1. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
An Analysis of
Game Design Issues
in Brain Games
Brian M. Winn
Carrie Heeter
Apar Maniar
http://gel.msu.edu
©Michigan State University, 2009

2. Games for
Health
Conference
Our Backgrounds
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Brian and Carrie
» professors at Michigan State University
» teach serious game design in the SGD MA
program at MSU
» developed Brain Powered Games, a suite of 5
brain games in 2007-2008
» Apar Maniar
» grad student in SGD MA program
» this research relates to Apar’s in-progress
thesis
http://gel.msu.edu

3. Games for
Health
Conference
Games I am playing
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

4. Games for
Health
Conference
Games I am playing
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu
dmat.msu.edu/showcase

5. Games for
Health
Conference
Brain Games are Ubiquitous!
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Explosion of "brain games"
» Google search for “brain games”
yields 18M hits.
» Sharp Brains 2008 market report
studied 20 companies in the brain
game market.
» Brain games span platforms
» Many are free; some require a
subscription or purchase
» Some are single games, some are
http://gel.msu.edu integrated suites of games
» Some are more gamey, others are
more trainey.

6. Games for
Health
Conference
Our analysis
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Most people ask, do brain games
have positive impacts on brain
health?
» This is increasingly supported by
research.
» We ask a quite different
question…
» How good are brain games, as
http://gel.msu.edu
games?
» Disclaimer

7. Games for
Health
Conference
Methods
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» We looked at "best of breed" –
commercial brain game companies
offering integrated suites of games
» Available via the internet (web-based
or downloadable) for a PC or Mac.
» Did not explore console or handheld.
» We targeted games which primarily
exercised a particular cognitive
function
 We used our neurologist’s definitions,
http://gel.msu.edu which usually agreed with company’s self
classification.
 Excluded executive functioning

8. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
The Sample
visual-
WEB memory spatial language attention total
Fit Brains 2 2 2 2 8
Happy Neuron 2 2 2 2 8
Lumosity 2 2 1 2 7
DOWNLOADABLE
Brain Challenge 1 1 0 1 3
Brainiversity 1 0 1 1 3
http://gel.msu.edu Big Fish Brain
0 2 2 0 4
Teasers
total 8 9 8 8 33

9. Games for
Health
Conference
ATTENTION GAMES
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

10. Games for
Health
Conference
MEMORY GAMES
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

11. Games for
Health
Conference
VISUAL-SPATIAL GAMES
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu
ELEMENTS JIGSAW WORLD

12. Games for
Health
Conference
LANGUAGE GAMES
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
WORD ZEN: FORGOTTEN
http://gel.msu.edu
Mahjongg RIDDLES: The
Reinvented Moonlight Sonatas

13. Games for
Health
Conference
How did we define fun?
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Beauty » Creation
» Immersion » Power
» Intellectual » Exploration/Discove
Problem Solving ry
» Competition » Advancement &
» Social Interaction Completion
» Humor » Mental Ability
» Thrill of Danger » Altruism*
» Physical Activity
http://gel.msu.edu » Learning*
» Love
Pierre-Alexandre Garneau - Fourteen Forms of Fun

14. Games for
Health
Conference
How did we evaluate
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Three players
» Each coded forms of fun as
 0=not present
 1=slightly present
 2=extensively present
» Also coded many other aspects
» Once all the players had coded
 checked for reliability
 ensured each of the coder understood the
various categories
http://gel.msu.edu
 some recoding

15. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
Forms of Fun (n=29, pure BGs)
Boston, MA
mental ability 100%
advancement & completion 48%
competition 48%
beauty 45%
immersion 45%
intellectual problem solving 24%
exploration/discovery 21%
story 21%
humor 17%
learning (about real world) 17%
creation 10%
http://gel.msu.edu thrill of danger 7%
physical ability, application of ability,
social interaction, love, power,
altruism 0%

16. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
Fun by Brain Domain (n=29)
Average (based on 0 to 2 scale)
language visual memory attention
mental ability 1.8 1.5 1.8 1.5
advancement & completion 0.3 0.5 0.9 0.9
competition 1.5 1.4 1.6 1.3
visual beauty 0.7 0.5 0.3 0.5
immersion (sense of place) 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.8
int. problem-solving 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.4
exploration/discovery 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.3
story 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.1
humor 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.1
learning (about real world) 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.3
http://gel.msu.edu
creation 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0
thrill of danger 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.0

