What began as a virtual training tool to help emergency responders and the mining industry has grown into a unique and innovative game for consumers that may change the way we communicate with one another, again.
Sim Ops Studios, a spinoff of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center, is pushing the boundaries of interactive media with its latest software “Wild Pockets,” a game that will allow users to create, customize and share their own 3-D worlds with others much like a YouTube video. A demonstration version should be available on its web site soon, says Shanna Tellerman, president and CEO. The company of 8 full- and one part-time employees is looking to hire a senior engineer.
Sim Ops Studios started out in 2006 by developing 3D virtual technology to help train firefighters and miners in hazardous situations. One of the company’s latest products, Code3D, allows emergency responders to create and trade scenarios for free.
After Wired Magazine invited Sim Ops to present a 3-D application for consumer use, we realized how interested people were in building their own 3-D applications, says Tellerman, who was named one of Pittsburgh’s “40 Under 40” in 2006. “We hope it will be the next go-to site like a 3-D You Tube.”
Tellerman draws on her experience as an intern producer of the popular game The Sims 2. Revenue will be generated through “in game” advertising, the latest interesting way in which advertisers slip ideas into the consumer subconscious, as simple as adding a Starbucks to a street corner or a Skittles rainbow into the 3-D world.
“A lot of the ads along the sides are easy to ignore,” explains Tellerman. “If you embed an image or brand into the activity you’re doing it becomes a part of the experience and (the consumer) actually spends more time looking at it. Advertisers are looking for more effective ways to engage the consumer and this is more personal than a pop-up.”
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Shanna Tellerman, Sim Ops Studios
Image courtesy of Sim Ops Studios