The NomNom GameKit Project

Better Nutrition GamesFood

www.gamesforhealth.org

Ben  Sawyerbsawyer@dmill.com  

@bensawyer

Nutrition Games• Name the best nutrition game you played last

year?

• Most apps focus on diets, eating plans, counting calories, not systemic behavior change

• Gamut of opportunities wider than eat-this not-that

• Catch the fruit should not be a genre

Nutrition???

“I don’t think about nutrition, I think about food.

Make stuff about food.”

- Early brainstorming participant

Food!

Cooking

Portions

Nutrition

MyPlate

Grocery Shopping

Dining Out

Food Marketing

Gardening

Snacking

Food Ethics

Food Security

Food Deserts

Food SafetySchool LunchesCalorie Counting

Meal PlanningDieting

Emotional Eating

Empty Calories

Games about Food…

Games with Food!

Minecraft

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

Catch the FruitWe’re not kidding!

This is not a meaningful choice

vs.

or an interesting one…

Food vs. Exercise• We equate exercise as the answer for poor food habits!

• Exercise has benefits beyond weight & waist line

• Nutrition has benefits beyond weight & waist line

• On average exercise can help people lose 10 pounds

• Nutrition and eating habits are bigger issue

• We over emphasize exercise as the antecedent of poor food habits

Starting points?

• FDA database wasn’t as useful for making games

• Broad free/open food database for apps is lacking

• Subject matter expertise online is muddled

• There are few tools, if any for food projects

Summary…

• Many options for food and games exist

• Few are meaningful or interesting!

• The relationship between food and exercise is over-emphasized — need deeper experiences

• The starting points are not great

What to do?

Meet & Think…• Convened nutritionists for input

• Examined nutrition textbooks for curriculum

• Looked at food games, apps, sites!

• Discussed databases, and nutrition information

• How can reduce risk & effort of “1st playable”?

How?• The diversity of topics is strength but what’s the

common denominator?

• Get people purposely exploring beyond calories and binary choices (i.e. fruit vs. pizza)

• How to simplify yet broaden!

• How to engage developers and non-developers?

Outcome Goals• Reset from nutrition to food

• Identify plethora of issues around food that improves health & health outcomes!

• Enable one effort that addresses all of them

• Identify areas where games could offer deeper food content and help designers there too

• How to improve number of games about food worked on to some playable level

Idea: Prototyping Kit!“Prototype more, suck less”

- Greg Costikyan

Prototyping kit• Cards & Board Game : enables ability to cheaply

prototype both for offline & online systems

• Helps everyone: app, gamification, and game developers

• Works for non-technical: no programming needed (at least for initial work)

• Focuses on values, and systems: less ability to focus and get fixated on media effects

Project NomNom• We will never design the perfect food/nutrition game

• Enabling hundreds of developers, students, health professionals might result in some real stars

• Designer integrates various food data we curate

• Working paper prototypes can be converted to digital or polished board game form

• Design system for “cross orientation”(i.e. help developers understand food, and nutrition/food experts understand games)

Kit 1.0• Food Cards : Blank cards, with color codes, spots for customized data

• Action Cards : Blank cards, with color codes, etc. + stickers for customization

• Custom Dice : Printed sticker sheets for customization

• 4 Game Boards : Meal Planner, Kitchen, Grids, Body

• MyPlates : 4-8 paper MyPlates for creating games using MyPlate approach

• Meeples : Wooden figures, to represent family units, people in your games

• Money : Play money to make play purchases

• Tokens : Small cardboard chits with different elements on them

• Stickers : Our data (e.g. “allergy alert!”) is in sticker form that you apply to cards

• Printouts : Additional printouts for things like menus, recipes, etc.

Meeples

Tokens

Food Cards

FRUIT

Alerts

Namespace $

Three Data Boxes

Background color

matches MyPlate

Circle spot ideal for picture

of item

e.g. Common Serving Size, Calories, Fats

1. Allergy 2. Empty Calories 3. Processed 4. Sodium Alert !are 4 possible alerts binary labels to place here

possible contextual

modifier (e.g. whole grain for

grains)

MyPlate Colors & Beyond

Vegetable!! ! ! ! Green!Fruit Red Protein Purple Grains Orange!Oils Yellow!Dairy! Blue!Beverage Cyan!Condiment/Seasoning Black!Prepared/Packaged Dark Brown

FRUIT

Orange $1

1 Each 65 Calories .2g

FRUIT

Verb Sticker/Writing Area

iIMAGE!AREA

Icons, Instructions, etc.

Color Code!Modifier Area

Action Code Area 32 AB

Hunger Cue

+1

Roll to see if you snack between meals

Verb Sheets

Cooking Eating

Shopping Gardening

Dining Nutrition Game Blank

Eat more Eat less

Snack attack Craving

Give Take Trade 1-4 Turn

Reverse Wild Card New Rules Eliminate Everyone

Shuffle + - x ?

Verb Sheets

Cooking Eating

Shopping Gardening

Dining Nutrition Game Blank

Blend Boil

Bone Braise Broil

Brush Caramelize

Chop Dice Drain

Julienne Grind Grill

Grate Fry

Marinate Mash Mince Puree

Tenderize Reduce

Roast Scald Saute Sear

Season Sift

Skim Simmer Skewer Smoke Steam Whip Zest Stock Au Jus Gravy Parfait Sauce Bread Tartar Sushi Baste Cream Saute

Body Concept

Grid Board

Meal Planning Board

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

Burner 2Burner1

Burner 3 Burner 4

Cutting Board 1

ToasterOven Microwave

Oven

Cutting Board 2

Cutting Board 3

Sink

Refrigerator

Freezer

Stovetop

Outdoor Gas Grill

Specialized Appliances Kitchen Board Concept

1 6 .1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

1 6 .

Kits• 100+ kits will be ready fall ’14

• Individuals & Organizations apply to receive a kit!

• Kit awardees must produce 1 prototype and post ingredients plus rules

• Sponsored jams, contests to incentivize developers

• Make your own kit files available for download

Next Steps• Build updated prototype materials

• Final dataset for cards & sticker sheets

• Contract all manufacturing!

• Assemble kits

• Debut web site