SognoVoyageA Nutrition and Fitness Educational Video Game

Written and Illustrated By:Victoria Perez

Spring 2009

Dedicated to Melissa Perez

Key Terms: Interactivity (Dialogue, Turn-Taking, Shared Short Term Goal, Transmission of Data, Comprehension, Confirmation, Graceful Degradation), Affordances (Physical and Perceptual), Pragmatic and Epistemic or Complimentary Actions, Reducing Cognitive Load, Cognitive Artifacts, Nutrition Education, Interface Design, Visual Design, Metacognitive Cues-Navigational Indictors, User Experience, Affection, Task Alteration, Control, Visual Perception, Affective Computing, Modalities

Introduction: The Problem Within the state of Pennsylvania 18% of 8th graders are overweight and another 17% are at risk. In Philadelphia one third of eight graders are testing below basic reading and math levels. If students continue in this fashion throughout the city it will result in testing 40-50% below grade level by the end of high school , and approximately 40% percent of high school graduates in the state at risk for type two diabetes and atherosclerosis. Either of which is related to high blood pressure and can lead to heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma, and joint problems. We know that healthy eating and exercise can improve physical health and it has been suggested that it can also improve mental and emotional well-being. Therefore creating a system to address these issues could reduce childhood obesity and raise city-wide standardized test scores throughout Philadelphia.

Project Background: In the fall of 2008, students from the Masters of Industrial Design Program at the University of the Arts came together to address the kitchen through design thinking. The original goal of The Philadelphia Green Kitchen was to construct kitchens made of green materials for lower to middle income housing while addressing green issues in Philadelphia. Research on the project we revealed that building with green materials does not make a kitchen inherently environmentally friendly for the user. As in, you must teach the kitchen user about overall green living for them to be interested in using a green kitchen space. We identified nine areas of concern that take place inside and outside of the kitchen which can factor into it being a green living and working area: Food Culture, Production, Consumer Habits, Waste and Resource Management, Metering, Retrofitting, Modularity, Education and Policy. Essentially, it is external social, political and economic issues that factor into the physicality of the kitchen space. As such the Philadelphia Green Kitchen team divided into individual projects to research these subjects further and to develop projects that relate to rectifying the user’s relationship with their kitchen

The Solution: Educate children about healthy living and eating habits to improve their interactions specifically with food inside and outside of the kitchen/home.

1. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/nutrition/facts.htm Center for Chronic Disease Prevention2. https://sdp-webprod.phila.k12.pa.us/school_profiles/servlet/ - Philadelphia School District Testing Statistics

PGK EDUCATION + FOODPitch Video Frames

Designing a Nutrition and Fitness Educational Video Game

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“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.”- John W. Gardener

Target audience:Based on research of learning it appears that it would be most effective to test this nutrition/fitness video game prototype on children ages 6 - 8 years of age. Studies have shown that the earlier a child is taught a particular habit or subject they are more susceptible to retaining the information for an extended period of time. Such as when a child is learning a second language it has been proven that they are most likely to formulate the sentences without and accent most accurately when exposed to the second language between the ages of 1-6 years of age. As a result one would expect that the game should be tested in younger children, however portions of the game will go beyond action and require reading and basic mathematical computational skills. In addition, research on childhood perception of visual programming environments has proved that children ages 8-10 perform significantly better than children ages 5-7 when predicting navigation through a virtual environment or in comprehending sequential routines.

Also, reaching children that are younger than eight years old is of particular importance since children obese by eight years of age are more likely to remain obese as adults. One major problem in testing with this age group is that once the skills of healthy eating and physical activity are enforced it will be hard to maintain if there is not support for said activities in the home. Yet, research proves that verbal communication spikes when children learn to read because spoken and written language have a reciprocal relationship, primarily in first grade. Thus it is the perfect time to begin teaching a child of health issues because the dialogue is already increasing between the child and their parent.

Finally it is of particular importance that this game be affordable for homes of children from lower to middle income housing. As of 2000 a census study confirmed that 26% of families with children under the age of 18 were below the poverty level. Often families in poverty are more susceptible to health problems be it a result of malnutrition or obesity (which is caused from purchasing cheaper foods that are often over processed with higher levels of sugar, fats, and preservatives).

3. Asher, James J. and Ramiro García. “The Optimal Age to Learn a Foreign Language” The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 53, No. 5 (May, 1969), pp. 334-341, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3230264. Degrees of Comprehension: Children’s Understanding of a Visual Programming Environment, Cyndi Rader, Cathy Brand and Clayton Lewis, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 5. http://www.sigchi.org/chi97/proceedings/paper/car.htm6. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/nutrition/facts.htm Center for Chronic Disease PreventionThe American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, “Communication Facts: Special Populations: Literacy - 2008 Edition” http://www.asha.org/members/research/reports/literacy.htm7. Philadelphia Census Statistics -http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/pennsylvania/philadel-phia/economic.html

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Action:Based on the fact that children are suffering from obesity and falling test scores we know that we need to inform them of healthy living habits. There are a number of initiatives that have been attempted in the Philadelphia area. Such as children gardening projects that increase their knowledge of how food gets to their plate. Within the Philadelphia School District soda and sugary snacks have been removed from school lunches. We also know that these have not only been attempted but many of them had positive effects on a small scale Most efforts to encourage healthy living tackle nutrition separately from exercise, and most often do not address the cognitive benefits that can occur from fresh food and physical excursion. Therefore the video game concept would bring the three concepts of nutritional benefits, cognitive benefits, and physical benefits into one virtual space and simplify how these three interact. By designing a video game it changes the task of deciding to choose healthy foods and exercise from work to play.

