Below you find an overview of the projects I worked on in my second year at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences.
SeCOND YEAR PROJECTS
Games for children with ASD
Games created for Accare, with the goal of improving social skills in children between 4 and 8, diagnosed with ASD.
The Buddy
Conversational skills. Hub.
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Het Maatje (Or The Buddy) is supposed to be the central hub for a new range of games that is being developed for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This range of games is currently still in development and have the goal of improving social skills in these children. This game is centered around a buddy, a character the player can talk to through the means of multiple choice options. The goal of this game is to improve the ability of children with ASD to uphold a conversation, as research showed they lack this ability. They are taught this through scripted conversations, pre-written conversational options they get to pick from. Besides the conversations, the player can adapt their buddy, change their hair, skincolour, eyes and clothing. Clothing items and environmental changes can be unlocked by talking to the buddy, the more the player talks and practices, the more they unlock and the more currency they gain with which to actually buy items. As stated at the top, this concept was developed to be the central point for a range of games, which all need to be linked into it, which is why there is also the possibility to play games with the buddy. These games would consist of other serious games that aid their social skills, or of regular entertainment games which will build on the motivation of the player, as they cannot play games without speaking to the buddy first. The game was made for android, as these children tend to have access to tablets or smartphones and they are used and well-adapted to playing games on these platforms. It was developed in careful cooperation with Accare and a dedicated Psychology student. Art: Sophie Walker(3d) Mieke Verschuren (3d), Lotta Brüning (2d) Programming: Ron Dekker, Robert-Jan Zandvoort Psychology/voicing: Hannah Lasonder |
CardGame
Emotion Recognition. Analog. Spoken, seen, felt.
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This was one of our earlier concepts in this project, but one that we basically finished as it is relatively simple.
This game would be played during therapy sessions. The player takes a card and has to show the emotion the situation makes them feel. Before they show their emotion, they have to roll a dice, which tells them to either show it with their words and tone, with their facial expression, or with their body. This way the children learn to see that emotion is not just spoken, or seen in expressions, but also has to do with posture, wth physical action. The rest of the group would have to guess the emotion, of course, giving them practice with recognising emotion in actual people, rather than from pictures or 3d models. The real deal is always different, especially to these children. Art: Lotta Brüning Co-designed: Ron Dekker, Robert-Jan Zandvoort, Sophie Walker |
Where are you?
Playing together. Multiplayer local play.
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This is the third and final concept in this collection. This game never got developed beyond a simple digital prototype.
Two players hold tablets. They link on a local connection (Wifi) and find themselves on different sides of a town. Their goal is to find each other, to do this, they need to communicate in real life. Their characters are invisible and they are supposed to talk about landmarks to find one another. If they find each other and press a button, they win the game, together. This game was aimed at making friends, the goal was to allow children with ASD to play a fun game with others, while forcing them to communicate about something easy, something to hold onto. Art: Sophie Walker, Lotta Brüning Programming: Robert-Jan Zandvoort |
Amsterfloat
Emergence. Mobile. Diplomacy.
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Amsterfloat is a game for mobile, in which the player tries to unite several separate cities under a single banner. That of new- new Amsterdam. The player controls a ferry and sails around the waters above the sunken city of Amsterdam, where they can trade and look for resources, do missions for the several factions, fight pirates, fish, scavenge, upgrade their ferry and deal with the diplomatic niceties that encompass these small city states.
These city states are procedurally generated in position, personality, colour scheme and name. All missions would be based upon the current situation within the game and the specific personalities of the cities. The game was made with the purpose of adding it to the depont research project by the submarine channel. For more information click here. Art by Lotta Brüning and Andor Reineking, Programming by Chirapapan Puangpai and Ron Dekker, Co-designed with Jakob Mendelsohn |
tHE fACTORY gROOVE
Virtual Reality CPR Training.
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The Factory Groove is a game created with the purpose of improving CPR training, making use of Virtual Reality, in the form of an Oculus Rift. Players repair robots by performing CPR on them, when done succesfully the robots join the large party in the Factory. When they fail, the robots blow up in their face! The further along a player gets the more robots dance around, the more distractions the player gains, the less he can hear the music. Difficulty increases naturally as such.
This game would be used as an addition to a regular CPR training. It supports training for both motor skills and aids the user to remember the steps they are supposed to take. The game makes use of a Wii balance board to measure the pressure a player puts on the artificial chest. It also requires a microphone as it makes use of voice commands to control a helper robot. For more detail click here This game is being used to showcase the possibilities of VR in medical training by Stark Learning. It is also being displayed at Playground VR, organized by the Groninger Forum, and the Night of Art and Science, also organized by the Groninger Forum. Art by Sophie Walker. Programming by Ron Dekker. |