iDeal VR Game

Intellectual Output 3

With the technological advances of the 21st century, trainers/educators/teachers are no longer limited by the space of the classroom. VR technology lets you explore the world virtually giving the lesson a different dimension and allowing educators to guide learners through collections of 360° scenes. The aim of this output is to create an innovative VR game to train individuals with ASD to deal with change in their everyday routine with the minimum feeling of stress and anxiety. The VR game will help them advance their skills and competences through simulated scenarios that will create the sensation that they are present in the place they see themselves (daily routine i.e. wake up, make the bed, get dressed, wash teeth processes), referred to as the Place Illusion. Place Illusion allows VR to be more realistic and leads to the capacity to try new situations and strategies when a change in individuals’ with ASD daily routine occurs (i.e. no clean clothes) without being stressed or concurred by the feeling of discomfort or phobia. 

The VR game will motivate in a playful manner the learners to develop their knowledge, skills, and competences on how to effectively deal with change in their routines in a virtual learning environment. Furthermore, game design principles (such as fidelity, objectives, constraints, easy to learn, fun to master, success criteria, rewards, etc) will be used. The VR educational game has the potential to be a significant tool for training due to the learner’s interaction with simulations of real-life situations, the attractiveness of the virtual reality environment as well as its immersive activities. The innovative learning material that will be produced (ongoing development of contents and structured VR scenarios will be ensured during the course of the project) and used, will be relevant to learner’s needs as these will be determined and addressed in the needs analysis of individuals with ASD in IO2. The aspects of the VR game will also cover topics that will have the appropriate pedagogical added value of fun and competition through attractive interface designs for the learners, which will contribute to minimising their stress levels. The VR game will also have maintainability, upgrade capabilities, sustainability and feasibility within the iDEAL project framework. The VR game will support at least the languages for the participating countries plus the English language. The language mechanism (support multilingual environment) will be developed in a way that could be easily adapted to other languages to have a strong transferability potential in EU and worldwide levels.