SERIOUS GAMES MARKET

Serious Games Powered By Next Generation Of Wearable Computing

2013-05-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

Dekko’s visual layer takes us from Serious Games inside mobile devices to Serious Games running in the real world

Dekko's in-house developed proof-of-concept game

With the impending release of Google Glass, it looks like we're on the verge of a massive wearable computing wave. What remains to be seen is what kind of OS and game experiences that will usher in.

A start-up has developed the technology to power the next generation of wearable computing: Dekko has been developing a real-world operating system for 2 years that will function as the visual layer for wearable computing devices. The technology uses real-time 3D reconstruction, letting mobile devices interpret physical objects and build digital layers on top of them. This has significant implications for what is possible with mobile gaming.

Dekko is ushering in the next level of tech and they're already speaking with the top 3 T1 hardware manufacturers. They are announcing they have closed a seed funding round of $3.2 million and are launching today.

"Just like iOS heralded in the new age of smartphones from feature phones, Dekko's goal is to be the visual layer that takes us from apps inside smartphones to apps running in the world, as seen through wearable computing devices", said Matt Miesnieks, DEKKO CEO.

Dekko's real-world OS uses mobile device cameras (currently works with smartphones but will be compatible with any wearable computing device) to reconstruct the environment around them and track content in real-time. This allows mobile devices to visually interpret the real world and unleashes a whole new range of opportunities for mobile developers in gaming, social networking and tourism.

Dekko is providing the visual layer to allow content to be rendered into the 3D world

Video helps explain the OS

Here is the full press release

Dekko Secures $3.2 Million in Funding, Launches Visually Dynamic Real-World Operating System for Wearable Computing Generation

May 09, 2013- SAN FRANCISCO- Today, Dekko is announcing the launch of its real-world operating system that will serve as the visual layer for wearable computing devices. Additionally, Dekko is announcing that it’s closed a $3.2 million funding round to help launch its OS.

Dekko’s real-world OS will give developers a platform to build apps that merge mobile technology with the real world in unprecedented ways. Using mobile device cameras, Dekko builds digital grids over physical objects with 3D mapping. This technology allows mobile devices to interpret the real world and unleashes a whole new set of opportunities for mobile developers.

The OS represents a shift from mobile apps that operate inside the constraints of a mobile device to apps that run outside of the box. With Dekko, apps can reconstruct and track the environments around them in real-time, allowing for entirely new and visually stunning mobile experiences.

““Dekko will help usher in a new generation of apps that work outside the confines of a mobile device, truly merging the experience with the user’s life,” said Matt Miesnieks, CEO of Dekko. “Previous attempts at this kind of tech have only provided the world with gimmicky, transitory experiences with no real value or staying power. We were promised the moon and given cardboard spaceships”

Due to its mapping technology, Dekko’s real-world OS is unbound and independent of a physical printout or anchor to interact with mobile devices in real-time. This opens up the potential scale for the platform. While it can currently reconstruct and track an area the size of a table, eventually it will be able to interpret rooms, streets, and cities using 3D mapping.

The real-world OS has massive potential applications in mobile, from social networking and local search to gaming and tourism. The platform also allows for multiple-participant experiences for multiplayer gaming.

“Much like iOS marked the shift from feature phones to smartphones, Dekko’s goal is to be the OS for the wearable computing generation,” said Miesnieks. “Dekko will usher in the next wave of mobile by providing developers with a stunning 3D visual layer for wearable devices.”

To build a real-world OS, Dekko has assembled leading specialists from the fields of augmented reality, optical tracking, 3D reconstruction and user experience design. The team’s background includes top experts from academic research, Xerox PARC, Twitter, Layar, Electronic Arts, and the New York Museum of Modern Art.

Dekko is currently in talks with the top three tier-one hardware manufacturers.

Those interested in working with or learning more about Dekko should contact partnerships at dekko.co or visit http://www.dekko.co/

About Dekko

Dekko was founded in 2011 on the belief that society is entering a transition in how we experience our technology. Dekko is building a real-world operating system to let us see our content in the world, through a screen, not on a screen.

Serious Games Support Cruise Ship Crews Training

2013-05-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Serious Games preparing crews for worst case scenarios before they happen

Via: Engineering Computer Simulations (ECS)

A new Serious Game from Engineering and Computer Simulations (ECS) in Orlando, developed for a Cruise Line Industry client, aims at helping cruise ship crews train for several different disasters, preparing crews for worst case scenarios before they happen.

This simulation takes place in a real-time 3D environment where players assume the role of a ship staffer during a ship-wide evacuation caused by a fire. The player is responsible for completing each and all of his or her own tasks from the start of the evacuation until the passengers they are responsible for are safely aboard a lifeboat and out of harm’s way.

Players have to account for each passenger by searching the cabins, directing all passengers to the correct muster station, and ensuring that passengers are kept calm and safe. Each evacuation scenario may be customized according to ship size, standard operating procedures, passenger count, threat classification, and even the amount of obstacles with which a player is met.

A few cruise ship companies are testing this program now, and they shall start using the simulation later this year.

Crisis Response Serious Games For Offshore Safety

2013-05-08T11:56:00.001-05:00

Serious Games for role-playing crisis preparedness and response in the Oil & Gas Industry

Video Collection: Serious Games For High-Risk Training In The Oil & Gas Industry

The Case For Serious Games In Heavy Industries

Serious Games To Boost Safety On Oil Rigs - Update

Serious Games Hit Oil & Gas Industry

Via: Engineering Computer Simulations (ECS) - ECS Offers Crisis Response Simulation Training Solutions for Offshore Safety

ECS announced on Monday they are unveiling their Crisis Response Simulation for the first time at the Offshore Technology Conference 2013 running May 6-9 at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. Over 80,000 attendees and more than 2,500 exhibitors are expected to attend OTC, and ECS shall be the only modeling and simulation company exhibiting on the showroom floor.

According to Waymon Armstrong, President, ECS has the potential to transform crisis response training in the oil and gas industry.

The Crisis Response Simulation, or CRS, is a web-based Serious Game that immerses players in realistic scenarios to cover decisions that impact the preservation of life, the support of affected family members, rig stability, communication and social media, mitigation of legal risks and other obligations that appear in a crisis management situation.

CRS is customizable to a broad set of scenarios that represent the current offshore or onshore upstream, mid-stream, and downstream oil and gas industry. Its capabilities were designed in conjunction with the expectations set forth by the International Association of Drilling Contractors and will adapt in real time based on players performance.

Each role-player from the Rig Operator up through the Crisis Management Team and Senior Leadership can exercise separately or together for a high impact event. According to ECS website, they can remotely conduct team-training exercises with up to 200 participants at a time. CRS exercises can be geographically distributed for any organization at any time and will track and assess the leader’s proficiency in taking steps to preserve life, communication with media and stakeholders, minimizing legal issues, and completion of documentation necessary to excel in times of crisis response recover.

About Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS)

Engineering & Computer Simulations, Inc. is a leading provider of Educational Serious Games and simulation, interactive performance assessment tools, mobile learning environments and enterprise-wide information management systems, located in Orlando, Florida.

ECS was incorporated in 1997 to provide advanced learning technologies; multi-disciplinary engineering and IT services; and project management support services for the government and commercial sectors.

ECS is organized into four business units: Defense and Homeland Security, Other Government Agencies and Academia, Commercial and Corporate, and Research and Development.

The company's technology portfolio of crisis response solutions includes: crisis response simulations, safety and competency based technology, immersive virtual worlds, serious gaming, performance assessment, staff training, and mobile innovations.

Serious Games For Starting Your Own Video Game Dev Company

2013-05-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

A business simulation to become the games market leader

Via: Greenheart Games

Game Dev Tycoon™ is a business simulation game available for Windows, Mac and Linux as well as on the Windows 8 Store. In Game Dev Tycoon you replay the history of the gaming industry by starting your own video game development company in the 80s.

Charting the career of a game studio as it grows from one man in his house to a AAA company, players create best selling games, research new technologies, create their own custom game engine, forge a world-class development team, and launch industry changing products with the goal of becoming the market leader.