Game Objectives:To combine objectives of nutrition with exercise to ensure future health in the kitchen space.• To change the kitchen for children so they can see it as more than a place of eating but as a space • to making healthy life choices

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8. The Food Trust, Healthy School Toolkit, www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/resource.list.php

The user begins each session in the kitchen

space. He starts the game with perfect health.

He moves through the kitchen to get a snack.

As he eats the cookie the player is transported inside of the body to breakdown

their food.

To breakdown food the player is required to use

physical action in real time.

100 %Healthy

In the game the player would have a verity of snaking options.

In this case the cookie becomes refined sugars leading to a secondary

battle.

But the player is loosing energy and must borrow strength from the blood stream nervous system,

and bones.

With this extra power in the form of minerals the

player is able to destroy the sugars.

To complete a section the player would solve a simple reading or math problems

to advance to a new challenge.

94 %Healthy

You lost strength and borrowed energy from your bones how many points do you need to get back to 100%?a) 5 b) 6 c) 7 d) 3

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How it will work: The game progresses by the playing reading a new clue for the next challenge. The clues will occasionally depict the physical motion that the player has to do to finish the task at hand. The story line within the game requires the player to complete challenges of competition against the computer or fellow players. While fighting to complete the challenge the player is run out of energy. As a result he is constantly hungry and must refuel in a limited amount of time. Food will be found at homing stations that look like kitchens, restaurants or other common eateries. Based on the food you eat you are either stronger or weaker for the next battle. If you “die” you are returned to the beginning of the last chapter break where you must complete it and when faced with deciding which food to eat the player will most likely choose foods that are healthier. There will be multiple path options, includes certain scenes which seem more fun but in fact are more dangerous for the player to traverse. In turn, there will be checkpoints in more difficult challenges where the player can regain strength by getting a “power snack”. The following pages will explain in detail the plot of the video game, the subplot of each level, and how I designed the video game based on present models, interviews, book research, scholarly articles and online searches.

Yes I saw it all happen, he is....he is sieze... as we maybe you will find to your family there, while he is on his way back to ... all you have to do is... and you will find him.

I have seized all your goods and hold your family and friends as hostage. If you ever want to see them again you must find me and avenge yourself !

The player then completes the physical challenege that gets them one step closer to saving their familly

After each challenge the player must refuel by finding food sources, which will act as a secondary mini challenges in the game.

I must find them but where?

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The Game - SognoVoyage:

The game begins with the player dropping into CircusoRama, they do not understand why they are there but they want to get back home. He quickly learns that to survive he has to eat food to sustain energy. However through out the game he realizes that the food not only gives him energy but it is also good as money and that it can be used as collateral (Sharing/Bartering). Each level of the game will be divided in to three sublevels with a final battle of each section against a “Boss”. Along the way the player will be faced with food choices, each level will feature a particular food group and much of that level will have a color scheme dedicated to the food groups corresponding section of the food pyramid. Each level will also include at least one item from every other food group in the level. The player will complete a series of motions through out the game many of which if they are not intuitive will be taught in a quick tutorial similar to Mario Smash Brothers®. By the end of the game children will be exposed to a variety of physical actions and would have covered nutritional facts including: The Food Pyramid, Identifying foods that are high in vitamins/minerals, foods low in fat, sodium, and sugar (by avoiding bad foods), The value of eating fruits, vegetables, grains, calcium and protein rich foods in the correct proportions. food related decision making, and the balance of food to physical activity (physical elements focused on teamwork, coordination, agility and balance.

Graphic Elements:1.Character Construction Options-Wii Mii Style (Incorporation of User Personalization of Physical Appearance both body and clothes only a limited number of outfits, hairstyles, eyes, etc. but a full range of skin tones to have the user more personally attached to themselves in the game) 2. PowerGauge- the food pyramid is a symbol in the game but it isn’t identified as the food pyramid but as an energy gauge. Colors are filled in as the player traverses the game and gains power for challenges

3. Checkpoints/Refueling Setting-Food Vendors, Home Kitchens (which have the most healthy food options giving the player the most power in the shortest amount of time particularly important in timed challenges), grocery stores, and restaurants, basically anywhere you can get food in real life

4. Mission Tag-Masked Food Label“The earlier a child learns an elementary set of symbolic skills, the earlier he can use them to build more advanced symbolic skills.” - Gerald S. Lesser, Children and Television. With this in mind I modeled the Mission Tag after the Nutrition Label although it has different information it will help children to identify that type of box as a symbol of information.

5. Body Alterations- Based on the food decisions the player makes the character will either increase in size (muscles or stomach). In addition when positive food decisions are made the player will improve their performance abilities in the game or if they make poor food decisions their performance will be impeded.

When he enters a homing station he will be presented with food options.Because he chooses the pizza he will have less stregnth and speed. But enough energy to move on in the game.

This is an energy alert. He is low on carbohydrates, protein, and sugars. He must refuel in a limited amount of time, refueling is a mini challenge throughout the game.

Thank you for finding us. No, they not here. Perhaps they are in the city. Follow the bridge to get there.

Stand on the balance board bend the top half of your body and move your arms to move forward in the river.

During the challenges and while refueling, the player will have a power gauge at the corner of the screen to keep track of his energy level.

Instructions will appear, explaining the task. “Stand on the balance board bend the top half of your body and move your arms to move forward in the river.”

Throughout the game visual references will be made to the city of Philadelphia by using landscape icons like city hall.

The hostages are across the river you will have to swim to rescue them!!!

Although the player is free to go where they want, clues will be given to point them in the right diirection.

The player begins by entering his home which has been destroyed.

He runs through his town to try and find loved ones. He knows he must save them.

