Save the Body

Students of the Minor in Improving Nutritional Behavior (Dutch: Minor Verbeteren van Voedingsgedrag) learn how the digestive system works. They master understanding of how food is digested, nutrients are absorbed, stored, and used.

The organs of the digestive system work intrically together to match the amount of hormones, enzymes and blood flow to the food that you eat. If something goes wrong, nutrients won’t be absorbed or physical complaints might arise.

The objective is to create an immersive game that indirectly teaches students which organs are involved, what their functions are and how they work together in the right order.

The complexity is in being physiologically correct, while maintaining as much of the mechanics of a traditional game genre as possible.

Scope and Requirements

• Web-based (WebGL) deployment so it is easily playable on all (desktop) platforms
• Accessible for students to test and play during the entire project
• Walk through the digestive system process and cover major organs to understand what happens there (with the different macronutrients). Extra focus on the stomach and duodenum as the primary organs.
• The connection between different parts of the game should feel natural and cohesive.
• The combination of physiological understanding (knowledge) and gameplay (skill) remains essential. Ideally, the game should serve both (either scoring points for both aspects or something similar)."

Starting Resources

• Access to the literature (Stegeman, 2021)
• Testing opportunities with the current students

Expected Deliverables

• Functional prototype of the game
• Gameplay trailer
• Documentation on game mechanics and how they align with the training objectives
• Potential roadmap for future updates or additional features based on user feedback