Creating a game in real life takes a lot of hard work, money, and dedication. You also need a well balanced team of designers and coders. Creating a game in Game Dev Tycoon offers the same challenges.

Anti-Piracy Measures - How Does Piracy Feel In Your Own Game Dev Company

When the game was released late April, Greenheart Games also released a free, cracked version on certain torrenting sites. The cracked version is nearly identical to the real thing except that for those who downloaded the "free" version of the game would later be impossible to progress because piracy of their own in-game created games would cause their company to go bankrupt.

“Boss, it seems that while many players play our new game, they steal it by downloading a cracked version rather than buying it legally. If players don't buy the games they like, we will sooner or later go bankrupt.”

Gameplay

You start your adventure in a small garage office in the 80s, developing your first simple games. Gain experience, unlock new options and create your first game engine.

Once you have successfully released a few games you can move into your own office and forge a world-class development team.

With experience and a good team, you can release larger, more complex games. Larger games bring new challenges and you will have to manage your team well to deliver hit games.

Players can move beyond just releasing games and conduct industry-changing projects by unlocking labs later in the game. There are a number of secret projects that can be completed.

About Greenheart Games Pty. Ltd

Greenheart Games was founded in July 2012 by brothers Patrick and Daniel Klug with a mission to develop games that are fun to play instead of money grabbers. Less social, less ville, more game is their current motto.

Their first game to test the waters is Game Dev Tycoon, a tycoon style game where you can start your own game development company in the 80s. Game Dev Tycoon was inspired by Game Dev Story (by Kairosoft), which was the first ‘tycoon’ game they enjoyed playing on the iPhone; however, from the start, they wished the game would work and look differently. They wanted a game development simulation which would be less random, more about your choices and a little more realistic. They began working on what would become Game Dev Tycoon in 2011 and created the concepts and game mechanics as well as the game itself from scratch.

10th Anniversary Games for Change Festival Marketplace

2013-05-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

Serious Games to make the world a better place

Games For Change Festival will take place under one roof at New World Stages

Tickets Currently On Sale at GamesforChange.org/Festival2013

Games For Change announced the 10th Anniversary Games for Change Festival to take place from June 17-19th at New World Stages in New York City.

Hosted and created by Games for Change, a non-profit that catalyzes social impact through digital Serious Games, the Games for Change Festival is the largest gaming event in New York City and the leading international event dedicated to giving Serious Games creators a venue to discuss using game technology to make the world a better place.

This year’s festival welcomes a range of new programming partners including: Zynga.org, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, and Tribeca Film Institute. These partners have collaborated with Games for Change to curate the festival’s three-day program.

Commemorating a special 10th Anniversary spotlight are guest curators Babycastles, Hide&Seek and the Global Game Jam and a series of keynote presentations by thought-leaders from the gaming world, including award-winning game designers Brenda Romero and Jesse Schell, and editor and journalist Leigh Alexander, amongst others.

Other program highlights include: the presentation of finalists for the organization’s first large-scale game design competition; the Annual Games for Change Awards; and a special spotlight with Zynga.org highlighting the lessons learned and impact made through Games for Change’s executive-produced Facebook game Half the Sky Movement: The Game.

Marketplace Debuts This Year In Order To Facilitate Business-To-Business Activity

New to this year’s festival, The Marketplace presents an opportunity for festival attendees to meet companies, publishers, developers and service providers who are working at the forefront of games for change to facilitate business-to-business activity.

The Marketplace offers participating companies an opportunity to demonstrate their products or services as part of the official program. With this year's change of venue, the entire Festival will take place exclusively under one roof at New World Stages. As such, the Marketplace will run the full duration of the Festival – Monday, June 17 to Wednesday, June 19 – and participating companies will be directly in the center of activity for all 800+ participants.

About Games for Change

Founded in 2004, Games for Change facilitates the creation and distribution of Serious Games for social impact that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts. The organization aims to leverage entertainment and engagement for social good and most recently served as the Executive Producer for the incredibly successful Half the Sky Movement: The Game inspired by the global movement created by Pulitzer-Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. To further grow the field, Games for Change convenes multiple stakeholders, highlights best practices, incubates games, and helps create and direct investment into new projects.

NATO's New MIOmoves Takes Serious Games To The Next level

2013-05-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

NATO will be giving away prizes for the highest score of each day of ITEC just for playing the new Serious Game

The opening scene of the new MIOmoves: Crew Search Kinect training simulation

NATO's ((North Atlantic Treaty Organization) MIOmoves series is a brand new range of cutting-edge training simulations that combine the latest developments in immersive technology with the proven track record of best practice operational training.

MIOmoves was developed by the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC) as part of their ongoing campaign to improve the effectiveness of maritime interdiction operations training.

The Center provides theoretical and practical training to NATO personnel and Non NATO partners, within Maritime Interdiction Operation (MIO) context. Specifically it promotes skills, interoperability and co-operation among naval units through sea training and simulation.

The series of simulations (the first of which is Crew Search) use Microsoft's Kinect technology to allow players to interact with the simulation by making gestures with their arms and hands, thus putting the player right at the centre of the action and creating an environment of almost complete immersion.

The resulting experience is an intuitive and immersive training exercise that provides a scalable virtual mission scenario without the costs associated with on-the-job training.

Gesture Control Demonstration

The simulation is scheduled for a public launch in 3 weeks' time at ITEC (International Forum for the Military Training, Education and Simulation Sectors), where NATO and their partners will be giving away a Google Nexus 7 tablet for the highest score of each day of the conference just for playing the new Serious Game.

If you want to try the simulation for yourself, visit stand D150 at ITEC between the 22nd - 24th May and you could win one.

About Noah Falstein, Google And Serious Games

2013-05-03T08:24:00.000-05:00

Noah Falstein, Google’s Chief Game Designer: There could be something even more serious going on

Via: TechCrunch - Is Google Getting Serious About Gaming? Noah Falstein Hired As Chief Game Designer

In my previous posts Google+ Getting Serious About Games Stream and Google+ Games Getting Started: What About Serious Games?, dated mid 2011, I addressed Google’s potential to promote Serious Games scalability and Google+ Games Stream as “a place where results from Gaming (or Serious Gaming, who knows?) would be pulled together”. In addition, my recent post Google Glass Version Of Serious Games, also “futures” How Serious Games Would Feel Through Google Glass.

TechCrunch yesterday’s post Is Google Getting Serious About Gaming? Noah Falstein Hired As Chief Game Designer also explores this possibility, which is highlighted with the article’s opening statement:

“The search giant, not normally known for its games development, appears to have a major gaming project in circulation, at least something that requires someone as experienced as Falstein at its helm. What that might be we can only speculate. A Google Glass-related augmented-reality game seems a possibility, though there could be something even more serious going on, given Falstein’s areas of interest.”

TechCrunch goes further, debriefing Noah Falstein bio and exploring alternate connections with both entertainment and Serious Games business opportunities:

“Were Google to be working on a new game (or games) led by Falstein, it wouldn't be an entirely new avenue. It already has the mysterious Niantic Labs, maker of Ingress a real-time augmented reality MMO for Android, so perhaps there’s a connection there. Or maybe a similar concept but for Google Glass.”

Google Ingress

“Finally, if we zoom out further and think a bit more laterally, a major interest of Falstein is the field of Serious Games, which he defines as Using Games, Game Technology, or Game Industry Techniques for a purpose other than pure entertainment. The list of Serious Games projects Falstein has been involved in spans anything from using game techniques to improve health and education, to financial projections.”

Noah Falstein’s new role was revealed on his LinkedIn profile: Google’s Chief Game Designer, April 2013 – Present.

Serious Games Merge Time Tables With Epic Adventures

2013-05-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

Serious Games allowing children to practice and improve multiplication skills

Via: Kiupe Blog - Math Mathews Now Available for Android

Math Mathews is the very first Serious Game developed by Kiupe

Founded in December 2012 by Serious Game and video game experts in Lyon, France, Kiupe is an interactive publishing house whose value proposition is to provide engaging experiences with games that include a narrative storyline, lots of learning and captivating interactivity (Please find also Serious Games For iPad Put Children In The Education Driver's Seat)

Math Mathews has become available for download from the Education Category of App Store as of March, 13th. Last week, Math Mathews 1.1 became available for Android tablets.