Collage of Initial Concepts7 8

Circusorama - AKA Meats and Beans/ ProteinThe protagonist is stuck at the circus. He has to work in the show to get enough money to make his way home. Tasks will be more focused on strength training, although they will incorporate some activities having to do with balance and coordination. Energy will be depleting and they will need to find food sources at stands and carts at the fair. At the end of each round the player thinks they are returning home but its the beginning of a new scene. Final Battle: Lions on the LooseActivities List: Balancing, Fishing, Squats, Lunges, Pinwheeling, Dodging

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DesertOasis - AKA Diary/ Calcium This level is set in the desert designed to simulate a feeling of looseness, inspired by the thought of low bone density. The player will have to make their way through windy sandstorms, quick sand traps and hop on camels to find their way to “watering holes”. Good food will be scare so more than half the battle will be making it through the course with limited energy sources. Between levels (as bonus) the player will have a chance to enter the KucinaKingdom. Final Battle: Scorpionis RexActivities List: Racing, Jumping, Swaying, Digging, Pinwheeling, Dodging

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- AKA Fruits/ VitaminsSwinging through these lofty heights players better not look down. It takes a lot of coordination to make it through these branches without being shaken loose, or taken out by bird. The challenges take more effort but there are also many more supplies available. Memory will be tested by choreographed paths for the player to follow behind. Battles in each level advance from a day to night scene. Quick spinning hula moves will result in the ability to gather multiple fruit at once. Final Battle: Batalorous Activities List: , Climbing, Standing Still/Centered, Hula hooping, Pinwheeling, DodgingIcons continue to appear throughout the game in each level.

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VerdeGran - AKA Vegetables/ Minerals Being small is no fun at all but that takes on whole new meaning in the land of the giants. With each rumbling step the player must either run to safety or hide. Ants, worms and butterflies are friends, while spiders can be deadly. Tunneling through this jungle will take teamwork, through exchanges the player will learn who they can and cannot trust. By the network of contacts the player will be able to reach the giants and take their leader down. The goal is to gather nuggets by tunneling through the vegetables some are minerals to be eaten other are gather as weapons. Final Battle: Giant JoeActivities List: Upward Punching, Swimming, Toes Touching/Stretching, Racing, Pinwheeling, Dodging

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UrbanaBlast - AKA Carbohydrates/ Good Glucose The player is dropped into his last mission, the city. Unfortunately the city is rapidly changing with earthquakes randomly shifting the landscape. Occasionally he will hop on top of buses and cars to reach a destination faster. Other times he will scaling buildings, his intention is to reach the top of City Hall and get a good look at his surroundings to find the best path home. On his way he will be chased feverishly and face his toughest battle yet. The focus of this level is on carbohydrates as energy so running surges will occur. Similarly the scene will take place from day to night so the last battle will happen during the light show set on Broad Street, with cars whizzing by. When the player wins he receives a key to open the door to his home. A flash of light appears revealing that it was all a dream after all, with that he gets up, goes to the kitchen and eats breakfast, ready to face a new day and a new adventure. Finale Battle: Man in the Mask Activities List: Jumping, Climbing, Jogging, Pinwheeling, Dodging

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Subjects Covered in the Game- Nutrition & Exercise

According to the Food Trust’s “Healthy School Toolkit” the following areas are of most importance to be taught to children concerning food and overall health.

Nutrition education is an integral component of food system education, incorporating information on where food comes fromhow it is grownhow food production affects our environment

Nutrition education shares many of the key goals of other health education content areas:raising the value placed on health, taking responsibility for one’s health, and increasing confidence in one’s ability to make health-enhancing behavioral changes

Unhealthy eating behaviors may be interrelated with other health risk factors cigarette smokingsedentary lifestylesubstance abuse The Food Trust, Healthy School Toolkit- pg. 15

Based on this research for the game to influence what the player eats it would have to create challenges that incorporates information on how food is grown, where it comes from, and how food is produced. As well as conveying the great importance of health with an emphasis on personal decision making about one’s eating habits. Their research also explained that it would be helpful to relate nutrition education to other health issues such as a “sedentary lifestyle” which it will through the active movement components, or issues of substance abuse. For this game in particular it will focus solely on food but perhaps if the game is developed and is well received issues such as substance abuse could be addressed.

To get more in depth information on nutrition I looked to research done by the Louisiana Department of Education, they cover a wide variety of subjects that could be included in the game, they do make a point to say that the following subject should be taught in sequential order thus the following subjects structure the format of game iconography, challenges and levels.

* The Food Guide Pyramid * Using food labels * Identifying foods that are high in vitamins and minerals * Identifying foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars * Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grains * Eating plenty of calcium-rich foods * Balancing food intake and physical activity * Decision-making skills for healthy eating * Goal-setting skills for healthy eating

The key components of nutrition education verify that “Balancing food intake and physical activity” are essential to healthy eating. With that in mind I researched a variety of physical education curriculums for children. The What Moves U Challenge, designed by the NFL Play 60 program and the American Heart Association, delineates a clear model of objectives that should be met for proper physical activity, being -Teamwork, Coordination, Agility, and Balance. As a result a majority of the physical activities in SognoVoyage are modeled around these concepts.

