News
EU project developing video game platform for healthcare
9 March 2009
The EU-funded PlayMancer
project is using existing 3D video gaming engines to develop
innovative ways of interaction between the player and the
game world. The project is focusing on supporting the
development 'universally accessible games' so that players
of all abilities can use the games, especially for physical
rehabilitation.
The project is aiming to shorten the game production chain and make
it more cost effective based on generative modelling, and thus reduce
the cost of offering a full-fledged pre-designed gaming world.
The project is developing a series games modules in two application
domains: physical rehabilitation, and therapeutic support and lifestyle
management programs for behavioural and addictive disorders.
The team behind the project come from a range of backgrounds in
academia and industry in Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
“We want to build actual games, serious games, around serious
health-related problems like bulimia and chronic pain,” PlayMancer’s
project manager Elias Kalapanidas said. “Using
gaming in this way is really breaking new ground.”
Early technical prototypes developed alongside initial work by
PlayMancer partners at the Technical University of Vienna were put
through their paces by hundreds of visitors at the latest edition of
the annual Vienna Science Fair.
“We attended this very high-profile fair in Austria because we
know the success of our final games and development tools will rest
to a large extent on how well we can get the message out about
them,” said Kalapanidas of Systema Technologies in Greece.
The project has released a YouTube video of the demos in action.
The short film shows a cross-section of the community trying to
manipulate virtual objects in a 3-D variation of the old-school
Pong game.
“It’s not just about developing the most fun and interactive
games, or targeting particular groups,” adds Kalapanidas. “We want
to seriously improve the accessibility of games, making them
playable by all kinds of people, including the disabled.”
For example, people suffering from chronic pain could be playing
games designed to ease their symptoms while their therapist monitors
progress online. The therapist could interrupt the game any time to
adjust the settings, or if there is an imminent health risk to the
player.
“Health is embedded in our methodology and available from the
game engine itself not as a service developed afterwards or some
mash-up application added to attract the health market,” stresses
Kalapanidas.
The market PlayMancer is aiming to enter when it ends late next
year is underdeveloped. It falls under the umbrella of serious
games, which though they are maturing, especially in business and
training applications, are still by no means an easy market to break
in to.
“Our games are aimed at specific health problems initially, which
could make the market even harder to develop, but all the studies
and analyses point to strong potential. So, it’s only a matter of
time with the way computers and gaming are evolving,” concludes
Kalapanidas.
PlayMancer is funded under the ICT strand of the Seventh
Framework Programme for Research.
More information
The PlayMancer project website:
www.playmancer.com
Source: ICT Results:
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults
|