Math Mathews -The Search for the Necklace of Sylla, is a Serious Game designed for children and adults to practice and improve multiplication skills in a fun environment.

Created by speech therapists and game experts, Math Mathews helps children revise their time tables, utilizing three mini-games based on three different methods to live an engaging epic adventure! With game mechanics, such as collecting coins and rewards, accomplishing tasks and escaping from enemies, the app provides a learning perspective that improves user engagement as well as monitoring tools for parents to track progress.

Before starting the game, players can read the “Ship’s Log” to learn about the story of Captain Mathews -and his crew Carl and Celia. Captain Mathews is a pirate who has been turned into an octopus and to break the spell he needs to find the necklace of Sylla, which is broken into three parts scattered throughout archipelago Walter.

There are 3 different games to retrieve the 3 parts of the necklace: the ancient citadel, the secret temple and the sacred cave.

The Ancient Citadel

Math Mathews Artwork by Charlie Toqué

The Secret Temple

The Sacred Cave

Math Mathews Artwork by Charlie Toqué

Feature Highlights:

* 3 mini-games created with speech therapists, based on three different methods to practice math. Each game includes a learning stage and a arcade stage
* A pirates-style immersive game and an engaging story
* Monitoring tools for parents to track progress
* A training section where players can revise their time tables in a classical way
* Up to 7 different players accounts can be created
* A treasure room where players can collect their booties and badges
* A safe environment: no adds, no in-app purchases, no web… Only the game!

Language Support:
English, French

ADC & GDC NEXT: State Of The Art Serious Applications & Future Of Games

2013-04-30T11:45:00.004-05:00

ADC focuses on the best apps across major vertical markets: Entertainment, Enterprise, Brand Marketing, Education, Health/Wellness and Lifestyle

The inaugural 2013 App Developers Conference (ADC) and Game Developers Conference Next (GDC Next) call for submissions are now open through Wednesday, May 29.

ADC will feature app best practices (outside of games), covering some of major app vertical markets -- Entertainment, Enterprise, Health/Wellness, Lifestyle, Brand Marketing, and Education, while GDC Next will feature detailed content about creating the game experiences of the future.

Coincidentally or not, most of the addressed vertical markets for apps are also major Serious Games target markets.

“With the evolution and growth of interactive technology moving at light speed, it became clear to us that we should bring our 25+ years of expertise producing the Game Developers Conference events to the ever-expanding universe of app development, and also create a new event that looks at the future of the games space," said Meggan Scavio, general manager of GDC events.

The brand new co-located events, which aim to highlight the “state of the art” for apps and the future of video games, will debut November 5-7, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, as two shows and one expo floor.

The App Developers Conference is the brainchild of the folks who bring you the GDC. It’s an entirely new event, focusing exclusively on the very best development, UI, marketing and business of apps outside of games. The goal is to bring together the top leading app industry creators across the following verticals:

- Entertainment
- Enterprise
- Brand Marketing
- Education
- Health/Wellness
- Lifestyle

The advisory board is seeking submissions from app developers with expertise in any of the following tracks:

- Design & UI
- Business & Marketing
- Programming & Architecture

Please review the submission guidelines and tracks prior to submitting: Click here to begin a proposal for ADC

GDC Next is a brand new developer event focusing on creating the game experiences of the future, including how we will play games, on what we will play them, and how we will monetize, distribute, market, and share them.

According to Gamasutra, the conference organizers and advisory board are programming this spiritual successor to the long-running GDC Online shows, and are striving to bring the creators of tomorrow’s biggest and most innovative video games and game platforms together in one location. GDC Next organizers and esteemed advisory board are separate and unique from the ADC advisory board.

GDC Next's conference tracks are the following:

- Future of Gaming
- Free to Play & New Game Business Models
- Next Generation Game Platforms
- Independent Games
- Smartphone & Tablet Games
- Cloud Gaming

The advisory board is seeking submissions from game developers with expertise in the
following disciplines:

- Business, Marketing & Management
- Design
- Monetization
- Production
- Programming
- Customer Experience

Please review the submission guidelines and tracks prior to submitting: Click here to begin a proposal for GDC Next

New DragonBox 12+: Algebra Serious Games Optimized For 12+ Year Olds

2013-04-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

Serious Games that secretly teach algebra to your children

It has been almost a year since the launch of DragonBox, the Serious Game for solving Algebra equations. DragonBox started out by becoming the most sold app in any category in the Apple App Store beating traditional games like Angry Birds and Cut The Rope (Please find also iPad & Serious Games To Revolutionize The Way Students Access Core Curriculum)

To top it off, it won the 9th International Mobile Gaming Award for Best Serious Game at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco.

Now, the DragonBox Team has announced the launch of DragonBox Algebra 12+. It is based on the award winning game DragonBox Algebra 5+ but covers more advanced topics in mathematics and algebra.

They have taken all of the feedback they got from early adopters and used it to make this a longer, more comprehensive algebra learning tool optimized for schools and kids that are 12 years and older.

DragonBox Algebra 12+ includes more difficult algebra topics, such as parenthesis and factorization. It also comes with a Teacher's Manual detailing how the game can effectively be used as a part of the school day.

DragonBox 12+ is available for IOS and Android and will soon be available on PC & Mac and as a web version for schools.

About DragonBox 12+

DragonBox Algebra 12+ gives players a greater understanding of what mathematics is all about: objects and the relationships between objects.

This educational game targets children from the ages of 12 to 17 but children (or adults) of all ages can enjoy it. Playing doesn’t require supervision, although parents can enjoy playing along with their children and maybe even freshen up their own math skills.

The player learns at his/her own pace by experimenting with rules that are introduced gradually. Progress is illustrated with the birth and growth of a dragon for each new chapter.

Dr. Patrick Marchal, Ph.D. in cognitive science, and Jean-Baptiste Huynh, a high school teacher, created DragonBox Algebra 12+ Serious Game as an intuitive, interactive and efficient way to learn algebra.

DragonBox Algebra 12+ is based on a novel pedagogical method developed in Norway that focuses on discovery and experimentation. Players receive instant feedback which differs from the traditional classroom setting where students can wait weeks for feedback.

The previous educational game, DragonBox Algebra 5+ has received many distinctions including the Gold Medal of the 2012 Serious Play Award (USA), the Best Serious Game at Bilbao´s Fun and Serious Game Festival and the Best Serious Game at the 2013 International Mobile Gaming Awards.

Category: Education

Released: Apr 23, 2013

Current Version: 2.0.0

Topics in Mathematics and Algebra:

* Parentheses
* Positive and Negative signs
* Addition of Fractions (Common Denominators)
* Collection of Like Terms
* Factorization
* Substitution

Features

* 20 progressive chapters (10 learning, 10 training)
* 357 puzzles
* Basic algebraic rules with which the child can experiment
* A focus on minimal instruction encourages creativity and experimentation from the player
* Multiple profiles for easy progress control
* Dedicated graphics and music for each chapter
* Multiple supported language

Serious Games Change Banking Industry Attitudes Towards Risk And Lending

2013-04-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

SimuStar: Credit Theory Meets Serious Games

Serious Game assesses business risk and loan structuring

Via: Caspian Learning and Omega Performance

Omega Performance partnered with Caspian Learning to develop and bring to the market SimuStar -- an advanced credit simulation aiming at changing banking industry attitudes towards risk, lending and return (Please find also Serious Games Improving Training and Performance Metrics)

SimuStar helps lenders hone judgment and decision-making skills by replicating real-life experience in collecting and interpreting data, which is the only way to fully test lender's skills.

In the SimuStar Series, as in real life, players work with a team of lenders. These virtual colleagues help guide players, through meetings and conversations, as they collect information on a lending opportunity, analyze key financial data and make decisions on structuring a loan.

Players also have the chance to visit the potential clients and meet with their team, ask questions, and tour their facilities as they gather information to make their decisions.

