Many seniors have limited mobility, which prevents them from staying outside for a longer period of time. Simple activities are more difficult for them than before and meeting with loved ones also becomes a hurdle. The presented application aims to provide a solution to these difficulties and allow seniors to meet and interact with friends and family in a virtual world.
I was responsible for sketching the prototype of the companion app, as well as creating the PACT analysis and personas.
At the beginning of the project, it was only clear that we would develop a digital product for senior citizens. In addition to researching existing digital products for seniors, it was important for us to listen to their problems and concerns in everyday life from them directly. For this purpose, a interview session was organized.
Project EXGAVINE with VR glasses:
We got together in a group of three people since we all wanted to develop something that had to do with city tours or going for a walk. First, we wrote down everything we could think of on the topic and what we would like to develop. We then thought about whether our ideas could solve the existing problems and whether they would do so in a meaningful and fun way. We also talked about what skills are needed for each idea and whether our target group has them.
We continued brainstorming on a whiteboard to get an understanding of the mechanics we would need to implement and to narrow down our idea to something that we would be able to implement in two months. In addition we wrote down various endings the player could reach.
We also tried to find out how much space the player would be required to have in real life to be able to play the game comfortably at home. We came to the conclusion that a 4m x 4m space would be perfect for our purposes. As it would be small enough for people to play at home, but still big enough so that they could move freely.
This concluded in our final storyline:
We went ahead and organized all our work through Trello, so that we always knew what tasks were still to be completed. We mostly worked in the lab, but at times we had to work remote. We did this through Discord and of course GitHub was used at all times.
For a better understanding of our application and our target group, I created a PAKT analysis and two personas, which received further revisions through discussion in the group. In the ongoing development of the app, we used both again and again when discussing ideas and functions in order to make better design decisions.
We also sketched out all the rooms in our game to get a better understanding of the flow.
I placed necessarily and distracting objects into Unity and made them interactable. The distracting objects such as the wineglas were placed in the room with the intention of one making the mini games a bit more difficult to solve and two to give the feeling of that this submarine is indeed used by a rich person. We believed that this would make the game play much more enjoyable, than having only the necessarily objects in the room and solving every mini game as fast as possible.
To further elevate the game play I also created an atmosphere of being stuck underwater by adding atmospheric music, pictures of Atlantis as well as an underwater world with fish boids, which was observable from the inside of the submarine. If the player won an animation would play of them escaping into the underwater world.
As a way of not overwhelming the user we decided to not implement all of the wishes that were voiced. However, the ones that we did consider are included in the PACT analysis above.
With our findings we created a wireframe. This may seem redundant as we already tested with a mid-fidelity prototype, but this seemed to be the best option for us since we initially planned to use our sketches for the user testing. Furthermore, we wanted to focus on the functionality and user experience of the app first rather than the aesthetics. I was responsible for designing the translation page for our wireframe. You can interact with the Wireframes here.
We also established a design system and made custom icons for the app. However, we did not want to reinvent the wheel so they do look similar to other apps. This is to avoid the user having a hard time getting accustomed to the navigation. So whenever possible and logical we chose to establish an external consistency. I was responsible for making the smartglasses and pairing icon. All the icons were done in flat design as we wanted our app to look clean.
In the design of the logo we had to chose between a lot of designs we made. Some would been difficult to recognize, when scaled down so we decided against them. The logo we have chosen in the end is supposed to represent the globe. In front of the globe a "U" is placed, which stands for the name of our companion app. So in a sense the logo represents our goal of the app in uniting the world and overcoming language barriers. The logo is simplistic, easily recognizable, scalable and has meaning.
As for the colours we chose; we believed that the mainly blue theme of the app would contribute to the calm atmosphere that we wanted to establish. Giving the user the impression that nothing has to be rushed and everything is on its right place.
The font we chose is not a serif font. The reason being is to provide an optimal flow of reading with the user getting tired.
During various discussions about our project, we realised that a companion app to the planned VR application would make a lot of sense. For example, it would enable caregivers to intervene at any time.
I made the sketches for the companion app, whereas the sketches for the VR app were made by another group member. We discussed the functions and technical conditions of the app in detail beforehand and then implemented them in the drawings. There were several iterations in which feedback was taken into account and improvements were made.
The VR application will enable seniors to explore different places with their loved ones. In addition to the VR application, there will be a companion app to help the caregivers set up and start the VR experiences.
At the beginning of the application, the user can choose between the control modes "Easy", "Intermediate" and "Advanced". In all three modes, the game partners are represented with a realistic avatar (similar to the VR application Spatial). Spatial audio will also be used to ensure a better experience.
At the beginning, the desired user can be selected directly or a new person can be added.
In the menu, you have the option of discovering places at random or revisiting a saved location.
If you want to meet other users in VR, you can select this via the respective button.
It is also possible to change the user.
Users can choose between a pre-selection of countries or a random location. The random generator is there to prevent the user from being overwhelmed. If there are specific desired locations, it is possible to search for them.
After selecting the country, you have to decide whether you want to go to the city, to the countryside or to a river. Here, you can leave the choice to chance as well.
Since the random selection can also include places that you would like to avoid, you can create and manage a negative list of places for each profile.
Here it is possible to search for friends or meet up again with the same friends in the virtual world.
Favourite places can also be saved and viewed.
A web-based game that conducts on-the-job training efficiently with the help of a virtual assistant
