Underground

Underground (working title) is an entertainment game that trains the player's motor skills as related to laparoscopic surgery. Underground is currently in development for Nintendo's Wii U gaming console.

Entertainment value

By combining an immersive game world, entertaining characters and puzzles and high production value with real-world medical knowledge on laparoscopic training, Underground will allow surgical professionals to train and maintain their surgical skills in a much more satisfying and fun way compared to training with existing simulators.

Hardware

Alongside the software component of the game, a hardware add-on for the gaming console is being developed by Pezy in Groningen. This unique peripheral allows for the Wii's remote controller and nunchuk to be inserted into it, so players can control the game using motion that is identical to that used when performing laparoscopic surgery.

Low-cost

The Underground game together with the custom peripheral will be made available for a price that is far lower than that of existing simulators used for laparoscopic training. Removing the cost barrier opens up opportunities such as training at home and availability in medical centers with smaller training budgets, for example in third-world countries.

An in-depth lecture

In 2011 a lecture was given at Google by surgeon dr. Henk ten Cate Hoedemaker, educational specialist Jetse Goris (both of UMCG) and game designer Tim Laning (of Grendel Games) about the project. This lecture serves as an in-depth introduction to the project and highlights thoughts and reasoning behind the mechanics as well as an explanation on how the surgical content was transformed into 'something fun'.

About Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge is a joint-venture (est. 2009) between the two hospitals University Medical Center Groningen and Medical Center Leeuwarden and game development studio Grendel Games. This unique cooperation allows for the knowledge of two widely different fields to be effectively combined into one product.

More information

For more information, please email info@surgical-games.com