Serious Games Theme for July Meetup

July's Auckland Game Developers Meetup has taken a serious gaming twist - with two games for health presenting their projects.

They're both professionally funded projects, based on academically-rigourous designs, but with gaming principles added on top.

Maru Nihoniho of Metia Interactive will talk aboutthe Sparx e-therapy game.  This is a 3D fantasy world 'serious game' designed to teach young people self-help skills for depression. The game was developed for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences of the University of Auckland and funded by the Ministry of Health New Zealand.

Brightmind Labs fuses gaming principles with Cognitive Behavioural Theraphy to get results for kids with mental health issues. Their first game FriendQuest helps kids on the austistic spectrum better recognise emotions.

For the full agenda check out http://www.agw.org.nz/meeting