253Games Projects
Virtual Reality Memory Project
The Virtual Reality Memory Project can be utilized in experimental settings to address research questions within the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience regarding embodiment. Currently, the project aims to research the influence of embodiment on memory.
The project enables researchers to effectively manipulate the presence and absence of a body within virtual reality environments. Researchers can also use the application to transfer participants to different everyday household location, such as a kitchen or a bathroom.
Development: 2020, by Aakash Makhija
Contact: Albert Postma
10 Years Up
Ten Years Up (10YUP) is a project within the Department of Social, Health and Organisational Psychology of Utrecht University. The goal of this project is to set up a cohort of 1000 young people (16 years old) that we want to follow for ten years. With this cohort we want to answer important questions about the development of self-regulation and the achievement of goals. In order to measure the development of self-regulation, we are currently working on the development of a new measuring instrument in the form of a web-based application for smartphones.
The app contains a module that probes current goals in a playful tinder-like interface, modules that shows questions that are conditional on a date range, and a module in which participants can change settings of their app, such as theme colours, pick an avatar, email address and/or phone number and a link to previous results.
Development: 2019-2020, by Anca Negulescu, Paul van der Maarel
Contact: Jeroen Benjamins
PlayLocal2Local
PlayLocal2Local is developed in the SMARTCHAIN project. The aim of the game is to connect consumers and farmers in the Utrecht region. For example, farmers can offer products, and consumers can buy them. Or farmers can start producing when there are enough applications to make a product. It is a pervasive game, which is played on a digital device, but leads to actions and transactions in the real world.
Development: 2019-2020
Contact: Remco Veltamp
GameOlympics
GameOlympics is developed within the PREHealth project, promoting urban planning for health and fitness in urban green and blue infrastructures. The goal of this game is enhancing social inclusion at chronical ill children. These children have a higher chance of being socially excluded and as a result of this not being able to reach different social milestones. If this is the case, these children can have a high chance of having social issues and depressiveness later on in live. Therefore, it is tested whether a location-based game can be used as tool to enhance feelings of social inclusion at chronical ill children. A game has been developed on the basis of the GameOlympics template, with chronically ill children, domain experts, and a graduate student. With help of the TaleBlazer game development tool the game is actually developed. Next, the game has been tested on the hypothesis that location-based games can help chronical ill children.
Development: 2018-2019, by Bram Agterberg
Contact: Remco Veltkamp
For more examples of games developed by Utrecht University students, see Game Technology bachelor projects.