Filament Games Blog

5 Assessment Strategies in Learning Games

Every game we create at Filament Games is specifically tailored to meet pre-determined learning objectives. With this commitment to achieving learning objectives comes unique challenges in measuring the learning that occurs during gameplay. Prior to releasing games, we conduct playtests with members of our target audience and sometimes commission independent case studies that include pre…

June 1, 2016 // Stephen Calender

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

Building Creative Practices: Psychological Safety

This is the first piece in an ongoing series about developing skillsets that position you for success in a creative enterprise. Central to my approach is the idea that I’ll explore one concept per article. I’ve gained my perspective directing small marketing teams, wherein skinny resource margins mean that incremental growth is more achievable than…

May 25, 2016 // Brandon Pittser

Extending the Life of Your Flash-Based Video Game

While there have been several waves of education video game development throughout the past 40 years, most of the games that have been developed in the first half of the last decade were built in Adobe Flash (now Adobe Animate). In fact, some say that the accessibility and capabilities of Flash made this most recent…

May 19, 2016 // Jennifer Javornik

Speed Sketch! Natasha Soglin draws Carrie Ray-Hill

Take a look behind-the-scenes as Game Art Team Lead Natasha Soglin draws Filament Games partner and iCivics Director of Programs Carrie Ray-Hill. We captured this video condensing Natasha’s 50-minute workflow and showcasing the skill and attention to detail needed to create art for a game studio. Sit back, relax, and watch as Natasha starts with a blank…

May 18, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Virtual Reality for Learning Games

We’ve talked before about virtual reality and the unique impact it could have on the education space. Now that the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have both shipped, we asked some of the talented game developers here at the Filament Games studio for their perspectives on how VR might or might not be used in the classroom. Alexander…

May 16, 2016 // Brandon Pittser

Pitfalls of Rigidly Following a Formalized Game Development Process

Filament’s formal game development processes have benefited greatly from our Work-for-Hire business model. Throughout any given year a multitude of small projects have guaranteed rapid iteration on our ideas of how best to make games. I’ve always thought we’ve been reaching for the ideal. I was convinced that there was some process nirvana that was…

May 11, 2016 // Arthur Low

Machine Learning

Most articles introducing machine learning on the web start out with charts and equations showing how to fit a line to a linearly separable point cloud. That’s neat. But that does nothing to show the power of machine learning models to change the way that we write software and conduct business. There will be plenty…

May 9, 2016 // Alex Stone

Digital Museum Exhibit Strategies

Museums all over the country are exploring new avenues to bring in visitors. Gone are the days of static exhibits with the occasional movie or music feature. Now, museums must work to provide visitors with ways to interact, engage, and even transform exhibits. New technology presents myriad ways to captivate audiences. If you’re venturing into…

May 5, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Tuning Digital Learning Games for Specific Learners

Good game design is largely universal. While things like “pacing,” “theming,” or “feedback” might vary depending on your audience and the reaction you’re trying to evoke from them, the basic building blocks of a game: concepts of success, failure, rules, and balance are always present, albeit in different permutations and to different degrees. That being…

May 4, 2016 // Matt Haselton

An Interview with Game-Based Learning Pioneer Zack Gilbert, aka EdGamer

Zack Gilbert, 6th grade teacher and gaming enthusiast, is the host of the EdGamer Podcast, the longest running podcast dedicated to Games and Learning. Since 2011, Gilbert has interviewed some of the biggest luminaries in game-based learning and has contributed significantly to the conversation about games in education. We reached out to Zack to learn…

April 27, 2016 // Elle Jacobson

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