SimuStar offers the chance to practice critical skills using actual case studies in an environment similar to players’ actual workplace. It is designed to recreate job situations realistically, where players judgment is tested, but without the risk of a real lending process.

To help populate this environment with enough variety so that each challenge presents something different, SimuStar uses a vast collection of real life case studies to provide a library of complex lending scenarios specifically designed to challenge the learner whilst delivering the widest range of useful experiences possible.

Examples of SimuStar Cases

Kings Confections

Industry: Manufacturing

King’s Confections, a manufacturer of chocolates and confections, is a prospective customer that the lender has contacted to request a meeting. The Company currently has a line of credit and various term loans which the customer may be interested in moving to the lender’s financial institution.

The lender will be required to review the historical and projected financial information for King's, meet with the management team and tour the King's plant to assess the risk in lending to the company. If the lender determines that refinancing the company’s debt is a viable transaction, they will have the opportunity to propose a loan structure for approval.

ECS

Industry: Manufacturing

ECS is a company that designs, manufactures, services and distributes electrical power condition systems for a variety of commercial and industrial applications.

There are three versions of ECS Serious Game:

1. ECS is a prospective customer looking to refinance its line of credit, currently with another bank.

2. ECS is an existing customer looking to borrow more money to restructure its balance sheet after a large inventory purchase for “pennies on the dollar” from another company. An additional element of guarantees is addressed in this version.

3. ECS is a current customer looking to renew their line of credit. During the site and factory visit, the lender discovers that there is a covenant breach that must be addressed.

About Omega Performance

Omega Performance equips bankers with the skills to source sound lending opportunities and structure high-quality, profitable loans to help grow a more profitable, higher-quality loan portfolio. Omega Performance combines more than three decades of experience with industry-leading technology to provide the results banks need.

Interactive Career Exploration Serious Game Within Whyville

2013-04-24T15:50:00.003-05:00

Free Serious Game Designed to Help Students Ages 8–15 Explore Future Careers

As anticipated in my prior posting Serious Games Bring Career Exploration To Children Around The World, ACT and Numedeon Inc. announced today the official launch of CareerQuest™, a free Serious Game designed to help younger students expand their awareness of possible future careers.

PRESS RELEASE

ACT and Numedeon Launch CareerQuest™:

An Interactive Career Exploration Game within the Whyville Virtual World

Free Game Designed to Help Students Ages 8–15 Explore Future Careers

IOWA CITY, Iowa, and PASADENA, Calif.—ACT and Numedeon Inc. announced today the launch of CareerQuest™, a free game designed to help younger students expand their awareness of possible future careers. Developed in partnership by the two firms, the game appears on Whyville.net, an online virtual learning world created by Numedeon. The game, which is based on ACT’s extensive research on education and careers, is aimed at students ages 8 to 15.

“We know how important it is for young students to start thinking about their futures early on so they can take the best steps to be ready to succeed in college and career,” said ACT Chief Innovation Officer Miguel Encarnaçấo. “Online gaming provides a personal, emotional and relevant interaction with digital content and with other players. Our focus is to give younger students insights on careers using an interesting, fun and educational platform.”

“The kids visiting Whyville have always loved games and activities that relate to careers, from being fashion designers to marine biologists,” said Jennifer Sun, Numedeon president. “We were therefore not surprised to see more than 24,000 visits to the ACT Career Club in the first two days of launch in early 2013.”

CareerQuest can be accessed in the virtual world of Whyville.net at the ACT Career Club, where students can browse information on more than 550 occupations organized into six career clusters ranging from science and technology to the arts.

As students explore possible career choices, they can narrow their search by indicating their interests and preferences. Students can view specific data on each occupation, including typical work tasks, average salary, pros and cons, number of workers in that field, future growth opportunities, as well as the minimum and recommended education/training required for the job.

“While research suggests that middle school-aged children are already making choices that affect their eventual careers, at present they have little information or support in doing so,” said James Bower, Numedeon chief executive officer. “Now, through the innovative ACT Career Club, they can explicitly learn about and plan for their future careers. It’s a perfect addition to Whyville, and ACT is the ideal partner.”

“Virtual gaming represents an exciting new venture for ACT,” said Encarnaçấo. “Our collaboration with Numedeon is helping us explore new learning and engagement experiences as well as provide a new way for elementary and middle school students to benefit from decades of valuable ACT career data. Along with the new ACT Aspire™ assessment system that we are developing, the introduction of CareerQuest is one more way in which we are working to help improve college and career readiness along the kindergarten to career continuum.”

Launched in 1999, Whyville is an award-winning web-based virtual world integrating educational experiences with games and role playing. More than 7 million Whyville “citizens” ages 8 through 15 have created their own avatars to explore the many online destinations established in cooperation with public and private sponsors.

To explore the ACT Career Club or play CareerQuest, visit act.whyville.net

About ACT

ACT is an independent, nonprofit organization with a 53-year history of generating data-driven assessments and research. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, and with offices throughout the world, ACT is trusted for its continual development of next generation assessments that determine college and career readiness and provide the most advanced measure of workplace skills.

Serious Games Boost Civic Education In The Classroom

2013-04-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Serious Games inspiring students to get involved in the democratic system

Via: iCivics

Following my prior posts Serious Games To Foster National Dialogue About Judiciary System and Learning By Doing Civics Through Serious Games, the campaign to improve high-school civics education led by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor received a boost last week when the Arizona Department of Education endorsed her web-based educational tool iCivics, which includes lesson plans and web quests, but the big draw being an impressive collection of Serious Games.

Earlier this month, Harvard Law School and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools presented a daylong symposium titled “Civics Education: Why It Matters to Democracy, Society, and You”, to recognize the extraordinary work led by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in iCivics and explore paths to advance the way young people are prepared to participate in democracy.

iCivics is an online learning platform devoted to the topic. Grounded in O’Connor’s campaign to reverse the declining civic knowledge of Americans, the iCivics website provides 17 educational Serious Games and free civics resources for teachers. It has received 1.6 million visitors since it was created in 2009, shortly after she retired from the Supreme Court.

These Serious Games are grouped under seven topics such as citizenship and participation, the judicial branch of the United States government, budgeting, and more. If you follow the Teachers, this way! icon on the front page, you will be taken to the iCivics curriculum collection. You can browse the curriculum units or search for units aligned with state standards.

1. Citizenship and Participation (6 games)

Screenshot of Immigration Nation – guide newcomers along their path to citizenship

2. The Constitution and Bill of Rights (3 games)

Screenshot of Do I Have a Right? – run your own firm of lawyers specialized in constitutional law

3. Budgeting (1 game)

Screenshot of People’s Pie – you control the budget of the federal government

4. Separation of Powers (1 game)

Screenshot of Branches of Power – you control the three branches of government

5. The Executive Branch (2 games)

Screenshot of Executive Command – you can be the president for four years

6. The Legislative Branch (2 games)

Screenshot of LawCraft – you play a member of congress from the state of your choice

7. The Judicial Branch (2 games + 3 shared with other topics)

Screenshot of We The Jury – you learn about what jurors discuss in the deliberation room

About the Campaign

The Campaign for the Civic Mission Schools was created to expand and improve civic learning in American schools, K-12 and in Higher Education. The Campaign works with its 60+ coalition partners, the Campaign's Steering Committee, to bring about changes in state, local, and national policy that promote civic learning.

The Campaign was founded in 2004 to serve as the civic learning community’s public and policymaker advocacy arm. It operates on two advocacy tracks: national and state.

Cargo Dynasty: Serious Games To Create A Carrier Business

2013-04-23T10:05:00.000-05:00

Serious Games to get an insight what is like to work within the Transport Sector

Via: Serious Games Interactive

Early April, Serious Games Interactive, the Transport Sector Education Fund (TSU) and TUR Publishing from Denmark released Cargo Dynasty, an online multiplayer strategy game for the Transport Industry (Please find also Serious Games Bringing More People Into Scotland’s Transport Sector)

TSU has invested seven million dollars in the project to entice more young people into one of the country's most important industries.

