Emotion Odyssey: Promoting Emotion Regulation Skills in Families Through a Serious Game

Adolescence is a crucial period for emotional development, often marked by challenges in emotion regulation (ER) that can contribute to mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and engagement in risky behaviors. Despite increasing independence during this period, parents remain crucial in shaping adolescents' emotional competencies. Recognizing this, the multiplayer serious game Emotion Odyssey was designed to teach and train young adolescents (aged 10-14) and their parents in ER strategies. Using the engaging concept of an escape room, Emotion Odyssey introduces the six basic emotions and ER strategies through immersive scenarios. The development process was participating involving an adolescent, her mother and psychologists (<tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$n=4$</tex>). Through interactive gameplay, the game aims to increase emotional understanding and ER skills and encourage adolescents and their parents to communicate openly about emotions.