Step Around the World

an exer-game for
fall prevention and rehabilitation
By: Ryan Fanelli and Mauli Ryan

Proposed to: Stuart Smith, Neuroscience Research

Australia

Synopsis
‘Step Around the World’ is an exer-game, designed for older people, that
incorporates mental challenges to stimulate player interest in exercising to
prevent falls and rehabilitate from them. The aim of the exer-game is to
improve older people’s balance recovery and fast stepping behavior through
lunging exercises that are thematically integrated into the travel-based game
where players uncover and attempt to identify parts of scenic photos.
Individuals that work to promote the health of the elderly will be interested
in the development of this game, and older people who are worried about
being susceptible to falls are the target audience of the game itself.

 
 
  Step  Around  the  World  ©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan  
Medical Summary

The game is designed to train older people to complete fast stepping

sequences which will improve the likelihood that they can recover from a
potential fall by being able to take a response step quickly before the fall
happens.

The use of lunging exercises in the game will help player’s balance recovery
skills and work to develop muscles that are not being targeted with already
existing short-stepping exer-games in development.

One critical attribute of the game is incorporating a measure of performance

(a scoring system) that players can use to track their progress in completing
the assigned exercises. Additionally, researches and practitioners can use
more precise data recorded from the user, like following their exact
movements when the succeed or fail at completing an assigned lunge, to
better identify patients that are most likely to fall and understand what
physical response characteristics make people most susceptible to falls.

Thematic Summary

We wanted to unite all of the elements of our game into a common theme
that our target audience appreciates and that is not already used as a theme
for other exer-games designed for older people. All of the interview subjects
that we spoke with agreed that travel is one of their interests, and they would
enjoy viewing scenic photography when playing an exer-game.

In this game, players will lunge forward to step on and collect money icons,
which move across the screen towards the players’ feet. Upon stepping on
the icons, tiles of the hidden picture are uncovered and the player’s score
increases. However, players must also move their feet to avoid bad icons,
which will have a negative effect on their score.

The game also includes mental activities like identifying the hidden picture
or answering travel-related questions, which will have a positive effect on
the player’s score, as well.

 
 
2     Step  Around  the  World  
Game Description

Main Screen

The game opens with a main menu screen. Players’ feet are outfitted with
infrared LEDs that the Wii can recognize to identify where their feet are
located, and then project the location of their feet on the screen. Menu
options are selected when players move their feet in view of the Wii Camera
onto a menu selection button.

Background Research
Prospective players (the subjects that we interviewed) expressed their
interest in being able to view their high scores, to see how their skills
progress, making the scoring section of the game an important inclusion.
They explained that being able to compete against their previous scores to
try to improve is one of the primary motivations for frequently playing exer-
games. Also, interview subjects were particularly interested in seeing their
feet displayed on the game screen so that they do not have to shift their focus
between looking up at the screen and looking down at their feet (such as on a
dance mat).

 
 
©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan     3  
Menu Screen i
The game will offer both single
player and multiplayer game modes,
where players can compete on their
own or simultaneously with another
player.

Background Research
Interview subjects strongly favored
the idea of competing against others,
citing it as another primary
motivation for playing exer-games.

Menu Screen ii
Players choose one of two different
game modes in which to play.

In ‘Timed Levels’, players will spend

a set amount of time lunging to reveal
a hidden image. Then, at the end of
the allotted time, players can guess
the picture to earn extra points before
moving to another picture.

In ‘Complete the Picture’, players will continue to uncover tiles of a particular

background image until every tile of the puzzle is revealed, and the picture is
entirely visible. Only upon completion, players can start on a new image.

Background Research
One test subject in particular explained how he is interested in unveiling every
tile of a picture, even if he recognizes what the picture is already, since he is
motivated by completing tasks in their entirety. As such, players have the
option of completing the entire picture, or including the additional mentally
stimulating challenge of guessing a partially revealed picture in the timed
mode.

 
 
4     Step  Around  the  World  
Menu Screen iii
Players select the difficulty level of
their game when they begin. In single
player mode, the game system will
keep track of a player’s current
difficulty level and display it on the
screen. Then, upon the players’ skills
improving, the game will advise the
player to increase the difficulty,
continuing to challenge and improve
their abilities. In multiplayer mode,
this functionality of letting users select their difficulty level will allow players
the opportunity to compete against one another even if they have different
levels of skill.

Background Research
Interview subjects expressed interest in having competition between individuals
of different skill levels, so that the game can include handicaps to be especially
challenging for players that enter with a higher skill level, making the
competition fairer. This encourages competition among groups and provides
older people an opportunity to play games with their grandchildren. They also
like the game to continue to get more challenging as their skills improve.