In Denmark, the average age of an employee in the transportation industry is close to 50 years, which means that they will face a significant turnover in a near future. “This applies to drivers, warehouse workers and administrative staff”, says Magnus Købke, project manager at TSU. “It will be vital to attract more young people to the profession if the Transport Industry in Denmark continues to be a multi-billion, adds Magnus Købke.

Designed specifically for 8-10 grade students and the Vocational Education and Training (VET)/ Transport Program, Cargo Dynasty can be played by the whole classroom.

In the game, groups of students build their own transport business and manage operations, earning money to expand the business. Costs and revenues must hang together; employees must be trained; warehouses be built and hours of service rules must be observed. The teacher determines how long the game will last. When time is up, the group who owns the largest company with most money, satisfied customers and the best trained employees wins the game.

The game is also available in a single user version, which is free for all! Cargo Dynasty can be played in your browser or you can download the game to your tablet (iPad and Android).

Serious Games Convey Alzheimer's Disease Pathology

2013-04-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

Serious Games as therapeutic interventions at a bio-molecular level

Fayju is an independent game development company based in UK who has teamed up with Dr Jody Mason of Essex University, a leading Biochemist currently researching the causes and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, to create the Serious Game Cascade to convey Alzheimer’s disease pathology at the cellular level and potential therapeutic intervention approaches.

(Please find also Crossing the Chasm With Serious Games For Medical Education)

Game Background

Many researchers believe that the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis best explains the cause of Alzheimer's disease and that certain therapeutic interventions at a bio-molecular level can have a powerful effect against the disease.

The rules of Cascade environment and gameplay emulate this hypothesis and potential solutions. The game is based on research into potential therapeutic interventions against Alzheimer's disease and will be played out in the brain amidst a simulation of the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis that you navigate, control and attempt to stabilize against the onslaught of the disease.

Game Context

Cascade is a game set in a brain under the siege of Alzheimer’s disease. The brain cells are involved in a microscopic war of epic proportions and you have the power to stabilize them.

In the game, you explore interconnected worlds in an infinite universe. A malevolent force that surrounds you is closing in, extinguishing everything in a Cascade of annihilation. You are the last frontier against this Devastation, save as many worlds as you can before there is nothing left to save and all is lost to memory.

Each of those “big planets” is a brain cell

On the surface of those cells are the strands, like trees on a planet. They get broken into 3 bits and one of those when it accumulates builds up and eventually destroys the cell. You control the big green ships and they fly around the cells, go down onto the surface and attempt to manage the chaos saving as much area as possible.

Google Glass Version Of Serious Games

2013-04-20T13:40:00.000-05:00

How Serious Games Would Feel Through Google Glass

OK Glass! How long is the Brooklyn Bridge?

This week Google has started to distribute Google Glass, something seen as the next breakthrough in mobile computing and in video games as well, standing at the forefront of wearable computing technology (please find also Serious Games, Serious Money: Google's Web Reshaping)

Google Glass is Google’s Internet-connected eyewear that responds to natural language voice commands and displays information in the user’s line of sight via Augmented Reality overlays.

According to Google, Project Glass is about a relationship technology: it is there when you want it and out of the way when you don’t. You can still have access to the technology you love but it doesn't take you out of the moment. It has the potential to become a mass-market ubiquitous computer and the future of human-machine interaction.

As a technology that helps you explore and share your world on the fly, coupled with AR capabilities that blend layers of relevant information originated from Google’s knowledge base (please find also Pushing The Boundaries of Serious Gameplay Into Semantic Search), it could also blur the lines between learning and gameplay, which is the ultimate Serious Games proposition.

Have a taste of it!

@Kickstarter A Serious Entertainment Cross Over Game

2013-04-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

Totem Play blurring the barriers between Serious and Commercial Games

Via: Totem Learning

Totem Learning, object of my prior post Totem Learning Makes Bespoke Serious Games More Accessible To All, are about to blur the barriers between Serious and Commercial Games, demonstrating it is perfectly possible to build a Serious Game that is both Casual and Social.

Their first cross over game, The Phoenix Project, is focused on problem solving and human interaction and is designed for people who want to play games but are daunted by the endless hours of investment required.

The Phoenix Project is a competitive and collaborative social puzzle game for the iPad where players are grouped into teams of 4 and must leverage the skills of fellow players for their own benefit; everyone has their own goal but only through cooperation will anyone win the game.

As players go through the game, Totem Play (Totem Learning’s new division) will be tracking their decision making and problem solving strategies to provide detailed feedback to them and their competitors/team mates. They’ll give players an insight into the workings of their own mind. So they intend to bridge the gap between entertainment and Serious Games.

The project is live on Kickstarter now at
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2118110887/phoenix-project-who-shall-rise and they are looking for backers.

A Game That Is More About the Mind Than Anything Else

About the Phoenix Project

Originally designed as a Serious Game with the goal of creating a leadership, communication and team work sandbox, Totem Learning have seen the potential and appeal of it becoming a commercial game. Their goal is to target the casual and social games market that are looking for a new kind of social game that is more intellectually stimulating.

The Phoenix Project is a game that will leave you questioning what’s real, who you can trust, and what force lies behind the temple.

It is a point and click adventure game, where players must use their wits and problem solving abilities to explore the temple, solve the puzzles and reach their goal. Players are in a race against time to reach their goal before their counterparts. The concept is to create a competitive environment where, in order to progress, users must work together with other people, who may have competing goals.

Player’s paths never cross. Players are never in the same room. Their rooms may be alongside one another, or on top of/below one another, but they are never together in the same room. However their actions will impact the path that other players may take.

The players first perspectives of the game will be them signing up to the mysterious Phoenix Project experiment.

Disorientated and confused, players enter the temple. The first rooms within the temple will give the players the feeling of an epic challenge ahead of them, one that they must win.The environment will be used to begin to build players assumptions about the game world and their place within it.

The puzzles within the temple are designed around manipulating elements of nature to appeal to different problem solving styles and puzzle types.

New puzzle mechanics and abilities are unveiled as players progress.These intricate puzzles are built into the environment and may require strategic coordination among players. In these puzzles there may be conflicting goals and other players may help or hinder you depending on what they want out of the relationship.

As players solve the puzzles built into the very foundation of the temple they are affecting the world around them. The overall temple will be an enigma in and of itself. You will even be able to manipulate the positioning of the rooms in the temple themselves to make your path simpler and others more challenging.

This underlying concept, proffering players the choice whether to share objects, information and knowledge creates a risk, reward system players can use to their advantage.

The environmental messages, the notifications, and the risk reward system will all combine to create game play that encourages a competitive frame of mind to create absorbing and fun social dynamics between players.

Totem Play will be releasing more about The Phoenix Project during their Kickstarter campaign

Serious Games For Training Cataract Surgeons

2013-04-15T08:43:00.003-05:00

Serious Game as part of an innovative program to reduce cataract blindness

Via: ForgeFX On Simulators And Real-Time 3D Serious Games

ForgeFX reports on a recently published study, authored by RAND Corporation, titled Cataract Blindness and Simulation-Based Training for Cataract Surgeons, that provides an assessment of a global campaign, named HelpMeSee, to eliminate cataract blindness which is endemic in developing countries.

Through an inexpensive, quick and effective procedure known as Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS), HelpMeSee plans to provide help to those suffering from blindness due to cataracts. The combination of a shortage of well-trained surgeons who are familiar with this technique, and the fact that approximately one-half of all blindness cases in the world are due to cataracts, is expected to result in more than 30 million people worldwide requiring cataract surgery by the year 2020.

In an effort to provide high-volume training for MSICS, that is portable and affordable, HelpMeSee has developed a high-fidelity training simulator that allows surgeons to quickly become proficient at the procedure.

James Ueltschi is the driving force behind HelpMeSee since the idea sparked in 2008. As Chairman and Treasurer of HelpMeSee, James is leading a multi-disciplinary team that is bringing the technology of flight simulators and advanced training methods to surgical training and medical practice. The goal is to be able to train an eye surgeon in six months – instead of 8 years. During his early career, James was the Vice President and a Treasurer of FlightSafety International as well as serving on the board of Orbis.

