We had the pleasure of attending and exhibiting at the 2017 Games for Change (G4C) Festival that was held at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. Game designers, developers, educators, researchers, and more attended this event to see and hear the best practices of developing games that can make the world a better place. Close to one thousand professionals attended the three-day festival.

Speaking Engagements

Schell Games is a proud member of the Games for Change Industry Circle, a group of companies that believe in G4C’s mission and have contributed significantly to the community G4C serves. As a member of the Industry Circle, Schell Games’ CEO Jesse Schell was invited to participate in the Industry Circle Town Hall, and a segment called ‘Meet the Experts,’ where attendees were able to schedule meetings with Industry Circle members and talk 1-on-1 with them.

Jesse (far left) with other members of the Industry Circle

VR in the Classroom

Jesse also participated on a panel about using virtual reality (VR) in the classroom. During the panel, Jesse mentioned a few of the VR/AR games the studio has created and the implications of adding them as resources in the classroom. He talked about Happy Atoms, our physical and digital chemistry modeling set; Water Bears VR; and HoloLab Champions, our VR chemistry lab.

Top picture: the introduction of the panel. Bottom left: Jesse talking about Happy Atoms. Bottom right: Jesse introducing SuperChem VR.

The Secret Process of Making Games That Matter

In his last talk of the festival, Jesse was joined by Barbara Chamberlin, a professor at New Mexico State University and director of its Learning Games Lab. The two are co-authoring a book about designing games that matter and used Games for Change as an avenue to present some of their lessons.

Slides from Barbara and Jesse’s talk at Games For Change.

Pre-Production Frameworks

Schell Games Principal Designer Sabrina Culyba and Dr. Kimberly Hieftje of the Yale Center for Health and Learning Games presented on how teams can create tools and processes that evaluate games for change. This talk focused on the framework for transformational games that Sabrina, Jesse, and other members of the studio have been working and iterating on throughout the years. These two spoke about some of the projects Schell Games and Yale’s play2PREVENT Labs have worked on together, notably the PlayForward series. Near the end of the presentation, Sabrina revealed that she is finishing a book about her transformational framework, and how Jesse and Barbara are wrapping up their book as well.

Slides from Sabrina and Kimberly’s talk, including the announcements of Sabrina’s and Jesse’s books.

Exhibiting SuperChem VR

Several team members joined in participating in the Games for Change Festival by exhibiting our virtual reality chemistry lab, SuperChem VR. The team exhibited the experience in the G4C Marketplace for two days, and then moved to the VR Arcade during the last day- the inaugural VR for Change Summit.

The setup for SuperChem VR at the VR Arcade during VR For Change

The response we received for SuperChem VR was overwhelmingly positive. At times it got to the point where we had to create time limits for interacting in the lab.

“This is definitely something my teachers would be interested in,” said an instructional technology coordinator from a school district in Brooklyn Heights, NY. “To be able to learn how to act in a lab without worrying about resources is fantastic.”

People during Games for Change 2017 playing SuperChem VR on the HTC Vive

The team exhibiting SuperChem VR also received a special treat! Anjali Bhimani, an actress who does the voice of Symmetra in the game Overwatch(as well as the voice of Nisha in Fallout 4) came by and played! She said that SuperChem VR was pretty cool. We have a video of her playing it on our Facebook Page.

The Schell Games team with Anjali Bhimani at Games For Change.

The team was very happy about the buzz SuperChem VR generated. Several press outlets and media personnel visited our booth to learn more about SuperChem VR and Schell Games. Below is a video from a local news outlet in New York.

Advanced Engineer Henry Braun talked briefly about SuperChem VR.

Classcraft, a fellow member of the G4C Industry Circle, produced a video of educator’s favorite experiences in the G4C Marketplace, and SuperChem VR made the list.

Conclusion

We have been hearing a lot of positive news about SuperChem VR and the Games for Change festival overall. It was an interesting observation from an educator from Washington D.C. who said that it was energizing to be at a conference filled with “positive vibes,” meaning being surrounded by people eagerly trying to change the world for the better. We are humbled to be considered in this group of wonderfully talented people and organizations.

In the next couple of months, members of the Industry Circle will be hosting webinars and talking about some best practices or lessons learned while creating games and experiences. Be sure to tune in for the Schell Games webinar in the next round.

The 2017 Games For Change Festival was fun, energetic, and definitely worthwhile. Looking forward to the next one!