Hello everyone!
Long time no speak, so time to give you an update of what’s happening at Games4Therapy!
Last Monday, we presented the prototypes we have been working on to our commissioner Arkin, and it was very productive to hear their vision on our ideas. We decided to develop our ideas into two directions – being ‘physical/mental games’ and ‘communication/socialization’ – that we shall explain more extensive down below.
Physical/mental games
The last two weeks, we translated a few of our ideas into simple prototypes. The memory game mentioned in the last blog post turned out to be very engaging. We noticed that sound is very important in remembering the sequences correctly. Competition is a huge motivator for playing the game. We finished the multiplayer version we were working on last time and it’s interesting in the sense that it lets player 1 generate the sequence for player 2.
We also further developed the idea game that is influenced by the breath of the user. We made a game in which the user has to operate a helicopter, and by breathing gradually, the screen will stay the same. However, when the player is breathing to fast or heavy, the screen will turn darker gradually. The player has to control his stress levels to complete the game.
A more serious version of this idea is a game that takes place in a virtual street, in which the player needs to make sure not to bump into any people while walking to an object. The breath controls the movement of buildings on the sides of the street. When the player breathes too fast, the buildings will come closer, making it harder to pass all the pedestrians.
Communication
We came up with the idea of a stress ball, that lets the user communicate wirelessly with people who also have one. Crucial is that the other people will be friends of family of the user. Communication will take place by vibrations, so the users will have to agree on a certain message a vibration means. We like the idea of giving something completely new to the user, instead of applying something to an object the users already has, say a smartphone. Another prototype is a device that lets the user speak into a microphone, being able to send and receive messages to relatives, or to strangers anonymously. A light will blink when someone has heard the message, another light will blink when another users indicates to empathize with the user.
We decided that we are going to develop the breathing game further now, along with thinking of new directions we can take our concepts in. We’ll keep you posted!