construction safety and trades training
- Oil-rig and emergency management walkthroughs
- Medical and safety simulations
Learners can practice dangerous or complex tasks safely, before they ever step into the real environment.
2. Virtual Events & Concerts
- High-end virtual clubs and venues with big LED walls, lasers, and stages
- Spaces for album launches, listening parties, live DJ sets, and career fairs
- Social rooms where people can attend from anywhere in the world
These worlds let people gather, perform, and connect without the cost and barriers of physical venues.
3. 3D Storefronts & Creative Commerce
- Virtual shops where you can walk around 3D product displays
- Integration with platforms like Shopify, Etsy, and affiliate links
- “Neighbourhoods” of storefronts where small businesses and makers can show their work in an immersive way
It’s like turning an online shop into a place you can actually step inside.
4. STEM, Ecology & Space Worlds
- Worlds that visualize flood risk, ecology, and biodiversity
- STEM spaces where students can explore scientific concepts in 3D
- Fictional Mars habitats and off-world cities where we imagine how people might live and work beyond Earth
These aren’t just pretty environments — they’re tools to understand complex systems and spark curiosity.
5. Living Resumes & Story Worlds
- Interactive “living resumes” where job seekers show their work in a 3D space
- Portfolios for artists, musicians, and makers
- Narrative worlds where people can walk through your story instead of just reading a paragraph
All of these are powered by the same core idea:
Creativity, knowledge and brilliance are needed in the world (even digital worlds).
Why your funding is important
Being autistic is a double-edged sword:
It gives me the ability to see systems, patterns, and future possibilities that are perfect for building complex interactive worlds.
It also means that job interviews, networking, and traditional office environments are genuine barriers, no matter how strong my skills are.
I’ve pushed through those barriers with years of grit:
I spent about 10 years making iOS apps and games. My game SteamPunk Hockey reached the Top 10 worldwide in its category.
Since 2020, I’ve built professional 3D worlds: career-fair venues, training simulations, and experimental ecological and emergency management scenes.
I’ve kept up with AI, generative models, conversational avatars, and the latest Unity XR/VR tools to make all of this possible, even winning funding in 2022 and 2023 to make real A.I. models and match them to 3D environments and avatars.
But now I’ve developed this to a point where:
- The prototype works.
- The vision is clear.
- My projects are ready.
What Your Support Will Do
Your contribution will help in five key areas:
1. Ensure stability while I launch
A portion of the funds will cover essentials so I can focus on turning this into a business instead of getting through the next month.
2. Pre-pay servers and hosting for worlds (~$1,000)
All these training rooms, STEM spaces, concerts, and storefronts live on remote servers. There’s a daily cost, plus per-minute viewer costs for streaming content. Pre-paying hosting lets me run demos, invite early users, and keep worlds online reliably.
3. Reduce debt
Clearing debt lowers financial stress and gives me the focus and credibility I need when talking to partners, future clients, or potential investors.
4. Grow the platform from prototype to secure services
A public-facing service needs watertight security, legal terms, and outreach to protect customer needs and keep the services safe.
5. Create more templates
- Training (Emergency Services, Fire, Trades, Medical)
- Virtual events & concerts
- 3D storefronts for makers and small businesses
- STEM / ecology / space exploration worlds
6. Add more diverse avatars so more people see themselves represented.
Especially now, it's vital we include everyone.
7. Bookkeeping, legal and incorporation
Letting professionals handle the health of a business creates a better situation to compete for sponsorships, tenders, projects and competitions.
Experience and qualifications
My own professional experience includes creating 3D worlds since 2020, and before that, I worked for ten years making iOS mobile apps and games. My first project SteamPunk Hockey reached Top Ten worldwide in the Family/Free category. I've built demonstration worlds that integrate predictive ecological models and explore biodiversity. My hobbies are photography and music.
SteamPunk Hockey (iPad, 2013):
hundo x Ruby Room Career Fair virtual room (2022):
Visualization Emergency Management Walkthrough (2025):
Here is my personal web site that describes my professional activity: Xyris XR (link)
I've taken community business courses in Canada through the YMCA and online out of Europe.
Fundraising is my barrier now that I need your help with.
Why This Matters Beyond Me
Immersive training, virtual events, and interactive commerce are already huge industries — but they’re often built by and for big companies with big budgets.
I want to build tools that:
- Businesses, educators, artists, musicians and makers can use.
- Help people with different cultures, languages, and neurotypes build their own worlds.
- Show that neurodivergent founders can create impactful platforms, not just struggle on the margins.
If I can get this off the ground, I also want to support my advocacy work with LOET – the League of Extraordinary Talent, focused on autistic and neurodivergent talent. My success can be one example that our brains can build valuable things — and that there are better ways to work than forcing everyone into one narrow mould.
On a more personal level, if I - an autistic person - can succeed with this, other autistic adults can too.
How You Can Help
If my vision speaks to you, there are three ways to help:
- Donate what you can. Every contribution directly supports housing, servers, and development time.
- Share this campaign with friends, educators, business owners, artists, makers, and people excited about VR, STEM, AI, and future worlds.
- Reach out if you might want to use these worlds — for training, events, storefronts, STEM education, or concerts. Early collaborators and real use cases are incredibly valuable.
Thank you for reading my story and for seeing both the challenges and the possibilities. With your help, I can turn these many worlds — training, events, storefronts, STEM spaces, and concerts — into a working platform and a sustainable future.
Yours Sincerely,
Kenneth Mayfield
Disclaimer: No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.
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