Equipped with programming skills and a background in video game development, Daniel Norman knew how to create a compelling virtual reality experience.
But for this project, commissioned by King Crow Studios – the video game development company he works for in Baton Rouge – he didn’t program a fictional space station kitchen or magical sports arena as he did on previous assignments.
This customer wanted him to recreate the cockpit of a B-52 aircraft for a VR simulation to train pilots for the US Air Force.
“I was sitting in this narrow cockpit, overwhelmed by the complexity of this 60-year-old aircraft and all of its functions,” said Norman. “Now I know all these buttons and displays back and forth.”
King Crow Studios, founded by Lake Charles’ Cody Louviere, is working on the third phase of an Air Force contract that will receive $ 6.5 million in small business innovation research funding. The first phase of the SBIR contract gave King Crow Studios $ 50,000 to research pilot training in virtual reality in August 2019, and the company moved into phase 2 with an additional $ 1 million to add a training prototype in January 2020 develop.
When the contract expires in 2025, King Crow’s software will train B-52 pilots at a fraction of the current cost. The company virtually replicates aircraft and equipment to immerse new pilots in procedural training without burning fuel or manning military personnel and equipment.
Baton Rouge-based software development startup King Crow Studios has received a $ 1 million contract from the US Air Force for virtual reality training.
Louviere said he launched the startup in 2015 to develop video games without corporate influence. King Crow worked on games such as Hive Slayer, a first-person shooter experience, and Galactic Chef, an Iron Chef parody that accidentally led King Crow to a military contract.
King Crow developed a tiered system in “Galactic Chef” to help users create recipes. When a player completes a step, there is an audible and visual indication that they were successful. Then the system takes players to the next step. When players don’t know what to do next, an object lights up letting them know they can interact with it.
“We put all of these user experience features in to produce a good, high-quality video game,” said Louviere. “Little did we know that we were the backbone of a military training program.”
King Crow Studios are located in Nexus Louisiana Technology Park, home of Nexus Louisiana, a nonprofit business development organization, and Precision Procurement Solutions, a state contractor. Louviere said he introduced King Crow’s procedural step system to the Air Force as recommended by both companies, and they advised him throughout the bidding process.
Several companies have received SBIR Phase 1 funding, but King Crow Studios is the first XR company to sign a Phase 3 deal.
The local software development startup King Crow Studios was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant for virtual reality training software.
“People expect it to be difficult to work with the military, but the Air Force knows what it wants,” Louviere said. “They are organized, supportive, understanding, and so easy to communicate with.”
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The pilot instructors meet with King Crow’s producer Sarah Kent every week to provide feedback and suggest improvements to the training. The 24-year-old also takes care of cybersecurity for the project.
“It’s a life or death thing,” said Kent. “So if a trainee reports that a button or a button does not work as it does on a real airplane during training, we can fix this problem quickly.”
Norman said that while the Air Force project is deadly serious, there is an air of ease when it comes to designing a virtual Air Force base. Developers are free to combine game creativity with militaristic attention to detail in VR.
“The Air Force has such a specific culture,” said Norman. “We would like to bring this culture into the training to make it realistic.”
Ethan Castiello, 3D artist at King Crow, said on a trip to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City a pilot joked that the soldiers were “just monkeys that fly planes,” so Castiello put bananas in the virtual hold.
Norman said the base was littered with Air Force memes, so he replicated the memes in VR. He learned that pilots who make a mistake on the base are blaming a fictional soldier named Mike Brogan, so he put “Mike Brogan” on the trainees’ virtual nameplates.
“After all, we’re a bunch of gamer nerds,” said Norman. “When we don’t enjoy being creative, projects can be annoying.”
Louviere said that while these “Easter eggs” seem unnecessary, they help students retain information from the training.
“People keep more than 70% of the information presented in VR training, as opposed to 50% in the classroom,” said Louviere. “We’re taking everything as seriously as it has to be, but we’ve seen these Easter eggs make the trainees more engaged by really immersing them in the experience.”
Louviere said the Air Force has reported fewer bugs and problems since training began with King Crow’s program.
“So we know it works, but it starts this broader discussion about the capabilities of VR,” said Louviere. “More experienced vets are careful with this type of technology until they put the headset on. Younger soldiers want to get into training and explore, and this kind of intergenerational appeal means good things for military recruiters. “
King Crow Studios has 11 employees on its payroll. Half of these employees work on the Air Force project. None of these employees signed their contracts with the expectation of working with active military personnel.
“It’s still surreal,” said Castiello. “I got a degree in fine arts and somehow found myself working with military generals in a bomber cockpit. To say that I never expected to be in a B-52 would be a gross understatement. “
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/when-gamers-and-generals-collide-baton-rouge-video-game-development-company-designs-virtual-reality-training-for-b-52-pilots-business/
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