Filament Games Blog

Art Hacks: Shading Made Easy

Over the years when I introduce myself to new people and tell them I’m an artist, their response is typical: “Oh, like painting?” I have to stop myself from saying ‘yes’ because my version of painting is distinctly removed from their idea of ‘painting.’ I’m no master with acrylics or oils, but I have done…

May 11, 2017 // Natasha Soglin

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

Alpha, Beta, Gold: A Commitment to High-quality Game Development

When I talk to prospective clients, I always try to KIJF (keep it jargon free). That being said, there are a few terms that are just helpful to know. In this post, we’ll look at each of the three release phases that make up a typical game development project with us: Alpha, Beta, and Gold…

May 10, 2017 // Jennifer Javornik

Sennett Middle School’s Gaming Club – Creating Game Art!

At a recent game development club we hosted at Sennett Middle School, the Filament Games team introduced students to video game art, which is an important component of any video game’s development. There are many different artistic styles developers can choose from, but we chose a style that’s both iconic and easy to learn: pixel…

April 27, 2017 // Elle Jacobson

Designing Games for Toys and Young Learners

I recently had the privilege of working with Square Panda to create learning games for youngsters to help teach them letters. They use a physical tray and a series of plastic letters that players can manipulate in real life to interact with the digital game on a tablet. It looks like this: Photo credit: Square Panda…

April 26, 2017 // Abby Friesen

Speed Sketch: Filadogs

Game Art Team Lead Natasha Soglin created this adorable new Speed Sketch to introduce you to our office pets! Each of these furry friends makes a regular visit to the office and keeps us on our toes. Check it out and let us know what you think on our Facebook or Twitter! Want to watch Natasha…

April 24, 2017 // Kat Shanahan

Real-Time vs. Turn-Based Mechanics in Learning Games

Hello there! Recently here at Filament Games I was working on a game pitch and the question of “real-time” versus “turn-based” was raised. As per usual, I had strong opinions without any justification, so I thought I would take some time to unpack my feelings about it and share the results with you, the gentle…

April 20, 2017 // Dan Norton

iCivics Suite Updates: How The Art Evolved

Filament Games and iCivics.org have shared a long and prosperous relationship over the years, during which they have created nineteen learning games together. These games have been played in all 50 states by students and educators alike, teaching a wide variety of civics topics from basic American rights and judicial processes to the fundamental structure of…

April 3, 2017 // Natasha Soglin

What I Learned in my First Six Months as a Producer at Filament Games

Hi, my name is Ethan and I am new here. I am new to Wisconsin, I am new to educational game development, and in October 2016 I was new to Filament Games. The past six months have taught me more than I could possibly recount in blog post form, but I would like to use…

March 30, 2017 // Ethan Cayko

Implementing and Evaluating Your District Game-based Learning Program

Last year we released the District Game-based Learning Implementation Guide to help administrators, Technology Directors, and Curriculum Specialists introduce game-based learning at a district-wide level. Since then, we’ve heard inspiring stories about how these game-based learning programs have engaged difficult to reach students, empowered educators, and inspired gaming clubs and projects! We thought it was…

March 27, 2017 // Kat Shanahan

Introducing unity3d-pixi

In education, technology moves more slowly than in the consumer world. Institutions must eke all of the value out of their existing hardware, and even when they do make new hardware purchases, the hardware is still not requisitioned with games in mind. This means that when we are charged with building software that is accessible…

March 23, 2017 // Alex Stone

Filament Games is now a Roblox Developer!

CEO Interview: The Past, Present, and Future of Scholastic eSports

Learning in the Metaverse