ISRG 1

Serious Games for People with Physical and Cognitive

ImpairmentsDavid Brown, Lindsay Evett, Steven

Battersby, Allan RidleyISRG, Computing and Technology,

Nottingham Trent University

ISRG 2

Serious Games

• Games with main purpose other than entertainment

• Final year module for HCI, DMT and Comp & Cyb progs – optional for many others

• ISRG has long history of Serious Games R&D• Research projects provide resources and

material for the module – and the students contribute to the projects – a symbiotic relationship that works well

ISRG 3

Accessibility of the Module?

• Blind student doing an MRes took the module last year – main interest Universal Design

• Assessment for all students – report, review and design for an identified application

• MRes project now focussed on Accessible Games

ISRG 4

Accessible Games

• Accessible Games – there are now some games the student can play with sighted people:– Access Invaders “universally accessible

multiplayer/multiplatform” Space Invaders – Unified Design for UA-Games (Grammenos and Savidis, 2006)

– Terraformers “accessible for blind and low vision gamers as well as full sighted gamers” (Westin, 2004)

ISRG 5

Targeted Accessible Games

• Audio-based games for the blind and visually impaired

• Single-switch games for people with motor impairment

• BUT exclusive• UA-Games and games like Terraformer

allow playing together• WiiMote as adaptive assistive device will

facilitate such developments

ISRG 6

Wiimote Driver

• Nintendo Wii remote controller (Wiimote) investigated as platform for development for assistive technology

• Interfaced to Windows, to Serious Games developed by ISRG (virtual environments)

• Applications to make the games and VEs accessible (Battersby, 2007, this workshop)

• User-centred design methodology• Cheap and easily available mainstream device

with lots of technology

ISRG 7

Wiimote

• Application developed using the Wiimote enables the student to interact with virtual environments

• Allows increased participation on the module• Allows better integration with the other students• Current iteration of the driver (using Wii

Connect) better integrated and easier to use as a development tool than that described in Battersby (2007).

ISRG 8

Virtual Cane/Guide Dog

• WiiMote can be used as a pointing device, and can give auditory, visual and haptic (it rumbles) feedback

• Virtual cane – uses auditory and haptic feedback

• Support with an intelligent agent which gives spoken warnings and advice

• Combine to create a virtual guide dog

ISRG 9

Applications for the Blind

To build experience and confidence:

• Navigation training

• Road crossing

• Transport (e.g., railway stations)

Other skills could be developed, as with many of the Serious Games projects e.g., employment skills, life skills, technical skills and confidence

ISRG 10

Benefits

• As well as driving the development of the Wii Cane/Guide Dog, having the student on the module has led to – Teaching being modified, facilitating future visually

impaired students who might take the module– Improved accessibility for the module (as well as the

SGs)

• Having blind and visually impaired students has – changed attitudes (e.g., Games Dev Tech; GGDM)– Informed advice on accessible content

ISRG 11

Enhance Accessible Games?

• Wii Cane/Dog could enhance interaction for accessible games

• Provides technology for making Wii games accessible?

• Access Invaders– Videos

• Terraformers

ISRG 12

Other Applications

• Wii Cane and other functionality will be demonstrated

• Can simulate generic mice and keyboard interactions, can be used as Windows OS mouse

• Tremor compensation

• Surface free interface to allow movement, gesture and sign recognition

ISRG 13

Additional Controller Extensions

See technical report:

– Finger mice– Wii Switch

ISRG 14

Summary

• Accessibility of Serious Games module improved

• Inclusive UA Games approach for participation and integration

• Wiimote technology has great potential for enhancing accessibility

• Wii Cane/Guide Dog• Wii applications for motor impairment and

gesture and sign recognition

ISRG 15

Sources

Battersby, S. (2007) Serious Games and the Wii – a technical report, BCS SGAI AI-2007 Serious Games Workshop, Cambridge, 10-12 December 2007Grammenos, D. and Savidis, A. (2006) Unified design of universally accessible games (say what?), Gamasutra, http://www.gamasutra,com/features/20061207/grammenos_01.shtml, accessed 1/2/08Westin, T. (2004) Game accessibility case study: Terraformers – a real-time 3D graphic game, Proc. 5th ICDVRAT

