The Rosetta Wheel: a framework for designing behaviour change games

Games designed for a purpose other than entertainment – serious games – is a relatively new and rapidly growing field (Laamarti, Eid, & Saddik, 2014). Industries including education, training, and health are all adopting new and novel approaches with video games in order to engage, teach, train, and positively change their target population through playing games (Brand, Todhunter, & Jervis, 2017). Games for health is a subset of this larger serious games field. Utilising video games in health contexts has been successful in a number of promising ways, from improving cancer treatment (P. M. Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008), increasing exercise motivation (Cowdery, Majeske, Frank, & Brown, 2015), and as an effective adjunct to psychotherapy (Eichenberg & Schott, 2017). However, the field is young, and as yet there have been no foundational frameworks to guide design

teams in the development and design processes of creating these games, or the specific strategies of how to link psychological change principles with game design elements. Each game design team, often comprised of a broad range of skillsets and working languages, needs to reinvent the wheel with each game. Scholars in this area have recommended further foundational multidisciplinary research be undertaken (Baranowski, Buday, Thompson, & Baranowski, 2008; Dickey, 2005; Lu,

Baranowski, Thompson, & Buday, 2012).

This body of research utilises a practice-led research, research-led practice methodological approach (Smith & Dean, 2009) to develop a comprehensive framework to design games for health behaviour change. The framework is grounded in evidence-based research of the psychology of behaviour change utilising the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982). It is further informed by an analysis of two existing games in Study 1: Deconstructing Design, in order to

understand how psychological processes map with game design patterns. The framework is then further informed through a collective case study of expert game designers in Study 2: Designing for change, to understand how game designers approach the design of games for behaviour change.

The Rosetta Wheel Framework was developed through a practice-led research and research-led practice iterative approach. It has 10 Change Keys, assisting design teams to create game mechanics which foster the psychological processes of change. It has 19 Key Considerations which support the overall development process. The Rosetta Wheel Framework is not a finite or singular framework. It has been developed with the intention that it will continue to evolve. Change is an ongoing process, and so too is the process of research, practice, and growth.