Serious Games Showcase & Challenge Awards Ceremony Recognizes Best Games at I/ITSEC

By Shane Klestinski, Associate Editor

 

The creative teams of this year’s 17 strongest serious games received recognition during the 19th Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (SGS&C) awards ceremony at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 5.

 

I/ITSEC is the world’s largest modeling, simulation and training (MS&T) event that occurs every year during the week immediately after Thanksgiving. It draws thousands of MS&T professionals to the Orange County Convention Center, to include high-ranking civilian and military government officials, C-suite industry executives, and senior academics from leading research institutions.

 

In the early days of video games when kids played Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. in an arcade at their local mall, many observers (often parents) considered them a childish pastime that could get expensive if left unchecked. Fast forward one or two generations, and public perceptions of the medium have evolved. Not only does the video game industry now generate more money than Hollywood – and by a vast margin – but gaming applications can now be far more significant than beating a “boss character,” “leveling up,” or discovering that “our princess is in another castle.”

 

The term “serious games” describes a gaming subgenre that focuses on educational and training outcomes, not entertainment, which can have applications, for example, in industrial, medical and military training. This relevance gave the SGS&C awards ceremony special legitimacy, as evidenced with significant attendance by I/ITSEC attendees, including top conference officials.

 

I/ITSEC attendees could play the games and vote for their favorites throughout the conference. While the attendees might be seeing these games for the first time at I/ITSEC, the Serious Games Integrated Planning Team (IPT), a committee comprised of professionals from the modeling and simulation community, began the selection process several months prior.

 

“A group of volunteers [the IPT committee] spend an entire year collecting games, reaching out to companies, universities and government agencies to submit their serious games, and then we come together to do a down-select process as a committee,” said Matt Becchio, software engineer for Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS), who also served as the SGS&C industry lead for I/ITSEC 2024. “We choose the ‘finalist’ games for our evaluation process, let the candidates know that they are finalists, then we have a big pool of international evaluators that play all the games, and they have their own criteria on voting on different types of awards. All the finalists get invited to I/ITSEC to showcase their games, talk to potential customers, and they’ll go up for awards.”

 

The purpose of the SGS&C, according to Becchio, is to elevate serious games and apply gamification and game design to industries, which have lacked a certain level of engagement in simulation and training, to improve the ability to learn while immersed in technologies. The committee’s goal is to reach out and find educators, as well as industry and government representatives, give them a platform to showcase their work at I/ITSEC, and get them networked and engaged with the community.

 

While all the winners receive trophies and additional physical awards can accompany wins in certain categories, the real award is the recognition of being an I/ITSEC finalist. The exposure and networking contacts received by team members of finalist games at the conference can later result in opportunities with gaming companies or other firms in the modeling, simulation and training community. Becchio is, himself, a case study in how such opportunities can unfold from success in SGS&C’s competition.

 

When Becchio was an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida (UCF), one of his professors worked with Limbitless Solutions, a UCF nonprofit that makes 3D-printed, prosthetic limbs for children. This association led Becchio to first become involved with SGSC in 2017 as a competitor with a game called “Tootin’ Pooches.”

 

“I led a team to develop a game about farting dogs in space who play soccer,” Becchio said. “The goal of the game was to teach kids how to effectively use their prosthetic limbs with specialized controllers that required them to develop certain muscle groups.”

 

The attention Becchio received from the competition helped position him for an internship with SGS&C, which later gave him an SGS&C committee membership where he worked with Shane Taber, who is currently the chief technology officer at ECS.

 

“Shane gave me his card, and within a couple weeks an interview was set up and I was hired,” Becchio said. “I’ve been working at ECS for the past five years.”

 

This year’s winning games were:
– Best General Audience Game – Deepfake Elicitation by BridgeFour.
– Best Government Audience Game – The Plastic Pipeline by Serious Game Initiative, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
– Best Student Developed Game – Flooded Folds by Team Paper students at the University of Florida.
– Best Serious Game Innovation – The PEACEGAME by CRISP – Conflict Transformation and Principles for Peace Foundation.
– Student’s Choice – The Plastic Pipeline by Serious Game Initiative, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
– People’s Choice – Land Engagement Adjudication Platform by students at the U.S. Air Force Academy at AFRL Gaming Research Integration for Learning Laboratory for the Multidomain Laboratory at USAF Academy Strategy & Warfare Center.

 

The Best Serious Game Innovation Award is the only award chosen by the SGS&C’S internal innovation committee that debates and decides which finalist game receives this specific recognition.

 

“Our innovation committee was so excited to see a game [The PEACEGAME] developed with the use of modern AI technologies to create a dynamic, immersive simulation that mirrors the intricacies of modern conflicts with the goal to be a gaming tool for those involved in peace and conflict resolutions,” Becchio said.

 

The People’s Choice award that went to Land Engagement Adjudication Platform this year, also sets itself apart from other recognitions as it is the only award decided by the popular vote of I/ITSEC attendees who play the games during the conference.