Game

SugarVita

The Game

SugarVita is a fun and easy to use educational board game to help patients learn about, and gain insights into a life with diabetes (type 2). In the game, you play a day in the life of a diabetes patient having to manage glucose levels throughout the day while also managing everyday events like eating meals, going to a party or doing groceries. 

SugarVita has been in development since 2017, but has only recently been working together with the TU/e. This gave SugarVita the opportunity to work alongside GameBus.

GameBus is a product created at the TU/e within a project called "Diagame". The product is a social health platform where users can link their fit-apps and will soon have the opportunity to link to SugarVita as well. Users can join a circle with friends and share health activities and even challenge their circle to a friendly competition. GameBus has their own website, app and API for SugarVita to connect to. Using GameBus, SugarVita can benefit from the personalisation options it provides.

* In the current state of development, the game is fully in Dutch. 

** For more information, visit the official SugarVita website (only in Dutch)

Gameflow

The screenshots below picture the current state of the game (after most changes from Devlogs are already made). The most recent public version can be found in both Google Play and Apple Appstore. 

Menu's

The game currently has a mandatory login however this has been temporarily disabled in the current releases on the appstores. The menu provides information about the game, credits and some legal terms & conditions. After logging in, you get the option to play the game which will lead to the setup. 

*In the latest version, the login is optional (see devlog). 

Setup

During the setup stage of the game, you have different options and ways to play. The first variables are the number of players and virtual opponents. The total number of players and virtual opponents combined, cannot be more than 4 in the current state of the game. There is also an option to customise the number of days to simulate, which translates to the number of rounds are played on the gameboard. 

Each individual player has to create their own profile choosing a name, selecting a colour and using a predefined or custom diabetes profile. This affects the variables of the game significantly based on the type of diabetes and medication you take. 

Gameplay

When you get into the game, players follow a set cycle after which the turn changes. The main cycle is as follows:

1. The player throws the dice.
2. The player selects the tile to move towards (sometimes there are multiple options).
3. The tile performs an action on the player based on the tile type.
4. Based on the current state of the player, a couple of checks will be taking place and will suggest the player to perform actions like eating breakfast or using medication. These actions can be skipped but are strongly advised. 
5. The player gets some downtime in which the bag can be used. The bag provides the player with multiple optional actions like eating a snack, exercising or use additional medication. 
6. When the player is ready, the turn can be finished by clicking the bottom-right button. The next player will be on turn and the cycle continues until all players finished the last day (round on the board).

Results

When all players finished the game, a results page gets shown in which the players can check out the statistics of their in-game days. Events are logged and a graph is shown with the glucose values of the player over-time. Also, a winner is chosen based on the scores. From this page, the player will be able to get back to the menu's and restart the game.