9. The Food Trust, Healthy School Toolkit, www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/resource.list.php10. http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/nutrition/acrosscurriculum/appendixA.html11. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3060631

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Conceptual and Visual Inspirations:

Video/Online Models-Leap Frog- educational video games; encourage comprehension of reading and math skills among others, Other online/ computer/ video/ technologically based health [nutrition/exercise] games

Existing Models and References- NutritionThe Magic School Bus Book SeriesThe Magic School Bus: For Lunch, Magic School Bus: Ready Set Dough, Magic School Bus - Goes to Seed, Magic School Bus: Gets EatenThe Magic School Bus - Gets PlantedLittle D’s Nutrition Expeditionhttp://www.nutritionexplorations.org/educators/lessons/littled/littled-act-meetfamily.aspSPROUThttp://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/home/jump.aspxMyPyramid Blast Off Gamehttp://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome -USDA websitehttp://mypyramid.gov/kids/kids_game.html#The Nutrition Game, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhNNYRJwJ4 - (The VITAL Lab) Virtual Immersive Technologies and Arts for Learning, Ohio University, www.SecondLife.com , developer Tessa Cooper, Assisting Professor Dr. Chang Liu

Existing Models and References- ExerciseWhat Moves U Challenge, from NFL 60 programObjectives that should be met from physical activity: (based on What Moves U curriculum)-Teamwork, Coordination, Agility, Balancehttp://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3060631http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80b4a489&template=with-video&confirm=trueWii Fit http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=wii&game=wiifit -Wii Fit Review – “What Wii Fit does really well is it makes it fun to exercise, plus it can tell if you’re correctly doing them whereas a simple workout video has no clue if you’re actually working out or sitting on the couch eating a bag of potato chips. The game does a marvelous job of tracking your activity via charts and it’s awesome that you can set a goal and the game will track that goal to see how you’re doing.”http://www2.sega.com/gamesite/marioandsonic/http://www.amazon.com/Game-Party-2-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0018RWMRS/ref=pd_sim_vg_19Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009Jenny Craig- online food and exercising tracking system, with user feedback

Other Conceptual Inspiration-Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Mario Brothers, Super Mario Galaxy, Grand Theft Auto: San Andres (the food inclusions), Poptropica (http://www.poptropica.com/) Animal Crossing (http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=animal+crossing+wii&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=UNPaSZW_G9DflQfwor31Bw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#10 Best Video Game Endings(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/711491/the_10_best_video_game_endings_of_alltime.html?cat=19)

Games to be further examined- Although there were a wide variety of games that were mentioned only one was brought up in each grade of children I interviewed, Crash Bandicoot, a game about a scientifically transformed animal that comes to hold superhuman power and with that power must save other animals that are being genetically transformed by two evil scientists. By watching children play this game I would get a better understanding of what plot developments are needed and or most gravitated toward, which would assist the development of the chapters on each level.

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Interviews:

Monday March 9th 2009Vance Village Elementary School - New Britain, CT 1st- 3rd graders age 6 – 9Races in order of predominance: Latino, Black, Polish/Caucasian, Asian* Participants interviewed were a part of Scholastic Academy, an academically advanced program for children from lower income homes.

Interview Questionnaire

FOOD:1. Where does your food come from?2. What types of food do you eat?3. Where is the food label on a box of cereal? What does it tell you?4. What does “healthy food” mean to you?5. How do your parents choose food for your family?6. Do you talk to your parents about food or exercise?GAMING:1. What types of video games do you like to play? What is your favorite video game?2. Which video game console do you have (PSP, DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)?3. How often do you play video games?4. Have you played any games that include reading and math activities, like Leap Frog?5. If yes, what did you like or dislike about these games?6. Would you be interested in a video game that teaches you about healthy eating? Why/Why not?7. If you are not interested in playing a game about healthy eating, what could be done to make you interested?

These questions were compiled to examine how much the children knew about certain subjects that are covered in nutrition curriculums and to better understand their gaming habits.

First GradeFOOD

Question #1 First graders for the most part mentioned the store for where their food comes from, a few mentioned a garden one child specified that their food was from plants and animals.

Question #2 Foods they liked included: corn, rice, chicken, apples, pizza, beefaroni, mango, shrimp, kabob, dumpling, steak, waffles, bacon, sausages

Question #3 When asked where the food label is most were confused, did not know or indicated the incorrect position. When asked what it meant the majority did not know however about 4 students were able to mention that the food label detailed ingredients, calories, and vitamin information.

Question #4 Answers ranged from food that makes you happy to food that makes you strong and is good for you.

Question #5 A majority of children did not know how their parents make food decisions some said their parents choose based on health and or taste.

Question #6 Most children admitted to having open communication with their parents about food and exercise with an emphasis on food.

GAMING:

Question #1 Favorite Games: Cinderella, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Bratz, Wii Sports, Mario Party, Animal Crossing, Sonic, SmackDown Vs. Raw, Halo 3, Pokemon, BaBlast, Crash Bandicoot, and racing games in general.

Question #2 PSP (1), DS (9), PS3 (1), Wii (9), Xbox 360 (2), Nintendo 64 (1), one student does not have any systems

Questions #3 Playtime- Answers ranged from 2 days/week to everyday for multiple hours a day.

Question # 4 Ten students had played Leap Frog or similar games those who enjoyed it explained that they enjoyed learning, others disagreed and explained the games were “boring, and too long”

Question #5 Most students expressed an interest in a video game related to nutrition, those who were not interested explained that interested could come from a game that offered a lot of “variety”

Second GradeFOOD

Question #1 A range of answers were given, from “my mom”, animals, plants, farms, and seas, to “the toaster”

Question #2 Favorite Foods – Reese’s, fruit, rice & beans, soup, beef/chicken patty, bacon, pizza, toast, grilled cheese, hamburgers, spam, pancakes, pork chops, cheese macaroni, bread, veggies, lobster, crab, steak [meat, cheese, and candy were the dominant response]

Question #3 Most children did not know. Seven children were able to explain that the food label has information on ingredients, whether or not its healthy, and intake percentages

Question #4 Students responded that healthy food has to do with not getting fat, working out your body, eating food that is good for you, and having life insurance.

Question #5 Most common response was “I don’t know” followed by based on taste, price, labels/ and health.

Question #6 About one third of the class said they do not discuss food or exercise with their parents, the remainder said they talk about food or exercise relatively often usually in reference to obesity and the fear of being overweight.

