Filament Games
Filament Games is a Madison, Wisconsin based educational video game developer founded in 2005 by partners Daniel White, Daniel Norton, and Alexander Stone. They are a design and production studio specializing in the creation of authentic gameplay mechanics that are also accurate representations of educational content. By actively embedding learning objectives within game activities, Filament's games help players transform their play experience into real world knowledge.
Philosophy
Filament’s design philosophy is closely based on the scholarship of Kurt Squire, Constance Steinkuehler, and James Paul Gee, who pioneered much of the research about the value of games as teaching tools. Filament is also a close affiliate of the annual Games Learning and Society Conference.
History
The company received national recognition for their series of civics games launched by Sandra Day O'Connor for iCivics, her civics-education initiative. These games include Do I Have a Right?, Executive Command, and Liberty Belle's Immigration Nation. Filament has also developed games for the JASON Project at National Geographic, and is currently working with MIT’s Education Arcade to build an MMO to help high school students learn STEM subjects. In spring of 2011, Filament’s game You Make Me Sick!, in which the player acts as a virus and tries infect a host, won the developer prize in the National STEM Award Video Game Challenge.
Development History
| Release Date | Game Title | Subject Matter | Principal Partner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/1/2005 | Cosmos Chaos | Language Arts - reading | PREL / Aloha Island |
| 11/7/2008 | Coaster Creator | Science - physical | JASON Project |
| 2/8/2009 | Resilient Planet | Science - life | JASON Project |
| 8/17/2009 | Do I have a Right? | Social Studies - civics | Our Courts |
| 9/9/2009 | Transform It! | Science - physical | JASON Project |
| 1/11/2010 | Argument Wars | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 1/11/2010 | Energy City | Science - physical | JASON Project |
| 5/10/2010 | Eco Defenders | Science - life | JASON Project |
| 5/24/2010 | Branches of Power | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 5/24/2010 | LawCraft | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 6/3/2010 | Executive Command | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 6/3/2010 | Landform Detectives | Science - earth | JASON Project |
| 8/3/2010 | Court Quest | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 9/24/2010 | Cast Your Vote | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 9/24/2010 | Master Mines | Science - earth | JASON Project |
| 10/29/2010 | Oncology | Science - life | Morgridge |
| 11/2/2010 | Activate | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 11/3/2010 | Responsibility Launcher | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 12/1/2010 | Immigration Nation | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 4/3/2011 | Commander of the Nautilus | Science - physical | JASON Project |
| 6/1/2011 | People's Pie | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 6/1/2011 | Superkids | Language Arts - reading | Rowland Reading |
| 7/14/2011 | Citizen Science | Science - earth | GLS |
| 7/14/2011 | Counties Work | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 8/1/2011 | Crisis of Nations | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 9/1/2011 | Win the Whitehouse | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 9/1/2011 | Xenos | Language Arts - reading | LGN |
| 9/20/2011 | Cell Command | Science - life | Department of Education |
| 9/20/2011 | Crazy Plant Shop | Science - life | Department of Education |
| 9/20/2011 | You Make Me Sick! | Science - life | Department of Education |
| 9/22/2011 | Represent Me! | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 10/14/2011 | Cool Choices | Environmental Studies | Cool Choices |
| 2/3/2012 | The Sports Network 2 | Language Arts - writing | Classroom Inc. |
| 3/9/2012 | Drafting Board | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 3/30/2012 | Pocket Law Firm | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 5/31/2012 | Prep School | Language Arts - grammar | Filament Games |
| 5/31/2012 | Prisoner of Echo | Science - physical | National Science Foundation |
| 6/29/2012 | We the Jury | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 8/2/2012 | The Fuzzy Chronicles | Science - physical | Vanderbilt University |
| 2/23/2013 | Simulawyer | Professional Practice | Infilaw |
| 3/18/2013 | Fossil Forensics | Science - life | Filament Games |
| 4/19/2013 | Tikiquations (Bongo Balance) | Science - physical | Filament Games |
| 4/25/2013 | Molecubes | Science - physical | Filament Games |
| 5/1/2013 | Project Unison | Other | Filament Games |
| 5/2/2013 | Planet Mechanic | Science - earth | Filament Games |
| 5/6/2013 | Reach for the Sun | Science - life | Department of Education |
| 5/9/2013 | Backyard Engineers | Science - physical | Filament Games |
| 5/17/2013 | Storm Seekers | Science - earth | Filament Games |
| 5/23/2013 | Hotel Heat | Science - physical | Filament Games |
| 8/2/2013 | Satisfraction | Math | Filament Games |
| 11/4/2013 | Shutterbugs: Wiggle and Stomp | Science | The Smithsonian Institution |
| 12/1/2013 | Word Raider | Language Arts - reading | Ballard & Tighe |
| 2/25/2014 | Radix | Science - life | MIT |
| 6/26/2014 | Dr. Guts | Science - life | Filament Games |
| 9/17/2014 | That’s Your Right | Social Studies - civics | Annenberg Classroom |
| 9/24/2014 | DB Quest | Social Studies - civics | iCivics |
| 3/12/2015 | Motion Force | Science - physical | Filament Games |
| 09/24/2015 | Morphy! | Science | Smithsonian Science Education Center |
| 09/24/2015 | Disaster Detector | Science | Smithsonian Science Education Center |
| 09/24/2015 | Bumper Ducks | Science | Smithsonian Science Education Center |
| 09/24/2015 | Showbiz Safari | Science | Smithsonian Science Education Center |
| 2016 | Inspire Science | Science Education | McGraw-Hill Education |
| 1/11/2016 | Bongo Balance | Science - physical | Filament Games |