Video gaze

Why has an assistive technology firm released a compilation of minigames?

For those who play videogames as often as we do, it’s easy to forget that a certain degree of skill with an input device, generally a controller or mouse and keyboard, is required to enjoy them – and to grow frustrated with tutorials that reintroduce conventions we’ve seen a hundred times before. But that familiarity is testament to just how brilliant games, with their escalating level of challenge, are as tools and motivators for developing those skills in the first place. And it’s these properties that led assistive technology provider Smartbox to create its latest product, a collection of 38 minigames called Look Lab.

Smartbox’s software allows people with limited mobility to operate a computer by looking at the screen, through which they can communicate and gain greater independence. As with any input device, and precision enabling easier and more fluid communication for the user. “Becoming a good eye-gaze user is challenging. The best way to learn is by having fun and enjoying what we are doing,” Adam Waits, head of assessment at Smartbox, explains. “And that’s where Look Lab came from.”

Look Lab’s games range from simple point-scoring exercises that teach skills to eye-gaze versions of recognisable arcade-style games. Star Gaze is the most basic of these, with users simply having to clear a screen of stars by looking at each one in turn, whereas Pipe Dodge adapts the principle of Flappy Bird for the technology. Less challenge-oriented activities include music games in the form of a drum loop creator, a guitar and a piano, as well as colouring and mindfulness exercises.