Worthwhile article on C|Net (Link) discussing IBM’s business game, Innov8, which they announced today at IMPACT 2007. From the article:
The game, called Innov8, is meant to address a lack of skills in understanding and improving a company’s internal business processes.
Process improvement is a critical component to service-oriented architectures (SOA), a way of designing software as a series of interlinked, modular business services. The software for modeling and running this modular software is called business process management, or BPM.
…
Carter said she expects the first version of Innov8 to be done in September. IBM intends to make online versions for gaming environments like Second Life, which will allow people to share scores and compete with people online.
There’s both an IBM press release (Link) and a pretty good demo video (Link). While watching the video, I was most struck by the virtual computer screen the player first approaches as it reminded me of Doom 3’s interactive screens (Link – reference images) and my previous comments elsewhere regarding the prototyping possibilities of these games.
Imagine if IBM were to show a demo dealing with the process for developing a real, manufacturable product, and then at the end, the player could fab the product at home… or maybe at their local Kinko’s.
Take it a step further and have participants send their real, assembled prototypes in for judging and use either the virtual or the real model (or both) to generate marketing materials (e.g. machinima commercials). The whole package could then be evaluated and maybe the winner has a real product developed from their concept. This would be similar to but I would argue more “fun” than the Staples’ competition I’d previously mentioned (reLink).
There are so many possibilities almost within reach that when it hits, it’ll be as different to what we know today as cell phones were unthinkable to people in the 70’s.
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Thanks, John.
May I ask what engine you used? Off-the-shelf or proprietary?
And any specs you care to share would be appreciated as well. Gracias.
The reason the trailer and a demo of the game were premiered at IMPACT was to get feedback from developers and other IT professionals to make the final version of the game as useful (and enjoyable) as possible. The idea of making the end result of the game something “real” would be a great way to do just that.
And as a shameless self-promotion, I work for Center Line, the production agency that is making the game and produced the trailer. You can view this version of the demo trailer and a shorter one here: http://www.centerline.net/
jl
We worked closely with Vicious Cycle on the game ( http://www.viciouscycleinc.com ) and used their middleware solution: The Vicious Engine ( http://www.viciousengine.com ). The 3D cinematics were done using 3Ds Max; the live shots were from a short film — LAUNCH — which Center Line wrote, shot and edited. That film introduced the fictional company featured in the game. It can be seen here: http://www.soalaunch.com/exclusive
jl
Much appreciated.
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For anyone reading this who’s interested, there’s an engine spec sheet – Link to PDF. It’s a little light on details though.
For anyone reading who wants to see an engine demo video, there are some QT movies such as this one – Link – 30Mb embedded in browser QT
Before we had the opportunity to use it ourselves, we did a demo/information piece for The Vicious Engine ourselves (the original version in stunning HD) . That demo can be launched from our homepage (http://www.centerline.net) — but you’ll have to scroll down some.
jl
Funny thing. I remember Ben Cloward from some early normalmapping forum discussions back in like 2002-2003. Think I even remember him mentioning joining a team developing an engine (remembered most likely bc of the location in Chapel Hill).
Will take a look at the demo. Anything that gets these engines using assets that approach real product resolution is of interest to me.
Couldn’t find it… unless you’re referring to the same demo as the QT link I posted.