Paper presented at the International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning (IMCL), 31 October - 1 November 2019, Thessaloniki, Greece.Authors: Giannaraki, Marina; Moumoutzis, Nektarios; Papatzanis, John; Kourkoutas, Elias; Mania, Katerina. Presentation slides prepared and presented by Mrs Marina Giannaraki.

1. ADDventurous Rhythmical Planet:
A 3D Rhythm-based Serious Game
for Social Skills Development
of Children with ADHD
Marina Giannaraki1
, Nektarios Moumoutzis1
, John Papatzanis2
, Elias Kourkoutas3
,
and Katerina Mania1
1
Technical University of Crete, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
2
Professional musician,
3
University of Crete, Department of Primary Educa on
Technical University of Crete
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Distributed Multimedia
Information Systems
and Applications
Laboratory
31/10/2019
Team SURREAL,
http://graphics.tuc.gr
Hello, my name is Marina Giannaraki and I am going
to present you a 3D game named ADDventurous
Rhythmical Planet.
It is a game for children of 8-11 years old, diagnosed
with ADHD.
This game aims to improve their social collaborative
skills using rhythm and music.

2. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helps
 ADHD Symptoms

Ina en on
 Impulsivity
 Hyperac vity

 1 out of 9 children has ADHD (11%)
What is ADHD
Social Disfunc oning

Isola on
 Low self-esteem

Depression
Collabora ve Rhythm-Centric
Game to Improve
Psychosocial Func oning
ADHD stads for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Children diagnosed with ADHD are often at a
disadvantage regarding their social interactions due to
their symptopmatic inattention, impulsivity and
hyperactivity.
Those problems result in social disfunction and therefore
children with ADD are easier rejected by their peers.
That may lead to isolation, low self-esteeem and even
depression.
This game’s focus is on improving the psychosocial
functioning of those children

3. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helps
 Music Therapy
 Increases
 Advantages
How Music Therapy helps
Maintenance of focused a en on
Sense of structure, limits and rules
Development of cogni ve ability
Self confidence
Social skills
Music therapy benefits all symptoms
of children with ADHD
No prior knowledge required
No feeling of failure
Promo on of crea vity
No need to be musically inclined
The basic tool used is rhythm since music therapy is
proved to bolster attention, reduce hyperactivity and
strengthen self-confidence and social skills of children
with ADHD
In addition, the avantages of music therapy in comparison
to other techniques is that.. there is no prior knowledge
required in order to begin that type of therapy. There is
also no feeling of failure included, which is very
important for chldren with ADHD since they are used to
feelling failure very often. Music therapy also promote
creativity, and there is no need for the child to be
musically inclined in order to choose that type of therapy.

4. So far, the existing games are usually targeted on the
main symptoms of children with ADHD
However, research has shown that games that aim to
improve the cognitive function, cannot be
generalized.
That means, that the skills that the children acquire
through those games, cannot be used in their
everyday lives.
A very interesting game, is chillFish. This game takes
a simple and boring task, such as a breathing
exercise and creates a fun and exciting game for a
child to play, while helping it control its stress level.

5. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helps
Game Story
 Alien crushed with her spaceship in foreign planet
 Players need to retrieve the pieces of the spaceship,
 repair it, and con nue their journey
 Craters exchange rhythmic plays for spaceship pieces
Game Play
 Single-user mode: Learning basic rhythm concepts
 Focus a en on, Channel excess energy
 Mul -User mode: Players collec vely reproduce rhythm

Communicate, Synchronize
Result
 Mo va on for socializing
 Improvement of overall mental
 health and self-confidence
ADDventurous Rhythmical Planet:
Story & Interface
Our main hero, is an Alien who crushed on an foreign
planet.
In the single user mode, our alien is trying to find and
retrieve the pieces of her spaceship. During that
mode, the player is learning how to create a beat in a
fun and playful way. This helps the children focus
their attention and channel their excess energy.
In the multi user mode, the alien and her friends
collectively reproduce rhythm to acquire tools in
order to repair their spaceship. During that mode, the
children learn to cooperate and communicate

6. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helps
 Mul modal
 Exploits benefits of rhythm and music
 Mul -user
 Combina on of 3D game with children playing with drums
 Allows freedom of movement
 Story as a mo va ng tool
Result
 Promotes atomicity & expression of self
 Provides structure
 Decompression of stress & excess tension
 Engages player through story
ADDventurous Rhythmical Planet:
Why it’s innova ve
The reason this game defers from the rest, is the fact
that it combines music and collaboration for this
particular group of children. Something like that does
not exist in any studies so far, and promotes
atomicity and expression of self.
In addition, it engages the body, since it combines a
3D game with children playing with wireless drums,
which also allows freedom of movement. This can
assist in decompression of stress and excess
tension.
This game also uses story in order to engage and
motivate the players.

7. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helpsArchitecture of the Game
John Papatzanis
Since rhythm is our basic tool, each player holds a drum
connected through WiFi with the game. That happens
using a pressure detec on sensor with an ESP8266 on
each drum. That is how the drum ac ons are
communicated to the visual environment of the game.
Drum ac ons and iden fica on Data are collected for
each drum stroke.
The Drum ac ons are what drives the gameplay, which
only progresses when the player reproduces the beat
requested rela vely accurately as guided by the
instructor.
(The rhythm exercises are developed in collabora on
with John Papatzanis)

8. What is ADHD & How Music Therapy helps
 Conclusion
 Collabora ve Rhythm-Centric Game to Improve Psychosocial
Func oning
 Future Work
 Evalua on

extensive tes ng through “rhythm4inclusion”

Use of Strengths and Difficul es Ques onnaire (SDQ)
 Dynamic Adjustments on difficulty of the game & environment
 Detailed Data logs for informa on of parents and specialists
Conclusion & Future Work
In conclusion, this is a Collaborative Rhythm-Centric
Game, aiming to improve the psychosocial functioning of
children with ADHD.
In the future, there will be extensive testing for evaluation
of the game, by students, musicians and special
education teachers. For the evaluation, we will use the
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
Also, we intend to make the game dynamically adjust its
difficulty and environment and create more sofisticated
data logs to provide parents and specialists with data
regarding the progress of each player.

9. Thank You!

Any questions?
(In conclusion, through this game and through rhythm,
We aim to improve the social skills of children with ADHD
and therefore improve their self confidence, and
acceptance from their peers. )
Thank you,
Any Questions?