Abstract:The work presented here suggests new ways to tackle exergames for physical rehabilitation and to improve the players' immersion and involvement. The primary (but not exclusive) purpose is to increase the motivation of children and adolescents with severe physical impairments, for doing their required exercises while playing. The proposed gaming environment is based on the Kinect sensor and the Blender Game Engine. A middleware has been implemented that efficiently transmits the data from the sensor to the game. Inside the game, different newly proposed mechanisms have been developed to distinguish pure exercise-gestures from other movements used to control the game (e.g., opening a menu). The main contribution is the amplification of weak movements, which allows the physically impaired to have similar gaming experiences as the average population. To test the feasibility of the proposed methods, four mini-games were implemented and tested by a group of 11 volunteers with different disabilities, most of them bound to a wheelchair. Their performance has also been compared to that of a healthy control group. Results are generally positive and motivating, although there is much to do to improve the functionalities. There is a major demand for applications that help to include disabled people in society and to improve their life conditions. This work will contribute towards providing them with more fun during exercise.

This work presents the "Blexer" (Blender Exergames) system for therapeutic exergames designed for people with physical dysfunctionalities. The users control the games with corporal movements, captured by the Kinect® sensor. Games incorporate an amplifying functionality that enhances the immersive feeling. Via the medical platform "Blexer-med", clinicians configure the games individually for each patient. On the user's PC, the middleware "Chiro" is used to transmit configuration data and results between the games and the web platform. Opposed to similar approaches found in literature, our system does not rely on pathology specific mini-games but focus on the design of generic "Full-Play" games, with a complete and compelling gaming environment. The principles of eight Core Drives defined in the Octalysis framework have been applied in the design of the first prototype game "Phiby's Adventure" presented here. It contains four generic exercises useful for daily training.

Abstract-This paper presents the design of a new exergaming environment consisting of a modular middleware tool aimed at serving for intelligent adventure games. The middleware provides a modular and user-adaptive interface for data exchange between different devices (to date it supports a motion capture camera, a mobile phone, and a VR headset) and Blender. The target group is formed by young people between ages 6 to 26 with different physical diseases (muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, accidents, etc.). The gaming environment focuses especially on user awareness, immersion, and adaptability to special needs.

Abstract-This paper describes the development of a software complement for Blender (a freely available animation software) which allows to insert motion data obtained from a motion capture camera device. The main target is to provide Blender with a tool to develop exergames, i.e. serious games for performing physical exercises, which are fully adaptive to the user's needs and capabilities, especially addressing chronical patients or handicapped. The plugin incorporates both: motion control and recording, allowing to store user movements. Transmission is realized via the OSC (Open Sound Control) protocol. The tool is still under development, here a first version is presented showing its functionalities in a demo-game. In the future, sensor data from other devices is planned to be integrated.

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