Towards a therapist-centered programming environment for creating rehabilitation games

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the developed world. Motion based video games show promise in helping people with hemiparesis (or partial paralysis) due to a stroke recover motor abilities. However, commercially available games are typically only playable by a minority of people with hemiparesis. Custom games can address the needs of a broader group of people with hemiparesis, but are expensive and time consuming to build. Environments that enable therapists to quickly create motion-based games tailored to individuals with hemiparesis may enable faster research exploration of the rehabilitation game design space and, ultimately, wider use of games in stroke recovery. This paper presents guidelines for and research challenges in the design of programming tools for therapists drawn from two studies. In the first study, we asked ten therapists to describe the relationship between players performing therapeutic motions and the motions of objects within the game world. Based on the language study results, we augmented an existing novice programming environment with support to detect and react to therapy motions. A second study, in which we asked pairs of therapists to design and build a therapeutic game, suggests guidelines for supporting therapists in programming games. These include including focusing on the player rather than input devices and using a mixture of events and constraints to capture player motion.