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GAMING:Question #1 Role Playing games, SmashBrothers, MarioCart, Crash2 Bandicoot, Need for Speed, Star Wars, Guitar Hero, Rugrats, Poptropica, Madden Basketball

Question #2 PSP (3), DS (6), PS3 (6), Wii (8),Gameboy(1), computer games (2)

Question # 3 Answers ranges from never to 30 minutes/day.

Questions #4/#5 About two-thirds answered yes. Students that enjoyed these games like Brain Age “because you get to take the role of the player”, others simply enjoyed learning, others were dissatisfied with those types of games.

Question #6 Again two-thirds of the class answered that they would enjoy a video game on nutrition because it would help them stay healthy those who answered no suggested that if the game existed it should be in a role-playing format, others suggested, general variety and the inclusion of animals.

* Please note that children at Vance Village Elementary receive a nutrition and health unit at the end of second grade

Third GradeFOOD:

Question #1 Answers were more complex as expected ranging from stores to factories, farms, crops, plants, animals, and other countries.

Question #2 Favorite Foods: Included soups, fruit, grilled cheese, steamed broccoli, pancakes, pizza, chicken, rice & beans, tacos, potatoes, ice cream, steak, junk food, corn, plantains, macaroni, spaghetti, veggies, McDonald’s, cereal, Chinese Food, Dairy products

Question #3 More children made an attempt to answer this question and more than half that answered were able to properly identify that the food label is related to ingredients, about calories, and that it tells you whether or not the food is healthy

Question #4 Students answered that healthy food are foods that are low in calories, foods with vitamins, veggies or snacks with low calories.

Question #5 When asked about their parents food choices they explained that they made decisions based on a list, by looking at the nutrition label, by checking the expiration date, or by taste.

Question # 6 When asked if they discuss food and nutrition with parents, most responded that they talk about sports.

GAMING:

Questions #1 Favorite Games: Pixie Hollow, Sonic, Naruto, Super SmashBros., Guitar Hero/ Rock Band, Mario Bros, CTRC Crash Bandicoot, WWE wrestling, Sims Kingdom, Thrillville of the Rails, Mario Cart, Need for Speed, Road Rag, Tony Hawk Wii Sports, Madagascar, Star Wars Clone Wars

Question # 2 PSP (7), DS (13), PS3 (2), Wii (11), Gameboy(1), Xbox 360 (5), GameCube (2), PS2 (2), PS1

Question #3 When asked how often they play answers ranged from every once in a while, to 3 hours per day.

Questions #4 A little over more than half answered yes citing games like Brain Age, Academy, Big Brain, those who liked it said they liked those games because they enjoy learning or because it makes them feel smarter. Those who did not like them said they were too easy, boring or babyish.

Question #5 A majority of the class said they would be interested in a game that taught them about nutrition to help them know what to eat and what’s good for them.

Question # 6 When asked if they had any suggestions for the game they gave many answers (include a cooking challenge, “make it active”, “make it where I can breathe fire”, “include the food pyramid”, “compare healthy food to junk foods by calories”. Include recipes for healthy foods, shoot healthy food tips at the player so they can win points, include an online component for more information similar to www.weightwatchers.com to part where you can create your own game, maybe have it linked to Wii Fit.

Take Aways:

Interviews with the students gave me a better understanding about what they knew about their food, how they classify it as healthy or unhealthy, and how often then think and talk about exercise. These interviews were also extremely useful in determining and verifying which gaming console was most used by my target demographic although a DS is the most popular it was ruled out because it has no features that encourage physical activity. The Wii gaming console was a close second with approximately 33% of all students playing their Wii system on a frequent basis.

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Thursday April 16th 2009Fairhill School – North Philadelphia, PA 6th – 8th graders age 11-13Race: Latino

Sit down interview with children involved in the “Healthy Cornerstore Initiative” on of the 15 school based programs fun by The Food Trust.

Interview Questions

1.Has learning about healthy foods changed what you eat? 2.Do you enjoy playing games about nutrition? If so why? If not what could make them better?3. Would you be interested in an action video game that featured concepts on healthy eating? If so what types of activities would you like to see in the game, if not what would make you more interested?4. Do you have any video games?5. Currently the video game includes concepts on healthy eating and exercise is there any other concept that you think should be included?6. Do you associate healthy eating with your kitchen?7. Do you eat in our kitchen?8. If you had a video game with nutrition content would you want it to provide a way for you to connect to healthy food in your community?

1.Yes2.Wii Fit/ exercise none about nutrition specifically3. Like the idea of the game and would like the have a wrestling element added, they would be interested in seeing a trailer. Although they have concerns that its only for the Wii since they have other systems.4. Students responded with a variety of games that related to eating like Dinner Dash, Pac Man World, Cooking World Mama Kitchen.5. Not answered.6. Yes, answers were unclear.7. Eat in the dining room not in the kitchen 8. Yes maybe would be interested in having the game connect to a website.

Synopsis: Although it was difficult to get these students to focus on the questions because they were completing another activity but they were able to suggest a few other gaming references and another physical action of wrestling, perhaps an action sequence that can be added in future develops. This short interview was important to verify an interest in nutrition education based video games in an older demographic age range. According to Gerald S. Lesser, young children learn most and are influenced most by their parents and then by their older siblings. Considering more middle school age children play video games than adults it seemed worthwhile to verify their interests because of their influence over my core demographic.

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12. Lesser, Gerald S. Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, New York : Random House, 1974.

