Simcoach Games

Simcoach Games

Industry	Serious Game Development
Founded	Pittsburgh, PA (2005 (2005))
Founder	Jessica Trybus, Don Marinelli
Headquarters	Pittsburgh, PA
Number of locations	Strip District, Pittsburgh PA
Key people	Jessica Trybus (Chief Games Officer), Ken Smith (Chief Executive Officer), Eben Myers (Vice President of Design)
Number of employees	15
Website	www.simcoachgames.com

Simcoach Games (formerly Etcetera edutainment^[1]) is a Pittsburgh-based technology company. The company was founded in 2005 as a spinout from Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center. Simcoach Games partners with organizations in retail, construction, manufacturing, government, and healthcare to produce games designed to help players discover their aptitudes and interests. The company's product, the Simcoach Skill Arcade, is a training platform. ^[2]

Located in Pittsbugh, PA, in the Strip District neighborhood of the city

Company history

Upon earning her master's degree in Entertainment and Technology from Carnegie Mellon, Chief Games Officer and Founder, Jessica Trybus, partnered with Donald Marinelli and started Etcetera edutainment. Their first employee was Eben Myers, the current VP of Design for the company. The company's primary 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.^[3]

Etcetera Edutainment changed its name in 2014 to Simcoach Games. The company utilizes the Unity game development engine for all of their projects. Since 2014, Simcoach Games has worked with companies, government agencies, and organizations to develop games, mostly mobile. A few of these games include Booeys: A Ghost’s Code, Harness Hero: Bridge Edition, Hooked! A Tower Crane Game, Road Builder Blitz, Site Search Construction, and Future Construction Managers.

Simcoach's latest development has been aimed towards creating the Simcoach Skill Arcade which is a mobile training platform with short, 2-3 minute video games.

Games from Simcoach Games

Simcoach Games has developed dozens of games over its 11 years of existence including over 30 mobile apps for the App Store (iOS), Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore, most of which are free.

Simcoach Skill Arcade

The Simcoach Skill Arcade is a mobile workforce training platform.

The Simcoach Skill Arcade is Simcoach's most recent project and it is aimed at bringing game-based learning to the workforce through the use of mobile devices.^[5]

Carnegie Mellon Connections

Simcoach Games benefited greatly from its connections with Carnegie Mellon University early on. A majority of Simcoach's employees have graduated from the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). Simcoach's CEO, Jessica Trybus, and Vice President, Eben Myers, both continually are involved with the school as an Associate Professor of Entertainment Technology and respected and sought after field expert, respectively.

Simcoach Games appears frequently at Carnegie Mellon events and is a constant supporter and sponsor for the ETC.

References