PRESS RELEASE

INNOVATIVE PROGRAM TO REDUCE CATARACT BLINDNESS IN DEVELOPING WORLD HAS PROMISE, NEEDS TO BE TESTED, RAND STUDY SAYS

Use of high-fidelity simulators to train cataract surgeons in developing nations could dramatically cut the prevalence of blindness around the world and increase economic output, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Cataracts are the leading cause of vision loss, accounting for more than half of all blindness worldwide. An estimated 21 million people are blind from cataracts, almost all in developing countries.

Because cataracts are a problem that normally appears during older age, cataract-related eye problems will grow as populations across the developing world get older. Blindness and visual impairment has enormous negative impacts on the quality of life, reducing life expectancy and economic productivity.

The simulators, modeled on ones used successfully for decades to train airplane pilots, are being developed by HelpMeSee, Inc., an organization whose mission is to eliminate cataract blindness worldwide.

HelpMeSee plans on training 30,000 cataract specialists in developing nations where conditions are most dire.

If the uptake is high, the plan could prevent 21 million cases of blindness and more than 113 million cases of impaired vision by 2030 according to RAND researchers. The biggest economic benefit in terms of absolute numbers would be in Southeast Asia.

Despite the potential, challenges remain according to the report. The simulators will need rigorous acceptance testing to assess their effectiveness and practicality as surgical training tools.

In addition, independent practitioners will take responsibility for their own outreach and screening of patients. This is a major innovation from traditional cataract care offered through hospitals. Quality of their services will be monitored through cloud-based electronic patient records. This emphasis on independence and remote monitoring may be controversial.

According to RAND, the HelpMeSee program could eliminate much of the preventable blindness caused by cataracts across the developing world and thus improve the lives of millions of people. Still, the approach needs to be proven. There are significant challenges to getting the program operating effectively and marketing it across many diverse nations.

HelpMeSee, in cooperation with host countries, plans to operate regional learning centers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The free-standing in-residence training centers will train up to 1,000 new cataract specialists each year in each region.

The RAND report points out that there is no prospect that the current supply of ophthalmologists will be adequate to make a meaningful impact on the backlog of people needing help. In many developing countries there is only one ophthalmologist per million people. Where appropriate, HelpMeSee proposes to provide ab initio training to candidates who have the requisite aptitude and background.

According to Jim Ueltschi, Chairman and co-founder of HelpMeSee, “Graduates will have successfully completed the training curriculum and have objectively and subjectively demonstrated high level proficiency in all areas of the procedure”.

In some areas, especially Africa, significant numbers of non-physicians are already performing cataract surgery, though there is little data on the quality of those surgeons.

“Although this is a highly challenging undertaking, our extensive background and experience in all phases of pilot training gives us confidence that we will be successful in training highly skilled and high volume specialists in low cost, highly effective Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS)” says Jim Ueltschi, “We understand that there are significant differences between pilot and surgical training, but there are many similarities as both are task-oriented. With high fidelity simulators and standardized courseware, we expect to scale up quickly and maintain the highest proficiency standards in MSICS as we have established in aviation.”

HelpMeSee envisions a large system of independent cataract specialists that would be a contrast to the existing hospital-based systems. The independent practitioners would be supported by HelpMeSee and paid a fee for each cataract procedure performed to HelpMeSee quality standards. These independent practitioners, supervised by a regional ophthalmologist, would be more likely to serve in rural areas or smaller urban centers, bringing the service closer to those in need

HelpMeSee sponsored the RAND study to assess the current and projected state of the cataract problem using RAND's sophisticated statistical modeling. Interviews with leaders of the most recognized existing cataract treatment models and other leading experts were conducted in order to compare and contrast their views and experience with the HelpMeSee plan. The analysis also considers a range of potential challenges to the success of the enterprise and discusses how a pilot study can help address some of those challenges.

Accepting the RAND report, Mohan Thazhathu, President and CEO said “RAND’s sophisticated modeling has provided an extensive assessment of the worldwide problem of cataract blindness, strategic challenges that must be addressed, and the milestones that need to be accomplished”.

The analysis estimates the potential impact of the effort if HelpMeSee is able to train 30,000 eye surgeons as planned. If the project reaches 50 percent of those needing cataract surgeries by 2030, then 82 million people could be aided, including prevention of 13 million cases of blindness. If the effort can reach 80 percent of those who need cataract surgery in developing nations, 113 million cases of vision impairment could be avoided, including 21 million cases of blindness. The biggest impact in terms of absolute numbers would be in Southeast Asia.

RAND researchers estimate the cost per surgery will vary by region and by year. For example, they calculate the costs per surgery in 2017 will range from $69 in Southeast Asia to $138 in Latin America. The estimates are generally higher than other cost estimates for cataract surgery in the medical literature because the estimate includes all program costs as well as the cost of surgical training.

The analysis also found that the surgeries conducted under the HelpMeSee approach would be very cost effective. That calculation reflects the large impact that cataract surgery has on reducing disability.

The sheer number of people who are cataract blind despite the low cost of MSICS is a stark representation of the failure of modern medicine to meet the needs of the poor. Under current circumstances, tens of millions are unnecessarily blinded and over a hundred million needlessly suffer from low vision. The cataract blind must endure terrible suffering on a daily basis and make unbelievable efforts just to obtain an inexpensive surgery that takes five minutes.

New Serious Game Immerses Programming Into Gameplay

2013-04-12T09:49:00.002-05:00

CodeSpells: Serious Game to Master Java Programming

Students in a San Diego elementary school play with CodeSpells

CodeSpells is a 3D Serious Game designed to teach novice programmers how to program in Java. In this game, you are a wizard and your task is to learn how to read, write and cast spells (Java programs) in an interactive and fun way

Via: UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering - UC San Diego Computer Scientists Develop First-person Player Video Game that Teaches How to Program in Java

Related Research presented March 8 at the 2013 SIGCSE Technical Symposium

PRESS RELEASE

San Diego, Calif., April 8, 2013 -- Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have developed an immersive, first-person player Serious Game designed to teach students in elementary to high school how to program in Java, one of the most common programming languages in use today.

The researchers tested the game on a group of 40 girls, ages 10 to 12, who had never been exposed to programming before. They detailed their findings in a paper they presented at the SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) conference in March in Denver. Computer scientists found that within just one hour of play, the girls had mastered some of Java’s basic components and were able to use the language to create new ways of playing with the game.

“CodeSpells is the only video game that completely immerses programming into the gameplay,” said William Griswold, a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.

The UC San Diego computer scientists plan to release the game for free and make it available to any educational institution that requests it. Researchers are currently conducting further case studies in San Diego elementary schools.

“Teaching computer science below the college level is difficult, mainly because it is hard to find qualified instructors for students in elementary to high school”, Griswold said. So he and his graduate students set out to find a way to reach these students outside the classroom. They designed the game to keep children engaged while they are coping with the difficulties of programming, which could otherwise be frustrating and discouraging.

“Teaching children how to program must be a priority in a society where technology is becoming more and more important”, said Sarah Esper, one of the lead graduate students on the development of CodeSpells. Programming also teaches logical thinking, said Stephen Foster, another lead student.

“We’re hoping that they will get as addicted to learning programming as they get addicted to video games,” Foster said.

How CodeSpells Works

Image Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

One of the CodeSpells gnomes, that players help using spells written in Java

CodeSpells’ story line is simple: the player is a wizard arriving in a land populated by gnomes. The gnomes used to have magic, but lost it at some point. The wizard must help them. She (or he) writes spells in Java. Players have seven spells available to them, including levitating objects within the game, flying and making fire.

Players can also earn badges by undertaking simple quests, which help them master the game’s spells. One quest entails crossing a river. Another entails rescuing a gnome from the roof of his cottage, where he got stuck. Yet another entails starting a large bonfire. By the time players complete the game’s first level, they have learned the main components of the Java programming language, such as parameters, for if statements, for loops and while loops, among other skills.

Testing the Game

Image Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

CodeSpells, the videogame where you cast magic spells in Java code

Researchers tested the game on a group of 40 girls ages 10 to 12 in San Diego. They gave the students a brief overview of the game’s mechanics, including how to write and edit code within the game’s user interface. The girls were divided in groups of two or three. Researchers encouraged them to explore the game and see what they could do. “We were purposefully vague,” they wrote, “as we hoped to encourage a largely unstructured learning environment.”

