Since last May, Vedress has been helping create video games modelled after psychological tests that can indicate depression as part of a 16-month position in the Computer Science Professional Internship Program (CSPIP).
Vedress, a third-year student in the College of Arts and Science and former president of the University of Saskatchewan Games Club, has always enjoyed playing video games. She saw Mandryk's research on the subject as pushing the boundaries of the medium.
"When you think about creating games as a career, you don't think about games research and that was something really appealing to me," Vedress said. "So many people play them so often, it's just a really good opportunity to find things out about people."
Under Mandryk's supervision, Vedress and other team members are programming and creating artwork for several carnival-themed games designed to gather information on players' wellness.
The games are based on psychological tests that evaluate thought processes and reaction times to look for indications of depression. Vedress said making tests into games could improve the accessibility of health assessments because video games engage similar problem-solving skills and are played habitually.
"If you can make assumptions of what their mental health is like based on what they do every single day," Vedress said, "then maybe that can be turned into making recommendations for when they should see a doctor."
Vedress said she has had an "amazing" time working on this research project in the Department of Computer Science's Human-Computer Interaction Lab.
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