BCI RPG (Brain-Computer Interface Controlled Role-Playing Game) Status Update March 13th 2023

Latest updates on the BCI RPG opensource project status. A lot to report, and much more on the way!

The BCI RPG is designed for maximum accessibility with the goal to be fun and usable by the LIS/CLIS population (and everyone else too)!

The primary website for the BCI RPG project can be found at https://bcirpg.com.

The opensource BCI RPG Github repository is at: https://github.com/RPG-Research/

BCI RPG ReadMe https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg

BCI RPG Github Wiki: https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/wiki

BCI RPG Issues/Tickets: https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/issues

The Gitbhub repo generally has weekly updates, while the main website is less frequent, so check our Github repo for the most up to date information, documents, diagrams, videos, demos, source code, etc.

We typically only update the BCIRPG page a few times a year at most, but the BCI RPG development team is very active and meets weekly on Sundays from 10 am to Noon PST.

See our Development Road Map.

Overview

The project creator, and founder of RPG Research, Hawke Robinson, the extremely helpful and reliable Project Team Lead Valerie Krepel, as well as all the developers and staff, are huge advocates for accessibility in gaming.

Not only through all of the training, advocacy, and accessible mobile facilities, but through our active projects to make gaming more accessible to all.

The ultimate in accessibility potential, literally allowing a person to interface with computer systems purely with the thoughts of their brain, is through the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technologies based on Electroencephalogram (EEG) and related technologies, integrating with AR & VR, haptics, Machine Learning (ML), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), neural networks (NN) and deep neural networks (DNN), and other "artificial intelligence" (AI) related technologies, and eventually back into the physical world through robotics connections to the BCI and software.

We have been working in software development since 1979, dabbling in xR technologies since the late 1980s, and experimenting with EEG and related technologies since the mid-1990s, and hard at work experimenting with more advanced EEG and BCI equipment with music and games since 2004.

Back Story

Hawke Robinson (founder of the non-profit RPG Research, and the for-profit RPG Therapeutics), explained about his motivation in creating the BCI RPG project,

"In 1989 I was a nurses aide and LPN trainee, and had my first Complete Locked in State (CLIS) patient. He was the same age I was, and had been there over a year due to a skiing injury. His brain was fully active and aware, but he was trapped in his own body and couldn't communicate by any means at all. That left a lasting impression, that was furthered by subsequent patients over the years. It has always been something I hoped to find a means of addressing.

I am a very active advocate for accessibility, including in gaming. I have been involved with RPGs since 1977, and researching their effects since 1983.

In the early to mid 90s I had my first personal experiences with EEG, biofeedback, and neurofeedback equipment, around 1996-1998 my first use of a brain-computer interface with a PC. In the early 2000s I began experimenting with EEG (and BCI) equipment with games. I hope some day that people trapped in such situations not only can get basic communication functioning, but also have opportunities for the powerful benefits of cooperative social role-playing games.

We are now years into an opensource project with other volunteer developers creating an online, multiplayer, turn-based, role-playing game specifically designed to be played through BCI equipment with the goal of being the most accessible RPG ever."

LIS & CLIS - Locked In Syndrome and Complete Locked in State

Our founder was dramatically motivated to try to find a solution for those people suffering from Locked-in Syndrome (LIS) and Complete Locked-in State (CLIS), when caring for a young adult in 1990 as a nurse's aide and LPN trainee, at Doxie Hatch Medical Center, and as a habilitation therapist at Hillcrest Care Center. Wanting to figure out a way to use technology to help them reconnect socially, set them free of their physical prisons of the mind, and gain back some of their lives.

See the BCI RPG website and our Github for the latest updates.

We welcome anyone wanting to join our volunteer development team to help with advancing this project more quickly. Simply sign up as an RPG Research volunteer under the Electronic RPG Developer (ERPG) role. You can help in many areas including coding, QA, user testing, UI/UX design, and more.

March 12th, 2023 Status Update

The project continues to move forward. We're nearly finished with the design diagramming of Phase 2.

Already significant amounts of code have been written for a number of the key components.

The team is continuing to grow as more volunteers hear about and get excited to join this project.

We need more donations to get more (and better) headsets for testing. https://rpgresearch.com/donate

In addition to the actual BCI-enabled game play components, significant work on the design of the "Mod Gods Toolset" (working title for now) that provides the UI/UX (without BCI support for now) to create all the adventures for the platform.

The game itself, and the adventures themselves,support BCI, it is just the toolset that creates the adventures that is not (currently) supporting BCI.

Latest Flowchart Diagrams

https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/tree/master/Phase2/Flowcharts

Latest Overall Documentation

Most up to date here:

Older snapshots: Readme:

Wiki:

Latest UML Diagrams

https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/tree/master/Phase2/UML%20Diagrams

Latest Wireframes

https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/tree/master/Phase2/Wireframes

Prototype NeverWinter Nights Module: Shakespeare's "The Tempest"

https://github.com/RPG-Research/bcirpg/tree/master/Phase1

Prototype Screenshots and Videos

Phase 1 Screenshots/Videos