The students were disappointed when they had to stop playing because the test was over. Their interest in the game didn’t wane when they made mistakes while writing code. Instead, they used the mistakes as a stepping stone to explore the game’s possibilities. For example, one group made the mistake of levitating an object so high into the air that their wizard couldn’t reach it. So the girls made their wizard jump onto another object and levitated it high enough to reach the object they were after. The girls also reported feeling empowered. When they encountered a difficulty, they tried different spells and made changes to the code until they solved it.

Computer Science Learning Theory

CodeSpells was influenced by research that Esper and Foster conducted on how successful programmers learn their trade. They surveyed 30 computer scientists and identified five characteristics that are key to learn programming outside a classroom setting: activities must be structured by the person who is trying to learn; learning must be creative and exploratory; programming is empowering; learners have difficulty stopping once they start; and learners spend countless hours on the activity.

Researchers summarized these findings in their SIGCSE 2013 paper, humorously titled On the Nature of Fires and How to Spark Them When You’re Not There

Esper will present her CodeSpells work April 18 at Research Expo at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.

I-FLEG: A Serious Game For Second Language Acquisition

2013-04-11T11:28:00.001-05:00

Play a Serious Game and help research

I-FLEG ((Interactive French Language Learning Game) is a Serious Game designed for learning French as a Second Language (Please find also Serious Games Building A New Paradigm For Language Learners).

The Serious Game was developed in the context of ALLEGRO, an EU project focused on the development of new technologies for foreign language learning.

ALLEGRO is a collaboration between Prof. Pinkal’s Computational Linguistics group at Saarland University, Dr. Josef Brugard’s group at DFKI, Dr. Gardent’s and Dr. Laprie’s groups of INRIA Nancy and Dr. Pietquin’s group of Supelec, , Metz. ALLEGRO is funded within the EU INTERREG IV program and received 2 million Euros for a three year funding period starting January 2010.

I-FLEG is currently a research prototype, but they want to improve it. The goal is to transform it into a full 3D Serious Game to help people learn French and learn it well.

Play I-FLEG and Help Research! Playing I-FLEG, you will not only get to practice French, but will also help improving the game.

I-FLEG provides the architecture for a personalized learning process in which the earning content is automatically tuned to the learner level of proficiency.

The game is currently integrated in Second Life and exploits the 3D virtual environment provided by this platform for immersive learning-by-doing activities.

In the game, players can learn French vocabulary and grammar by moving their avatar through one of the six houses and clicking on objects. Each time you click on an object, you will be prompted with a short exercise. After you answer it, the solution will be displayed and your score will be updated. You can also choose the evaluation mode to test your proficiency level. At the end of the game a detailed summary of your final score is displayed.

Follow these three steps to start playing I-FLEG:

- Install a Second Life viewer, such as Phoenix for MacOSX, Windows and Linux and create your avatar
- Go to the I-FLEG island

- Read the documentation and use the I-FLEG Cheat Sheet to guide you through the game

Coming April 29 Re-Mission 2: Serious Games To Fight Cancer And Win

2013-04-09T10:46:00.000-05:00

Serious Games parallel real-world strategies used to successfully destroy cancer and win

In April 2013 HopeLab is releasing Re-Mission 2, the follow-up to the groundbreaking 2006 Serious Game for young people fighting cancer (Please find also Games Get Serious - Gaming For Health).

Re-Mission 2 is a collection of six online games created by the nonprofit HopeLab to help young people with cancer take on the fight of their lives. The games are an evolution of the original Re-Mission, inspired by the vision of HopeLab founder Pam Omidyar to fight cancer with gameplay. Based on scientific research, the games provide cancer support by giving players a sense of power and control and encouraging treatment adherence.

The gameplay parallels real-world strategies used to successfully destroy cancer and win. Each game puts players inside the human body to fight cancer with an arsenal of weapons and super-powers, like chemotherapy, antibiotics and the body’s natural defenses. The games are designed to motivate players to stick to their treatments by boosting self-efficacy and positive emotions and by shifting attitudes about chemotherapy.

All the games can be played free online at http://www.re-mission2.org/

RE-MISSION 2: NANOBOT’S REVENGE

You are a nanobot, a powerful microscopic robot designed to blast away cancer.

Players use an ever-increasing arsenal of powerful chemo attacks to crush the cancerous forces of the Nuclear Tyrant, firing targeted treatments on a growing tumor to prevent cancer from escaping into the blood stream.

RE-MISSION 2: LEUKEMIA

Lured by the sweet taste of healthy stem cells, the Leukemia Monster has mutated the body’s bone marrow. Players save white blood cells and destroy cancer with arcade action, point-and-click gameplay.

RE-MISSION 2: NANO DROPBOT

Cancer cells are lurking, holding healthy cells captive and starving. Players seek and destroy cancer and rescue healthy cells as a specialized nanobot armed with chemo medicine bombs. Platform-style gameplay features navigating and exploring inside the body to fight cancer.

RE-MISSION 2: STEM CELL DEFENDER

You are a mighty nanobot designed to protect white blood cells from a bacteria invasion – and you’ve got what it takes to win. Drag-and-drop gameplay maneuvers the nanobot to grow good cells to fight off a nasty bacterial infection. Powerful antibiotic bombs are used to wipe out the invading bacterial army.

RE-MISSION 2: FEEDING FRENZY

Devour bacteria and cancer cells to defeat cancer and infections as a white blood cell or chemo agent. Platform-style gameplay lets players explore the human body, and progress earns upgrades that make players even more powerful.

RE-MISSION 2: SPECIAL OPS

This bonus game is unlocked by playing 5 levels of each of the other Re-Mission 2 games. Players destroy cancerous worms invading the body in iconic shoot-‘em-up arcade-style gameplay. The game is downloadable and available for play offline.

Re-Mission 2 games incorporate key insights from years of scientific studies and qualitative user research with AYA cancer patients. Key research projects that informed Re-Mission 2 development are as follows:

Re-Mission™ Outcomes Study
Data published in the medical journal Pediatrics

Re-Mission™ Attitudes Study in the Brain
Data published in the scientific journal PLoSONE

For more on our research-based game-development process, read the article HopeLab’s Approach to Re-Mission, published in the International Journal of Learning and Media.

Serious Gaming To Manage Kids’ Pain

2013-04-08T10:58:00.002-05:00

Serious Games changing the way doctors measure children's pain

Via: Children's National Medical Center - How The Children's National Medical Center Is Using Kinect-based Videogames To Assess And Manage Kids' Pain

The Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., opened a new pain care complex on April 3, aiming to eliminate pain in young patients by using Serious Games (Please find also Serious Games Set To Transform Healthcare).

Children's Pain Medicine Care Complex is one of only a few programs in the country focused exclusively on managing pain for infants, children, and teens. When children are unable to express their pain in words, pediatric specialists have the unique insight to help.

Utilizing specially designed games combined with Microsoft’s Kinect technology, participants can improve their health without realizing they’re receiving treatment. The series of games were developed specially for the hospital as "Intergalactic Olympics", placing kids in an intergalactic world where they can paint, play and exercise, all while doctors analyze their range of motion.

Children's Pain Medicine Care Complex

A Multi-Sensory Room (MSR) in which a physical therapist uses video gaming therapy that distracts the patient, while measuring and treating pain through Kinect technology, targeting 24 musculoskeletal points in the body, combined with a proprietary software application to gather patient data in real-time

A Game Changer for Children’s Pain Management - Distract, Measure, Treat

The program changes the way medical professionals address pain medicine, says Dr. Sarah Rebstock, clinical director and a leader in the initiative.

It's often difficult to understand pain, particularly in children, due to its subjective nature. Usually, doctors only have measurements on a scale of one to ten to use as reference, while the pain measurement tool commonly used for kids is simply a series of smiley faces with varying expressions of happiness or sadness. Patients are released with improved conditions but still suffer from discomfort.