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How to Influence Decisions for Positive Results:

To go about understand how experts teach and have used media sources as a way to teach I read a few books that contributed to the design of SognoVoyage. The four books were Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, Persuasive Games, Psychology and Educational Practice and Teaching as a Subversive Activity. Basically educational video games come in two modalities behaviorist and constructivist Behaviorist video games act as microcosms of the real world in hopes that the player will adapt learning from the game to real world applications. Constructivist games are focused on teaching abstract concepts through problem solving similar to Leap Frog. Out of the two SognoVoyage is more behaviorist based, one problem of behaviorist games is a lack of concern for the simulation gap in that just because a player makes positive decisions or negative decisions in a game does not mean they will make the same types decisions in life all the same behaviorist games can spark a player’s interest in a particular subject such as flying based on Microsoft’s Flight Simulator game, or WolfQuest a game designed by the Minnesota Zoo that inspired many teens to read more about wolf eating and living habits to be successful in the game. Thus it can be assumed that when teaching is presented in the right way that it will prompt the player to want more information on the game’s subject matter. In terms of exercise there have been a wide variety of models since the 1980’s and even earlier in the form of arcade games with most models including either challenges on agility, running, moving to a rhythm, reflex reactions, and training. Considering SognoVoyage used the NFLPlay60 model of physical activity, the game includes agility, coordination (testing reflexes), balance and teamwork, it does fall within the lines of traditional exercise games. One model of inspiration is GetUpMove.com the online segment for the home version of Dance Dance Revolution, the website show cased DDR as a weight loss tool and thus connect a wider audience to the game, and inadvertently to exercise. This website will be a model for future plans in developing an online component of SognoVoyage. In exercise video games it is essential that all each physical action have a concrete reaction on screen this is the only way to contextualize the player’s movement, without this the player looses interest. DDR does a great job of making the player care by giving them a global energy meter as a disincentive to quit and it incorporates a trainer to encourage the player. This is similar to concepts in the SognoVoyage in which the player receives constant feedback on his state in the game from the PowerGauge, and he receives encouraging reinforcement from the body alterations that take place when he makes a positive eating decision. In typical educational practices there are three modalities of learning being Visual/Spatial, Verbal, and Kinesthetic. Visual modalities related to when a person remember visual or spatial components of his environment. A verbal modality is when your mind internalizes spoken words and refers to them as if he has a tape recorder in his mind. Kinesthetic modalities refer to simulation felt from the organs of touch being movement, pressure, and muscular tension. Based on these terms SognoVoyage ties together kinesthetic and visual modalities through its virtual dream based environments. However we as humans understand best when all three modalities are brought together, thus its possible in the future that the design of the game could include verbal messages to add into the development of positive food decision making habits, at the same time there are definite advantages that come from shifting between two modalities at once as SognoVoyage will do regularly. Its also important to note that out of the three modalities the verbal modality is most utilized later in life thus it is easier to teach young children through kinesthetic and visual means.

According to Piaget, an authority in child psychologist and education, one goal of educators is to foster “curiosity, open-mindedness, objectivity, respect for evidence, and capacity to think critically” SognoVoyage does just that. Also, creative teaching takes away from the need for punishments or rewards. In the same vein the hope is that while children are learning about healthy eating in this new environment that they will be inspired to translate that learning to their everyday lives. One way to know if the game is working is for the children to not only understand the reasoning of their decisions in the game but to facilitate that acceptance in new situations, such as at a new friends home, or at a new restaurant. One other concept that is important to gaming design related to behaviorist/visual/kinesthetic modalities and teaching in general is modeling and observational learning, being that modeling when done effectively can be very powerful with strong positive or negative effects. That fact had a great influence on how the action story line was designed. It is common in the gaming world to have a story line with a lot of violence and I wanted to avoid sending the user mixed messages, as in “eat healthy but killing is okay”. Instead most challenges in the game is relate to bettering oneself or to advance while working corroboratively with others in the game. Thus the game has a strong moral sense that factored into the action sequence. On the other hand when there is learning translated through media sources like video games or television, the designer could be accused of trivializing the subject at hand. Through elements such as the Mission Tag and the PowerGauge, SognoVoyage aims to incorporate food/nutrition related symbols as to move beyond trivial views of food and relate the featured foods on each level to concepts perpetuated in nutrition education curriculums. Finally it is important to measure the effectiveness of your learning tool by comparing it to existing models. However there is no video game on the market at this time that teaches nutrition in a subversive manner, as in there is no game about food on the market that does not directly have food in the title. Thus it is necessary to compare it to games that involve both nutrition and exercise administered by respected organizations like the Food Trust. Please keep in mind that subversive does not imply passive, the game aims to include food as an essential element of success in an non-non-overbearing/ non-preachy” way. Yet my interviews indicated that having nutritional elements in the game would only be accepted if woven into another plot thus to substantiate the possible learning properties within the game I will have to create a different set of markers to measure success.Precepts and Questions could include--For whom does SognoVoyage work and for whom does it fail?-Under what conditions is SognoVoyage effective or ineffective? (test different ages/locations/ethnicities, demographics)-Observe game play in different situations such as individual vs. group.-Measure the games through an outside source, possibly someone who is knowledgeable about education, nutrition, and exercise. -Long term research to measure the game’s effect, first reactions, how “special groups” react to the game?-What are the physical, psychological effects of the game, does it help children better understand their own behaviors (in this case behaviors with food)?-What is going on in the player’s mind while there are mentally processing the information they have just seen?-What does persistent play do to a child’s ability to relate to real life?

13. Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games, Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2007.14. ibid

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15. Lesser, Gerald S. Psychology and Educational Practice, Glenview, Ill. : Scott, Foresman, 1971.16. Postman, Neil. Teaching as a Subversive Activity, New York : Delacorte Press, c196917. Lesser, Gerald S. Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, New York : Random House, 1974.

