EasyAffecta: A framework to develop serious games for virtual rehabilitation with affective adaptation

Serious games have been applied in many contexts, aiming to turn learning and training activities more attractive for users. The motor rehabilitation process is a scenario in which serious games present benefits such as keeping the user’s motivation. Nevertheless, the development of these games is a complex task, especially when user’s motivation is a key goal. Some strategies have been investigated to automatically adapt these games to keep one’s engagement. However, fast implementation with little effort is an open issue. To support a game with automatic adaptation considering the emotional state of the user, we propose an Affective Computing framework, called EasyAffecta. EasyAffecta provides benefits for physiotherapists, developers, and patients alike. The impact of our proposal was analyzed by conducting two experimental evaluations involving different actors. The first one was carried with patients of motor rehabilitation process. Additionally, we conducted an experimental evaluation with developers. The results showed that EasyAffecta was considered useful by developers and efficient to maintain the patient’s engagement.