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  • 2007 Serious Games Summit GDC: Jane McGonigal On ilovebees, ARGs This latest Serious Games Source feature covers a keynote by alternate reality game creator Jane McGonigal presented during the recent 2007 Serious Games Summit, during which she stated “I design games from the future,” and offered insight into the creation of Halo 2 ARG ilovebees.
  • Serious Game Engine Shootout In the march up to the Serious Games Shootout panel to take place in March during the Serious Games Summit in San Francisco, writer Richard Carey presents a comparative analysis of several prominent engines currently used for developing serious games, as well as quotes from the companies behind the technologies.
  • Playing with Fire: Enemy Dolls In this latest Playing with Fire feature, Powerful Robot Games' Gonzalo Frasca offers his unique insight into the perception of conflict in games, as well as in other media, and notes how looking at events through the eyes of the opposition could lead to better understanding.
Triage Trainer Improves Emergency Response in Medical Trainees[12.31.08]

Blitz Games Studios, creator of recent console titles based on the Bratz and American Idol licenses, is currently developing Triage Trainer, a PC title that simulates medical treatment priority in a disaster setting. The title is being developed by Blitz' TruSim division, and serves as a follow-up to the company's previous medical training title Interactive Trauma Trainer.

Triage Trainer places trainees at the scene of a city block ravaged by the detonation of an explosive device. Players must search for survivors and determine medical treatment priority based upon the severity of the victims' injuries.

In determining injury severity, players will briefly interview each survivor. Victims with minor injuries must be instructed to move themselves to available ambulances. Those who are unable to walk will then be examined closely, to determine if their injuries require urgent treatment. Each replay generates new victims randomly, with injury severity and treatment priorities varying from session to session.

TruSim's website reports that Triage Trainer develops triage accuracy in trainees at a rate that is "significantly better" than the statistics reported by a traditional learning method in the UK. Controlled trials also found that Triage Trainer improved decision-making processes and adherence to protocol.

Triage Trainer was developed with support from Advanced Life Support Group, VEGA Group and the Universities of Birmingham and Coventry, with partial funding provided by the UK Technology Strategy Board. Triage Trainer currently exists only in prototype and video demonstration form. No final release date for the title has yet been announced.

By Danny Cowan
December 31, 2008 12:17:00 PM PT