In Dragons of Afterlands, the company’s latest and most immersive game yet, players are taken to a world devastated by climate change, where they encounter dragons and other magical creatures in their quest to restore harmony to Earth and save humanity.

To maximise engagement, the board comes to life through the use of Augmented Reality (AR) on the players’ smartphones/tablets as they progress along the board, interact with their environments, vanquish monsters and engage with each other to progress through the game in their quest to restore the planet.

The result is a fantastic blend of traditional board game dynamics with animated assets that plunge the players deep into a world of suspended belief where reality and fiction blur thanks to a finely balanced combination of human interactions and digital enhancements. “Games provide people with a safe place to try new things, to challenge themselves without fear of judgement or failure” said Dr Sarah Campbell, CEO and founder of Play Well For Life.

“This relaxed and comfortable state of mind is perfectly suited for learning and developing skills, which is why we infuse our games with a layer of purpose and opportunity for personal growth, all while having fun!"

Dragons of Afterlands provides a unique and fun social experience by harnessing AR to provide a one of-a-kind hybrid game experience. It also teaches different aspects of critical wellbeing skills associated with improving mental health, encompassing social, cognitive, physical or emotional, through the use of in-game challenges. These challenges, designed by clinical psychologists at Royal Holloway University, promote wellbeing practices and let players develop skills without even realising it.

"Engaging people in their own wellbeing is critical for so many physical and mental health outcomes, helping them to live happy and healthy lives. This game uses innovative AR which engages players in their wellbeing like nothing else on the market. I have been really pleased to provide expert clinical advice to ensure the game is based on the best current evidence, is ethical and above all fun," commented Professor Helen Pote, Chair of British Psychological Society Digital Healthcare Committee.

Moreover, the use of digital technologies for in-game experience provides a broader range of stories and scenarios than traditional board games, adapting the difficulty of each challenge to a player’s ability, making each game a unique experience and enabling players to monitor their own progress.

Having recently validated the data that confirm proof of concept and the positive impact the game has on wellbeing, the crowdfunding campaign will help PWFL include additional features that further impact wellbeing and increase engagement, ranging from additional AR animations and immersive experiences, to increased numbers of Wellbeing Challenges and speech recognition technology.

Play Well For Life was launched by Dr Sarah Campbell in 2019. As an experienced educator and consultant, she realised the limitations of current skill-development approaches and created the company to tackle these shortcomings by designing 'games for good' that help people grow while simultaneously having a good time. PWFL has been supported in its development by the OVHcloud Startup Program.

"Edtech is one of the key focus areas of the program. It’s an exciting opportunity to help transform lives with PWFL’s immersive social experiences running on our trusted cloud solutions." said Startup Program Leader, Philip Marais.

By using play and embedding measurements and skill-development techniques in games, PWFL products have a true and lasting impact on behaviour, encouraging change and personal development to occur in a more effective and seamless way than other traditional learning methods.

To learn more about Dragons of Afterlands and the September 28th crowdfunding campaign, click here.