Using Alice 2.0 to Design Games for People with Stroke

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Technology
• Game Design for Therapy
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Computer and video games are increasingly utilized as rehabilitation tools.
• Therapists often lack the programming expertise required for current game development systems.
• Existing drag-and-drop software for novice programmers has not been specifically studied for therapeutic game creation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of an occupational therapy student with no prior programming experience creating therapeutic computer games using Alice 2.0.
• To identify challenges and successes in using a drag-and-drop environment for developing games for stroke rehabilitation.
• To gather recommendations for future therapeutic game development software tailored for therapists.

Main Methods:

• An occupational therapy student utilized Alice 2.0, a drag-and-drop game development tool.
• Learning involved a textbook, tutorials, and support from computer science students.
• The student documented her experience and created three games for individuals with stroke.

Main Results:

• The student successfully created three games for stroke rehabilitation using Alice 2.0.
• Alice 2.0 provided strong support for story creation but lacked essential game design components.
• The process highlighted the need for specialized features in therapeutic game development software.

Conclusions:

• Novice programmers, such as occupational therapists, can create rehabilitation games with user-friendly tools.
• Future software should prioritize efficiency, include built-in game design elements, offer technical support, and maintain simplicity.
• Addressing these recommendations can enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic game development for therapists.