Industry Serious Game Development Founded Pittsburgh, PA (2005 (2005)) Founder Jessica Trybus, Don Marinelli Headquarters Pittsburgh,PA (2005 - 2014) Number of locations Strip District, Pittsburgh PA Key people Jessica Trybus (CEO), Ken Smith (President), Eben Myers (VP of Design) | ||
Etcetera Edutainment now does business under the name Simcoach Games. Etcetera edutainment is a serious game development company based in Western Pennsylvania. It was founded in 2005 as a spin out from Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center. The company's games are used primarily for training purposes and primarily focuses on driving behavior changes through digital coaching and assessment. They have developed games across several industries including retail, healthcare, government, academia, and manufacturing with both clients and employees using the products.
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Simcoach Games is headquartered in Pittsbugh, PA, in the Strip District neighborhood of the city.
Company History
After current CEO, Jessica Trybus, earned a master's degree in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon, Donald Marinelli and Jessica started Etcetera Edutainment. Their first employee was Eben Myers, the current VP of Design for the company. The company's first focus was on computer training simulations for the health care and manufacturing fields with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Alcoa as their first clients.
In 2012, the company shifted focus once more with the development of their Simcoach framework. Simcoach is a coaching and assessment tool incorporated into games allowing the user to not only be trained in better means of performance, but also have a tangible means of assessing those same behaviors. This framework has been used in two games so far. The Simcoach Cashier Safety game and the Simcoach Selector Safety game.
Etcetera Edutainment changed its name in 2014 to Simcoach Games with the intention to focus on developing games that are Simple, Interactive, and Measurable. Since 2014, Simcoach Games has worked with several companies, government agencies, and organizations to develop a plethora of games, mostly mobile.
Carnegie Mellon Connections
Etcetera Edutainment benefited greatly from its connections with Carnegie Mellon University. A majority of Etcetera Edutainemnt's employees have graduated from the Entertainment Technology Center. The Entertainment Technology Center a department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the Pittsburgh Technology Center.
The ETC offers a two-year Masters of Entertainment Technology (MET) degree, jointly conferred by Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science. Students enrolled in the ETC learn interdisciplinary skills in art and technology, and are prepared for environments where artists and technologists work hand-in-hand, such as theme parks, interactive museum exhibits, website design and development, and the creation of video games.
The Center was co-founded by Donald Marinelli, a Professor of Drama, and Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science, in 1999.
Notable Projects
- Simcoach Cashier Safety
- Alcoa Safe Dock
- Electrical Safety Low Voltage
- CrowdPlay Platform