Traffic Game Reaches Global Scale in the Casual Game Market
“Gridlock Buster” game developed by Web Courseworks gets half a million plays in eight weeks.
Madison, WI, August 26, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The online traffic control game (http://www.webcourseworks.com/showcase/gridlock-buster) was developed by Web Courseworks for The Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute (ITS) at the University of Minnesota. Released by Web Courseworks to the casual game market in June, the game has been on 418 websites around the world with the total number at 550,329 plays to date.
Players can compare their scores with others from around the globe. American gamers hold the top slots for all-time high scores, but a glimpse at the daily top scores shows the global reach of the game— players in the top ten hail from Chile, Spain, Argentina, China, Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, and Slovakia.
The reason behind the success? Sean Haag, Program Coordinator at the Center for Transportation at the University of Minnesota, summed it up in a WCCO Radio interview: “It’s a very exciting game to play.”
The goal in Gridlock Buster is to keep traffic flowing smoothly in a city suffering from overwhelming traffic problems. Each level of the game adds more traffic and more intersections, gradually increasing the challenge.
“This gives students a chance to see and experience some of the complexities of designing these [traffic signal control] devices through a game,” commented Max Donath, Director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute in the WCCO interview.
Casual games are a great tool when the learning objective is to raise awareness and create a memorable game. The game has been wildly popular on the Brazilian site UOL (uol.com.br) and continues to be listed as one of the “Most Popular” games.
Based on the work of Chen-Fu Liao, the ITS Institute's education systems engineer, Gridlock Buster is also available on the ITS website and will be used by high school teachers in conjunction with an interdisciplinary curriculum developed by David Glick, of Glick Consulting for ITS.
About Web Courseworks:
Web Courseworks, a boutique eMedia company with offices in Madison, WI and Washington DC, is led by Jon Aleckson. The eLearning company of eighteen people specializes in transforming static face-to-face lessons into engaging online learning activities. Web Courseworks’ close-knit team designs and develops custom Flash-based learning games and simulations for corporate training, K-16 education, and non-profit outreach. The company has recently entered the association LMS market with a hosted learning management solution called CourseStage.
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Players can compare their scores with others from around the globe. American gamers hold the top slots for all-time high scores, but a glimpse at the daily top scores shows the global reach of the game— players in the top ten hail from Chile, Spain, Argentina, China, Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, and Slovakia.
The reason behind the success? Sean Haag, Program Coordinator at the Center for Transportation at the University of Minnesota, summed it up in a WCCO Radio interview: “It’s a very exciting game to play.”
The goal in Gridlock Buster is to keep traffic flowing smoothly in a city suffering from overwhelming traffic problems. Each level of the game adds more traffic and more intersections, gradually increasing the challenge.
“This gives students a chance to see and experience some of the complexities of designing these [traffic signal control] devices through a game,” commented Max Donath, Director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute in the WCCO interview.
Casual games are a great tool when the learning objective is to raise awareness and create a memorable game. The game has been wildly popular on the Brazilian site UOL (uol.com.br) and continues to be listed as one of the “Most Popular” games.
Based on the work of Chen-Fu Liao, the ITS Institute's education systems engineer, Gridlock Buster is also available on the ITS website and will be used by high school teachers in conjunction with an interdisciplinary curriculum developed by David Glick, of Glick Consulting for ITS.
About Web Courseworks:
Web Courseworks, a boutique eMedia company with offices in Madison, WI and Washington DC, is led by Jon Aleckson. The eLearning company of eighteen people specializes in transforming static face-to-face lessons into engaging online learning activities. Web Courseworks’ close-knit team designs and develops custom Flash-based learning games and simulations for corporate training, K-16 education, and non-profit outreach. The company has recently entered the association LMS market with a hosted learning management solution called CourseStage.
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Contact
Web Courseworks
Jon Aleckson
608-824-8900
http://www.webcourseworks.com
Jon Aleckson
608-824-8900
http://www.webcourseworks.com
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