Clients

Theatrebase was an Advantage West Midlands funded project to develop a proof of concept of how virtual worlds could be used by theatres and touring companies to improve their planning and management of the technical aspects of backstage operations. Working with Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Hippodrome we recreated both the Hippodrome Theatre and a BRB stage set and showed how SL could be used to move sets around the stage, record positions and then replay the complete get-in, performance and get-out of a stage production. We are now working with our partners to bring the final system to market.

As an innovative way to get people involved in space exploration and to better understand the legacy of Apollo 11 we created a simulation of Tranquility Base in Second Life which lets students follow the exact paths walked by Armstrong and Aldrin and view the photos they took from where they took them. Equipped with spacesuits, life-support, radio "beeps" and even a moonwalk animation this is a truly immersive and educational experience. Watch the video on YouTube

As part of a series of Serious Games Institute initiatives to help the Omani government make greater use of virtual worlds and serious games Daden were commissioned to build an Omani version of our Datascape. From here not only can visitors zoom in on satellite imagery of any point in Oman but they can also read Omani news feeds, watch Omani videos and even get near-real time plots of shipping within 1000km of Oman, and even across the globe.

Through LearnDirect the UK Government's University for Industry delivers vocational distance-learning to adult learners. As part of a modernisation of their services they have been assessing a variety of new technologies and Daden was commissioned to build proofs-of-concept for two learning exercises in SL - an NVQ in Customer Service and Entry Level 2 speaking and listening. Daden based both exercises around a street scene simulation and used PIVOTE to manage the student exercises. