Can’t play just once. Game creators, both heath-related and mainstream, always hope that their game will have that gotta-play-again feeling.  What’s the point if someone plays it once and that’s it.  A game has to have good re-playability.  Great Game Tenet #4 is a no-brainer: great...

Exergaming is king. When students are trying to win major game design competitions using physical activity as a major component, you know exergaming has really arrived.  Every year the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) holds a competition for students as part of the Independent Games Festival...

Get out the grill. At the core of every health game should be great content; there should be real meat there.  And appropriately so, Great Game Tenet #3 is: a great health game has great substance.  Some would say this is easy since, for the most part, health games have a learning or behavior-changing...

Haven’t I seen this before? Continuing on with our ten-part series about how health games can utilize great game techniques seen in mainstream games, like those presented in an article by the Casual Games Association, we step right into part 2 and thus Great Game Tenet #2: a great health game is...

Greatness can come in small packages. I’m a member of the Casual Games Association which helps me stay up with the industry for our casual games for health site Playnormous. I get a magazine from them four times a year, and sometimes I run across an amazing article that must be shared. This quarter,...

Grant-worthy health game ideas from 2008. When thinking about going after a grant, it always helps to look at past winners to ensure that your idea is a good match with the awarding foundation.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Games Research initiative just announced its 2009 Call...

Funding available for novel health game research ideas. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced its 2009 Call for Proposals today.  A wide variety of researchers are encouraged to apply, including those with little experience in the field.  Submissions should be groundbreaking digital interactive...