Fares Kayali

Participatory Game Design for the INTERACCT Serious Game for Health

In this paper we present results from our user-centered and participative design approach using methods from design thinking and explorative design with school children aged 8 - 14 in context with a game created for children after cancer treatment. After stem-cell transplantation, pediatric patients must remain in aftercare due to a high risk of suffering from a plethora of life threatening organic problems. In this phase, communication with the clinicians is key for an increased survival probability. The multidisciplinary INTERACCT aims at developing a child friendly communication tool based on gamification principles in order to foster this important communication and should stimulate physiotherapy exercises and treatment compliance. Finally, through analyzing gaming scores, INTERACCT should also act as a sensor for detecting problematic phases children are going through. Since the design of INTERACCT is key to its success, the results presented here act as important guidelines for designing the game world. The results of the evaluation are are game characters and story lines, which will provide starting points for creating the INTERACCT game world and which shall be subject to a future validation with sick children.

Elements of Play for Cognitive, Physical and Social Health in Older Adults

An increasingly older demographic emphasizes the need to deal with a likewise increasing number of people with cognitive disabilities like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. While no cure exists the preventive potential of activities in the areas of reminiscence, cognitive, social and physical activity has been recognized. This paper looks at the possibilities of technological interventions in this field from a game design perspective. The paper follows the core research question “Which elements of play can be used in a playful holistic application combining reminiscence, cognitive, social and physical activities to prevent or postpone the development of cognitive disabilities such as dementia for older adults?” Examples are qualitatively analysed and lead to the identification of the elements auto-biographical play, musical play, kinaesthetic play, object-based play, adaptive play, collaborative play and role playing. The list of these elements is expendable and lays the foundation for a holistic design space.

A Case Study of a Learning Game about the Internet

This paper describes the design of the learning game Internet Hero, in which the player is transported into a fictional world representing the Internet. The game shall convey learning contents about the technical and social basics of using the Internet. We connect game design to learning principles and evaluate the game through gameplay metrics and interviews with children. We show that we were able to build an engaging game while at the same time building on a strong theoretical foundation on digital game-based learning.

From Research to Design - Sketching a Game to Trigger Reminiscence in Older Adults

This contribution describes a series of design sketches for a playful digital application designed to trigger reminiscence in older adults. The goal of the intervention is to be a preventive measure against cognitive disabilities such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Research shows that reminiscence and cognitive activities are beneficial in this area. The presented sketches have been developed as part of a design workshop and are based upon the results of a focus group study which involved older adults, their families, experts and care personnel. The ideas are all rooted within the context of the project which revolves around the playful use of media such as photos, video clips and audio recordings. These personal media artifacts shall trigger reminiscence and engage players cognitively.

A Participatory Game Design Approach for Children After Cancer Treatment

After stem-cell transplantation, pediatric patients must remain in aftercare due to a high risk of suffering from a plethora of life-threatening organic problems. In this phase, communication with the clinicians is key for an increased survival probability. The multidisciplinary INTERACCT aims at developing a child friendly communication tool based on gamification principles in order to foster this important communication. Additionally, INTERACCT should stimulate exercises and treatment compliance. Finally, through analyzing gaming scores, INTERACCT should also act as a sensor for detecting problematic phases children are going through. Since the design of INTERACCT is key to its success, we present results from our user-centric and participative design approach using methods from design thinking and explorative design with school children aged 8-14. The results are game characters and story lines, which will inspire the game design of the INTERACCT computer games.

Increasing motivation, effort and performance through game-based rehabilitation for upper limb myoelectric prosthesis control

Rehabilitation concepts for upper limb amputees traditionally rely on the execution of repetitive movements. Video game-based therapies are a stimulating way to increase patient motivation, effort and performance during those otherwise monotonous neuromuscular exercises. Myoelectric signals needed to control an upper limb prosthesis are intuitively trained and the patient benefits from increased prosthesis usability. In this study, a clinically feasible and entertaining virtual rehabilitation intervention has been developed and evaluated for short-term improvement of EMG control and engaging gameplay elements. Seven upper limb amputees completed the three assessment sessions and the video game intervention. Results show an improvement in overall EMG control, fine muscle activation and electrode separation. Patients report that racing games seem to be slightly superior regarding the fun factor, but rhythm games provide a more challenging EMG control option.

Recommendations for Games to Increase Patient Motivation During Upper Limb Amputee Rehabilitation

Videogame based approaches are a motivating way to increase entertainment for upper limb amputees during neuromuscular rehabilitation training. Thereby myoelectric signals needed to control the prosthesis are intuitively trained and the functional gain of the prosthesis is increased. This study compares the intrinsic motivation between upper limb amputees and age and gender matched able-bodied participants after playing different videogames. Participants had to fill in two questionnaires in order to evaluate their attitude regarding videogame based rehabilitation and their intrinsic motivation. Results show higher investment of patients during the games and give a suggestion of what the ideal game for neuromuscular prosthetic control training might look like.

Design considerations towards long-term engagement in games for health

While studies point to the positive potential of games for health to increase patient engagement and to a need to consider longer-term perspectives, there is a lack of more tangible knowledge on how to design for long-term engagement in games for health. This paper makes a contribution in this space by drawing a reflective arc across three games for health projects from areas such as rehabilitation, prevention and chronic disease. We discuss the projects using a research through design lens and reflect on user research data and design artifacts from the perspective of the involved game designers. The results are design considerations towards long-term engagement in games for health. These considerations present a body of intermediate-level knowledge [19] oriented towards maximising the potential of the design space in early stages of games for health projects. The considerations are structured into those relevant to gameplay, research design and application context.

Learnings from an Iterative Design Process for Technology-Mediated Audience Participation (TMAP) using Smartphones

We discuss a setup for technology-mediated audience participation (TMAP)in live music using smartphones and high-frequency sound IDs in a playful setting. The audience needs to install a smartphone app. Using high-frequency sound IDs music samples and colors can be triggered on the audience’s smartphones without the need to have an internet connection. The resulting soundscape is determined by the samples and parameters selected by the artist as well as by the location audience members choose in the performance space. We present the technical basis and iterative explorative design process of such a system for TMAP. The learnings from the perspective of musicians were technical requirements such as low latency, reliability, as well as increasing the number of possible sound samples and sound quality and we further present learnings on creating systems for TMAP from technical and creative perspectives.

Usability and Fun of the INTERACCT Client

We present the INTERACCT system, a smartphone app and a Web page for fostering communication between young patients in aftercare after a stem cell transplantation. In this phase of rehabilitation, daily communication between the patients and their clinicians is key for detecting upcoming possibly deadly crises as early as possible. The app consists of a communication part, a gaming part, a module for daily medicine, and a daily story for further motivation. We describe the system as well as an evaluation of the app with several healthy children.