SGS D.C. Developer Showcase
SGS D.C., which was produced by The CMP Game Group (which also runs Serious Games Source and sister site Gamasutra), recently took place on October 30 and 31 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. The event featured multiple sessions focusing on a wide variety of topics within the serious games space, provided a platform for those involved to speak out about the state of serious games development. The conference also played host to an event called Developer Showcase, which aimed to bring potential serious game developers and program managers together to network and demonstrate game content to interested parties. Serious Games Source recently spoke with several of the companies that participated in the showcase to get their perspective on what it, as well as the Serious Games Summit event as a whole meant to their organizations. To begin the interview series, the site spoke with Peter Morrison, the lead developer on the Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2) project for Bohemia Interactive, a company perhaps best known for the Operation Flashpoint series of titles. What is Bohemia Interactive's current perception of the 'serious games' market? Our customers are primary military and first responders, knowledgeable people who seem to see the potential of cost-effective virtual trainers. The users seem very aware of the potential of games for training but really there are few products that lack the fidelity required, or they require major modification. Our niche market has formed through creation of a game engine that is flexible enough to be easily (and therefore cheaply) modified for serious users. What does Bohemia Interactive contribute to this space? We provide a flexible game engine that can be used as either a 3D virtual or 2D constructive training aid. The majority of our software technology was developed for the entertainment market but that same technology is applicable for training military and first responders also. We are soon releasing a new product – VBS2 or Virtual Battlespace 2 – that leverages game engine technology but adds layers of functionality such as after action review and real time scenario editing capability. What do you feel is the most important outcome of your participation in the Serious Games Summit conference? Interaction with new customers who may not have yet heard of our product.
To what degree do you feel you accomplished this objective? Mission accomplished. What do you feel that companies such as yourself have or are continuing to do right within the 'serious games' market? We are responding to the needs of the military and first response market by being prepared to modify our game engine to suit their differing requirements, and we don’t charge large amounts of money to do this.
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