Samen spelen app
#flutter app #reduce loneliness #lean startup

SamenSpelen_

Radboudumc, in collaboration with Games for Health and Coöperatie DELA, has initiated a large-scale scientific study to learn how gaming can be used to reduce the feeling of loneliness among the elderly. For this purpose, they sought a partner in the field of app development.

Team
Stijn Mommersteeg - Developer
Stijn Mommersteeg
Developer
Tom Janssen - Developer
Tom Janssen
Developer

Clients

  • Games for Health
  • DELA
  • Radboud University

Platform

iOS & Android

Goals achieved

  • Research involving more than 300 elderly individuals
  • Optimal user experience through user research

The question

Radboutumc University, in collaboration with Games for Health and funeral insurance DELA, would like to find out how the social network of elderly can be improved with the help of online games. With a stronger social network they expect that loneliness in the elderly will decrease or can be prevented. Therefore they were looking for a development partner that could develop an easy-to-use app that would achieve the research objectives while guaranteeing privacy: the SamenSpelen (Play Together App).

Our answer

Our answer: work iteratively. To quickly figure out whether the app would work, we started with a minimal viable product. This version only included the most essential functionalities that allowed to play the first few games. After that we continued to expand the app. The app now has a nice design and much more games that can be played. A chatbot integration provides explanations to the players.

In collaboration with

lean startup

Minimal first version

In line with the Lean Startup method, the first version was a Minimal Viable Product (MVP). This was the minimal version of the app with which the need for SamenSpelen could be proved. By focusing on this, we not only saved on investment, the development was also done a lot faster. The first version of the app was launched in just 4 weeks. We then continued the development based on feedback from users. And since the users could see that their feedback was often implemented, they were very engaged, yielding even more valuable insights.

Minimal viable product
maatschappelijk verantwoord

Reduce loneliness under elderly

Social contact is extremely important. This became explicitly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone noticed how difficult it is if we do not have social contact. This problem is even bigger among elderly: it appears that 40% of the over-70s in The Netherlands feel somewhat or very lonely. That is why Games for Health, Radboudumc University and DELA have started their mission to reduce loneliness among elderly. The SamenSpelen app, which facilitates pleasant and valuable contact through games, makes this happen. With the app, people can easily play games to stay in touch with each other.

App development in Flutter against loneliness under elderly
flutter app

Powerful app development with Flutter

For the development of the app the Google Flutter framework was used. This allows us to create a nice and stable app for both iOS and Android from just one codebase. Not only does this save development time, it also ensures a pleasant and nice user experience (UX) on both platforms. The app is developed in such a way that we can easily expand it. This allows our customer to quickly respond quickly to new insights or changing user wishes.

Google Flutter app for iOS and Android

Working together with Dutch Coding Company is really working together. That was a good thing, because in our project Samen Spelen (translated: Playing Together), new things were discovered every week. DCC's iterative and flexible attitude helped enormously in finding and setting priorities. Nick is practically always available and developers Stijn and Tom think a lot about the realization (and realism) of proposed designs. Working together to play together. We did it, and hopefully we'll keep doing it!

Menno Deen - Game Designer Samen Spelen
Menno van Pelt- Deen

Game Designer Samen Spelen

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