General
Balance Stompers is a Wii Balance Board game for lower-limb balance training for children with cerebral palsy, targeting children aged 10+ who are beginning to practice walking movements after achieving standing stability. In collaboration with Adelante, we conducted field research [1], carried out expert reviews, and tested our game with a child in active rehabilitation, refining game pacing and visual interaction design through iterative prototyping (T&R) [2]. The game included two progressive modes, Rise (leg-lift) and Stride (forward-backward stepping), calibrated to therapeutic goals while maintaining child engagement through considered game aesthetics (C&A), and received positive feedback from both therapists and children.
Contribution to PI&V
This was my first health-related project and my first experience managing expectations across stakeholders in a cross-cultural clinical setting. Field observation at Adelante grounded every design decision in the reality of rehabilitation rather than assumption, significantly deepening my U&S practice. It was here that I first understood design not only as problem-solving, but as a way to make an existing process more engaging and less burdensome.
Involved Expertise Areas
- U&S: clinical field research, contextual observation
- T&R: iterative game prototyping
- C&A: child engagement, game aesthetics
Links
More project details see Dribble
References
[1]: Design Research Through Practice: http://www.sciencedirect.com:5070/book/monograph/9780123855022/design-research-through-practice
[2]: What is Iterative Development? - updated 2025: 2016. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/iterative-development