Connect Play Wise

Overview

University of Surrey tasked us with developing a platform to bridge the generational gap between children and elderly individuals in retirement homes.

We created an online platform that encourages players from both groups to interact and play together.

Technologies:

Research

Image Generation

Speech To Text

Video Call

Unity

PHP

Case Study

The Objective

Many children have limited interaction with seniors outside their immediate family, and similarly, many elderly individuals in retirement homes have few opportunities to engage with younger generations.

To address this, our platform has communication and collaboration at its core. In addition to featuring video and audio chat, it includes a game centered around these principles, and is designed with a focus of adding more games in the future.

For the first game, we wanted to have the players work together to create and tell a unique story. Their story would then be processed by AI, which would be tasked with formatting it and generating book cover art.

Interface Design

We aimed at creating a colorful and simple interface, ensuring it was intuitive with high accessibility for users of all ages. This design prioritizes ease of use, allowing both children and seniors to navigate the platform effortlessly. The interface is divided between the two core components: video chat & games, each one taking half of the screen.

Gameplay

The game begins by providing initial prompts (such as a setting and time period) but ultimately leaves the storytelling in the hands of the players, to encourage creativity and teamwork as they craft a unique story together.

Once ready, players take turns contributing to the story. As they narrate, the game uses speech-to-text to generate a real-time transcription.

At the end of the game, this transcription is then processed by AI, which generates a custom book cover and formats the text into a polished story. The final result is displayed in-game and can also be downloaded as a PDF, serving as a keepsake of the shared storytelling experience.