Air Force Awards ORBITEC $750,000 to Develop Hypercosm 3D Casual Games for Preventive Medical Instruction
After a successful demonstration of its Hypercosm 3D interactive casual web-based game platform, Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) was awarded $750,000 by the U. S. Air Force to expand its "Furlough Frenzy!" game into a complete learning environment for proactive preventive medical instruction.
Madison, WI (PRWEB) October 1, 2009
What do using grenades to kill cockroaches, cleaning toilets, and simulating drunk driving all have in common? They are all scenes of a prototype casual game developed by ORBITEC (http://www. orbitec. com) using its Hypercosm 3D software to teach Air Force personnel topics in proactive preventive medicine.
After a successful demonstration of its 3D interactive casual web-based game platform, Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) was awarded $750,000 by the U. S. Air Force to expand its "Furlough Frenzy!" game into a complete learning environment for proactive preventive medical instruction.
Web-based casual games have become more common for teaching to internet-savvy students that once required lecturing and textbooks. "It's about engaging the user in the material," said Hypercosm's founder, Abe Megahed. "A game helps maximize the learning experience because there are elements of interactivity and competition."
ORBITEC's $750,000 contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory will complete a game with the working title of Furlough Frenzy" as it follows an Airman trying to navigate successfully through environmental and occupational hazards, nutrition puzzles, motor vehicle accident prevention and responsible personal health choices - all in the quest to win a two-week trip home.
The company will use its Hypercosm 3D software along with Autodesk's 3ds Max to produce the game's web-based content. The final product will include multiplayer capabilities so social interaction and competition will further engage the players. The company is also working on multiple mobile platforms as an alternative form of game delivery.
Dr. Gerald Higgins, Chief Innovation Officer at The Center for Medical Informatics, Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Health, will work together with ORBITEC to provide medical oversight and simulation expertise. Dr. Higgins is a recognized leader in the field of simulation and games for health, and the former U. S. Vice President of Resach and Development, Laerdal Medical Corporation and Director of the Digital Human Project for the Federation of American Scientists.
COMPANY EXPERTISE
ORBITEC's Hypercosm software focuses on 3D interactive content creation and tools for high fidelity simulation, training and web-based 3D visualization. Their content development team is backed with a suite of software tools, including:
Hypercosm Teleporter for efficiently exporting 3D models and animations from 3ds Max™ or Google SketchUp™ into Hypercosm web deployable applets, evaluation available at the Teleporter site (http://www. hypercosm. com/download/teleporter/index. html). Hypercosm Studio, a text-based authoring environment for scripting unlimited behaviors and user interactions into 3D content, evaluation available at the Studio site (http://www. hypercosm. com/download/studio/index. html). Hypercosm Player, a free viewer that integrates with standard web browsers for displaying Hypercosm applets, downloadable from the Player site (http://www. hypercosm. com/download/player/index. html). ABOUT HYPERCOSM:
Hypercosm creates products and technologies to enable highly interactive 3D simulations for training, education and design visualization. Hypercosm's patented approach to encoding object geometry and behaviors results in low file size simulations that can be delivered over the web practically and effectively, even with low bandwidth connections. Hypercosm products and services have provided web-based interactive astronaut training, assembly instructions, familiarization training, science education aids and 3D architectural designs. For more information and to view solution demonstrations, visit us online at hypercosm. com (http://www. hypercosm. com).
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