Filament Games Blog

Virtual Reality in the Classroom: 3 Real-World Applications

Virtual reality is poised to radically change the way we learn – but what exactly does that look like? We’ve been following the state of VR in the classroom for several years now, even offering some of our own predictions along the way. Want a glimpse at what the technology-empowered classrooms of the future might look like?…

April 18, 2018 // James LaPierre

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

VR Unplugged: A Look at the Oculus Go

Expensive hardware costs have historically been cited as a factor behind VR’s slow but steady adoption among U.S. consumers – and this trend seems set to continue into the near future, with HTC recently unveiling their new professional-grade Vive Pro headset alongside its professional-grade price point: $799. While HTC attempts to corner the high-end, premium VR market,…

April 16, 2018 // James LaPierre

Filament Games | Educational Game Developers

How to Get Hired at a Game Studio: UX Designer Edition

The Role of a Visual Interaction Designer at Filament A number of months ago I received an email inquiry seeking advice on how to become a Visual Interaction Designer (otherwise referred to as a User Experience Designer, or UX for short) at Filament Games. This request came from Brandon Korth, who has since become a…

April 11, 2018 // Alex Yaeger

Abstraction in Learning Games

I was asked to write about abstraction in games for the Filament blog, which is a topic near and dear to my heart. Let me start by offering some hippy dippy nonsense that you will probably roll your eyes at, because you’ve already seen The Matrix. I think it’s useful though just to give you…

April 9, 2018 // Dan Norton

Print Publishing in the Digital Age: An Interview with Jennifer Barney

Today we’re interviewing Jennifer Barney, Vice President of Acquisitions & Project Management at Publications International, Filament’s partner on the recently released VR Explorations. Jennifer is a seasoned publishing industry expert, and sat down with us to share her take on the past, present, and future of print publishing in the digital age. Tell us about…

April 4, 2018 // Brandon Pittser

Event Recap: Madison’s 1st Annual Spring Break Gaming & Coding Day

Our team was recently invited to participate in Madison’s 1st annual Spring Break Gaming and Coding Day, hosted by My Brother’s Keeper Madison. A free event open to middle and high school youth, students were invited to partake in a variety of coding and gaming-centric workshops led by local organizations Gear Learning, MadMarker Studios, Acme…

April 2, 2018 // James LaPierre

Blockchain, Self-Care, and Low Poly Animals: Highlights from GDC 2018

If you were in San Francisco, California last week, you may have noticed an extra 30,000+ people wandering around the downtown area (myself included). These folks were most likely there to attend the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), a revered professional game industry event for developers, publishers, and academics alike. A little more context for…

March 28, 2018 // Sarah Spiers

Resource Roundup: How to Get Hired at a Game Studio

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reports that the US video game industry generated $36 billion in revenue in 2017, a growth of 18% from the prior year. With 2,000+ video game developers and publishers directly employing over 65,000 individuals across all 50 U.S. states (seriously, find out who’s near you using this handy interactive map),…

March 26, 2018 // James LaPierre

Speed Sketch! Plants

When developing custom learning games for clients, artists like myself are sometimes given the direction to make art that “looks like all the other Filament games.” While some of our past games share similar styles and visual characteristics, the truth is there is no one “Filament style” that is common across all our previous games…

March 21, 2018 // Roma Jenson

Research Roundup: Game-Based Language Learning

Language immersion programs, Rosetta Stone, face-to-face classroom instruction, and more – all tried and true methods of acquiring the skills necessary to speak a new language. But what happens when game-based learning enters the fray? A number of recent studies have attempted to determine the efficacy of digital game-based language learning programs, providing evidence that…

March 19, 2018 // James LaPierre

A Look Back at our 2023 Releases

What We Mean When We Say AI: Understanding Types of AI

Resource Roundup: 2023 at Filament Games