Training ‘virtual veterans’

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(Courtesy Photo)
A screenshot from conflict scenarios developed by Hunt-Valley-based BreakAway Games.

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Computer games are not all fun and, well, games.

Life-and-death scenarios are being played out by future military commanders and health care professionals using simulated programs developed by Hunt Valley-based BreakAway Games.

“We are creating virtual veterans,” said Deb Tillett, BreakAway’s president.

Founded in 1998, BreakAway began strictly as a game maker. With offices also in Austin and Corpus Christi, Texas, the company’s 100 employees have developed 220 entertainment titles for the retail market, partnering with entertainment giants such as Sierra Online, Hasbro, The Walt Disney Company and ABC Sports.

But soon after Sept. 11, BreakAway found that the Defense Department, defense contractors and the Department of Homeland Security had need for its services. The company established its federal division and the rest is history.

“We are creating simulated conflict zones that can be used to test different strategies,” Tillett said.

This new division accounts for about 50 percent of the privately held company’s estimated $10 million annual revenue.

While Tillett cannot offer details about all of the projects her company is working on, she said trial scenarios are essential to preparing personnel for the real thing. “It gives them an edge,” she said.

BreakAway’s reputation for developing simulation programs has helped it form strategic relationships with defense contractors such as AAI, Boeing and General Dynamics. “This is a direct result of years of experience developing military models and operational PC-based warfare simulations for use by the military,” she said.

This experience began when the National Defense University suggested that BreakAway transform a classic board game used to teach officers military strategies into a computer-based training game.

Since then, BreakAway has developed software for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command; the Office of the Secretary of Defense Net Assessment; the Army War College; the Naval War College; the National Defense University; the NATO War College; and the Joint Forces Command Joint Experimentation Directorate.

The company has also developed programs that simulate disasters used for training medical personnel. “This teaches a hospital how to use its resources during a catastrophe,” Tillett said.

Consumer war games

» “Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom” — The fourth installment in this historical city-building series moves east from the Mediterranean (where Caesar III, Pharaoh and Zeus were set) to ancient China. Create cities, conquer new territories, build monuments, and fight off the Mongols and other invaders.

» “Austerlitz: Napoleon’s Greatest Victory” — Based on a battle fought in the winter of 1805, Austerlitz captures all the excitement of early 19th-century warfare with all the color, pomp and pageantry of the Napoleonic era.

Source: BreakAway Games

cdembeck@baltimoreexaminer.com

LATEST ON THIS STORY

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15 days ago: A retirement plan that works for small business

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