This week Boston's Back Bay will be full of health nuts and gaming nerds – in the same room! FableVision President Gary Goldberger is headed over a few streets to the tenth annual Games for Health Conference. The Games for Health Project is dedicated to exploring the wonderful possibilities of health education through interactive games, and you know us – that's one of our favorite things. The conference is all about demoing games, sharing research, hosting discussions, and seeking advice, all in the pursuit of propelling health education.
And that made us think about all the health games we've produced here at FableVision – there's quite a few – and how they have hopefully had a positive effect on gamers and students. Here's a few games we think have made a healthy difference in users' lives.
Caduceus: Staff of the Alchemist
Client: Children's Hospital Trust
Created for the Generation Cures website, players enter into the fantasy world of Alterica where a deadly disease has infected massive amounts of people. Users must play mini-games to advance the storyline, all in pursuit of finding a cure and saving the sick people. Caduceus helps tweens care about medical research and have compassion for sick people. Learn more about Caduceus here, or visit the project page on our website.
H-E-B Body Adventure Exhibit
Client: Witte Museum
The Witte Museum has a brand new interactive exhibit with six different health-related activities. Museum goers receive a POWERpass card to log their results from each activity as they travel station to station. FableVision contributed two activities to the exhibit, All About You and Build a Balanced Meal. At the All About You stop, visitors do some preliminary work, answering questions about their day-to-day health habits as well as taking a picture or choosing an avatar to travel with them to all the activities. In Build a Balanced Meal, visitors must do exactly that – build a healthy meal to fuel their character as they virtually walk along San Antonio's historic River Walk. Learn more about the H-E-B Body Adventure exhibit here, or visit the project page on our website.
CaveBro
Client: Florida Virtual School (FLVS)
"Me want food – now!" Okay, CaveBro, we'll get you some food, but let's make sure it's healthy first! In this interactive online game, players must feed the CaveBro a balanced meal or else he'll get a tummy ache. You would too if you had five helpings of ice cream! This game teaches players what constitutes a nutritious, balanced meal and how much of eat food item they should be eating. Learn more on on FLVS’ website. CaveBro is still in the prototype phase.
Sid the Science Kid: Super Duper Antibodies game
Client: Jim Henson Company and PBS Kids
With a “BAM” and a “Take That,” kids fight off the flu virus in Sid the Science Kid’s Super Duper Antibodies featured on the PBS Kids site. Developed by FableVision, the game explains that a vaccination is a “tiny bit of the flu virus” that teaches the body how to fight the flu. Kids click on the syringe to inject the vaccine and then travel into the body to fight the virus. At the end Sid cheers, “Adios flu virus, you can’t make me sick!” Play the game for yourself on the Sid website.
