The Groundbreaking T1D game The program is a medical research charity that raises money for important research on diabetes, one of the leading causes of death in the United States
And this week, gaming pioneer Will Wright helped raise money for the group, Wright and Josh Larson, national director of Breakthrough T1D Play, said in interviews with GamesBeat.
Wright spoke about his career developing games like Sim City, The Sims and more for companies like Maxis and Electronic Arts. The Sims franchise has generated more than $5 billion in revenue to date.
He is now co-founder of his own startup Gallium Studios with Lauren Elliott and they are working on a memory simulation game called Next. Wright, whose grandmother had Type 1 diabetes, also gave a first look at Proxi as part of a stream to raise money for the nonprofit.
Proxi is a new life simulation game about making magical connections with your memories and bringing them to life. “The game is kind of like quantifying your memories,” Wright said in an interview with GamesBeat.
In an interview, Wright noted that there are some people in his family with type 1 diabetes, but also other people among his friends and at his place of work. This gave him good reasons to do the stream with Breakthrough T1D Play.
The Breakthrough T1D program focuses on curing type 1 diabetes, a disease that affects one in 400 children. More than 1.6 million Americans have type 1 diabetes (T1D) and 9.4 million people worldwide have it. By 2040 the number is expected to rise to 16 million. Although people can make lifestyle changes to manage the disease, there is currently no cure.
The Breakthrough T1D Play group was founded in 2019. It was founded by gaming industry veterans who are parents of children with T1D. And They have raised over $5 million for research in new treatments and possible cures.
The program is supported by a powerful network of gaming industry veterans who either have T1D themselves or have a close personal connection, from companies such as Microsoft, PlayStation, EA and Disney. With your support, Breakthrough T1D Play raises money and awareness Modest packages, Steam sales, Charity streamsAnd In-game integrations.
In the group’s Twitch series “Dev Diaries,” members of the Breakthrough T1D Play streaming community interview game developers about their careers, discuss their T1D connection (if applicable), and play a game they’ve worked on.
Wright stopped by to talk, play The Sims 2, and introduce the new life simulation called Proxi. One of Gallium Studios’ programmers, Justin Graham, a graduate of LucasArts and Maxis, works on Proxi and has T1D.
The Sims has a unique connection to the T1D community The Sims 4 added medical wearables, including CGMs and pumps to the game, Larson said.
“Our gaming program raises awareness and funding for type 1 diabetes research. I still smile today that we had Will Wright on a stream on our Twitch channel. That was a very cool moment for us,” Larson said. “We want to be where people play games, where they buy games and where they watch games.”
A great aspect of Breakthrough T1D Play is that gaming-involved people constantly come out in public to tell us about their T1D connections, which helps us expand our network within the gaming industry and our community among to build gamers and streamers. During yesterday’s Twitch stream, Will surprised us by mentioning that his grandfather had T1D.
In the past, diabetes was difficult to live with because the disease affected the body’s ability to produce insulin, which removes sugar or glucose from the bloodstream. If this sugar remains in the body, it can be very harmful and lead to serious illness or even death. This means that diabetics need to monitor their blood sugar levels and ensure that they remain within an acceptable range.
There have been some advances in treatment in recent years. An automated insulin delivery system (AID) can now connect an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and use an algorithm that regulates insulin dosage to help you stay within the acceptable range.
Type 1 diabetes is not related to diet, health and lifestyle. But people can get type 2 diabetes if they don’t control their diet properly. And even more so the population is becoming obesethe more likely T2D becomes.
I tried Glucose meters a few times to see the effects of carbs/sugar on my body and it’s pretty eye-opening to see the immediate effects on my body. But others must use it to avoid far more serious consequences.
Larson’s 13-year-old was diagnosed seven years ago and has had to use a continuous glucose monitor throughout. Now it also has an insulin pump that automatically delivers insulin as needed thanks to an algorithm. This will reduce caregivers waking up in the middle of the night, Larson said.
Larson said his daughter has been using the DIY loop system for 4.5 years and it has been a game-changer for the family. The results have been very positive and Breakthrough T1D’s advocacy efforts continue to work to increase access to this technology. In fact, the NHS is in the Britain recommended these systems and expands access.
“In recent years there have really been more solutions available,” Larson said.
However, the AID systems mentioned above do not provide a cure for type 1 diabetes and do not ease the burden on those living with it. Meanwhile, the first disease-modifying treatment for T1D, Tzield, was recently approved by the FDA and may prevent the onset of T1D in high-risk individuals for up to three years.
Larson said he is hopeful about finding functional cures for the disease. Advances in cell therapy have led to this Breakthrough in T1D to launch Project ACT (Accelerate Cell Therapies), an initiative to further develop and accelerate commercially available stem cell-based islet cell therapies. In general, research focuses on treatment, prevention and cure, Larson said.
Source link
