Keep calm and keep playing Conscious Heart

Manama

 In a mammoth step in the world of game designing, a Bahraini youngster has created a horror game that defies all conventional standards.  Information and Communication Technology Student Mahmood Saeed Saleem Al Sarhani’s ‘Conscious Heart’ alters the gameplay by reading the player’s heart beat rate.

 Using Virtual Reality and Biofeedback technologies to read biological responses, the game turns more scary and challenging as the player’s heart beat rises, Al Sarhani explained. According to him, the game is the only 3D Virtual Reality Biofeedback-dependent horror game that has ever been made.

 The game is likely to give the players an interesting and unique experience, he said.

 “The game increases the player's awareness of their body's biological responses while delivering an immersive and unique challenging experience. The more afraid you are, the scarier it becomes. It game continuously monitors your heart rate and adapts accordingly,” he said.

 Citing an example, he said, “When the player is calm, all lights appear normal. But when you panic, the lights start to flicker. There are many more such complex effects in the game,” he explained.

 His research on virtual reality and bio-dependent technologies inspired him to make the game, he said.

 “I am very interested in both the technologies and I noticed no games have so far been developed integrating both of them. And through discussions and brainstorming, I developed the idea to what it is right now,” he said

 To him, the next step was to conceive his idea into a game, which he says was no easy task either.

 “I borrowed some equipment from my University (Bahrain Polytechnic) and purchased some others. I used a game engine called Unity and an IDE (Internal Development Environment) called Visual Studio to establish the communication between the different devices," he added.

 Al Sarhani believes that his game will be loved, simply because it is unique.

 “As far as I have researched, no other games use both Virtual Reality and Biofeedback technologies together. The closest I would say is a game called Nevermind that uses Biofeedback in a similar manner. The major differences is that my game is more immersive with the use of Virtual Reality,” he said.

 He is currently researching psychology, advanced technology and other aspects involved in the game to enhance it.

 “The game will serve two types of people - enthusiastic gamers who want to have a new experience and the other, people who suffer from stress-related issues, trying to control their emotions well. It will serve as a means of entertainment, that also helps them control the problem through self-teaching,” he said.

 Al Sarhani has big plans for the future, to improve his game and also to make more such games. ‘Conscious Heart’ will soon be sold on platforms such as Steam and GOG.