ISRG 16

Serious Games for People with Special Educational Needs

David Brown, Lindsay Evett, Steven Battersby and Allan Ridley

ISRG 17

Overview

• University outreach to other communities for learners with disabilities:

• Quest – 3D role play game to develop personal development and work sustainability skills in young people at risk of exclusion

• Game On – 2D games to develop basic skills in offenders and those at risk of offending

• GOAL.NET – 2D games to develop basic and work skills in young adults with learning disabilities

ISRG 18

Quest

• Commissioned by the National Learning and Skills Council

• To design, implement and evaluate a serious game to address the development needs of young people at risk of social exclusion

• Characterised as having low self esteem, poor levels of confidence, aggressive tendencies, and lacking basic and employment related skills

• With Greenhat Interactive, South Notts College, Bestco and Acorn Learning

ISRG 19

Target Audience

Target audience ‘Priority 1’ young people - amongst the most disaffected and disillusioned in society - one or more of the following:– Permanently excluded from school– Long term ill– Drug or alcohol dependant– Young offenders– Referred by social services– Have severe behavioural difficulties– Have severe literacy and numeracy difficulties– In care– At risk of harm– Refugees

ISRG 20

Overview of Learning ObjectsQuest: suite of e2e materials, seven forty-five

minute learning objects (LOs) LOs concerning personal development and work

sustainability skills dealing with:– Improving self esteem– Managing aggression– Response to problems and stress– Self development and your support network– What an employer looks for in an employee– First days at work– Rights and responsibilities

ISRG 21

Results - Engagement

• For students with engagement and/or concentration problems, and who had unlimited time to play, average time spent on the game was 55.4 minutes

• Often far exceeded tutor expectations

ISRG 22

Results - Learning

Students all had either the same scores as at pre-test (2) or improved scores (11)

Learning Object: Average increase in correct answers:

Self Esteem +1Managing Aggression +4Problems and Stress +4

ISRG 23

GAME ON- 229542-CP-1-2006-1-UK-GRUNDTVIG-G1

AIMS:• To create highly engaging and motivating e-learning materials in small,

accessible units, to promote the development of personal development and work sustainability skills in the prisoners, ex-offenders, young offenders and young people at risk of offending.

• To embed the learning preferences of our target audience into the conceptual and presentational design of our e-learning materials to drive the most effective acquisition of these employment-related skills and knowledge

• To reduce the multiple educational disadvantage, isolation, inequality of opportunity and poor mental health experienced by deaf prisoners.

• To ensure that at all stages the target audience is engaged in the design, implementation and evaluation of the new e-learning materials

• To continuously evaluate the effectiveness and usability of the materials at all stages of production, and to incorporate these results into their ongoing design and development.

ISRG 24

GOAL.NET- UK/07/LLP-LdV/TOI-009

Aims:• To develop a suite of accessible, interactive computer

games with embedded learning objectives in Basic Skills, Personal Development and Employment Preparation.

• To improve innovation and quality in delivering Vocational Enhanced Training (VET) by pulling together a group of expert organisations and user groups across Europe

• To enhance the attractiveness of VET by the use of engaging, innovative, culturally appropriate curriculum and learning materials in a blended learning approach to match the needs of individual learners.

ISRG 25

Underlying Research to Support these Projects

• RQ: Can computer games improve memory skills in people with learning disabilities?

• Method – two matched groups (control and intervention). 16 participants in key stages 3 and 4. Intervention = pairs memory game; Control = observation games.

• Looking for an overall pattern of behaviour (improvement) is inappropriate as there is a large within-group variation.

• Results - After 4/10 sessions (therefore no comparison to control yet available) participants are showing different rates of improvement, some consistently and others more variably. Weighting the number of incorrect guesses by the probability of scoring no incorrect pairs allows the improvement to be more clearly tracked.

• Conclusion: Results at nearly mid stage are encouraging and new methods to visually analyse results are being developed.

ISRG 26

Aiding Memory

Participant C

Showing good improvement though week 4 was better than week 5

Participant D

Improving slowly but only achieving 3 games a session

Session

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1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

Scatterplot of D weighted

session

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54321

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Scatterplot of C weighted