1. Video Games and the Warfighter

2.  20 Years Military Service  Combat in Iraq  Peacekeeping in Bosnia  Airborne Infantry  Military Intelligence  Special Operations  Senior Drill Sergeant  Panzer Elite  America’s Army  Twilight War  Order of War  Sturmtruppen  Military Games Editor at www.gamersinfo.net  MFA in Video Game Production and Design (pending thesis)

3.  1 – Kriegspiel  A brief history of wargames  2 – Modern Wargames  Civilian wargame development  3 – Simulations  The development of military games  4 – Training Can Be Fun  The advent of game-training  5 – Future Force  Turning wargamers into warriors

4. A Brief History of Wargames

5.  Go (Wei-Hei)  Chess  Based on the Indian game Chaturanga and used to teach royalty to think tactically and plan ahead  Koenigspiel  A larger version of chess with more pieces and spaces  Kriegspiel  Divided into two types, the original with clearly- defined rules, and the later “Free Kreigspiel” which used a referee to arbitrate and interpret  Used to train German officers through the end of the 19 th century and influenced Wells’ “Little Wars”

6. Civilian Wargame Development

7.  Little Wars  Written by H.G. Wells on the eve of World War I  Started the concept of miniature soldiers for games  The First Nerds  Hobby wargamers painted huge armies and used them to play large battles from the 30’s onward  Modern Miniatures Games  Interest in miniatures games was generally not affected by the introduction of the PC for wargaming  There are many more miniatures gamers in the US than board wargamers

8.  Tactics  First board wargame by Charles Roberts in 1953  Avalon Hill created the board wargame industry  Simulations Publications Incorporated  Turned wargame design into a system  Churned out hundreds of games in the 1970’s  The End of an Era  The introduction of the PC in 1980 killed the market  Board wargames are now a niche market (~10,000)  As a consequence, board wargames are now generally larger, more graphically appealing, easier to learn and play, and much more expensive than before

9.  Gaming the World Wars  Generally used the “Free Kriegspiel” model  Numerous flaws and deficiencies when modeling anything larger than a single battle  Operational Research  First started in World War II to improve conduct of operational and strategic warfare  Initiated the analysis of historical battles to define modern tactics and constants of warfare  Mechanical Simulators  Focus on operator simulations such as fighter cockpits

10.  Personal Computers  First computer wargames are similar to board games  Computers also make flight simulations available  Types of Military Games  Turn-Based Strategy Games  Real-Time Strategy Games  Warfare Simulations (Tanks, Planes and Shooters)  Multiplayer Games  Hot Seat Wargames  Multiplayer (head-to-head) Wargames  Massively-Multiplayer Online Wargames

11.  First-Person Shooters  America’s Army  Armed Assault  Battlefield  Call of Duty  Counterstrike  Delta Force  Ghost Recon  Medal of Honor  Operation Flashpoint  SOCOM  Strategy Games  Axis & Allies  Close Combat  Combat Mission  Command and Conquer  Company of Heroes  Endwar  Men of Valor  Order of War  Panzer General  World in Conflict

12. The Development of Military Games

13.  Focus is on controls and engineering  Pilots, astronauts, drivers, and equipment operators  Limited feedback  You’re either doing it right or crashing and burning  Limited realism  Controls are authentic but scenarios are not  Cost  They must be custom-made at great expense  Specific to model  Once your hardware changes, your sim is out of date

14.  Simulate anything  Convoys, tanks, drones, leadership, and diplomacy  Immediate feedback  Realistic results are provided through “soft” endings  Custom-tailored  Scenarios can be designed to fit user needs  Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS)  Cheaper and faster to build and maintain  Upgradable  Software can be updated for new equipment

16. The Advent of Game-Training

17.  Pioneered by the US Marine Corps  America’s Army: Operations  Developed as a recruiting tool to get target audience interested in the Army. Its sister project, America’s Army: Soldiers, was designed as a roleplaying game to teach players about army life, ethics, and training.  Engine also used to develop training simulators for Javelin antitank launcher and bomb disposal drones.  Full Spectrum Warrior  Originally designed for training squad leaders, then used as the foundation of a popular videogame.

19.  DARWARS Ambush!  Convoy team trainer using PC with 3D graphics and realistic scenarios with multiple vehicles managed by human observer-controllers.  Engagement Skills Trainer (EST)  Shooting skills training using video scenarios and air- powered weapons with focused light emitters (FATS)  Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer (VCOT)  Realistic crew stations with authentic vehicle controls and weapons and video panels for displaying the combat environment; designed for small teams

22.  Tactical Iraqi  Uses the Unreal Engine (same as America’s Army) to teach Iraqi Arabic to soldiers deploying to theater by evaluating their speech in conversation with “locals”  UrbanSim  Simulates an urban environment and simulates major events such as terrorist attacks, elections, and civil unrest, forcing the players to make decisions that will impact the groups involved

24.  Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation  Maintain over 100 applications in which soldiers can drive vehicles, fire weapons, and pilot unmanned aerial vehicles in battle spaces as large as 10,000 km 2  Responsible for deploying 70 systems of 52 computers each in locations in the United States, Germany, Italy and South Korea (yes, over 3,500 Army gaming PCs!).  Among their projects is a virtual reality simulator that allows trainees to walk around in a closed environment with a training weapon and goggles as interface devices

25. Turning Wargamers into Warriors

26.  Still recruiting gamers  America’s Army expanded to consoles and still going  Treating soldiers with PTSD  Using training tools to stimulate responses to events  Training tools becoming real tools  Console controllers adapted to operate drones  Massively-Multiplayer Online Training  The Army is working on an interactive training world  Combat texting  Blue Force Tracker uses a game-like map and icons along with the capability of texting other units

28.  Game development is not a glamorous profession  Developing games doesn’t mean playing games  You must be a hardcore gamer to develop them  Educate yourself – classes and outside reading  Stay current on new trends and technologies  Join the IGDA and other game-centric organizations  Network – conferences (GDC), LinkedIn, SIGs, etc.  Leverage your outside skills and experiences  Military training simulations are an expanding field

29.  PEO-STRI  peostri.army.mil  DARWARS  darwars.org  Game Production Svcs  gameprodsvcs.com  Raydon  raydon.com  America’s Army  americasarmy.com  Gamasutra  Gamasutra.com  Creative Heads  Creativeheads.net  GameDev  gamedev.net  Game Career Guide  Gamecareerguide.com  Tom Sloper  sloperama.com/advice

30. Chris Keeling chris@chriskeeling.com