Children’s National Medical Center has identified a promising solution to this problem that objectively brings disruptive innovation to pain medicine and simultaneously creates a sustainable healthcare business model for the hospital.

The Pain Medicine Care Complex offers a new comprehensive, multidisciplinary pediatric pain medicine approach— Distract, Measure, Treat — that is fueling more comprehensive pediatric pain medicine research and helping children and their families achieve a higher quality of life.

The Serious Games serve as a distraction for the children but also target their bodies the same way a physical therapy session would. Not only can doctors monitor heart rate or motion, but based on the observations, they can change treatment and therapy in real-time to adjust to kids' abilities.

"It distracts kids from pain," says hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Stinebiser, "but also provides a data collection tool that will allow therapists to move away from subjective assessments of how a kid is progressing by taking quantitative measurements while the kids play."

That shift could be a game changer in the medical world.

The goal is eventually to expand the program to help adult patients, too. For now, pediatric patients are the focus because "children too often get left behind," Rebstock said.

About The Pain Medicine Care Complex

The Pain Medicine Care Complex utilizes one-of-a-kind video gaming therapy, holistic therapeutic tools, and digital data collection to enable short and long-term measurement of patient progress. For the first time, physicians are able to quantitatively measure pain and assess treatment progress in pediatric patients—all within an environment that was specially designed for their needs. The data collected during therapy allows the physician to determine the optimal course of treatment for each patient and forms the backbone of the ongoing research in the Institute. Through a cost-effective, continuous loop where data drives clinical care, and clinical care drives future research, Children’s National is developing innovative, evidence-based solutions to help eliminate pediatric pain, transforming the way care is delivered to children in the United States and around the world.

Until now, it has been impossible to quantitatively measure and monitor chronic pain in children; the current standard of care is for children to point to a smiley face on a spectrum from happy to sad. Children’s National Medical Center and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation have identified a promising solution to this problem that brings disruptive innovation to pain medicine and simultaneously creates a sustainable healthcare business model.

The Pain Medicine Care Complex, which is part of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National, offers a new comprehensive, multidisciplinary pediatric pain medicine approach that is fueling more comprehensive pediatric pain medicine research, saving costs, and helping children and their families achieve a higher quality of life.

Learn more about the clinical care in the Pain Medicine Care Complex

Serious Games Award Competition Entries Due May 1

2013-04-06T08:04:00.000-05:00

Serious Play Conference - Everything About Serious Games

The International Serious Play Awards, sponsored by the Serious Games Association, is a recognition program honoring outstanding examples of single player Serious Game titles that deliver a high quality of engagement and measurable training or learning opportunities.

Any organization or individual that has created a Serious Game or simulation since August 2012 using commercial off the shelf (COTS) platforms is eligible to enter a title.

Titles may be entered into the following categories:

o Education/home learning

o Government/military training

o Healthcare/medical training

o Business/corporate training

o Games for good

In addition to being eligible for game awards, titles entered are eligible for Serious Play Certification, a qualification offering customer assurance that a game offers a high standard of performance, having passed a rigorous examination by an advisory panel of experts. All awards will be given at the 2013 Serious Play Conference, August 19 – 21, 2013 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash.

The Serious Games Association (SGA) supports all professionals in the Serious Games community. Services include a Serious Games directory, educational conferences, special interest groups (SIGs) and committees studying how to move the industry ahead.

Click here for link to http://www.seriousplayconference.com/awards/award-submission/

Autodesk Digital STEAM For a Serious Game-based Curriculum

2013-03-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

Autodesk announces the launch of its first set of Serious Games for iPad

Via: Autodesk Secondary Education Curriculum – Autodesk Digital STEAM Workshop

The Autodesk Digital STEAM Workshop is an innovative, highly visual curriculum that inspires students to solve real-world challenges using Autodesk software, while preparing them for the Autodesk Certified User exam. It offers an engaging project based learning experience that heavily relies on Serious Gameplay.

Through Educational Serious Games, a 3D project viewer, and Design Thinking videos the curriculum engages students while teaching and reinforcing the learning of core Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) concepts in a fun way.

Supporting career and technical education program requirements, the curriculum introduces students to careers in design through videos from professionals in today’s workforce, providing students with a solid introduction to design regardless of their academic path or career choice.

Autodesk announced last week the launch of its first set of Serious Game-based, Digital STEAM iPad Applications, for students between the ages of 11 to 18.

The new Autodesk Digital STEAM Applied Mechanics app uses Serious Games to teach students the basic principles of applied mechanics. It is a free iPad app that contains five simple games, designed to let students experiment with five connected physics concepts: Energy and Work, Force, Power, Loading, and Mechanisms. These concepts are essential in the development of innovative products and product systems and learning about how things work.

In addition to the Digital STEAM Applied Mechanics app, Autodesk also released the Digital STEAM Visual Design app and the Digital STEAM Measurement app.

STEAM Visual Design
This app steps through a glossary of design topics, illustrating concepts like color, space and form and along with principles like balance, proportion and contrast, all in a visual, interactive way

STEAM Measurement

This app steps through a glossary of topics dealing with measurement, illustrating the concepts by allowing you to measure objects and interact with other objects to change the values

Each of these apps is designed to supplement Autodesk’s curriculum portal - Digital STEAM - which provides free materials to secondary educators.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries - including the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects - use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets.

For additional information about Autodesk, visit http://www.autodesk.com/

Serious Games Improve Navigation Skills For People With Vision Disabilities

2013-03-30T13:40:00.002-05:00

Serious Games helping blind people conceptualize space around them

Via: Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) – Development of an Audio-based Virtual Gaming Environment to Assist with Navigation Skills in the Blind

Connors, E. C., Yazzolino, L. A., Sánchez, J., Merabet, L. B. Development of an Audio-based Virtual Gaming Environment to Assist with Navigation Skills in the Blind. J. Vis. Exp. (73), e50272, doi:10.3791/50272 (2013)

On March 27^th, JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) published a new video article by Dr. Lotfi Merabet showing how researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School have developed a Serious Game to help blind individuals improve navigation skills and develop a cognitive spatial map of unfamiliar buildings and public locations (please find also Serious Gaming Your Way To Better Vision)

The technique utilizes computer generated layouts of public buildings and spatial sensory feedback to synthesize a virtual world that mimics a real world navigation task. In the game, participants must find jewels and carry them out of the building, without being intercepted by roaming monsters that steal the jewels and hide them elsewhere.

Participants interface with the virtual building by using a keyboard and wearing headphones that play auditory cues that help spatially orient them to the world around them. This interaction helps users generate an accurate mental layout of the mimicked building. Dr. Merabet and his colleagues are also exploring applications of this technology with other user interfaces, like a Wii Remote or joystick.

"It could be a whole new way to help blind people interact with this information and conceptualize space around them," Merabet added in an interview.

"We have developed the software called AbES, the Audio-based Environment Simulator that represents the actual physical environment of the Caroll Center for the Blind in Newton Massachusetts. The participants will use the game metaphor to get a sense of the whole building through open discovery, allowing people to learn room layouts more naturally than if they were just following directions."

After game play, participants are then assessed on their ability to navigate within the target physical building represented in the game. Preliminary results suggest that early blind users were able to acquire relevant information regarding the spatial layout of a previously unfamiliar building as indexed by their performance on a series of navigation tasks. These tasks included path finding through the virtual and physical building, as well as a series of drop off tasks.

Neuroscientist Lotfi Merabet has developed a video game designed to help the blind find their way through a building (Courtesy)

"It could be a whole new way to help blind people interact with this information and conceptualize space around them," Merabet added in an interview.

The technology will invariably be useful for the 285 million blind people world-wide, 6 million of which live in the United States. It will also have applications beyond the blind community for individuals with other visual impairments, cognitive deficits, or those recovering from brain injuries.

About JoVE

JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the first and only PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing scientific research in a video format.

Using an international network of videographers, JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques at top universities, allowing students and scientists to learn them much more quickly.

As of March 2013, JoVE has published video-protocols from an international community of nearly 6,000 authors in the fields of biology, medicine, chemistry, and physics.