Project NomNom GameKit is an effort by the Games for Health Project to create a publicly available tool that can spawn better design, development, and availability of great games about food that embodies engaging, and meaningful experiences with issues involving foods critical role in our personal health, and social well being. Kits are still in final stages of development and will be available later in fall of 2014. This presentation details the core thinking behind the kits as currently designed. Feedback and additional iteration hope to improve them before final production.
2. Nutrition Games
• Name the best nutrition game you played last
year?
• Most apps focus on diets, eating plans, counting
calories, not systemic behavior change
• Gamut of opportunities wider than eat-this not-that
• Catch the fruit should not be a genre
3. Nutrition???
“I don’t think about nutrition,
I think about food.
Make stuff about food.”
- Early brainstorming participant
8. This is not a meaningful choice
vs.
or an interesting one…
9. Food vs. Exercise
• We equate exercise as the answer for poor food habits!
• Exercise has benefits beyond weight & waist line
• Nutrition has benefits beyond weight & waist line
• On average exercise can help people lose 10 pounds
• Nutrition and eating habits are bigger issue
• We over emphasize exercise as the antecedent of poor
food habits
10. Starting points?
• FDA database wasn’t as useful for making games
• Broad free/open food database for apps is lacking
• Subject matter expertise online is muddled
• There are few tools, if any for food projects
11. Summary…
• Many options for food and games exist
• Few are meaningful or interesting!
• The relationship between food and exercise
is over-emphasized — need deeper experiences
• The starting points are not great
13. Meet & Think…
• Convened nutritionists for input
• Examined nutrition textbooks for curriculum
• Looked at food games, apps, sites!
• Discussed databases, and nutrition information
• How can reduce risk & effort of “1st playable”?
14. How?
• The diversity of topics is strength but what’s the
common denominator?
• Get people purposely exploring beyond calories
and binary choices (i.e. fruit vs. pizza)
• How to simplify yet broaden!
• How to engage developers and non-developers?
15. Outcome Goals
• Reset from nutrition to food
• Identify plethora of issues around food that improves
health & health outcomes!
• Enable one effort that addresses all of them
• Identify areas where games could offer deeper food
content and help designers there too
• How to improve number of games about food worked
on to some playable level
17. Prototyping kit
• Cards & Board Game : enables ability to cheaply
prototype both for offline & online systems
• Helps everyone: app, gamification, and game
developers
• Works for non-technical: no programming
needed (at least for initial work)
• Focuses on values, and systems: less ability to
focus and get fixated on media effects
18. Project NomNom
• We will never design the perfect food/nutrition game
• Enabling hundreds of developers, students, health
professionals might result in some real stars
• Designer integrates various food data we curate
• Working paper prototypes can be converted to digital
or polished board game form
• Design system for “cross orientation”
(i.e. help developers understand food, and nutrition/food experts understand games)
19. Kit 1.0
• Food Cards : Blank cards, with color codes, spots for customized data
• Action Cards : Blank cards, with color codes, etc. + stickers for customization
• Custom Dice : Printed sticker sheets for customization
• 4 Game Boards : Meal Planner, Kitchen, Grids, Body
• MyPlates : 4-8 paper MyPlates for creating games using MyPlate approach
• Meeples : Wooden figures, to represent family units, people in your games
• Money : Play money to make play purchases
• Tokens : Small cardboard chits with different elements on them
• Stickers : Our data (e.g. “allergy alert!”) is in sticker form that you apply to cards
• Printouts : Additional printouts for things like menus, recipes, etc.
Meeples
Tokens
20. Food Cards
FRUIT
Alerts
Namespace $
Three Data Boxes
Background
color
matches
MyPlate
Circle spot
ideal for picture
of item
e.g. Common Serving Size, Calories, Fats
1. Allergy
2. Empty Calories
3. Processed
4. Sodium Alert
!
are 4 possible alerts
binary labels to place
here
possible
contextual
modifier (e.g.
whole grain for
grains)
21. MyPlate Colors & Beyond
Vegetable!! ! ! ! Green!
Fruit Red
Protein Purple
Grains Orange!
Oils Yellow!
Dairy! Blue!
Beverage Cyan!
Condiment/Seasoning Black!
Prepared/Packaged Dark Brown
28. Kits
• 100+ kits will be ready fall ’14
• Individuals & Organizations apply to receive a kit!
• Kit awardees must produce 1 prototype and post
ingredients plus rules
• Sponsored jams, contests to incentivize
developers
• Make your own kit files available for download
29. Next Steps
• Build updated prototype materials
• Final dataset for cards & sticker sheets
• Contract all manufacturing!
• Assemble kits
• Debut web site