Image courtesy of Holyoake
DRUMBEAT Quest® is an amazing single player, rhythmic adventure game
designed to explicitly teach social emotional competencies, combining the
positive neurobiological effects of rhythm with gaming to engage with young
people.
DRUMBEAT Quest’s narrative draws its inspiration
from the award winning DRUMBEAT Program.
DRUMBEAT stands for Discovering Relationships Using Music –
Beliefs, Emotions, Attitudes and Thoughts. It is a psycho-education
intervention used by schools, youth services, adolescent mental health
services, child trauma services and juvenile justice agencies across Australia
and overseas.
Image courtesy of Holyoake
The program uses hand drumming to engage
participants in a co-operative group process that explores social connections
In Australia, the DRUMBEAT Program is a recognized unit
of curriculum and delivered as a course of study in “Personal Development”.
DRUMBEAT has over 6000 facilitators
trained worldwide (200 in the US). The US has also its own Master Trainer –
Jessica Fredricks.
The Program is currently
running in over 50 schools and youth service/therapy organizations across
Australia with plans to release in the US in the next six months.
The DRUMBEAT Quest® Game
DRUMBEAT Quest®, the game, follows the story of The
Drummer who has been called upon to save the community from darkness by
rekindling the twelve Beacons of Hope.
Robot
Circus designed and developed the game for Holyoake, the
Australian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Addiction, specialized in family counselling and support. According to
the developer, DRUMBEAT Quest® is an
“innovative fusion of two popular game genres: the meta-game is a role-playing
game adventure; the core gameplay is a rhythm based, endless runner.”
Game Context and Play
The DRUMBEAT Quest® storyline puts the player, as The Drummer,
into a fantasy world where darkness has spread. In order to bring light (trust
and hope) back to the community, the player must venture into the unknown and
confront challenges that replicate many of the challenges young people face in
real life.
Image courtesy of Holyoake
World Map - The World Map is revealed
as each Beacon is lit
Players’ quest is to overcome all the challenges
that stand between them and the goal of rekindling the twelve Beacons of Hope.
Image courtesy of Holyoake
Scenarios in the game
include rescuing vulnerable friends, confronting monsters, confronting bullies,
avoiding peer pressure, making choices on which characters to trust,
confronting the dark side of our own nature, and choosing which rhythm will be
most effective - Listening, Respect,
Tolerance and Teamwork. Players are rewarded as they align their rhythm to
the world around them. Rhythms allow the character to move, and different
rhythms provide different powers.
Image courtesy of Holyoake
Image courtesy of Holyoake
Rhythmic Interface
Image courtesy of Holyoake
The game is built with a rhythmic interface -
the player must keep the beat by correctly playing a combination of rhythms to
light the Beacons. Rhythmic music can assist with regulation, reducing anxiety
and impulsivity while improving cognition.
The ability to keep a beat involves
synchronization between parts of the brain responsible for hearing as well as
movement, which is connected to our language and reading abilities.
Designed to support the rhythmic interface, the
eDrum integrates cross lateral movement
with gameplay to engage the whole brain. When children perform cross lateral
movements, it requires both hemispheres of the brain to activate improving
neural pathways associated with motor coordination and cognition.
The
eDrum is compatible with the desktop version of DRUMBEAT Quest. It is a USB peripheral that works like a keyboard
with two keys (Bass and Tone).
In the desktop version, rhythms are played on an electronic
drum (eDrum) connected to the computer via a USB
For the tablet version, rhythms are played on drum symbols on
the screen
Conclusion
The DRUMBEAT
Quest® game was designed in alignment with the Australian Health and
Physical Education curriculum, enhanced by the integration of STEAM interdisciplinary concepts and principles (such as ethical analysis and decision making) to develop higher-order thinking skills and address core social emotional competencies identified by the Collaborative of Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
Research shows that developing social and emotional skills is crucial to being able to cope with life’s ups and downs, as well as being successful in the workplace and a valuable member of the community. Social and emotional learning can reduce risky behaviors such as violence, bullying, alcohol and drug use and social isolation.
CASEL summarizes evidence of the impact of supporting students’ social and emotional learning. Students demonstrate improved attitudes and behaviors, with greater motivation to learn and better classroom behavior, and experience less emotional distress such as anxiety, depression, stress and social withdrawal. Students also demonstrate better academic performance with fewer disruptive class behaviors and disciplinary referrals.DRUMBEAT Quest® is available in the Desktop Professional Package for Windows and Mac or in the Tablet Professional Package for iPads.
