Show HN: I made a video game to help reduce stress and anxiety

https://www.vortle.com/

by stan_kirdey • 3 years ago

61 33 3 years ago

I would recommend adding a few videos with more information on your landing page. Even the Steam page just has screenshots. Obviously it's a free game so you're not concerned about sales in the monetary sense, but it would "sell" the game more to have some videos included.

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

good point, and I already have a few videos on youtube. thanks!

ahub• 3 years ago

Hey, the steam webpage states:

Evidence-based and community certified.

While I'm convinced this kind of stuff can help,I wonder what kind of evidence and certification you can build on that kind of game. I didn't find any documentation on the website.

Care to share more ?

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

There are a few games in the U.S. that were able to get FDA approval to be used for treatment. So potentially a game can be certified as a medical device.

As it is my hobby project I do my best to collect research evidence on video games and mental health. I did document some of what is out there here https://vortle.medium.com/does-science-back-mental-health-fo...

personjerry2• 3 years ago

But those aren't trials on this game, so can you really make a statement like that?

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

I see your concern. The two games that are part of Vortle were trialed by others and found to be beneficial and have clinically significant results. I've reimplemented them to use AI and did a bit of different design and game mechanics. Although I can not afford a clinical trial, I did gather feedback from a lot of players on "before/after" feeling and it did show benefit. Doing my best.

sovietmudkipz• 3 years ago

This is really cool!

Raidion• 3 years ago

I really think that the ability for games to relax and de-stress is clear (at least from my anecdotal standpoint). This get bonus points for gamifying some meditative and deep breathing techniques.

On the other hand, I always worry about the "escapism" of video games in the way they might provide a safer and more comforting activity than tackling the real problems that lead to the stress and anxiety.

That being said, all this looks great! You should get a video of gameplay (or at least provide some sort of "what games are these" information so that people can explore them without having to download another app. I simply don't know enough about the game to download another app without more information!

AdmiralAsshat• 3 years ago

On the other hand, I always worry about the "escapism" of video games in the way they might provide a safer and more comforting activity than tackling the real problems that lead to the stress and anxiety.

Let people escape, dude. I'm not gonna tell a guy who works several shitty jobs to barely make rent that he's not allowed to de-stress via his method of choice because he should just be "tackling the real problems". It's not your place to impose a value judgment about how people deal with stress.

AlecSchueler2• 3 years ago

I'm not sure that's what they were doing. I had the same concern, that using video games to address these concerns ultimately doesn't address issues like loneliness, lack of community, unresolved trauma, relationship and substance issues etc.

There's nothing wrong with escaping or short term fixes though. Often these can be the things that are needed to help people into the position where they can even care enough about themselves and their feelings to do the other work.

The danger just comes when these are used as the only tool. Ultimately the benefits wear off and the user is back at square one.

It's no one's place to make value judgements on how others spend their time but issues like depression and anxiety are social issues at the end of the day and it's good to have open discussions about these things. Unaddressed mental health issues can often lead to people acting out and hurting others, and in that sense we're all responsible for voicing our concerns and trying to help one another get onto healthy paths forwards.

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

thank you! i know what you mean, at the same time there are not so many tools that work offline and interactive that can help to destress or deal with a panic or anxiety. I think a few games without a score keeping is a good option.

Tijdreiziger2• 3 years ago

Out of the gate, the privacy policy looks pretty bad for something that's supposed to reduce anxiety. A few excerpts:

    Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to: (a) Email address (b) First name and last name (c) Phone number (d) Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City (e) Cookies and Usage Data

     We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service or when you access Service by or through a mobile device (" Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

    We may use and store information about your location if you give us permission to do so ("Location Data").

    While using our Service, we may also collect the following information: sex, age, date of birth, place of birth, passport details, citizenship, registration at place of residence and actual address, telephone number (work, mobile), details of documents on education, qualification, professional training, employment agreements, non-disclosure agreements, information on bonuses and compensation, information on marital status, family members, social security (or other taxpayer identification) number, office location and other data.

    If you are located outside United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to United States and process it there.

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

it is generic, the game works offline, doesn't require registration so there is no place to enter any PII

Tijdreiziger2• 3 years ago

If so, I would suggest updating the privacy policy to reflect that.

dangerwill• 3 years ago

Health care, even low stakes stress reduction video games, and "powered by AI" should be as far apart as possible imo

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

the "AI" part is mostly for accessibility. The block matching game adjusts its difficulty using RL, and the match-3 figures game has "autoplay" mode also powered by RL. Both modes exist to make the playing experience a bit easier:

_fs• 3 years ago

"Powered by AI" is 2023's "Blockchain"

nadermx• 3 years ago

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

thx, need to add a function there!

ineptech• 3 years ago

I get the "This app is not available for any of your devices" that Play store very unhelpfully never explains. Any guesses why?

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

when publishing in play store it requires to setup minimum Android version. Could be android version mismatch, I believe the game was built last time for Android 11 and on

dfxm12• 3 years ago

You wanna talk about videogames to reduce stress and anxiety, Ferry Halim's Orisinal Games were perfect for that. No need to install anything or give anyone your info, simple controls, cute concepts, pacing that started off slow. Too bad they relied on Flash and are gone now...

wcoenen2• 3 years ago

When sound is disabled, there's indeed no sound... until I hit the back button. When I hit the back button, I get a blast of sound for 1 second.

stan_kirdey10• 3 years ago

is it on iphone or android?

wcoenen2• 3 years ago

Android, Pixel 4A

Show HN: I made a video game to help reduce stress and anxiety

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