About Us
Breathing-Powered Interactive Gaming
Our Vision
A world where lung health is...
Accessible
Fun
Affordable
Our Mission
At Lung Games, we are dedicated to transforming respiratory therapy through engaging and interactive games.
Our collaboratives of medical professionals, researchers, game developers, human factors engineers, and behavioural economists work together to create experiences that not only improve lung function but also make therapy fun and rewarding.
Our History
Lung Games was started in 2014 by Niel Vredeveldt, a game designer and cinematic artist. His daughter was born with Cystic Fibrosis, and she was attending the hospital for breathing exercises three times a week with her respiratory therapist. Niel wanted to design a game that would make her breathing exercises engaging and entertaining, while reducing the commuting and waiting time required for therapy.
Wind Tales was born. The game resulted in replacing her institutional appointments respiratory therapy that was fun. The game caught on with others in the parent/patient group and got the attention of the universities.
Soon after, development of Sparky began for children with Asthma; and development of RevalAir began for adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Wind Tales went on to win the Gold Medal in the International Serious Play Awards held in Montreal, Canada in 2019. Sparky won the IC University of Applied Sciences Audience Award in Amsterdam the same year.
When the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the world the following year, all development stopped due to high risk in patients with respiratory diseases, but not before Sparky was entered into the Dutch Applied Games Awards, which it won in 2021.
By the time the pandemic was declared over in May 2023, Lung Games had been dormant for over three-and-a-half years.
In 2024, the Lung Games revitalization began, and the decision was made to introduce the games, beginning with Sparky, to the North American market.
Today, we remain dedicated to our goal of helping those living with respiratory diseases to achieve lung health that's accessible, affordable and fun!
Our Leadership Team
Niel Vredeveldt – Founder/Advisor (European Media MSc of Art, Gaming)
Niel is the vision behind Lung Games. A Game Designer and cinematic artist, he has worked on many cinematic design and gaming projects over the years.
He designed Wind Tales for his daughter in 2015 and went on to win the Gold Medal for the International Serious Play Award in 2019.
He designed Sparky and won the Dutch Best Applied Game Award in 2021.
Nancy Lum-Wilson - CEO (B.Sc.Phm, MBA, C.Dir)
Nancy started her career in the healthcare industry as a pharmacist and has over 20 years of strategic and operational experience in the private and public sectors.
Her passion for better patient outcomes has been central to her career and she has led market access strategies in the private sector; and implemented health quality programs in community health, primary care and pharmacy in the public sector, including implementing the first system-linked quality metrics initiative for pharmacy in the world.
She is the former CEO of the Ontario College of Pharmacists, and former Chair of the Board of the National Association of Pharmacy Regulators. Nancy has served as a Director on both private and public sector Boards and has chaired a number of Board committees.
Martijn Belien - COO (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ind. Eng. Mgmt Sci)
Martijn spent over 20 years in the digital healthcare space, leading Operations, Quality and Global Business Development He is former Productivity and Quality lead at Royal Philips Healthcare where he ensured efficient operations produced medical devices of the highest quality.
Later, as CEO of The European Healthcare Management Service (EHMS), a key project that he led was the development of the Rehab Sector in Shanghai and Shenzhen, including overseeing the establishment of a 1,500-bed rehab hospital, 3,000 Rehab Nursing Homes, and a Rehab Hotel.