17. Games for
Health
Conference
Total Forms of Fun
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
(n=33)
Average Variance
Big Fish games 7.6 0.5
Fit Brains 6.1 1.3
Lumosity 4.4 2.9
Brainiversity 3.0 1.0
Brain Challenge 3.0 1.7
Happy Neuron 2.5 1.7
1 game had 1 form of fun
1 game had 10 forms of fun
http://gel.msu.edu
the average was 4.5

18. Games for
Health
Conference
Should brain games be fun?
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» YES?
 People will play more if it’s fun.
 More people will play if it’s fun.
 Fun is positive for mental health.
» NO?
 It has to be hard to be good for you.
Maybe that’s not fun?
 Is there an added placebo effect if
mental exercise is not fun?
http://gel.msu.edu
 Designing for fun may conflict with
cognitive goals of the exercise.

19. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
How to improve the “fun factor”
Boston, MA
» Enhance the visual beauty of the game.
Visual Style
Big Fish games 3.0
Fit Brains
Happy Neuron 2.9
Brain Challenge 2.7
Lumosity 2.1
1.5
http://gel.msu.edu
Brainiversity 1.0

20. Games for
Health
Conference
Brainiversity
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

21. Games for
Health
Conference
Happy Neuron
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

22. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA Lumosity
http://gel.msu.edu

23. Games for
Health
Conference
Brain Challenge
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu
Brain Challenge by Gameloft

24. Games for
Health
Conference
Fit Brain
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
http://gel.msu.edu

25. Games for
Health
Conference
How to improve the “fun factor”
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Add a backstory
» 1 of 29 brain games had a backstory
» (3 of 4 casuals games did)
» Create a scenario
» 48% none, 38% slight, 14% rich
» Give the player a role to play
» 31% had an imaginary player role
» 17% an actual player story
http://gel.msu.edu
» Story, scenario, and visual style
should work in tandem to create a
coherent experience

26. Games for
Health
Conference
How to improve the “fun factor”
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Use sound to enhance immersion
sound pleasing mood
continuous feedbac (not sound
music k “plain”) effects
Big Fish games 100% 100% 100% 75%
Brain Challenge 100% 100% 67% 33%
Brainiversity 100% 100% 33% 0%
Fit Brains 0% 100% 63% 75%
Lumosity 0% 100% 14% 14%
http://gel.msu.edu
Happy Neuron 0% 100% 0% 0%

27. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
How to improve the “fun factor”
Boston, MA
» Makes sure the challenge keeps
the player in the flow channel
Selectable Challenge
(n)
difficulty increases
Brain Challenge 100% 100% 3
Happy Neuron 100% 25% 8
Big Fish games 50% 75% 4
Brainiversity 0% 67% 3
http://gel.msu.edu
Lumosity 0% 57% 7
Fit Brains 0% 50% 8

28. Games for
Health
Conference
How to improve the “fun factor”
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Give the player choice (player
selectable content)
Content
Happy Neuron 25%
Fit Brains 13%
Brain Challenge 0%
Lumosity 0%
Brainiversity 0%
http://gel.msu.edu
3 of 29 BGs allowed players to select content.

29. Games for
Health
Conference
How to improve the “fun factor”
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Guide the player (provide hints)
Hints
Big Fish games 100%
Happy Neuron 25%
Fit Brains 25%
Lumosity 14%
Brainiversity 0%
http://gel.msu.edu
Brain Challenge 0%
Only 17% of BGs offered players hints.

30. Games for
Health
Conference
June 11-12, 2009
How to improve the “fun factor”
Boston, MA
» Provide informative feedback and
take advantage of competition
http://gel.msu.edu

31. Games for
Health
Conference
Conclusions
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» There are likely many motivators
that bring people to brain games.
» Fun is one motivator that has not
been fully utilized to date.
» There are several ways to improve
the fun in these games.
» The forms of fun serve as one
http://gel.msu.edu
guide to increasing the fun in brain
games.

32. Games for
Health
Conference
Questions?
June 11-12, 2009
Boston, MA
» Brian Winn (winnb@msu.edu)
» Carrie Heeter (heeter@msu.edu)
» Apar Maniar
(apar.maniar@gmail.com)
» http://gel.msu.edu
» http://seriousgames.msu.edu
http://gel.msu.edu