“Many people have
great ideas but few see a
project out from concept
to delivery…
We witnessed the
program come to life
and be trialled
extensively in schools.”
Bruce Morcombe
Play safe and smart
This has never been more
effectively demonstrated than
with Being Safety Smart, a game
developed at USC in consultation
with the Daniel Morcombe
Foundation.
The game encourages Australian
school children aged six to eight to
have fun with cartoon animations
and role-playing scenarios that
teach them how to protect their
physical wellbeing.
Adults—including police who
provided insights into criminal
behaviour, psychologists who
advised on child development
and teachers who supervised the
game in classrooms—agree that
Being Safety Smart is a serious
innovation in the efforts to
address one of our society’s most
prominent concerns.
The game won the Queensland
Police Service Gold Award for
Excellence in Crime Prevention
in 2009.
USC is the only university in the southern
hemisphere to offer Serious Games as
an undergraduate degree. And it does it
seriously well.
The discipline is cutting-edge, purposeful
and takes virtual interaction and applies it
to real situations.
The driver of the program, lecturer
Ben Rolfe—who designs, develops,
researches and teaches Serious Games
and playful interfaces for purposes
beyond entertainment—says specialising
in environmental and natural resource
education, simulation and visualisation is
the way of the future.
“Our students generally come from two
groups: those who are passionate about
games, and creative people who are keen to
apply their artistic or communications skills
in innovative ways,” he says.
Emily Loader, a current student, sits in both
camps. “I love artwork and I love playing
games. I’m heavily into the art side
of games. I like exploring the
environments and creating the worlds.”
Emily is doing a Bachelor of Creative
Industries majoring in Serious Games
Development, with minors in graphic design
and 3D design, and electives in creative
advertising and social media.
Her studies are sure to lead to a real and
exciting future at the forefront of new ways
of doing and understanding.
From this year, digital technologies are part
of the school curriculum, which means
school leavers are already exposed to
coding and programming, and are familiar
with applying their skills to real contexts
including developing games-based solutions
to problems and challenges.
Spinning in a new orbit
The innovative USC Engage team
did not stop with Being Safety
Smart. They extended these
concepts further with an online
game aimed at preventing the
sexual abuse of children aged
eight to 10.
Orbit effectively reaches these
children through play, and was
created with the help of the
Da