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Squats for Racing Canoeing for Racing Balancing

PunchingPinwheeling“Fishing”

PunchingPinwheeling“Fishing”

Lunges

DiggingSwimmingClimbing

Pyramid Stance

CicusoRama:MeatsBeansPeanuts

DesertOasis:MilkCheeseYogurt

VerdeGran:MushroomsSpinachCarrotsPeppersBroccoli

AboreCaelum:ApplesPeachesStrawberriesBananas

UrbanBlast:PastaBreadRiceCerealOatmealCrackers

Food Icons Map Actions Icon Map

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Logistics of Gaming Design:

Based on the type of game I have described to this point and the models I am most interested in, the video game will be modeled after a role-playing game. Which would allow me most easily to give the user “freedom” to move about the space with multiple path options and improvise . Role-Playing principles will be applied with the exception of the character – user relationship. Instead the user should create a character in the game they can physically identify with. Considering that the Wii already has this type of personal modeling in place (Miis) it makes sense to utilize their system for the gaming application. As a result the user will identify their character with themselves. It is necessary to have the user play his or herself because it will reinforce that the food choices and actions they take throughout the game will influence their performance. Subconsciously servicing as a way for the player to associate more with responsible food choices that are carried over to real life applications.

Possible Programs of Interest- Maya, Lightwave, 3D Studio Max, C++, [3D Adventure Studio, Game Maker, RPG Maker XP {only PC compatible }]-free, DarkBasic Pro, GLBasic, The 3DGamemaker, gameSpace, GameStudio

However from the research I understand that Wii users that have purchased the balance board do believe the game is useful but they would enjoy future applications for the board. This game would be another application of that device. The development kit also known as the SDK kit is very expensive and available to an exclusive few however there is the option of formatting a prototype of how the game will work through Wii SDK Opera. The advantage of using this option is that when it is formatted the game can be played from online on any Wii so in theory players could connect through the web to other players which is presently possible though the Wii Interactive component.

Game Design and Interactivity:

Interactivity (Dialogue, Turn-Taking, Shared Short Term Goal, Transmission of Data, Comprehension, Confirmation, Graceful Degradation) – Video games by nature require user input that in turn causes the game to respond, thus creating a dialogue between the system and the user. There is a shared goal of the user getting to the next part of the game, and the game gives the user clues as to how to get to another stage, there is transmission of data to between the user and system for the user to advance and there is graceful degradation at the end of each task in that it indicates whether or not the user has succeed and allows them to decide whether or not they would like to continue or save and quit.

Affordances (Physical, Perceptual, Cultural, Social)- There is no physical affordance but there are perceptual affordances within virtual environments in the example there is an open cupboard the user would perceive that the majority if not all items in the cupboard would be light enough to be lifted and depending on the location of the cabinet the user would assume that there would be food related items inside of the cabinet as opposed to cleaning items, which may relate to social or cultural norms of foods, especially snack foods to be placed in higher levels of cabinetry.

Epistemic or Pragmatic Actions the navigational tools in the game will facilitate epistemic action by reducing their probability in error, in terms of if there is a task or challenge there will be visual clues to help the user understand what should happen next, these will not be immediately visible but will become more noticeable within a specified time period especially since it is a younger age group they will need some visual indicators of how to traverse the space they are in.

Reducing Cognitive Load- The cognitive load will be reduced because they will not be focused on making healthy decisions but they will just make them because it will help them advance in the game. With the hopes that some of the decisions they make in the game will feed into the food choices they would make in real life. However there will be some math computations added into the game on purpose to reinforce curriculum concepts the user should know, so there is a combination of mental and physical exercise through additional food information in the game.

Affection (affective computing)- because the player is using a mii that resembles his own appearance the hope is that they will be somewhat emotionally connected to the outcome of the character.

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18. Role-Playing Game, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game

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19. Hartson, H.Rex. (c.2003) Cognitive, Physical, Sensory, and Functional Affordances in Interaction Design, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech- Milekc, Slavko, Action, (2009)Affection & Control : Interface Guidelines for Complex Visual Content. Department of Art Education & Art Therapy,The University of the Arts- Van Vugt, Henriette C. et. Al. Affective Affordances: Improving Character Engagement through Interaction, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit De Boelelaan 1081, 1081, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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The Commercial:The commercial starts with the my logo followed by the first text box (“He doesn’t know where he is”). The opening sequence begins with is the main character sleeping with a mixture of my sketches and a few finished images flipping rapidly inside of the main characters dream bubble with really intense music in the background that builds up quickly, it ends with the character falling through the air. Text box #2 appears (“Or how he got there”) [this whole scene is an excerpt from the CircusoRama level], shows the boy confused, the mission tag appears to help the player navigate the level, followed by him entering the circus tent. Inside the tent he is thrown into his first challenge, text box #3 (“Who he will meet?”) followed by the motorcycle challenge. After he completes the battle he gets out of the cage and runs through the door of the tent in which he immediately realizes how hungry he is from all the adrenaline he has exerted. Text box #4 (“What will he eat?”) The boy visits the concession stands where he has to choose which food he wants to eat. He selects chili that is rich in beans and meat, based on the icons in the Mission Tag that lead him to that high protein decision. Once he eats the chili his body transforms to show the super strength he has gained. The screen zooms out and the text box reads (“And how will you help him find his way back home?”) Followed by a kid in action playing on the Wii with scenes from the game on screen, the commercial ends on the SognoVoyage game trailer poster.

