Tanner B. Engaging Tomorrow’s Learners with Impact Focused Virtual Reality Games. Serious Play Conference; 2018 July 18; Buffalo, New York, United States.

1. Engaging Tomorrows
Learners with Impact
Focused Virtual Reality
Games
Bradley Tanner, MD
HealthImpact.studio
Chapel Hill, NC

2. Winning at Game CreationWinning at Game Creation
●
Goal: Recognize the unique challenges
associated with creating a game that impacts
health behaviors of children/emerging adults
●
Objective: Identify strategies to avoid time and
dollar wasting efforts and the win game creation
game

3. Bradley Tanner, MD, MEBradley Tanner, MD, ME
●
Physician by Training – Psychiatry and Obesity
Medicine
●
Studio Head, HealthImpact.studio
●
20 years experience in NIH funding and running
a small business
●
Specialty: Skills development and behavior
change
●
Online training -> simulations -> games

4. HealthImpact.StudioHealthImpact.Studio
●
Goal: Create games that can
impact health via healthy eating
behaviors and prevent obesity.
●
Strategy: Start from an
interesting game concept and
add health impact on top.
●
Technology: Immersive
Headset-based VR and 3D
●
Game Engine: Unity

5. Success & Your AudienceSuccess & Your Audience
●
Market fit predicts
business success.
●
Know
– target audience
and their needs
– competition
●
Then customer
satisfaction
predicts success
●
It better be fun!

6. Childhood ObesityChildhood Obesity

7. Obesity by Race/EthnicityObesity by Race/Ethnicity

8. Obesity TrendsObesity Trends

9. Healthy Eating GamesHealthy Eating Games
●
Food Fight! Kids practice rejecting (throwing)
unhealthy food and accepting healthy food in a
variety of environments (Cafeteria, Food Court).
●
Grocery Hunt: Young adults practice selecting
healthy foods to add to their pantry/fridge.
●
Hunger Battle/Inside the Brain: The role of
brain in hunger and satiety.
●
Future: Cooking skills, meal preparation,
hosting, and presentation. Exercise/Fitness

10. Food FightFood Fight
●
Focus: Food Acceptance & Rejection

11. Use the Asset StoreUse the Asset Store
●
Incredibly inexpensive for
what you get
●
Functionality (code) and
image assets
●
Some with motion
●
High quality and usable
●
Easy and quick to integrate
●
Prototype to determine game
design and obtains support

12. Grocery HuntGrocery Hunt
●
Grocery Shopping Skills for Young Adults

13. Grocery Hunt PrototypeGrocery Hunt Prototype
●
Go with Assets!
– Cheap
– Easy to implement
– 3rd
Person Shooter
●
Determined that users could
figure out mechanics
●
Users enjoyed the game
●
Users felt it might help them
inspect food in reality

14. Beware the Asset StoreBeware the Asset Store
●
Difficult to further
customize
●
Not (exactly) what you
wanted
●
Some graphics are too
complicated.
●
Some may tax the power
of the computer.
●
It’s only for prototyping!

15. Asset LimitationsAsset Limitations
●
Not quite right for the
purpose. It’s really a
convenience store not a
grocery store
●
No vegetables
●
First player did not aim
correctly
●
Foods varied in size and
quality
●
Strange Proportions

16. EnvironmentsEnvironments
●
Custom Made 3D Environments

17. You Need Custom AssetsYou Need Custom Assets
●
Tuned to the
game context
and purpose
●
Higher quality
●
Essential to
create and
immersive
environment

18. Beware Custom AssetsBeware Custom Assets
●
Graphic artists care a lot
about how good it looks
●
Expensive ($$)
●
Time consuming
●
Defining “done” is hard
●
Updated graphics need
to be reintegrated
●
Probably not a skill of
yours

19. Asset ChallengesAsset Challenges
●
Assets from the store are inexpensive, simple
and great for prototyping to show to customers
and other stakeholders or an early demo
●
But they aren’t enough
●
Assets vary widely in their quality, ability to
scale and ability to synchronize with each other.
●
Custom assets are far more expensive to
produce
●
Graphic assets can quickly become a labor of
love and an exercise in perfection

20. Game MechanicsGame Mechanics
●
Learner control and self-
determination to identify
personally relevant
factors and strategies.
●
Experiential learning to
enhances self-expression
and creativity
●
Role-playing to engage
the participant in a cycle
of practicing change

21. ““Cool” FunctionalityCool” Functionality
●
A way to ignore bad mechanics (video)

22. Mechanics Out of ControlMechanics Out of Control
●
Watch people play
●
Don’t explain
●
Ask questions!
●
Are they struggling?
●
Are they confused?
●
Why does it do that?
●
Who wanted this?
●
Does it make sense?

