Physion

Physion is glad to announce that our final deliverable for this semester’s project is complete and in play testing phase at the moment. We had a very successful soft opening on Monday and were even able to demonstrate the game real-time with our guests as players, including Don Marinelli and Curt Bererton. Watch this space for a gameplay demo or visit us at Entertainment Technology Center to play the game!

Trapped is a game that utilizes sounds and visuals to make the player go through different stages of biofeedback arousal: he can be scared, nervous, relaxed, or bored. The player wears a headset to measure brainwave activity and three sensors on his/hers fingers that measure heart beat variance and GSR. We also alter the gameplay to keep the player more engaged. If you find the game too difficult, the number of enemies decreases and vice verse. If you’re nervous, the screen blurs and you can hear your heart racing. And the calmer you are, the more precise are your shots, indicated by a growing/shrinking crosshair.

We also developed a tool to capture and analyze player’s biofeedback and compare it to a different person’s sample or data from a previous play of the game. With this, we hope to make it possible to control the biofeedback curve, flatten or sharpen it. One of potential, real-world uses for our game is to aid in overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder by having a patient play the game multiple times to flatten out the biofeedback curve.