Diabetes Game - Design Document

The goal of this game is to help players develop real-world habits for three diabetes self-management behaviors: healthy eating, being active, and taking medications. In order to work toward that goal, the game will guide players in setting goals and creating plans for each of these behaviors. The game will use three versions of a personal avatar to inform players about how they are doing in comparison. One version will be the good avatar who completes the plans most of the time, one version will be the bad avatar who does not complete the plans often, and one version will be the player themselves.

Diabetes Game Project A project with collaboration from EAE, The College of Nursing and The Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah Game Design Document By Zeph Fagergren & Tina Kalinger 1 Table of Contents  Game Overview Title Design Goal Target Audience Game Terms Scope Game Flow o Game Flow Mock‐Up o Start Screen o Profile Screen o Profile Creation Screen o Goal Setting Screen o Plan Creation Screen o Feedback/Points Screen o Goal/Plan Review Screen Art Styles o Overall Art Style Game Hardware o Devices o Inputs Mechanics o o o o o       Development Kit / Tool Creation Looking Forward 2 Game Overview Title Diabetes Game (Working Title) Design Goal The goal of this game is to help players develop real-world habits for three diabetes self-management behaviors: healthy eating, being active, and taking medications. In order to work toward that goal, the game will guide players in setting goals and creating plans for each of these behaviors. The game will use three versions of a personal avatar to inform players about how they are doing in comparison. One version will be the good avatar who completes the plans most of the time, one version will be the bad avatar who does not complete the plans often, and one version will be the player themselves. Target Audience • • • • • • Type 2 Diabetes Patients Ages 40+ Clinicians Health Care Providers Potential Investors Grant Organizations This game will target patients, clinicians, health care providers, and diabetes educators that have mobile devices. This game will also target several grant organizations both within and outside of the University of Utah as well as potential investors. Game Terms • OVERALL GAME: The entire game and all its contents. • SELECT PROFILE SCREEN: The screen where the player can start a new profile or load an existing one. • PLAYER PROFILE: This is where all the demographic information and data will be stored for the player. It will hold the stats from all of their game sessions. • NAME: The name that the player wants to associate with the profile. • HEIGHT: The measurement of height for the player (in feet + inches). • WEIGHT: The measurement of weight for the player (in pounds). • AGE: The age of the player. • SEX: The biological gender identity (male, female, other) that the player identifies with. 3 • HEMOGLOBIN A1C: Glycated hemoglobin is a form of hemoglobin that is measured primarily to identify the average plasma glucose concentration over the previous 90 days. • TYPE 2 DIABETES: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease in which there are high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. • AVATAR CREATION SYSTEM: The system where the player will combine various assets to create a visual representations of themselves within the application. • GOOD AVATAR: A version of the player's avatar that always performs the planned activities a little better than the player. • BAD AVATAR: A version of the player's avatar that always performs the planned activities a little worse than the player. • BEHAVIOR ESTIMATE: The player will be prompted to give a report on their current diet, exercise, and medication. • INFORMATION BUTTON: An icon that the player can click on to access outside resources and information relevant to their current task or context. • MENTAL CONTRASTING: Mental contrasting is a technique that increases the likelihood that people will fulfill their goals. It involves first imagining a desired future, then the current state and the barriers that stand in the way of reaching the desired future. • GOAL SETTING: The screen where the player will be able to choose or create goals related to the three behaviors of eating healthy, being active, and taking medication. • LINK TO RESOURCES: A screen that provides the player with a link to a variety of external health information. This is not linked to a specific task or context. • ACTION PLAN CREATION: A screen that allows the player to create a specific plan that specifies where, when, and with whom for the next week for any behavior for which they have set a goal. • FEEDBACK LOOP: The points system for rewarding the player for completing various plans or meeting goals • POINTS DISPLAY: The display of points that the player has earned for their activities. • DATABASE: The location where the player's information will be saved for their player profile. • OVERALL THEME: The main art style for the game. • FUTURE TERMS WILL GO HERE Scope The overall game will have a distinct theme that will contain a placeholder avatar "creation" system as well as goal setting and plan creation mechanics. The player 4 will be able to select from a list of suggested goals or create their own. Once the goal(s) have been determined, the player will then select or create a specific and detailed plan on how to achieve that goal. A new player will be asked to estimate their current baseline behaviors for the previous week, then they will set a plan with that information as a starting point. This plan will be a specific activity or activities for the player to act towards their goal. Each day the player will participate in data collection activities that earn them points that can be used later in a reward system in future versions of the prototype. Each week the player will review their behaviors, goals, and plans and modify their goals and plans as needed. The player will be able to view achievements and trophies they have earned whenever they wish. Game Flow Game Flow Mock‐Up 5 Start Screen The START SCREEN (and all subsequent front end in-game screens) will depict the OVERALL GAME art theme. This screen will