Jessica tries out the Opsis games

Jessica Trybus, the Founder and CEO of Etcetera Edutainment, visited the Silicon Valley campus on November 30th. She gave us a lecture and showed us a demo of a few projects that Etcetera Edutainment developed. Jessica is an ETC alumni who is now also an ETC faculty member. Right after she graduated in 2005 she founded Etcetera Edutainment with one of her colleagues. She introduced her company as ‘a company that designs simulation safety content based on game mechanics that we all familiar with.’

She showed a live demo of an electrical safety simulation as one example of her company’s work. The purpose of this simulation training is to test professional electrical engineers by putting them in the drivers seat and letting them make decisions in virtual scenarios. The simulation is a very technical based game because the clients’ expectations are high over having proven and accurate facts. Thus, it is a very delicate game that is well built in a very realistic virtual environment. The simulation training is divided into different stages based on several tasks and difficulty levels. Since it is all about teaching them a lesson with accurate facts, when the player completes each examination and training, the program gives highly detailed safety ratings with a list of things that the player missed, such as forgetting to wear hearing protection.  She adds that the key part of this engine is giving the tester a clear goal of this exercise and having very accurate information with a simple interface. Therefore, testing is always going on in every stage of development, and experts are brought in to ensure that every minor detail is accurate. She closed the talk saying that she feels like she is now on a mission to train and teach people to learn through interactive media by using the new tools that Etcetera Edutainment has developed.

For her last point, she said the key to being successful is to do what you want to do, and not to be afraid to start something you believe in.  She also said, “Try to understand the market and figure out what market really wants and of course, most importantly, get the right people if you plan to run a business.”

It was very nice and inspiring having her here with us.

Getting a demo of Way from Coco&co

David Mosher, a Digital Graphic Artist working at EA, gave us a sneak-peak of Dead Space 2 on November 12th.

One day before the talk, David Mosher came to ETC campus to help playtest our games. He played Coco&co’s game and Opsis2′s 3D games, and said the games were really impressive. He also gave us lots of useful feedback and suggestions for the visual effects in the Light game that team Opsis2 is working on. It was really kind of him to arrange a top-secret conference room to show us the game that he’s been working on the very next day.

We were amazed by the  gorgeous game environment shown in the demo. We also got a chance to see some visual effects samples.  David gave great insights into the challenges they faced and the solutions they used. David introduced his project and team, by which we gained more knowledge about the industry, and how it is different from doing a project at school. He also discussed the challenges we would face while making games within a big company.  He stressed the importance of finding balance between different teams. He was generous with his time as he answered many of our questions about the industry, his career and games in general.

“I’ve been working at EA for more than 10 years,” David said, “and I was an environment artist before becoming a visual effects artist. I really enjoyed being an effects artist.”

Having the opportunity to work inside the EA Redwood Shores office gave us a really good chance to learn more about this game industry. David Mosher’s talk is a good example.