Gamer vogue.

The style, the color, the flare!  An important element to any game is the art assets.  This gives the game its feel, its personality.  Great Game Tenet #5: great health games have great art.

Art versus content.

Some, like Whyville’s founder Dr. James Bower, believe that good art isn’t necessary for a successful health game.  At last year’s Games for Health Conference in Baltimore, Dr. Bower argued that you have good content, people will come.  I agree with this to a certain extent, however, especially where kids are concerned, there is a certain level of expectation in gaming.  High-quality design, characters, textures, colors, saturation, and lighting are all things kids come to expect in a “good” game.  Some purely educational games can get away with limited art, but even these are starting to catch up with the commercial competition.

Health games that do it well.

Free Dive is a perfect example of a health game that uses art to its fullest potential.  With breathtaking waterscapes and life-like 3D sea creatures, this game is so amazing to watch that it is used to distract children who undergo painful medical procedures.  In a more cartoonish style, Fatworld also has its art down pat.  This game, which tackles issues like obesity, nutrition and food politics, has an elaborate set of art assets, right down to customizable characters.  Fatworld has its own sense of artisitc style, making it easy to distinguish from all other obesity/nutrition games out there.