A screenshot from Filament’s iCivics game, which has registered 32 million sessions.
There’s an enormous gong in the lobby of Filament Games’ new 10th-floor offices in the former AT&T Building on West Washington Avenue. A company tradition calls for striking it every time the games for learning developer lands a new contract or hires a new staffer.
Let’s just say it’s been ringing a lot lately.
“We usually say if the people on the second floor can’t hear it, we’re not doing it right,” says Lee Wilson, Filament’s affable and bespectacled CEO.
Judging by the company’s recent track record, they must be doing something right. In the last two years, the staff has swelled from 37 to 60 — hence the need to move from its old location on Eastwood Drive to larger digs at 316 W. Washington Ave., with capacity for about 50 more. As Wilson prepares to show off Filament’s new space, a phalanx of reps from the National Safety Council parade out of the elevator. They’re here to hash out the final details of a deal that will turn Filament loose to develop a game that helps people learn about safety features on cars.
That’s how diverse and expansive the field of games for learning has become. Filament sprang out of the initial Games, Learning and Society conference in 2005 at UW-Madison, an event that was the brainchild of former UW-Madison education professor James Gee. While much of its existence has focused on grant-driven game development projects, the past two years have seen Filament’s customer base shift to the private sector. For instance, the company’s currently working on four-packs of games for McGraw-Hill and the Smithsonian Institution, including a pinball game that teaches elementary-age kids about the transfer and conservation of sound, energy and light. Another game charges kids with developing bio-habitats for a kennel of alien pets.
“How big can this get?” asks Wilson of the games for learning phenomenon, echoing a question he fields frequently. “Well, tell me how many things people can learn.”
Less than 10 years ago, a mention of “educational games” was most likely to be met with eye rolls and a derogatory “booor-ing.” A confluence of factors have helped to change that — including UW-Madison education professor Constance Steinkuehler serving as President Obama’s games czar and more schools having access to computers and tablets for their students.
“Teachers now have all this great technology in their classrooms,” notes Brandon Pittser, Filament’s head of marketing. “And they need something to do with it.”
Filament and a handful of other developers have given it to them in spades, with offerings in science, engineering and government studies. iCivics, a series of web-based games Filament developed with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Legacy Fund, has registered an eye-popping 32 million gameplay sessions. As a result, Filament is focusing more on outreach to teach the teachers how to use the company’s games to diversify their curricula.
“The thing games do better than anything else is help kids experience complex systems,” says Wilson, whose background in textbooks grounds his perspective. “There’ll obviously always be a place for text-based learning, but when you’re trying to teach a kid about force and motion, the difference between text versus experience is huge.”
Filament is the first tenant to move into what will eventually be a renovated tower of tech companies on West Wash. The floor the company now occupies had gone unused for a whopping 19 years.
“When we first saw it, it looked like something straight out of Half-Life,” Wilson jokes.
Now it looks like something straight out of the collaborative team design playbook. Lots of open space — only three closed offices to cover data security concerns — and work stations that can slide around on casters as team makeups shift. There’s also a training center for kids and educators to learn how best to use Filament’s products, an employee cafe and a full-fledged recording studio, since all the music and sounds in the games they produce are created in-house by the company’s composer.
Filament’s biggest current challenge is one just about any company would kill to have — managing rapid growth. The company’s revenues are up 70% over last year, and customers are now seeking them out, rather than the other way around. Some, including the U.S. Navy, are looking for games that increase the efficiency of face-to-face training.
“It’s a little bit hold-onto-your-hats time,” says Wilson. “We’re like a 10-year overnight success.”
Editors note: This article was edited to correct the name of the Smithsonian Institution.
