As the sun rises later and sets earlier, meaning the Winter nights are drawing in, it’s time once more to look back over the happenings and outputs of the studio over these past three Summery months.
Whilst for many it meant some time off, either risking changeable costs of going abroad or costly competition for limited spaces within the UK, for many of the team too, projects, deliverables and news still carried on rolling into and out of the studio.
The best way to start the news is with new starters. Over the Summer we welcomed Jane to the team as Senior Learning Designer, replacing Will who set off for pastures new. We have a couple of other new starters due imminently but their start dates just fell out of the Q3 period. We are always growing and so looking to hire additional Senior Project Manager and a Senior Software Developer (Web) to support the production teams.
The calendar period also saw the end of our financial year and start of the next one, with everybody happy with our best year yet, smashing all the targets set. With the new financial year underway, things are looking good already for another stellar year ahead for the studio.
The studio was selected for entry within a number of industry lists and reports, including:
As mentioned in the last review, the selection process for shortlisting finalists for a couple of award ceremonies was completed and a number of the studio client projects and our own products were included:
As part of our ongoing desire to educate and inform those of you interested in the immersive learning and technology industry, we published three more of our monthly “Reality Check” newsletters, for July, August and September. If you haven’t signed up to receive the best curated monthly news in your inbox, you can do so here.
Finally, our biggest, mostly public studio news is that our VR game ‘Loco Dojo‘ went gold out of the QA process and is set for launch on October 7th on the Oculus Quest Store. You can wishlist the game for Oculus Quest & Quest 2 now ahead of launch.
Our Head of Learning Design, Sophie, was busy virtually with the eLN Learning Technologies Awards Showcase – onboarding webinar, followed by an online talk with QED Cardiff MET for their DigiLearn event. Following that, it was time to face travel and other people for the 1st physical live event since March 2020, with a presence at Learning Live 2021, hosted by The Learning Performance Institute (LPI) in London.
Thankfully we had had some practice for face-to-face meeting and getting used to being with other real, actual humans (albeit in a safe and hygienic manner) with our Studio Staff Summer Party on top of the Plus X Innovation Hub in the roof terrace bar. Having welcomed a number of new starters to the studio over lockdown, it was nice to be able to meet them in person!
To round off the quarter, our Immersive Partnerships Director has been part of the rebooted Ukie Mixed Reality working group and attended online sessions during the Ukie AGM and then took part in an online panel discussion as part of Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #8, discussing the current status of xR gaming for developers and players alike.
EDF Energy – Inclusive Leadership VR : Oculus Quest VR training around DE&I for leadership teams within the organisation.
EDF Energy – HPC Visitor Centre, Cannington Court : Complex physical installation including a suite of safe, hygienic contactless exhibits and interactive gamified experiences.
Ents Inc – Chaos Karts : Complex physical installation mixing electric go-karts, networked projector arrays, spatially-tracked devices and a bombastic racing game experience.
Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) – CityZen : Serious game designed around town planning, rolled out across UK nationwide schools network as part of a schools competition.
Lloyds Banking Group – Accessibility Content Consultancy : Following on from the numerous immersive learning experiences deployed over the years for LBG, the studio has been working closely with their L&D teams, running focus and end-user group sessions to investigate, advise and implement greater accessible content guidelines and support.
Lloyds Banking Group – HARMS (phase 1) : Desktop browser-based training content around identifying and better supporting customers at risk of experiencing financial harm.
Make Real – Loco Dojo Unleashed : Madcap social VR multiplayer party game for Oculus Quest & Quest 2 available October 7th on the Oculus Quest Store.
St. James Place Wealth Management – Immersive Role Play : Oculus Quest VR training around DE&I for financial leadership teams within the organisation.
=========================
That wraps up another quarterly review. With only 3 months left of 2021, there’s plenty for us to be getting on with before the year end.
We look forward to seeing you if you attend Digital Construction Week at ExCeL London on November 24th & 25th – be sure to check out our stand D21 and attend our talk to hear about and try out Skill Shield and our other VR training apps targeting that sector.
We’ll be collectively crossing everything ahead of the award ceremony events for VRAwards 2021 and Learning Technologies Awards 2021 and the categories we are nominated for the shortlisted finalists for. Hopefully news to include in the final Q4 Review of 2021, along with nominations for The Learning Awards 2022.
Until then, stay safe and healthy and be sure to follow us on our social media channels for the latest news as it happens.
We’re always happy to talk to you about how immersive technologies can engage your employees and customers. If you have a learning objective in mind, or simply want to know more about emerging technologies like VR, AR, or AI, send us a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.