Menu Screen iv
Since the length that someone can
lunge will vary from person to
person, we calibrate the stepping
distance each time a user begins
playing the game. The game will
recognize the player’s stepping length
and adjust the distances of
programmed steps to fit each
particular player.

Background Research
Studies in rehabilitative exercise done by employees at Neuroscience Research
Australia indicate that depending on the specific patient and their flexibility, the
distance a person lunges can have a wide range of variation. As a result, we can
cater the game to individuals based on their specific lunging abilities.

 
 
©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan     5  
Game View
The dashboard at the
bottom of the screen
shows the number of
countries visited
(same as the number
of photos viewed),
amount of time the
user has been on a
level, their score, and
the difficulty
assigned to the
player.

Icons enter the game view from either the left or the right, approaching the
player’s left or right foot, which are shown on the screen. The player lunges
to step on or evade the icons as they approach the middle section of the
screen. Three different game bit icons enter the screen view:

Positive Icon, plays a pleasant noise if collected

When players step on this symbol, they uncover a tile from the
hidden picture and earn money, increasing their score.
Negative Icon, plays an unpleasant noise if collected
When players step on this symbol, they will lose money, bringing
their score down.
Bonus Icon, plays noise signifying bonus round if collected
When players step on this symbol, they will be asked a bonus
travel trivia question to increase their score if answered correctly.

Background Research
Interview subjects liked the idea of having both positive and negative objects
in the game. Subjects thought that the added element would cause them to
think and respond, making the activity less tedious. Similarly, they think that
having trivia questions and hidden pictures promote using their brain, thus
distracting them from the leg movements, making it easier to perform the
activity. Subjects also provided feedback regarding potential scenic photos
they liked as well as which of a group of icons they identified as being most
positive or negative.
 
 
6     Step  Around  the  World  
Player Motivation

Costello and Edmonds (2005) ‘A Tool for Characterizing the Experience of

Play’ define key player pleasures that are identified within the game ‘Step
Around the World’. The element of ‘discovery’ is best illustrated by actively
gaining coins to reveal a piece of the picture that is displayed on the screen. To
deepen the discovery element a sound is emitted every time the user progresses
through the game and reveals tiles of the picture, a form of positive feedback.

‘Difficulty’ is also a player pleasure that is relevant to the game aesthetics of

‘Step Around the World’. Essentially, the goal for users is to measure their
performance and progress up the gaming difficulty levels. The difficulty is
associated with increasing speed of steps, a greater presence of negative icons,
and more challenging trivia questions.

‘Competition’ was an important element when doing our initial research. An

overall view between subjects interviewed revealed a liking to goals being
defined and rewarded. In this context, goals are defined as completing the level,
physically gaining points to reveal all the tiles or by guessing what country the
picture was from. The multi-player aspect of the game also struck a chord with
the majority of the subjects. Essentially, if a competitive element like multi
players could be added to the game, the more likely the user would be driven to
play. This would not only facilitate in social engagement but also give the
player a sense of achievement or willingness to play again.

‘The lens of surprise’ (Kaufmann, 2008), is illustrated firstly by once again the
tiles of the picture being revealed as the player progresses. Secondly, the
element of surprise is displayed with bonus icons travelling across the screen
simultaneously with negative and positive icons. If the player steps on the
bonus icon this gives the player a chance to gain points by answering a travel
related question. These trivia questions are different each time and become
more challenging as the difficulty increases. The reward and punishment
system associated with the game bits is designed to make the player experience
more satisfying. By integrating the hidden picture with the player’s score and
physical movements, all associated with the travel theme, players are more
likely to enjoy the exer-game, thus playing it frequently and benefiting their
health.

 
 
©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan     7  
Technological Details

Setup
The player starts by attaching a bundle of infrared lights to the toes of their
shoes. The bundle of LEDs is setup so that lights will be pointed at many
different angles, to improve the Nintendo Wii Camera’s ability to identify the
player’s foot.

Next, the player situates a Wii Camera aimed at their feet. (Note: using two
cameras setup orthogonal to one another is a potential future advancement that
could improve the accuracy of the Wii’s readings.) The Wii Camera will
transmit information about the positions of the LEDs to the Wii.

The Wii is connected to a computer via USB, and using the Osculator software
on the computer, the data about the LEDs location is converted to numerical x-
y-z coordinates in space for the game software to use.

The computer is connected to a screen in front of the player, so that they can
view the game display on the screen in front of them (including a projection of
where their feet are located on the game display). When players step outside of
the area where their feet are supposed to be positioned during play, the screen
border flashes and a voice instruction plays to the user to indicate that they
stepped out of bounds and must return their feet to the appropriate zone.

Background Research
Based on the experience of game designers at Neuroscience Research
Australia, using multiple LEDs arranged at different angles or using multiple
cameras arranged orthogonally help improve the reliability of the sensor
readings to generate more accurate data about the players when used with the
Wii Camera.

