Health Points : Health Gamification: Recent Episodes

Health Points

Speaking with leading thinkers, designers, researchers and business leaders in gamification & health

Roll on Episode 12!

We’re joined by Joke Veltman, to explore their work and game development for musical and audio training. Joke is a PhD candidate at IQ Health academic center and creator of the Melody Game for Music Training for Cochlear Implant Users. A professional pianist by background, due to a genetic defect, Joke gradually lost her hearing and eventually needed a cochlear implant herself.

In this episode, we explore:

The development of a musical training listening approach, including 1) Habituation, 2) Auditory memory, 3) Attention, and 4) Step-by-step pitch discrimination.
The co-creating and development process of the Melody Game and the game mechanics are integrated into the delivery.
Key lessons for health game designers in the importance of defined goals, team, iteration, and understanding users deeply, especially their emotional barriers and enablers, and to accept that programming requires precision, even when the subject matter (music) is fluid.

Melody Game - https://musi-ci.com/

Research Publication - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37697865/

We're rolling on to episode 11!

And joining us is Cyrus Nemati!

Founder and Creative Director of Little Bat Games, Cyrus wrote, directed and programmed Vampire Therapist, a fully-voiced narrative comedy game about finding purpose when death isn’t a concern. A BAFTA-nominated game and winner of multiple other awards this year already.

In this episode, we explore:

The journey from political policy to voice acting, games studios, and Cyrus setting up his studio, Little Bat Games
Vampire Therapist: exploring and learning through a therapeutic process, providing the player the ability to take more of a 3rd person perspective on therapy, and the opportunities to learn about cognitive distortions (with humour and side games included), which can aid in real-life cognitive and emotional reflections and processing.
A key learning: knowing what the final game looks like before starting the production to work within your resources and limits, because this can lead to creating a multi-award-winning game

Show notes:

https://vampiretherapist.com/

Game download: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2481020/Vampire_Therapist/

We've made it to episode 10!

We’re joined by Stephen McPeake

Stephen has been working in the technology industry for 25 years, spending the last 10 focusing on 'Smart Cities' solutions and citizen engagement technology, including the ReportAll app and in the last few years, founding Civic Dollars.

In this episode, we explore:

Stephen's journey that started with working to solve the problems facing cities in promoting health & wellbeing, which led to the idea for Civic Dollars to incentivise activity in outdoor spaces.
The importance of creating the right incentives for each demographic: it’s ‘local rewards for local people’ (and seasonal rewards too).
The opportunity to lean into effective altruism, creating deeper motivations for players through donating their civic dollars to local communities.
Civic Dollars is a great example of how digital gamification can translate into real-life social activities, creating new social connections and overcoming loneliness.

Show notes:

https://www.civicdollars.com/

Civic Dollars Christmas Tea Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbfVRqaQc0U

Rolling on to Episode 9!

We’re joined by Cosima Prahm

Cosima is Director of Centre for Clinical Research at Unfallkrankenhaus Trauma Hospital Berlin and post-doc chariotey, the Medical University of Berlin. She is a clinical neuroscientist with a background of research in plastic and reconstructive surgery relating to extremity reconstruction, prosthetic training, peripheral nerves, phantom limb pain and human machine interfaces. She founded the PlayBionic working group in 2017, which has led to applications for myoelectric signal training, immersive environments for phantom pain relief and more. Winner of multiple awards, including from Games for Change.

In this episode we explore:

Learning from existing games on the market, and adapting the controls to enable people living with amputations to engage in the gameplay
Building on this through listening and co-creating games with patients living with amputations and trauma, which has led to therapeutic benefits of game play.
For players in your games who have had traumatic hand injuries, the distraction of the gameplay, means that patients are reducing their pain experience, and importantly, pushing the boundaries of their movement and functional therapy to recover earlier.
The importance of making games outrageous and weird to create player desire and interest.
The challenges of taking digital games as therapeutics beyond research studies into products and services available in clinical and residential settings – and something, as game designers and implementors, we need to collectively drive forward.

Show notes:

https://playbionic.org/about-us/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30503232/

https://games.jmir.org/2017/1/e3/

We’ve arrived at Episode 8!

We’re joined by Luca Contato

Luca founded Rising Pixel in 2012, and since then, he and his team have created over 200 games with cumulatively millions of plays per week.

In this episode we explore:

Rising Pixel’s learnings from developing over 200 games with millions of plays each week and your insights on the important elements when developing gamified health, educational and accessible games.
And for games to be effective, that plays must feel the meaning in the game, and be motivated by a games purpose, and that a good game, is one that has strong channels to reach it’s intended audience of players, because it’s not just about developing the most effective game, it’s having the most visible game to the greater number of players, that delivers the greater impact.

Show note links:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/disability-eu-facts-figures/

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240063600

https://conference.digitaldragons.pl/speakers/luca-contato/

https://embed-project.eu/

https://www.risingpixel.com/portfolio/inquisitors-heartbeat/

https://ian-hamilton.com/blog/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHN5v3NJ9ko

https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/basic/

Roll On Episode 7!

We’re joined by Sam Liberty

Sam is a consultant in Applied Game Design and an expert in gamification design for health. Clients include: Click Therapeutics, UNICEF, the International Red Cross, and the World Bank. Sam teaches Game Design at Northeastern University in Boston, and is the former Lead Game Designer at Sidekick Health.

In this episode, we explore:

Games are the secret ingredient in the behaviour change needed to influence positive health activities, positive lifestyle changes.
Games are cultural and contextually relative. And thinking of global health, co-design must be integrated into serious game design for regional and local populations' cultural, linguistic, contextual and digital accessibility needs.
A key importance is game design; understanding the population you're designing a game for, and the behaviour you’re aiming to create. Because pretty games and fun games, don’t necessarily result in behaviour changes or any positive changes in health.

We've made it to Episode 6!

We’re joined by Lisa Franke, CEO at Maxim VR

Lisa has a background in design, marketing, entrepreneurship and social impact. She studied Design in San Francisco about a decade ago and has focused on creating technology that supports a healthier future for young people.

Maxim VR was created around a powerful belief: young people deserve mental health support that speaks their language: interactive, engaging, stigma-free, and delivered in the environments where they already feel comfortable.

In this episode, we explore:

Around three-quarters of people who develop a mental health condition develop it before the age of 18, yet the waiting time to access adolescent mental health services can be months to years. There is a huge importance in providing engaging and fun preventative therapeutics for young people to reduce the rate of poor mental health in adolescent and adult life.
Considering elements such as non-verbal communication in a game, to make games accessible, while overcoming the challenges of how to make a virtual companion that is ‘alive’ and ‘responsive’ to adolescents’ players changing emotional needs, to providing a space for players to explore and better understand their personal identify and their full spectrum of emotions.
That every mental health journey is unique, so every virtual adventure experience is unique, the importance of personalising the virtual companions and virtual experience in game play, to cater for every individual’s needs.

https://www.maxim-vr.com/

Roll on Episode 5!

We’re joined by Jamie Bankhead, CEO at Konglomerate Games!

Konglomerate Games is a video games company specialising in healthcare and other serious games development. They started with the project Cape Breeze, designed to encourage children with cystic fibrosis to do their daily physiotherapy routines, and in the last few years have expanded into other areas of health care and education.

In this episode, we explore:

Creating games for policy makers to explore scenarios of how town planning can influence eating habits, leading to real-world changes in policy and town design
Working backwards from the problem, creating game mechanics through each step required for each goal.... so every player can solve the core problem that inspired the game design
The importance of collaboration, to enable dynamic game player, resulting in all players at all levels being able to play on a level playing field.... where creating communities through games maximises motivation and regular game player, leading to real-world and real-life impact.

https://konglomerate.games/

Roll on Episode 4!

We’re joined by Dr. Jacqui Nortje to explore her work and game development at Discovery and Vitality Health.

Jacqui plunged into the world of behavioural science in 2015, where her fascination with gamification took off. What started as a spark of curiosity became a full-blown passion, leading her to pursue a PhD at Wits Business School on the Effects of goal framing in Gamification.

In this episode, we explore:

Vitality Health’s ‘Active Rewards’ programme, and the development Process, learnings and impact of the programme over the last 10 years to over 700,000 people.
That variety IS the spice of life, and the spice OF game mechanics; using data science to create more options and tailoring of game mechanics, rather than just adding more incentives.
And with such a range of player types, the importance of ‘personalised gamification’ to engage both the ‘Ultra active’ rewards players to the players who are moving from inactive to active for the first time in possibly many years.
And the balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, setting a Good Goal and some of the ethics and morals of gamification….... and potential unintended consequences of gamification and behavioural science.

We’re already at Episode 3!

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Amy Duncan to explore her work and game development at Sea Monster Impact Games Studio.

Amy has a PhD in Neuropsychology and is a registered Neuropsychologist with a strong background in education and academia. She is hugely passionate about using games to drive learning and behaviour change at scale to create a positive impact in the world.

In this episode, we explore:

Having the intuition to lead you to knocking on a game studio's CEO's door because you’re so passionate about serious & impactful games
Creating Human-centered and user-centered and designing games where players become their heroes in their own journey, as a framework for translating gameplay into new knowledge and new real-world behaviors.
The therapeutic experience of games, connecting with mind, body, environment and music with examples like ‘the last my-stro’ supporting people with PTSD.

https://www.seamonster.digital/

Roll on episode 2!

In this episode we’re joined by Sam Knowles to explore his work with Novartis is developing games to encourage staff to think through the many facets involved in pharmaceutical drug research, development and delivery from patient and stakeholder perspectives.

Sam is the Chief Data Storyteller at Insight Agents and the author of the Using Data Better trilogy of books “Narrative by Numbers”, “How to be Insightful” and “Asking Smarter Questions”.

Sam is also an Advisory Council Member for the Harvard

Business Review, is Vice President of Brighton Chamber of Commerce and to finish off this list, and Sam is the host of the Podcast ‘Data Malarkey’

In this episode we explore:

The games Sam created with Novartis to provide professionals with a fun way to explore the options for patient-focused drug design and delivery, rather than following the industry default of another ‘patient involvement panel’.
The value of ‘physicality’ in non-digital, analogue games to create in-person connections and conversations. How a game can provide a safe space for teams to consider a number of different and sometimes difficult scenarios that professionals working in patient engagement face.
And, the importance of storytelling in games, as data-driven decision-making is challenging, as we make decisions emotionally, because we take cognitive shortcuts, and people remember stories more than statistics; Telling people facts isn’t enough, but through good storytelling in games, this is the potential that can motivate people to change thinking, decision and ultimately behaviours

https://insightagents.co.uk/meet-the-agents/

https://insightagents.co.uk/data-malarkey-podcast/

We're back! Series 3 of Health Points is here.

To kick off Series 3, we have an exceptional episode with Dr. Alexander Fanaroff, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode, we talk through Alexander's pioneering and insightful study: The Effect of Gamification, Financial Incentives, or Both to Increase Physical Activity Among Patients at High Risk of Cardiovascular Events: The BE ACTIVE Randomised Contrlled Trial.

Alexander is a medical doctor of interventional cardiology and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a specific interest in increasing physical activity in patients with cardiovascular disease, with a keen interest in the role of gamification to achieve this.

In this episode, we explore:

The benefits of physical activity for people living with cardiovascular disease, with benefits far outweighing the risks
The BE ACTIVE study highlights the role of gamification, financial incentives or both to overcome the motivational barriers for people living with a health condition to move more.
And that self-setting goals and being accountable to the reaching goals (to ones self and to others) works.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.069531https://www.pennmedicine.org/providers/profile/alexander-fanaroff

It's the Health Points Series 2 Finale recorded at the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Conference, December 2023.

We have a stellar lineup for our first ever in-person recording of Health Points:

Jon Hymus: Managing Director of Innerva - https://www.innerva.com/

Bruce Elliott: CEO of Memory Lane Games - https://www.memorylanegames.com/

Silvia Lin: Founder of Tycho MedLink - www.tychomedlink.co.uk

A brilliant discussion and debate on the role and future of health gamification.

We will be back with Series 3 in Spring 2024.

Keep gaming and stay healthy, Ben & Pete

We're onto the penultimate Health Points episode for Series 2, and we have a cracking episode. Joining us is Pippa Boothman, CEO at Playfinity.

https://playfinity.com/

Pippa has a background studying sociology and criminology and previous roles in marketing and commercials before joining Playfinity.

In this episode, we explore:

Rather than focusing on the 2% of kids and adolescents who follow the competitive track for sports, instead focusing on the 98% of kids and adolescents whose main focus for sport, is fun.
Using technology, not to create new sports, but to measure sports actions, adding new game mechanics to existing exercises and sports
From kids jumping one million times with Plyfinity, to games which are powered by the number of ball kicks, highlighting the importance of new engaging ways to motivate kids to be active, for them, and their healthy future.

Welcome to Episode 14 of Series 2, and joining us is Bruce Elliot, Co-Founder and CEO of Memory Lane Games.

Before Memory Lane Games, Bruce had a twenty-year track record of building world-class, innovative eCommerce companies. Having competed with Paypal in the online payment world to bring Kodak into the blockchain world, Bruce has led start-ups and publicly traded companies from start-up to 1 million users and $250M annual revenues.

Memory Lane Games started following a conversation between the co-founders on how to support family members, and now it's delivering over 3,000 cognitive-stimulating and socialising games, with over 100k downloads that’s being played in over 130 countries.

https://www.memorylanegames.com/

In this episode, we explore:

Designing ’ frustration-free’ games that includes ‘errorless learning’ that promotes longer-term engagement, social interaction, cognitive stimulation and empowered play
Which all results in more laughter, happiness, improved communication, relaxation, inter-generational connections and the potential to improve the symptoms of dementia globally.

We've landed at Episode 13 of Series 2, and joining us is Wain Choi, Chief Creative Offer at Black & White.

Wain worked with some of the largest brands on the planet, marketing tech giants health & wellness features and functionality. His previous roles were as Creative Director at Zulu Alpha Kilo Inc and Cheif Creative Offer for OgiIvy and Cheil Worldwide. It was while at Cheil Worldwide he was part of the team that created the advertisement for Samsung's ' Look at Me' app, an app to support autistic children. The 'Touching Autism' promotion won the Cannes 'Gold Lion Award.

https://www.brandinginasia.com/samsung-autism-ad-wins-cannes-gold-lion-award/

This episode of Health Points is a curveball to our usual guests, as focuses on how to make health gamification more visible and accessible. In this episode, we explore:

Taking digital products for entertainment and gaming and transitioning them to therapeutic purposes
Moving a cold engineering brand into a warm emotive brand, with a campaign that was so successful it won one of the most prestigious industry awards
The need to better communicate health gamification at a greater scale to promote the role of health gamification, and transition it towards mainstream medicine and therapeutics.

And we're at Episode 12 of Series 2, and joining us is Dr. Jonny Bloomfield, CEO at Oopla.

Jonny is a Behavioral Health & Performance Coach specialising in stress management, sleep, exercise & nutrition. He has a background in Sports Science, with a PhD from the University of Hull, and started his career as a Fitness Coach at Ulster Rugby. moving on to a Sports Physiologist at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, then taking on the role as the first Sports Scientist for England Rugby, before moving on to occupational science roles ahead of starting Oopla.

In this episode, we explore:

Taking international-level Rugby sports science to the front line of the health service staff
The exercise motivation mechanics, of not just points for being active, but adopting a strategy to be active, to get more points, reflecting more traditional strategic board & videos games
And working with different player types, to make sure everyone feels part of a community, no matter if they more of the traditional active ‘gym bunnys’, or those who are starting to discover being more active.

Rolling on to episode 11, and joining us today is Scott Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Perx Health, a chronic condition management service that supports users in developing better habits and a lifetime of better health.

Scott has an academic background in behavioural economics, with real-world interest in its application to motivation and positive health behaviour. He has a background in private equity investment in consumer, industrial and technology companies before he started Perx Health.

In this episode, we explore:

Taking an empirical approach with game feature identification, design and implementation, plus validating them with academic research
Creating business models for health gamification services that align to the economic incentives for health systems and health insurers, impacting their bottom line, creates new revenues.
That’s there’s no ‘silver bullet’ game mechanic. It’s the tailoring of gamification features to create personalised motivation for every user, which can lead to industry-defining engagement and retention stats

We’re at episode 10, and joining us is Geoffrey Kretz, co-founder and CEO of the Kwit app, a digital pocket coach based on cognitive Behaviour therapy to support people quit smoking for good, supporting more than 3 million people to date.

He’s an entrepreneur, user experience guru, and development expert who’s previously worked for banks, biotech companies, and everything in between

In this episode, we explore:

How lived experience and a personal motivation to stop smoking led to developing a highly successful gamified health app
The steps to the prescription of medical technology
And yet, the challenges of regulatory approval and future feature development within digital gamified health products

Series 2, Episode 9 is LIVE!

Joining us for episode 9 we have Dom Raban, who is co-founder of Xploro, a unique Digital Therapeutics platform that delivers health information to young patients using augmented reality, artificial intelligence and games. Xploro aims to reduce their stress and anxiety and improve children's clinical outcomes.

He is also Chair of Corporation Pop, a creative and digital agency that specialises in mobile app development and emerging technologies.

In this episode, we explore:

The importance of human-centred design for Xploro that involves adolescent patients, parents & clinicians to create gamified health services that are fit-for-purpose
To test, test and test again to check design isn’t just representative of a co-design sample, but representative of the population, geography and cultures any product or service is working to support
And that it's not just the role of gamified health interventions, it’s also the adaptations of society to support lifestyle change on a grand scale.

https://xploro.health/

Rolling on to episode eight we have with us Matt Omernick, who has over 20 years experience in the games industry.

Matt is Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Akili Interactive, the creators of the World's first and only FDA-approved, Doctor-prescribed video game in history, EndeavorRx. Working with leading cognitive neuroscientists, they are developing the World's first truly therapeutic mobile games to treat cognitive illnesses such as ADHD, Depression, Autism, Alzheimer's, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), as well as a range of additional patient populations.

https://www.endeavorrx.com/

https://www.akiliinteractive.com/

https://tinyurl.com/E8S2-link1

https://tinyurl.com/E8S2-link2

He has a background as Executive Art Director, and Creative Director at studios including DreamWorks, Electronic Arts, @Lucas Arts, and Microsoft. He has worked on over 20 games, including multiple Star Wars and Medal of Honor titles. He has also taught computer graphics at The Academy of Art University, the Art Institute of San Francisco, and Cal State, and authored the book, "Creating the Art of the Game", published in 2004.

Quite in the intro indeed. Get ready for an outstanding Health Points episode on:

'Knocking on doors', following passions (and finding people with diverse interests and passions) to create the foundations of games and health
Gameplay that is so sensitive it can be used as a measurement of cognitive change
With game score improvements that have transferable real-world benefits
The twin Pillars of clinical data and design on the journey to the prescription of gamified digital therapeutics
And the importance of Defining the therapeutic elements or buckets of a game versus the ‘buckets’ that drive engagement and don’t undermine the therapeutic intervention

Series 2, Episode 7 is LIVE!

Joining us is Michiel Van Eunan, who is a seasoned player in the field of gamification & game-based learning. Since running his first project (The Hunt) in 2003, he made and played over 70 different formats with thousands of people, groups, teams and companies worldwide. Ranging from serious games to escape rooms, Michiel loves to design games that use the immense power of play in the real world. He is a World Experience Organization founding member, was on the Rise Global Top 25 Gamification Guru list, and has spoken many times at Gamification Europe Conference.

In this episode, we talk through:

How kicking in a hotel door to find your students playing Nintendo can be the spark to inspire a career in gamification
Creating create awareness and understanding with audio adventures for people living with visual impairment
The ability for games to raise awareness of dangers in the workplace and minimising occupational mortality

Series 2, Episode 6 is LIVE!

Joining us for episode 6 we have Amanda Philpott, who is an ex-NHS CEO and population health strategy specialist. She is the CEO and co-founder of eargym after the firsthand experience of unaddressed hearing loss in her family.

In this episode we explore the limited awareness of the importance of checking your hearing and the science of auditory training that can improve hearing capacity by 25% and how eargym is using digital technology and gamification to bridge the gap of awareness and access to self-management to improve hearing capacity.

https://www.eargym.world/

Series 2, Episode 5 is LIVE!

We have Dr. Jaime Garcia joining us who is a Senior Lecturer in Games Development at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) with a background in Software Engineering at Neuroscience Research Australia, primarily designing, developing and maintaining fall prevention video games and mobile apps for the Falls Balance Injury Research Centre.

On this episode we explore:

nostalgia to short-cut onboarding with older adults
games that can improve and maintain reaction time to reduce the risk of falls and the importance of prototyping
the art of co-design and recognising the 'subtle signs'

https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Jaime.Garcia/publications

Here is episode 4 and joining us is Niklas Johannes who has worked in roles as a researcher at the Oxford Internat Internet Institute, where he was part of the research program Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age. During his PhD, he focused on the effects of always being connected via our phones on the impact on attention and cognitive control. Niklas is currently working in a fintech start-up.

In this episode, we explore the impact of phones, social media and games on mental health, focus and attention. The relationships between digital devices in the modern world focus and attention and the psychology of play.

Rolling on to Episode 3 and joining us is Kevyn Eva from the award-winning 'Shadow's Edge'

Shadow's Edge is a mobile game for teenagers and adults to build resilience through journaling and art. Kevyn leads the product design and academic research at Shadow's Edge 'Digging Deep' project.

During Kevyn’s career, she's looked five years into the future with the Atos Scientific Community. At Microsoft, she led the 'New World of Work' initiative in Switzerland. She is consulting with the digital health start-up Dopa vision, which is working to implement games to reduce the advancing of high progression myopia. In addition to working on an app to support mums with knowledge and encouragement to make feeding their babies more fun.

https://www.shadowsedge.com/

Joining us for Episode 2 is Keith Wakeman, CEO of SuperBetter.

SuperBetter is regularly listed as the gold standard example of health & wellbeing gamification on the planet, with numerous reviews and the World Economic Forum named SuperBetter as 1 of 14 top innovators globally in youth mental health.

In this episode we talk through SuperBetter's creation by Jane McGonnagal, repurposing of game playing as a framework for mental wellbeing, the role of psychology of gameplay in all aspects of life, leveraging the 'challenge mindset' we naturally take on in games applied to health & wellbeing, plus the innovation, business and pricing strategies in developing a successful gamified health solution. Buckle up. It's quite the episode!

Keith has led the development & launch of over $1 billion of new products in the health, wellness & food industries. As CEO & Co-Founder, he leads the expansion of SuperBetter to address the global mental health crisis among youth and young adults.

SuperBetter is a digital education & mental wellbeing company. They are a global leader in using the psychology of game play to empower people to overcome obstacles & achieve their goals. Over 1 million people have played SuperBetter.

SuperBetter was created by world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal.

https://superbetter.com/

Welcome back to Health Points! Here to kick off Series 2, we have Noah Falstein joining us.

Together we explore the evolution of video games through to the foundations of health gamification. Taking health gamification to the front cover of the scientific journal Nature, and the test, fail, learn approach that pioneered the gamification frameworks we see in the industry and education today

Noah has been a professional game developer since 1980 with many hit title credits and was an early hire at LucasArts, 3DO, and Dreamworks Interactive. Most recently he was Google's Chief Game Designer. His freelance design business, The Inspiracy is focused on games for health, specifically neurogaming. The Inspiracy has offered design and production consulting for. Noah also lectures and conducts seminars on game design and development, for both traditional and serious games. Noah is Executive Advisor for Akili Interactive, advising Akili on the development and design of some of their upcoming neurogaming software designed to help with a variety of neurological conditions through gameplay

He has chapters published in six different game industry books, and is working on his own book about game design issues.

It’s the final episode of Series 1 of Health Points and we’ve ended with a bang. This episode was recorded at the Gamification Europe Conference including a stellar health gamification panel to discuss and debate the ethics of health gamification. The panellist include:

Oliver Korn, professor for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at Offenburg University, Germany and director of the Affective & Cognitive Institute with research area on assistive technologies, emotions in and game design. He co-founded the software company KORION where he continues his work there as a strategic advisor.

Author and ‘life-gamer’ Vicortia Ichizli-Bartels. Victoria is the author of 21 books, with nine of them focusing on how to turn life activities into games. She is also an instructor, coach and consultant in the area of Self-Gamifcation.

Melis Abacioglu is a serial entrepreneur with three major, industry-moving startups under her belt which includes being the founder of Wellbees, an HR Tech product, specifically a corporate wellbeing platform that works to create a world where everybody reaches her potential whilst being caring to one another. Wellbees serves over 30K employees in 20 companies and 7 countries.

Pete and I will be back in the autumn for Series 2 of Health Points. We’d like to thank all our guests over Series 1:

Here comes episode 19 and in this episode we explore Robert & Aske’s recent research publication on virtual reality games and vaccination behaviours. We also talk through the role of VR in communicate complex issues and creating health behaviours, novel approaches to research subject recruitment methods, and the future role of gamification in pro-social behaviours for population health.

Robert Böhm is Professor of Social and Economic Psychology at the University of Vienna in Austria and a part-time Professor of Applied Social Psychology and Behavioural Science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Jeyna and studied Psychology and Intercultural Communication at Chemnitz University of Technology.

Aske Mottelson is Assistant Professor in Human-Centred Data Science at IT University of Copenhagen. He has a PhD in computer science from the University of Copenhagen where he completed his postdoc at the Department of Psychology.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/denmark-trial-uses-virtual-reality-game-boost-covid-vaccinations-2021-06-07/

http://robertboehm.info/

http://aske.mottelson.dk/

We’ve arrived at episode 18, joining us is Prof. Michael Hornberger, the co-creator of Sea Hero Quest, a game designed to gather data on people's navigation strategies, which is one of the first skills lost in dementia. We talk through creating games that appeal to older adult audiences, making gamification ‘proper science’ and the distinction between task gamification and casual gamification (….that will hopefully influence the performance of a task).

Michael is Professor of Dementia Research and the at the University of East Anglia and the co-creator of Sea Hero Quest. His research group’s work involves using pioneering techniques to identify the spatial or navigation issues in dementia and how these impacts on people's outdoor activities such as driving and walking safely.

Roll on Episode 17, joining us is David Wortley, Vice President of the International Society of Digital Medicine. We talk through David’s background, how he ended up working in digital health and the steps to settings up the Serious Games Institute, and perspectives on the role of gamification in health.

In addition to David role at the International Society of Medicine, he is a serial entrepreneur with a 50 years career that spans emerging technologies including telecommunications, computer, digital media and the creative industries. He was the founding director of the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University and responsible for the development of the institute, as a global thought leader on the application of immersive technologies.

Welcome to Episode 16, joining us is Kartheka, Founder and CEO of BrainBerry. We talk through the possibilities of brain wave measurement to personalise assessment and intervention games for adults with Alzheimer’s. We explore clinical trials in validating health games, developing games for Octogenarians and a novel brain measurement approach to stop people cheating.

Kartheka Bojan has a background in theoretical and mathematical physics with a masters in biomedical engineering. In previous senior roles she has developed a nanotechnology-based glucose monitoring device, the author of pending patents in EEG technology for Alzheimer’s & glucose monitoring and has published work on the design of biosensors with gold nanoparticles.

Joining us in episode 15 is Andy Yeoman to explore the role of games in health and social care education. Focus Games has been delivered to over 2 million people, making training enjoyable, rather than a chore. We explore how educational games make learning interactive and memorable, encouraging players to discuss new ideas, share knowledge and learn from each other. Plus, how games can break through emotionally charged and difficult to discuss topics in ways not always possible in a conversation.

Andy is the co-founder and director of Focus Games that launched in 2004. Prior to entering the world of serious games, he completed an undergrad in human biology and worked in sales, marketing and client relationship roles for international life sciences organisations.

We’re joined by Silja to dig down into the importance of narratives in health gamification. We walk through her journey in creating eQuoo, the emotional fitness app that offers a journey for users to develop skills in emotional intelligence and how to become a better communicator.

Silja has a background in psychology and has ventured into the world of AI and gamification to help people help themselves. This is principally through the emotional fitness app eQuoo where she is CEO. She’s also the founder and CEO of PsychApp, a mental health tech company that builds platforms for both patients and therapists. She’s an honorary research assistant at ULC and a mental health Expert with the Wonder Women Tech Foundation.

We’re back for another year of health gamification!

We’re joined by Paul and Nicola at Gripable to explore what happens when you combine gamification with a medical rehabilitation device. The Gripable handheld device enables both assessment and training of hand and arm functions, and this tactile feedback loop has resulted in smorgasbord of gamification.

In this episode we explore the steps in gamification design, game personalisation, using games to build trust and rapport between clinician and patient and the potential for games as clinical outcome measures.

Paul is the Co-Founder and CEO of GripAble, a University spin-out from Imperial College University in London. Paul has a PhD in neuroscience and a background in digital health. He has 12 publication in neuroscience and neurorehabialtion and won multiple awards in heath innovation.

Nicola is the Clinical Director at GripAble with Over 30 years of operational and clinical leadership of hand therapy services. She is an occupational therapist and runs a private practice with expertise in management of musicians, she is a partner in NES Hand Therapy Training and the President of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy.

We’re joined by Agnessa and Paula to discuss the findings of their research publication on the role of gamification to develop shared understanding of the pandemic in indigenous communities in Colombia. Their pioneering research looks at analogue gamification solutions that are culturally adapted to win both peoples hearts and minds to share health education and create positive healthy behaviour change.

This episode explores cross-cultural gamification, analogue and virtual gamification solutions and explorations of how gamification can be used for health education globally.

Agnessa is Asst. Professor at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland with a research focus on the role of gamification in knowledge movement, knowledge sharing and innovation. She has a PhD in Management Science and teaches on strategic innovation and corporate social responsibility.

Paula is Asst. Professor at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Columbia. Her interests focus on remote sensing approaches for habitat mapping to evaluate and manage marine ecosystems and influence policy related environment protection.

https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/publications/using-gamification-to-develop-shared-understanding-of-the-pandemi

Roll on episode 11, joining us is Lucia Pannese to talk through her journey in creating and growing imaginary srl, one of the longest established and most respected European serious games companies. We explore the importance and approaches of co-design, mutual adaptation of games and creating games that resonate with users, so people can ‘win’ again.

Lucia is CEO of imaginary, founding the company in 2004 following her degree in Applied Mathematics. Since then, she has put all her heart and all energy into the company. She has more than 20 years of managing experience in innovation & research projects, with a special focus on digital interactive technologies to deliver user experiences

http://www.i-maginary.it/

We’ve made it to episode 10! And joining us is Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler to talk through the role of gamification in the workplace. How game mechanics can be used to increase engagement, collaboration and overall workplace health and wellbeing.

Kerstin has a PhD in Gamification and globally recognised as one of the leading experts in gamification. Kerstin is founder and CEO at PentaQuest, building gamified solution that are intuitive, highly engaging effective and engaging.

https://www.pentaquest.io/about

We’re joined by Prof. Oliver Korn to explore a smorgasbord of topics including health gamification research, designing games for deaf blind players (when traditional games are so heavily influences by sounds and vision), tactile games, creating repetitive rehab-exercises that are fun, animalistic avatar trainers and more.

