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Changing Realities: Indie VR Game Development for Hospitals
Sunday, June 17th, 2018
10:00am-10:25pm
CR1D2-18 (Room 204)
CONFERENCE PASS OR MULTIPASS REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION
10:00am-10:25pm
CR1D2-18 (Room 204)
CONFERENCE PASS OR MULTIPASS REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION
Changing Realities: Indie VR Game Development for Hospitals.
This is the story of the trials and tribulations associated with the unceremonious birth of Voxel Bay.
US Hospitals are undoubtedly some of the most steadfast, conventional, and traditional institutions in the world. As an operating model, it is certainly necessary to safeguard patients’ care and wellbeing that is entrusted to the hospital. A byproduct, however, is that healthcare industry is at the same time desperately in need of a new reality but resistant to change, and sometimes feels like a sterile environment devoid of the “care” in healthcare.
In the universe outside the healthcare industry radical positive change has occurred, most notably within longstanding media industries such as film, music, and most recently the game industry. All these revolutions have a common thread: open access to independent producers that challenge an industry by doing things differently and not following convention. In the scope of the US healthcare system, the primordial soup that enables this type of disruptive and reality changing shift is suppressed to the point of ceasing to exist. In some cases, this type of behavior is expelled from the industry altogether. There are, of course, exceptions and rule breakers.
Voxel Bay, an “independent VR game platform” developed at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and nurtured to maturity by LittleSeed, Inc, followed the indie game norms and created something fun, surprising, and unique in the most unexpected place: a hospital. In a realm where following orders and rules are enforced with veracity, Voxel Bay and the story of its creation stand as a testament to what can happen when people break the rules for positive change, and the realities made real when they follow convention even in the most conventional of institutions.
Jeremy Patterson, Chief Creative Technology Officer | LittleSeed.io
Jeremy Patterson is Lead of the User Experience Technology Research and Development at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a Lecturer at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at The Ohio State University. While at his current position at the Research Institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Jeremy has been instrumental in spearheading advanced technology projects at the organization, culminating in 6 virtual and mixed reality endeavors to date, ten digital and hardware cross-over projects and 4 US patents.
Voxel Bay (http://voxelbay.com) is the most notable of these endeavors, having been the subject of a presentation and publication at ACM SIGGRAPH 2016 (http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2927403), as well as a being a nominated finalist at South by Southwest Interactive for 2017 and the Miracle Maker of the Year from the Children’s Miracle Network, the highest honor CMN awards annually.
Jeremy is Co-Founder and Chief Creative Technology Officer at LittleSeed inc, which specializes in experiences that deliver first of its kind, evidence-based fun to all areas in hospitals. LittleSeed’s products transform the patient and family experience, turning tears into laughter in clinics everywhere. The company use cutting-edge technologies to reimagine patient experiences with the flair of the entertainment industry, with effortless integration into clinical practice. The tools are easy to use technology that makes physicians, clinicians, caregivers, and most importantly patients and families, better and well. All this with no barriers, now or into the future of healthcare experience. LittleSeed will revolutionize the patient experience and improve a lifetime of outcomes for all patients and families. In this future LittleSeed enables, no one ever has to be scared or anxious to visit their doctor, ever again.
Jeremy is also faculty at The Ohio State University and teaches at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, a cross-discipline center within the College of Design. Previous to his work at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Jeremy led the research, design, and development efforts on new initiatives at Netscape and America Online. Jeremy has years of recognized experience as a skilled multi-discipline technical expert who creates integrated, interactive experiences for children of all ages, sometimes also referred to as adults. His previous work through McGraw-Hill, Genentech and Cartoon Network has been experienced and enjoyed by children in classrooms, living rooms and doctor’s offices across the country.