Also, the interview subjects like the idea of being alerted when they are not
standing where they are supposed to, since, in other games, they often
inadvertently shift their feet away from the position where they are supposed to
be without realizing it, and end up being penalized for it in their score. Having
the player’s feet displayed on the screen helps to resolve this issue.

 
 
8     Step  Around  the  World  
Medical Details

Saving Data
The game system records the player’s progress as they use the single player
mode in the game, to track the development of their physical abilities.

Since the player’s foot position is stored as x-y-z coordinates, the game
system will be able to save those coordinates sampled at pre-determined
times, so as to recreate the player’s stance throughout the game.

These coordinates about the player will be recorded along with the x-y-z
coordinates of the coins and robbers moving across the screen, so that the
someone reading the data can observe how quickly the player responds to
movement of the on-screen objects.

Background Research
The game system’s ability to save data is specifically included so that the
player, the game developer or a general practitioner can observe trends in the
player’s progress in the game’s exercises.

Additionally, reading the recorded data can assist with learning about what
errors a user makes as they are playing the game which should help a
practitioner to identify which skills need improvement for which people, or
which traits are most indicative of fall risk.

 
 
©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan     9  
Development Timeline
Task Name Duration Start Finish
MDIA3001 Step Around the World 105 days Mon 7/03/11 Thu 28/07/11
1 DISCOVERY 15 days Mon 11/04/11 Tue 3/05/11
2.63
1.1 Idea Development Mon 4/04/11 Wed 6/04/11
days
1.1.1 Themes 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.1.2 Goals 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.1.3 Motives 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.1.4 Mechanics 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.1.5 Dynamics 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.1.6 Player Pleasures 1hr Mon 11/04/11 Mon 11/04/11
1.2 Research 37 days Tue 12/04/11 Tue 31/05/11
1.2.1 Interview target demographic with key
24 hrs Tue 12/04/11 Thu 14/04/11
ideas
1.2.2 Collate data 2 days Tue 12/04/11 Wed 13/04/11
1.2.3 Review game idea 1 day Tue 12/04/11 Tue 12/04/11
0.06
1.3 Review & Develop Wed 27/04/11 Wed 27/04/11
days
1.3.1 Review game idea 1 day Wed 27/04/11 Wed 27/04/11
1.3.2 Test symbolic recognition of icons, photos 1 day Wed 27/04/11 Wed 27/04/11
1.3.3 Write Project proposal outline 2 days Wed 27/04/11 Thu 28/04/11
1.3.4 Debrief- project proposal 1 day Wed 27/04/11 Wed 27/04/11
1.3.5 Amendments to project proposal 1 day Wed 27/04/11 Wed 27/04/11
1.3.6 Proposal complete 0 days Tue 3/05/11 Tue 3/05/11
2 TESTING 4 days Thu 5/05/11 Mon 9/05/11
2.1 Game design on target demographic 1 day Thu 5/05/11 Thu 5/05/11
2.2 Game design on younger demographic 1 day Fri 6/05/11 Fri 6/05/11
2.3 Design of icon and backdrops 1 day Sat 7/05/11 Mon 9/05/11
2.4 Design of overall game 4 days Thu 12/05/11 Tue 17/05/11
2.5 Testing of stepping exercise 2 days Mon 16/05/11 Tue 17/05/11
2.6 Testing of Wii 3 days Tue 24/05/11 Thu 26/05/11
2.7 Review of User interactivity 1 day Fri 27/05/11 Fri 27/05/11
3 DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY 61 days Mon 9/05/11 Thu 28/07/11
3.1 Design of icons 0.5 days Tue 17/05/11 Tue 17/05/11
3.2 Design of game layout 1 day Tue 17/05/11 Tue 17/05/11
3.3 Review of design 0.5 days Tue 24/05/11 Tue 24/05/11
3.4 Amendments 0.5 days Wed 25/05/11 Wed 25/05/11
3.5 Testing of design and technology 1 day Wed 25/05/11 Thu 26/05/11
3.6 Development of technology 1 day Fri 27/05/11 Fri 27/05/11
3.7 Review of technology (Wii) 1 day Sat 28/05/11 Sun 29/05/11
3.8 Amendments 1 day Sun 29/05/11 Mon 30/05/11
3.9 Project complete 0 days Tue 31/05/11 Tue 31/05/11
4 PROJECT MANAGEMENT 63 days Mon 7/03/11 Tue 31/05/11
4.1 Oversee of research 0.2 wks Mon 7/03/11 Mon 7/03/11
4.2 Oversee project development 1 day Mon 7/03/11 Mon 7/03/11
4.3 Oversee of design development 1 day Mon 7/03/11 Mon 7/03/11
 
 
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©  2011  Ryan  Fanelli  and  Mauli  Ryan     11