Serious Games Showcase & Challenge Finalists

click on images for a larger view

Game DIS (GDIS) is a military training application using the 3D Gaming Engine that powers Half-Life®2. The application is fully configurable and allows: multiplayer participation over standard internet connection; AAR support for spectators and instructors to participate and play along with playback; alternate outcomes for AAR participation with “smart bots” and live unit animations; integration of standard DIS tools such as CERDEC’s C2 Mobile Intelligent Net-Centric Computing System (C2MINCS); and, support for man-wearable embedded training and mission rehearsal as demonstrated for Spiral C of Army Aerial Assault Expeditionary Force Experiment.

Research Network Incorporated (RNI) RNI, also known as "The Research Network“, is headquartered in Atlanta (Kennesaw), Georgia. RNI supports a number of different research topics and fields of expertise. The facility also includes a fabrication shop for the production of prototype systems. RNI has a current product line of simulations, 3D Models, and soldier location hardware. RNI was incorporated in 1993 and was granted S-Corporation status in 1998 by the state of Georgia. Through the SBA, cost sharing potential is available for GDIS users.

Gator Six, Battery Command Virtual Experience
(Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan) Gator Six is a Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulation (VEILS®) where you become the lead character in an interactive movie. As an Army Field Artillery Captain with 7 years service, you have been selected to command an M-109 Paladin battery. Your brigade receives orders. You and your charges are excited - raring to go, actually - but how will you handle your family, troop morale, host nation cultural disparity and many other differing issues? All this while also making sound battlefield assessments? You make pivotal command decisions during predeployment, deployment, combat and support and sustainment operations that test your adaptability, judgment and critical decision-making skills.

WILL Interactive, Inc.
Founded in 1994, WILL Interactive, a woman-owned small business, pioneered and patented an advanced form of Digital Game-Based Learning technology called Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulations (VEILS®). This “flight simulator for life” is often described as a cross between a feature film and a video game because it uniquely enables users to role-play the lead characters in live action, full-screen, full-motion, research-based movies that reflect real-life decisions and consequences—even outright disasters—in the safety of cyberspace. WILL has won over 20 national awards in the last two years, including the prestigious 2006 CODiE award for Best Instructional Solution. WILL currently has six military VEILS® programs in production scheduled for release in 2007.

Harpoon 3 Professional
“A Spreadsheet for Air and Naval Warfare”
Harpoon 3 Pro, in use by Northrop Grumman, Maritime Systems Integration, and the Australian Department of Defense, creates systems and scenarios at the desktop that provides them with a "lightweight" tool to perform low fidelity, low cost, simulation and analysis capability to quickly screen large numbers of scenarios. Screened scenarios are fed directly to “heavyweight” tools. This off the shelf software currently features: a VCR (playback) feature (with editing); single or multiplayer (with provision for umpire and spectators) via TCP/IP; import of GIS data (ESRI); export to Satellite Toolkit and SQL databases; and, Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) support.

Advanced Gaming Systems, located in College Station, Texas, was established in 1990 to focus on the ongoing development of the Harpoon computer games in close cooperation with Mr. Larry Bond and Mr. Chris Carlson. The company provides both services and licenses for customers to succeed in their missions.

Modern Air Power
Modern Air Power is a real-time simulation of modern air campaigns from the time of the Vietnam War to present day and the future. Modern Air Power presents a top-down view of a conflict and provides a combination of manual and automated control of flights and other resources. Users can play against the computer using a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence feature, either individually or as a team, and can play head-to-head against other human players over a network or the Internet.

John Tiller Software has been developing wargame simulations for over 10 years, first producing games for TalonSoft starting in 1995 and continuing that commercial development with HPS Simulations starting in 1999. John Tiller Software has received multiple contracts with the Air Force for development of Modern Air Power, Artificial Intelligence, Command and Control, and Asymmetric Warfare studies. John Tiller Software teams with academic and industrial partners stretching world-wide to provide the highest quality wargame software for commercial and military use.

Point of Attack-2 (POA-2) is a combat simulation wargame applicable to almost any past, current, or future tactical/ operational military operation, including aerial strikes from land and sea, covert and anti-terrorist operations, “peacekeeping” missions, and major force on force actions. POA-2 includes the use of land, sea and air forces, and all manner of combat, supporting, and “next generation” systems including the US Army’s Future Combat System . Heavily emphasized are C4ISR environments including general and network communications, fog of war, satellites and civilians, as well as intangible characteristics such as morale, fatigue, and training. Included is a complete built in AI (artificial intelligence) that is capable of fully controlling a combat force, assist a human player, “computer controlled” forces, and units that act realistically in a given situation.

HPS Simulations, a leading publisher of computer wargames since 1990, is dedicated to producing the most detailed and accurate military simulations on the market. Located in Santa Clara, CA, the staff of HPS is comprised primarily of ex-military personnel. Scott Hamilton, the designer, served as a Captain in the US Army as a combat engineer officer and has received several awards for wargame design, including the prestigious Computer Gaming World Premier Award for the program Aide De Camp.

Steel Beasts Professional (SB Pro) is a vehicle-centric virtual simulation of combined arms combat tactics. It covers the range from individual crew station up to battalion level maneuver. The prime focus is tactical training at company team level for armored and mechanized units. SB Pro can be used in a supplemental role for gunnery training, and simulates seven different fire control systems that allow part-task training for gunner, commander, and driver of multiple tank models. SB Pro supports all phases of armor combat from planning, to analysis, to real-time execution, to a detailed after action review. The software can be used in solitaire, explorative self-learning as well as in collective training situations, both collaborative and team competition. It is suitable for distance-learning scenarios.

eSim Games, LLC,
is a developer of training software and serious games with a focus on armored and mechanized combat tactics. The company headquarters are located in Mountain View, California. An additional office is located in Hannover, Germany. Development started as early as 1995. A commercial game version was released in 2000, followed by the release of a first version of Steel Beasts Professional into a productive environment in 2003. Since then the software has been continuously improved in a series of army-specific customizations.