Lessons From Designing A Game To Support Playfulness In Multisensory Stimulation Environments

We report on the design research process of a game as experimental model to support a ludic context between an occupational therapist and a child with intellectual disability. Having a multisensory stimulation environment as context for integration, the prototype was tested with eleven children playing it for the first time. Test results were coded as time-based events taking place during the play sessions, from which the ability of the participants to use and control the game became evident. The content analysis of the video recordings accounts for gameplay instances that show the adequacy of the designed solution in mobilizing playfulness, and describes a ludic context marked by abundant child-therapist verbal and non-verbal interactions. Authors draw lessons from this process to the design of games to support playfulness in such contexts: provide a context for player-therapist interaction, empower body as interface, enable flexibility of performance, coordinate multisensory stimulus, provide ludic cues, enable personalization of presence.