have a large start button that is prominently displayed. It will be activated when the player physically taps the screen. Once the button has been pressed, the player will be taken to the SELECT PROFILE SCREEN. Create/Select Profile The PROFILE SCREEN will allow the player to select either the "New PLAYER PROFILE" option or "Load PLAYER PROFILE" option. If the player selects the New PLAYER PROFILE option, a UI overlay will appear with a form that allows them to enter information into a DATABASE to start a new PLAYER PROFILE. The information in the prototype that will be required is NAME, AGE, and SEX. Subsequent versions of the game will solicit additional information regarding the player's TYPE 2 DIABETES diagnosis (HEMOBLOBIN A1C), medications, and presence of complications. Once they have completed the profile data collection, the player will save their information and go to the AVATAR CREATION SYSTEM. Avatar Selection In the prototype version, the AVATAR CREATION SYSTEM will only contain a few "placeholder" avatars. The player will select an avatar and confirm their selection. They will then save their selection and go to the BEHAVIOR ESTIMATE screen. Behavior Estimate The player will be asked to rate their current behavior in up to three fields: medication, activity, and diet. They will be asked to respond to prompts such as "How often do you eat a healthy amount of vegetables?" If the player is not sure, there will be an INFORMATION BUTTON next to each question that will be linked to information relevant to the question, (e.g. display the recommended vegetable servings). Once the player has completed their estimations, the application will display their behaviors in comparison to recommended behaviors, as well as the numerical discrepancy between them. The player will then be prompted to list barriers that have prevented them from healthy behaviors in the past. This table is intended to guide the player in MENTAL CONTRASTING. The player will then be able to save this information and continue to the GOAL SETTING screen. Goal Setting On this screen, the player will be prompted with the question, "What behaviors do you want to improve?" They will be given a few options, such as "Eat Healthy", 6 "Being Active", "Taking Medications" etc. Once they have selected an option, they will be prompted to answer the question, "What specifically will you do to (achieve whichever goal was previously selected)?" The player will be able to select certain activities or provide their own activity by selecting "other" as a response. They will then be asked to indicate how often they will perform this activity, again being able to provide their own answer if they choose "other". The application will then prompt the player to provide more detailed information, such as how long they will exercise or how many grams of carbs they will eat, etc. Beside each field will be an INFORMATION BUTTON. Once this has been completed, the player can review their responses before saving and moving on to the PLAN CREATION screen. Plan Creation On the PLAN CREATION screen, the player will be asked to select which behavior they wish to plan for (again, "Eat Healthy", "Medications" etc.). The goal for this behavior will be populated from the previous screen for the player to view. Then, in a calendar, player can select a day or range of days to create a plan. They will be prompted to fill in information on what specific time(s), duration, location, and preparation instructions towards this specific plan. The player will be instructed to mentally imagine themselves fulfilling this plan. They will then save this plan and "begin playing". Point System After the player has "begun playing" they will be prompted each day at set intervals (at the end of the day) to confirm that they have completed their activity or plan for the day. If the player confirms, their avatar will appear looking cheerful and they will be awarded points. After a week of prompts, the player will be asked to do an end-of-week review and confirm their activity completion. Then they will be asked if they wish to review their goals or plans and make any changes. Their success or failure will be compared to the GOOD AVATAR and BAD AVATAR on a podium each week. The points of each avatar will be displayed in an easy to see manner each day to give a clear indication of performance. Goal/Plan Review Each week, the player will be asked to review their goals and plans to adjust them as they see fit. This gives the player to increase or decrease the difficulty, frequency, or amount in their goals/plans and reevaluate their overall healthy behaviors. These changes can be saved and will overwrite the existing goals/plans. 7 Art Styles Overall Art Style Information on art styles will go here. Game Hardware Devices Inputs Information on additional input will go here. Mechanics Information on mechanics will go here. Development Kit / Tool Creation Information on the development kit/ tool creation will go here. Looking Forward Many additional features have been proposed for addition to this prototype. In the future, there could be a system that allows the player to gamble their points on themselves for the following day. For example, if the player completes their activity on Monday and choses to put their points in the bank, they will earn 10 points. If they chose to press their luck on the next day and complete their activity on Tuesday as well, they will double the previous day's points and earn the regular points from the current day for a total of 30 points. These points will then be usable towards sabotaging the GOOD AVATAR or BAD AVATAR, or helping the player surge ahead of the competition. The points will also go towards trophies. An achievement system will be implemented to further motivate the player with repetitive success. A gamified social support system will allow the player to share their progress with friends and family for a boost in points and motivation. Automated data collection of physical activity or medication behaviors can be collected via sensors and imported to the game. Additionally, a display of "what might be" in the future and "what might have been" in the past can be shown based on the player's data and predictive models. 8