IDEAS Part of Award Winning Game Team
By Jason Vega
![BBN3](https://ideas.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BBN3.jpg)
IDEAS is a member of the development team that won the award for Best Game in the Business category at the 2009 Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (SGS&C). The winning entry is VESSEL Damage Control Trainer (VDCT), an immersive, computer-based game environment that provides training on vessel damage control skills while reinforcing decision-making, communication protocol, situational awareness, and shipboard navigation. IDEAS created the story that supports the instructional design for the game and played a key role in producing the sound assets.
“Winning this award is a great honor for every member of our team,” commented Kelly Pounds, VP of the IDEAS Learning division. “We’ve shown how an interdisciplinary team of experts drawn from the fields of instructional design, story development, software development, game design, and educational science can come together to create an engaging, effective game-based training tool.”
The development of VDCT is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, and playing the game has been shown to produce a significant improvement in the performance of recruits at the U.S. Navy’s boot camp, Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, IL. VDCT provides a guided discovery experience that allows recruits to explore a virtual ship environment and perform damage control missions while receiving instructionally supportive guidance and feedback within the game. Critical errors have consequences, while correct actions lead to progress in achieving mission goals.
Raytheon BBN Technologies led the VDCT development team, with contributions from IDEAS; Alion Science and Technology; Intelligent Decision Systems, Inc.; the University of Central Florida; and the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.
The goal of the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge is to identify innovative game-based technologies and solutions that improve training across all segments for individuals, groups and systems. After a multi-step evaluation process, the top 12 entries in three categories were selected for showcasing at the annual I/ITSEC (www.iitsec.org) conference from Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2009 in Orlando, Florida. The winners were selected by a panel of nearly 60 distinguished serious game experts from academia, government, and industry.