OutSMA℞T Prostate Cancer

OutSMA℞T Prostate Cancer is a narrative serious game for prostate cancer survivors and their families. Players follow Ray and Denise, a couple married for forty-one years, through the years after Ray's prostate cancer surgery, and make the choices they face along the way.

The game covers the parts of survivorship that are hardest to talk about: waiting for PSA results, urinary and sexual side effects, talking with doctors, family history and screening, support from other survivors, and healthy habits after treatment. Short fact cards and videos from trusted health organizations explain the medical side, and links to support resources are available on every screen.

Five parts

• Part 1: Both Sides. Ray and Denise, from spring to fall: waiting for a PSA result, living with the after-effects of surgery, and saying the hard things to the person beside you. Each chapter is played twice, once as Ray and once as Denise.
• Part 2: In the Room. The year after: Ray’s PSA starts to rise. Writing questions down, asking the doctor until you understand, and bringing someone into the exam room with you.
• Part 3: Passing It On. Thanksgiving: telling grown children about the cancer, and telling a brother about his own risk and the blood test.
• Part 4: Brother to Brother. Hearing it from a man who has been there, and becoming that man for someone else, from a clinic waiting room to a church men’s breakfast.
• Part 5: The Long Run. Life after treatment: moving more and eating differently, as a family, at a table you share.

How it was made

The game was shaped with a community advisory board of prostate cancer survivors. Each advisor played the game and met with our team, and the later parts grew directly out of what they told us: bringing a spouse into the exam room, talking with grown children, men opening up when another survivor speaks first, and the habits that helped them after treatment. Lab members and community testers also played the game and left feedback that we used to make it clearer.

The game was produced using AI tools, including Claude Code and Microsoft Copilot, guided at every step by our team and our advisors.

OutSMA℞T Prostate Cancer is a prototype currently in pilot testing.