23. Gameplay & ImpactGameplay & Impact
●
Functionality with impact is harder to integrate
than “cool” functionality – need strict control

24. Tutorials and GameplayTutorials and Gameplay
●
An easy solution – just tell them what to do
●
Problems
– Varying Game &
Controller Skills
– Varying VR Skills
– Not fun
– Poor First
Impression
– Time Consuming to Create
●
If you have to explain it, it’s too hard!

25. The Role of HardwareThe Role of Hardware
●
Review existing hardware and platforms
●
Predicting future success
●
Make a
choice
●
Stay
flexible
●
Evaluate
new
entries
●
Adapt

26. Hardware HeadachesHardware Headaches
●
Oculus Go vs. Rift. $200 vs. $1400 - $2000
●
Simple vs. Complicated
●
Mechanic
Limitations
●
Experience
Limitations
●
Follow
Trends
●
Follow Your
Market

27. Inside the BrainInside the Brain
●
Exploring Neuroanatomy and Neuroactivity

28. Graphics vs. CodeGraphics vs. Code
●
Where is the intelligence?

29. Where is the Game?Where is the Game?
●
Cool graphics can seem “good enough”
●
Beware the desire to move back to didactic
mode

30. Complicated GraphicsComplicated Graphics
●
Implementation is time
consuming
●
Increased communication
effort.
●
Developers: It’s hard to
understand limitations of
graphics (e.g., transparency)
●
Artists need to work with
Unity and understand code.
●
Do you understand graphics?

31. BurntOutBurntOut
●
Human
Interaction and
Assessing
Stress
●
Immersion
focuses on the
game at hand
●
Optimizes
cognitive load

32. Immersive GraphicsImmersive Graphics
●
Expensive and time consuming

33. People and 3DPeople and 3D
●
Are they in Sync?

34. Mixing 2D and 3DMixing 2D and 3D
●
Photorealistic
backgrounds create
an immersive
experience
●
A drawn 2D person
seems out of place
●
Pick one

35. 3D Humans3D Humans
●
Creating 3D
Photorealistic people
is more challenging
●
Emotions in 3D people
-> even more
complicated
●
3D people that move
and “express”
changing emotions is
the stuff that movies
are made of.

36. Limitations of 3D HumansLimitations of 3D Humans
●
3D people that move
and “express”
changing emotions
is the stuff that
movies are made of.

37. 3 Ts3 Ts
●
Test Often
– Seek a variety of input from staff and
stakeholders of various skill, age, technical
background, and game orientation
●
Build Teamwork
– Trust but Verify
●
Stay on Track
– Create a Game Design Document
– Stay Agile. Stick with the GDD or Modify It.

38. TestingTesting
●
Internal testing
is key
●
Coworkers are
often unwilling
to bring up
problems
●
Include
stakeholder
input early and
often

39. TeamworkTeamwork
●
Varying skills need to work
in concert
●
Coordinate the project –
both the technology and
the people
●
A supportive team is good
●
But can lead to an echo
chamber and sugar coating

40. Staying on TrackStaying on Track
●
Being Agile demands
regular sprints,
meetings, and tight
control over the
project
●
Schedule regular
release dates for
accountability and to
ensure meaningful
progress.

41. LessonsLessons
●
Know and engage your market.
●
Use Asset Store for prototyping
●
Custom assets are essential but can take the
project off track in terms of time and $$$
●
Mechanics must be relevant and functional -
Tutorials often attempt to hide a bad game
●
Hardware may change
●
Complicated graphics and human elements are
a unique challenge
●
Test, build Teamwork, keep the team on Track

42. Game On!Game On!
●
A mess can be
cleaned up
●
It’s your game –
keep the vision
●
Don’t get
bogged down
with frustrations
●
Have fun and
be creative