BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY
E-GAMES LAB
About INDEX
INDEX (Innovation Delivers Expansion) is a unique demand-led innovation voucher scheme led that invites Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to apply for a voucher to purchase academic support from one of the 13 Higher Education Institutions in the West Midlands. The project is funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Innovation Vouchers allow SMEs to purchase academic expertise knowledge to develop their innovation and enhance their business.
The Innovation Voucher scheme aims to build links between Universities and SMEs to create a demand led approach to innovation.ABOUT THE BUSINESS: E- Games Lab
Website: www.goalscorerworld.com
Main Contact: Paul Carpenter
E-Games Lab is a partnership between Wolverhampton-based games designer Paul Carpenter and the University of Wolverhampton which aims to develop online casual game templates for educational and commercial application.
The company’s first game called Goalscorer has been developed for football clubs and their supporters just in time for the new football season. The game is unique in that it can provide any football club (professional, amateur or school) with a way of raising funds for youth development or football in the community projects through advertising.
The game itself is a classic mix of strategy and skill, where elements of chess and draughts meet the football world. Different free trial versions of the game can be found at www.goalscorerworld.com.
The game’s designer Paul Carpenter states “The Innovation Voucher really helped us in funding the development of a unique advertising system which allows any football club (professional, amateur or school) to add static and video advertisements to the Goalscorer online game. We are now looking to partner with an established online game publisher to help us develop further non-football versions of our Goalscorer game template and an enhanced football version of Goalscorer where players will be automatically allocated to play in online tournaments for their chosen football team against other players from anywhere in the world to win prizes for both themselves and their chosen club”.INNOVATION
Creative Industries/Digital Media/Software, Media & Communications
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
The voucher was required to employ an academic to develop an administration system for a unique and innovative on-line game template aimed at the casual/skill game sector.
The business will benefit greatly from this work as the game template can be adapted for a variety of markets and the administration system will allow the easy customisation and addition of in-game advertisements and player counter changes.
The ground-breaking level of functionality the administration system delivered will be particularly attractive to on-line games publishers and portals who are the major customers of the business.
Income from licensing versions of the game template to portals and other companies wishing to have a unique online game to develop branding for example, will provide a major boost to company revenues with the added bonus of helping develop the company by employing additional staff to produce different versions of the game template.
WORK UNDERTAKEN
Admin system constructed for the goalscorer online game template to allow easy customisation of player counters to enable any player to design their own team colours after sign up
Online advertising system developed to incorporate industry standard video and banner advertisement sizes for both one and two player online versions of the goalscorer template
ABOUT THE HEI: University of Wolverhampton
University of Wolverhampton
Wulfruna Street,
Wolverhampton,
WV1 1LY
ABOUT THE ACADEMIC
Stuart Slater, School of Computing and IT
QUALIFICATIONS
Currently Reading PhD in Artificial Intelligence(Emotion Modelling) (started 2003)
MSc in Computer Science. Wolverhampton University (2003)
B.Eng (Hons) Software Design. University Of Central England (1998)
730(7) Teacher Training City & Guilds Part 1 and 2. Stourbridge College (2000)
(MCP) Microsoft Certified Professional (2001)
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
Member of the British Computer Society
Chartered Information Technology Professional (CITP)
Member of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour.
PRESENT POST
Principal Lecturer School of Computing & Information Technology, Wolverhampton University.