TESTALUNA Serious playing

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1 TESTALUNA Serious playing TESTALUNA is dedicated to the creation and development of video games, simulations, 2D and 3D virtual environments. We combine the best in entertainment with the highest quality graphics to produce finished products that are both educational and informative. The Company I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I l l I l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I TESTALUNA s.r.l. became an independent enterprise in September 2004, building on the experience of a team formed 10 years earlier at Giunti Multimedia, a branch of the Florentine publisher Guinti. Already strong and collaborating successfully, the team decided to use their experience and the body of work they had produced up to that time to form an autonomous company, with the help of a New Creative Enterprise grant in spring of 2004 from the Province of Milan. TESTALUNA is a company of individuals; individuals who enrich their work and their projects with their own personal experience and specific professional skills. These blend seamlessly together and are firmly focused on the goal to turn ideas into reality. The team is made up of people with specific skills in game design, programming, modeling and animation, audio/visual editing and project management. It s this combination of skills and the experience in applying them in different environments that inspires us to approach a project from both an editorial and a commercial perspective. This approach allows us to combine quality of content with efficiency in the production process. Led by Leonardo Montecamozzo, TESTALUNA is an organization consisting of 12 full time employees, working alongside freelance professionals and other partners when projects require.

2 Serious Games I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I Playing is serious business Serious games are not necessarily or exculsively games used for e-learning. Often when people talk about serious games there is still a lot of confusion about what this means. There is not really a clear distinction between what is an e-learning game and a serious game. However, a serious game is used as a vehicle for a specific message, whether it be moral, ethical or didactic. Through the media of games and simulation, the player learns in a natural and spontaneous way, absorbing messages and information not structured analytically but inserted within the gaming mechanism. Also, there are not usually any rigidly didactic or instructional sections. The information transmitted and absorbed through the game are essential to being able to progress within the game itself. Therefore, the user acquires important knowledge through gaming elements that hide the didactic message so that it doesn t prejudice the quality of learning, instead enabling the internalization of the message itself. We approach our games by first examining the target market, offering game play, gags and settings designed specifically to captivate and involve the audience in mind. Once the initial wariness often encountered when presenting an entertainment product with a dual purpose is overcome, we have the player s undivided attention and can present him with the didactic content contextualized within the game.

3 Cultural Heritage I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I Museum Games We ve christened these museum games because they allow you to video game culture, offering a different perspective on the enjoyment of museums, cultural content or the environment. We can offer an experience in which the visitor is not just a spectator on the past but a virtual actor in a historical setting through engrossing simulated experiences. The methodology TESTALUNA has developed for this is applied in three different ways: making the content of existing museums, monuments and archeological sites as accessible as possible (open museum), attracting new users of these services through the video game device (museum game) and creating virtual museums (virtual museum). Technologies specific to photo retouching, architectural reconstruction and the development of 3D environments together with the experience of our founding partners in numerous museum-related projects make TESTALUNA a valuable partner in this area. We enable the digitalization, teaching, dissemination and appreciation of culture through the use of multimedia technology, games and simulation.

4 Advergames I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I The game as marketing tool Flash games, Shockwave, Java for communications, web-based viral marketing operations or gadgets associated with a multi-channel marketing campaign. Experience shows that the advergame is extremely effective in promoting a user following, producing significant viral effects that aid in disseminating advertising and brand awareness. The classic communication plan that applies to an advergame anticipates the increase in value of the brand or the product by integrating it into the gaming environment in various ways: Associative: the advergame triggers an association between the product and the setting, the style, and the emotions provoked by the game; this can help to reinforce the identity of a brand but also provide it with new life, rejuvenating it or making it more aggressive. Illustrative: the advergame gives the product itself a high profile, placing it at the center of attention during the course of the game, providing the ultimate product placement opportunity, even in the simple form of an ingame banner. Demonstrative: the advergame simulates the contextual use of the product, allowing the consumer to virtually try it out.

5 Casual Game I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I Big games in small doses Our specialty. We produce 2D and 3D web games using Flash, Shockwave and Java for the most well known free games portals worldwide such as and Our games are distinguished by the high quality of their code and their graphics, as fun to play as a real video game but in a small dose. There are very stringent requirements to creating casual games: they must be easy to use and easy to master, the game play must be engaging but not too complicated, the settings must be attractive and they must have high ergonomic standards. They are aimed at an audience of impromptu gamers but at the same time they must offer something of interest to more hardcore gamers. Technologically speaking, the primary challenge is to develop minigames with attractive graphics and settings within the performance limits and size of an application. They must be rapidly downloadable and quickly ready for play. By using advanced performance enhancing technologies we are able to compress the size of 3D games of 3 or more levels (in tracks or scenes) to only one Megabyte.

6 E-learning I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I I I I I I I Yawn-free learning These days employee training is an unavoidable necessity for any kind of business both large and small. New technologies already offer solutions with a lot of capabilities but they are not usually focused on specific content. The enormous capacity of LMS platforms needs to be paired with an accurate study of the content, focusing on the person to be trained and their specific needs and attributes. Gaming mechanisms and simulation have proved to be particularly effective both in training and in education - they are highly interactive and they have a high capacity for engagement and stimulation. They are an absolute requirement when it comes to self tutorials. TESTALUNA specializes in Game-Based Education and Training, providing support for the development of Web Based Training (WBT) compatible with IMS and SCORM standards and in line with W3C accessibility standards. We script the training content (planning, game design, look and feel) and the technical requirements (software, graphics) while working with partners who help us to identify training needs, the most effective didactic methods and supply modes.

7 Technologies I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I l I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I l I Adaptable tools As specialists in real time 3D solutions, we use proprietary or off the shelf technologies - depending on the needs of the project - to develop both on and off-line games and simulations. In particular, we are able to offer proprietary solutions for driving simulations, virtual 3D communities, 3D web games and video games for PC, by using middleware for rendering, motion handling, tracking, artificial intelligence and editing tools. Here are some of our dedicated proprietary solutions: Rendering engine (Giotto TLRE) Motion engine (Galileo TLPE) for PC 2D games editors for the web and for i-mode mobiles based on Flash technology Engines for motion handling, artificial intelligence, character animation special effects in 3D environments produced for the Web in Shockwave Specific software for tracking management on servers or on the Web.

8 Research & Development I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I l I I I I I I I I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I I I I l I The heart and soul of gaming The world of video games is constantly changing and evolving. New technologies, new platforms, new engines, new solutions are encountered every day. And new media require new forms of communication. For this reason we are always on the look out for new tools and new formats that we can incorporate into our projects, making them all the more creative, innovative and on the cutting edge. This means we have to continually and quickly evolve our own way of working, continually evaluating its effectiveness within an information society whose consumers needs and preferences change as fast as they change their clothes. TESTALUNA invests internally in research and development and participates in both national and international RTD projects. Our areas of interest in research and study are varied: artificial intelligence, intelligent agents, online 3D, motion capture, interactive TV. TESTALUNA has gained significant experience in proposing and managing cooperative international projects with institutional, academic and private partners in MURST, IST, Media Plus and Leonardo tenders.

9 Our customers Here are some of our customers - involved in education, communications and entertainment projects - who have chosen to play with TESTALUNA:

10 Contacts TESTALUNA is an organization based on the Virtual Company concept. Our associates are located in Milan, Genoa, Rome, Venice and other cities in Italy and throughout the world. HEADQUARTERS Viale Vittorio Veneto Milano ITALIA tel fax P.IVA