Client Briefs and Beginning Innovative Design
Innovation is called for in all fields. This small blog post aims to discuss two topics that I was presented and that I believed I could most effectively innovate for. These are my original ideas for projects pertaining to two client briefs (Hybrid Worlds for Kids in Hospital and Exergaming for Young Children) and are highly subject to change.
Hybrid Worlds for Kids in Hospital (VR Based) This project immediately caught my eye as I have already had quite a lot of experience with working on VR projects purely for Hospital use. Because I am currently working on a VR project for the Herston Bio Fabrication Institute a large amount of patient-oriented ideas came to mind that were originally planned for previous projects but never really left the ground.
Innovative Ideas:
Race Simulator – A game that turns the patient's bed into a race car.
“Dehospitalise” – A virtual reality experience that attempts to mentally remove them from a hospital.
Disease Attack – A ‘shoot-em-up’ style game that has children attacking and defeating their forms of disease.
Idea Breakdowns:
Race Simulator: The main idea of this game is to use VR to make the patient feel like they are racing a car. It would be primarily designed for bed-bound patients; however, it could always be used for any patient. Its use would be to give a fast-paced and fun feel to the usually mundane and boring hospital bed.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation:
“Dehospitalise”: Whenever I’ve spent time in hospital, whether it be as a patient or a visitor I am always concerned about the drab nature of most hospital rooms. A feeling which I feel safe assuming is multiplied for young children. The idea behind “Dehospitalise” is to use VR to ‘transport’ the user away from their bed. This could be to a magical wonderland setting or a science fiction setting or even just a house setting, not everyone wants to go on a magical adventure all the time.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation:
Disease Attack: A common way therapists approach ailments of the mind is by getting their patients to face them directly. Although it is impossible for a human to physically attack the germs or diseases in their body with the help of VR they could quite easily at least get the virtual sense of attacking their individual diseases.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation:
Exergaming for Young Children (All designed for school environments, Motion tracking based) This particular project is something I’m very interested in as I have many family members who work in the schools. Therefore, my ideas leaned immediately to using technology to increase both the learning potential of students whilst also giving teachers a product they could use in their classrooms.
Innovative Ideas:
Action Based Addition/Subtraction Game – A game designed to take students out of the classroom and engage them both physically and mentally about basic math problems.
Action Based Grammar Game – A game designed to take students out of the classroom and engage them both physically and mentally about basic grammar problems (similar to above).
Movement-based tug of War – A game designed to get groups of students active outside of the classroom.
Idea Breakdowns:
Action Based Addition/Subtraction Game: Let’s face it, classrooms are boring, ESPECIALLY when they are used to teach maths. Sitting at a desk all day hearing someone at the front of the room talk can be mind-numbing. However, with the inclusion of movement and Kinect motion tracking students may be able to continue their learning outside in a fun and active way. The idea is that students are placed against each other in groups and must grab numbers to finish simple mathematic equations. The team that does it the fastest wins.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation:
Action Based Grammar Game: Very similar to the above addition/subtraction game. Two teams are placed against each other where they must either spell simple words or complete simple sentences using the correct grammar and punctuation. The team that answers the most questions correctly wins. Another more interesting way to approach learning than just sitting in a classroom.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation:
Movement-based tug of War: This game compared to the others has no real benefit to learning. It is designed to get students to active, maybe as a start of the morning routine. It works by measuring the amount of movement each team is making. The team that makes more movement pulls the rope closer to their side. Eventually, one team will out move the other and a winning team will come out.
Simple Visual Concept Ideation: