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.124.069531 https://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