JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Continuous, preventive monitoring of cognitive and physical function outside clinical visits is of growing interest, but faces two gaps. Evaluation is typically tied to fixed centers, limiting access for those who cannot easily travel; and conventional test batteries are isolated, repetitive tasks that elicit low engagement. Serious games improve motivation but are usually single-domain and report only endpoint scores, whereas fixed living-lab installations cannot be relocated. No existing approach combines engagement, access, and a standardized environment in one system.

Objective:

This study aimed to develop the Mobile Escape-Game Lab (MEGL), a relocatable serious game platform integrating four cognitive and physical task modules into a single escape-game experience, and to evaluate its usability, workload, and user experience in healthy adults before deployment in broader populations.

Methods:

In this single-session development and usability study, MEGL chained four fixed-order modules—an ankle-controlled game (Balance Wood), a digital Trail Making Test (d-TMT), a tabletop Block Design Test (BDT), and an object-search task—guided by a scenario-based chatbot, deployed within TLL+ (Trailer Living Lab+), a relocatable trailer providing a standardized, daily-living-style environment with pre-installed sensing. Healthy adults were recruited by convenience sampling at Tokyo Metropolitan University and tested individually in April-May 2026. We assessed usability with the System Usability Scale (SUS; 0-100), per-module workload with the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX; 1-7), and experience with a 6-item scale (1-5) and open-ended questions. Data were summarized descriptively with 95% CIs. Process data were collected only as an exploratory illustration, not to assess function.

Results:

Of 14 enrolled adults, 12 (11 men, 1 woman; mean age 30.2 years, SD 4.2) were analyzed. The mean SUS score was 71.2 (95% CI 64.8-77.7), slightly above the benchmark of 68, indicating acceptable usability. Per-module NASA-TLX workload was modest and broadly similar, ranging from 2.86 (95% CI 2.35-3.37) for d-TMT to 3.43 (95% CI 2.83-4.03) for object search. The overall-experience composite was positive (mean 3.90; 95% CI 3.53-4.28), led by enjoyment (4.33), while willingness to reuse was lowest (3.67). Qualitative feedback highlighted the immersive escape-game framing and chatbot guidance as strengths, and instruction clarity and task flow as the main area for improvement.

Conclusions:

To our knowledge, MEGL is the first serious game platform to combine an escape-game-based multimodal task protocol with a relocatable, standardized deployment environment. Unlike single-domain serious games and fixed living labs, it jointly addresses engagement, access, and standardization in one system. By demonstrating acceptable usability and a positive experience in healthy adults, it provides a usable, reproducible foundation for integrated cognitive and physical task experiences in portable, standardized settings. With further development in broader and older populations, MEGL could bring standardized functional-task experiences closer to the communities that motivated its design.