Grendel Games (http://www.grendel-games.com) was established in 2003 by Tim Laning and Jan-Jaap Severs in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.

It is currently a leading Dutch serious game developer in the field of medical serious games, and strongly focused on rehabilitation games with partner Motek Medical. A/Prof Daniel Fung speaks to Tim Laning, co-founder of Grendel Games, to find out more.

A/Prof Daniel Fung – DF: Can you define the concept of serious games and what it is?

Tim Laning – TL: In our view, serious games are entertaining computer and video games that are primarily fun to play for the target audience, but also provide some kind of information, training or awareness. The fun element is very important here; a game that’s enjoyable will keep

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the target audience hooked for a longer period of time, increasing the exposure to said training or information stream.

DF: Can you tell us how you star ted work with serious games?

TL: Grendel Games star ted out purely as an entertainment game development studio, creating games primarily for the PC platform, using custom-made technology (a so-called “game engine”) to power our products. Having always closely cooperated with various educations at the local University of Professional Education, we came across an opportunity to improve on an existing educational tool in use by the university’s Maritime school, by building an accurate

and interactive 3D representation of an engine room present in large tanker vessels.

By employing our custom engine we were able to create an interactive 3D environment in which Maritime students not only learn which instruments and machinery to operate under which conditions, but also where these machines are located spatially, something previously not possible in the existing schematic learning tool they used to use. The Vir tual Reality Engine Room has been a standard tool in the curriculum at the Maritime school since 2005.

From this first step into creating applications using game technology, but not primarily for entertainment purposes, we expanded into building applications that are more like entertainment games, as opposed to being simulators, for various different fields such as physical rehabilitation, training of motor skills for surgeons and raising awareness about sustainable water technology for high school students, amongst others.

DF: What is the serious games market like and what are the health applications that you are aware of?

TL: At this point in time, we see the (medical) serious games market being powered by project proposals initiated by hospitals and medical professionals. The games that are created are used in relatively small environments with small user populations, and often primarily for research and training of medical professionals as opposed to training or rehabilitation of a patient population. A necessary step in the expansion of the market is to look at the patient as our end user and also as our client, instead of seeing, for instance, a hospital as our client. By targeting, marketing and selling to the end user directly (like is customary to do so with entertainment games), serious games will be able to

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INTERVIEW

reach a broader audience, the games’ lifespan will be increased and this allows the developer to do more iterations on the game based on user feedback. Medical professionals and game developers should be developing for the end consumer together, building quality products based on their complementary knowledge.

DF: How do you see serious games developing into the future in terms of standalone systems like Wii or Xbox Kinect versus its use on social media, mobile phones and even TV?

TL: For every game there is a platform or system that best suits it, and different platforms appeal to different target audiences. For every project idea we investigate which platform would best suit it based on requirements like age group, interests of the population etc. For instance, social media and mobile phones might be well suited for raising awareness because of the ability to easily communicate with others, TV might be well suited for populations with a great proportion of the very young or very old, because of the mainstream-ness of the medium, and optical tools like Kinect can be employed in physical activity and rehabilitation games. For every system there are games that suit it well and we expect to see a broad spectrum of games on a broad spectrum of systems in the future.

DF: What does Grendel Games do and are you interested in working with doctors and other healthcare professionals?

TL: Grendel Games creates a variety of different products, ranging from pure entertainment games for PC, Mac and various game consoles, to serious games for rehabilitation, training of medical professionals, providing information and awareness for patients. The creation of high quality products and their validation cannot be done without intensive cooperation with medical and healthcare professionals. Grendel Games often works together with two different local hospitals (of which one is a university hospital), rehabilitation centres, physical therapists, or speech therapists, depending on the specific needs of the product and the target audience.

In fact, we have just recently been to Singapore in August 2011 to speak at the Serious Games Conference, organised by Asia Events and supported by the Media Development Authority of Singapore. Our scope of cooperation cuts across various countries and we are always looking for possibilities of international partnership. At this stage, as we are still based in the Netherlands, should a local company or institute like to partner with Grendel Games, they can also get in touch with the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency

(NFIA), which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. The NFIA, which has an office in Singapore within the Dutch Embassy, acts as a one-stop shop to assist companies with their set up inquiries in the Netherlands and technology “matchmaking” on a complimentary and confidential basis.

Thus to go back to the question, we are always open to potential collaborators.

DF: If doctors are interested in serious games in their practices, where should they go or what should they do?

TL: We think a good serious game depends on two things: proper medical/healthcare knowledge and content, and a good game design. The presence of these two implies close cooperation between the healthcare professional and the game development professional. The first thing a healthcare professional should do is to search out a serious games developer that can help with translating a defined problem into an enjoyable game solution.

Tim Laning, co-founder of Grendel Games