Puzzlegram: A Serious Game Designed for the Elderly in Group Settings

Puzzlegram is a serious game prototype designed to improve the well-being of elderly individuals through collaborative, music-based group interaction. The primary thesis posits that serious games for the elderly must move beyond generic entertainment to provide meaningful, purposeful experiences that foster individual capability. By utilizing familiar music as a core mechanic, the game aims to leverage autobiographical memory to drive engagement, motivation, and social interaction among players, thereby addressing the limitations of existing products that often lack specific design rigor for this demographic.

The game functions as a non-competitive, three-player software-led hardware experience. Players use individual controllers to interact with 16 haptic regions, which are linked to specific musical segments and color displays. The objective is for the group to collaboratively reconstruct a recognizable song by matching haptic inputs to visual cues. The design intentionally avoids formal tutorials and competitive ranking, instead prioritizing player exploration and agency. The methodology is grounded in the capability approach, which emphasizes human diversity and the importance of recognizing an individual's potential to function and contribute within a social context.

Future development of the project may incorporate artificial intelligence to adapt the game’s problem-solving tasks to varying levels of cognitive function, allowing for real-time monitoring of player interaction. The research concludes that there is a critical need for a more robust framework in serious game design that prioritizes empowerment and social connection for the aging population. By shifting the focus from passive care to active, purposeful engagement, the project seeks to establish a new standard for how technology can serve the needs of a globally aging society.