Splash n' Dash

Making aerobic exercise a natural outcome of play for children with chronic lung ailments.

Details

Client: Mount Sinai Hospital's Abilities Research Centre (ARC)

Timeline: 12 weeks

Tools: Blender, Unity, C#, Procreate, Figma

Role

Product Owner. Built product vision, overseeing complete prototype lifecycle from design pitches to crafting 3D assets, animations, user interfaces and interactions.

Researcher. Researched target audience demographics, delving into children's literature and brainstorming to create enjoyable mobile AR activities for physical health.

Achievements

Alternative therapy application. Prototypes offered a controlled yet enjoyable exercise environment for children with chronic lung ailments.

Further Development. Mount Sinai plans to pitch the prototype, leveraging my vision for its potential future, to attract investors and developers for a comprehensive experience.

Personal Learning. This project improved my understanding of 3D Art and animation, 2D illustration tools and design paradigms for mobile.

THE GOAL

Create a mobile AR game that can be easily understood and played by children aged 6 and above with Chronic Lung ailments to help them exercise.

Research

Design Analysis. Examined the ARC's current rehabilitation games.

Children's Stories. Read children's books to understand what they enjoy learning about and how that information is presented.

Ailments/Conditions. Researched chronic lung conditions and how they impact a child's life.

PRODUCT DEFINITION

The client chose this design because it aimed to be fun, simple and provided players with the excitement of chasing and being chased, incorporating a social and competitive element reminiscent of playground games.

I identified these design pillars to guide my choices:

1. Play

2. Exercise

3. Treatment

Challenges

Scope. As the solo developer, managing scope was crucial for delivering a complete prototype.

Cross Platform Development. iOS and Android have specific requirements for developers to build apps on both platforms.

First Iteration:Questions

PLAY

How does the shoot interaction feel for the user?

EXERCISE

How does a user to react to having a moving character in AR?

TREATMENT

What's the optimal speed to make the gameplay physically challenging without being overly intense?

Discoveries

PLAY

Users found shooting balloons enjoyable but were less interested in the character.

EXERCISE

Users stay still, repeatedly tapping the screen.

TREATMENT

Without movement, there can be no exercise and thus no treatment.

Second Iteration: Implementation

PLAY

Implemented initial tutorial images, win state, and score system for user guidance.

EXERCISE

Added the splat screen and adjusted the character's movement path to encourage user activity.

TREATMENT

Users should move now there are stakes involved if they do not

Questions

PLAY

How do users react to the obscured screen when hit with a paint balloon? Does the score enhance the sense of play and fun?

EXERCISE

Do they move around more throughout the game?

TREATMENT

If users run around, is the exercise too intense or not enough yet?

Discoveries

PLAY

Enhance tutorial UI for better understanding. Users still tap the screen for shooting, requiring more gameplay control. Notably, users didn't notice the scores.

EXERCISE

The splat screen does make users move around more to avoid being hit.

TREATMENT

The current character speed suits users, providing movement without exhaustion.

Final Iteration

PLAY

Enhanced UI aesthetics for clarity. Introduced a character positioning system for enhanced user control. Included a replay option.

EXERCISE

Incorporated animations and sound effects for a more engaging character and interactions, providing users with improved interactive feedback for better movement judgment.