Commercial References-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzkSEOP92SU http://www.ea.com/videos/ff2a7bfc833ff110VgnVCM100000ab65140aRCRD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmfiIqzdIbM http://mk12.com/video-popup.html?video=/v5_quicktime /2004/overload.mov&title =OVERLOAD&date=&info=2004&type=inhouse

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Conclusion & Future Plans:The book and field research indicates that the present design and format of SognoVoyage would be well receive. The major next steps would be to continue developing the subplots of each section of the levels. Because there should be three sections in each level at least 15 chapters would need to be story boarded and developed fully to understand where foods will appear, how they will be incorporated in a “natural” way, how will the game leave room for discovery and opened decisions while at the same time steering the player toward more beneficial foods. In addition to figuring out exactly what and how real life body motions will connect to the actions that take places on screen, in terms of the story itself as well as in terms of programming Wiimote and Balance board sensory based commands, which would need to take place by utilizing the Wii SDK Opera System as a performing prototype. All of this would be in hopes of having fully functioning game that could be proposed to the Wii game development department, and tested among children. Specifically children in Philadelphia to connect my project back to the goals of the Philadelphia Green Kitchen Project that aims to rectify and or improve people, kitchens, and habits.

Special Thanks: I would like to give a special thanks to the Food Trust who allowed me to visit a school with one of their employees to help me conduct interviews. I would also like to thank Ben Jewett and Blake Boxer, two undergraduate UArts students who helped me design the format of the commercial and assisted me with technical research of video games and the Wii game console.

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http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/programs/comp.school.nutrition.phpPage 4-7llustrations and Collage by V.PerezPage 8http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0018RWMRS/ref=dp_otherviews_6?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&img=6Illstrations by V.PerezPage 10- 18Illustrations by V.PerezPage 20http://www.westbranch.org/Teachers/highschool/kkarcher/New-Food-Pyramid-Large.jpghttp://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3060631Page 21http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_San_Andreashttp://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/images/6103350/5/?tag=thumbs_below;thumb;5Page 22http://www.leapfrog.com/en/shop.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vGLRLgcDpchttp://blocs.xtec.cat/anglesceipsplai/files/2009/03/little-d.jpghttp://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/home/jump.aspxhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhNNYRJwJ4http://mypyramid.gov/kids/kids_game.html#http://www.cartoonsolutions.com/store/catalog/Grocery-Aisle-Anime-Studio-p-16844.htmlhttp://vis.berkeley.edu/courses/cs160-sp08/wiki/images/8/8a/Mii_parade.jpghttp://wiipop.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ea_sport_active_boxing.jpghttp://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B001DDBBSS/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_2?ie=UTF8&index=2http://www.shihbang.com/sections/interests/wallpapers/samurai_champloo_001.jpghttp://pplibraryreviews.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/cowboybebop-cover.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0e/Super_Mario_Bros_box.jpg/250px-Super_Mario_Bros_box.jpghttp://www.gameguru.in/features/2007/26/does-mario-need-to-grow-up/http://www.poptropica.com/http://www.jucaushii.ro/images/boxshot/AnimalCrossing_WildWorld_DS.jpgPage 25Scan of Student QuestionnairePage 26http://www.csdnb.org/schools/vance/index.htmlhttp://www.csdnb.org/schools/vance/media/gallery/gallery.htmlPage 27 Scans of Student QuestionnairesPage 31-32Illustrations by V. PerezPage 34http://purenintendo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/bba_miiset.jpgPages 35-40Illustrations by V.PerezPage 39http://cdn.wn.com/o25/ph//2009/03/16/633c4ca63779cd1f2e12412202cddd7e-grande.jpg

Bibliography:

1. Asher, James J. and Ramiro García. “The Optimal Age to Learn a Foreign Language”The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 53, No. 5 (May, 1969), pp. 334-341http://www.jstor.org/stable/3230262. Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games, Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2007.3. Hartson, H.Rex. (c.2003) Cognitive, Physical, Sensory, and Functional Affordances in Interaction Design, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech4. Lesser, Gerald S. Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, New York : Random House, 1974.5. Lesser, Gerald S. Psychology and Educational Practice, Glenview, Ill. : Scott, Foresman, 1971.6. Milekc, Slavko, Action, (2009)Affection & Control : Interface Guidelines for Complex Visual Content. Department of Art Education & Art Therapy,The University of the Arts7. Postman, Neil. Teaching as a Subversive Activity, New York : Delacorte Press, c1969.8. Van Vugt, Henriette C. et. Al. Affective Affordances: Improving Character Engagement through Interaction, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit De Boelelaan 1081, 1081, Amsterdam, The Netherlands9. http://www.asha.org/members/research/reports/literacy.htm -The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, “Communication Facts: Special Populations: Literacy - 2008 Edition”10. Philadelphia Census Stats.http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/pennsylvania/philadelphia/economic.html11. http://www.sigchi.org/chi97/proceedings/paper/car.htm, -Degrees of Comprehension: Children’s Understanding of a Visual Programming Environment, Cyndi Rader, Cathy Brand and Clayton Lewis, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems12. https://sdp-webprod.phila.k12.pa.us/school_profiles/servlet/- Philadelphia School District Testing Statistics13. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/nutrition/facts.htm - National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion*Freedman DS, Khan LK, Dietz WH, Srinivasan SR, Berenson GS. Relationship of childhood obesity to coronary heart disease risk factors in adulthood: the Bogalusa Heart Study. Pediatrics 2001;108(3):712-18.14. http://www.nutritionalfun.com/ - a website with games on to encourage healthy eating habits, graphics and games designed and geared toward children specifically15. http://www.healthy-incentives.com/ - a meal planning and food exchange website16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67aZVku0cmI - Wii Fit17. http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/nutrition/acrosscurriculum/appendixA.html, Louisiana Department of Education, Division of Nutrition Assessment18. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) National Agricultural Library - Food and Nutrition Information Center [Nutrition Education Curriculum Examples] http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=2&tax_subject=270&topic_id=133719. Level Design, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_design

Image References:

Front CoverSognoVoyage Trailer Poster illustrated by V.PerezPage 1Frames from Pitch VideoPage 3http://www.phila.gov/Recreation/After_School_Program.html