Oliver is a professor for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at Offenburg University, Germany and director of the Affective & Cognitive Institute. He co-founded the software company KORION where he continues his work there as a strategic advisor.

https://www.korion.de/en/

https://dblp.org/pid/32/11001.html

We’re joined by Paul, CEO of FitLink App. FitLink creates personal health goals and track them daily and rewards users for the motivation and power to lead a healthier life. In this episode we talk about ‘giving gamification a go’ and the entrepreneurial approach to including gamification features in activity apps. Paul has a decade and a half of experience in leadership and management around digital solutions and fitness. Paul is the Co-Founder of FitLink, with a mission to make the world fit, healthy and happy. https://fitlinkapp.com/

We’re joined by Peter, CEO and Katju, COO at Rehaboo. Rehaboo specialises in gamified Physiotherapy where games are played in front of Rehaboo! Screens (or any camera) with a focus on making remote Physiotherapy fun, empowering and measurable, with over 10 million steps taken by Rehaboo players.

We talk about Rehaboo’s journey from concept idea at a hackathon to their current roll out in public spaces and health clinics.

Peter is a multi-entrepreneur with background includes business, tech and start-ups including augmented reality and sensory technologies and Katju has a back background in podiatry, leadership in both the world of start-ups and digital health.

https://rehaboo.com/

In this episode we’re joined by Zac Fitz-Walter to talk about lean methodologies in game design, rapid feedback loops for behaviour modification and player motivations.

Zac is speaker, trainer, and games master sought out for his expertise in gamification and motivation design. He earned one of the world’s first PhDs in gamification design, and has since lectured and developed curriculum on gamification for universities. He speaks and educates governments and companies around the world on effective gamification and engagement design. In his downtime he likes to live dangerously (in the virtual worlds) - racing cars, battling monsters and shooting aliens

https://www.zacfitzwalter.com/

We’re joined by Francisco Baptista, Founder & CEO of TeamSportz. In this episode we talk through creating games using computer-vision and video analysis and how working in virtual teams can create repetitive (and accountable) active behaviours.

Francisco is a software engineer, avid sportsman and keen problem solver. TeamSportz is an AI sports platform to help players and coaches reach their full potential. Players use the mobile app to join the team, train, exercise using our proprietary AI tracking technology while coaches use the Coach Corner to manage their teams, understand player performance and configure the drills and exercises to cater to individual player needs

https://www.teamsportz.pro/

We’re joined by Pieter Van Gorp and Raoul Nuijten from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. In this episode we talk through financial incentives for physical activity, how gambling mechanics can create health behaviours for lower costs and some principles for researching health gamification interventions.

Pieter is Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands with a research focus on digital health platforms. He also manages the health data science programme at Eindhoven’s Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute, with a focus on creating societal breakthroughs through health games.

Raoul is a PhD Candidate and researcher at Eindhoven with a focus on increasing the impact of research of health promotion and lifestyle intervention, particularly through application of persuasive technologies.

https://www.pietervangorp.com/

https://research.tue.nl/en/persons/raoul-cy-nuijten

We’re joined by Shivani, the Founder and CEO of Bright lobe, an organisation on a mission to promote health physical and psychological developmental outcomes in children, through games and toys.

In this episode we talk about educational games for neuro development and cognitive testing, the importance of crafting entertaining experiences, speaking to human nature through integrate narratives and the ethics of addictive game mechanics.

Shivani has a background in computer science, neuroscience and software development, with previous roles implementing web and mobile platforms including STEM public engagement and financial broadsheets.

https://brightlobe.com/

In the second Health Points episode, we are joined by author and ‘life gamer', Victoria Ichizli-Bartels. Victoria is the author of 21 books, with ten of them focusing on turning life activities into games. In this episode, we explore turning everyday tasks into fun habits using underpinning game mechanics and highlighting the need for kind gamification principles.

Bio: Victoria is an author of 21 books (and counting) and an instructor, coach, and consultant in the area of Self-Gamification.

https://www.victoriaichizlibartels.com/gameful-habits/

Links and materials mentioned in this episode:

Ariel and Shya Kane: https://www.transformationmadeeasy.com/
Robert Maurer: https://www.scienceofexcellence.com/
Jane McGonigal: https://janemcgonigal.com/
Healthy Wage https://www.healthywage.com/

In the first Health Points episode we are joined by the Founder and CEO of SixtoStart which delivers the award-winning story-based running app Zombies, Run! Adrian Hon talks about how creating a narrative is a powerful tool that can encourage more active behaviours and the role of gamification in creating healthy behaviours.

https://zombiesrungame.com/

https://www.sixtostart.com/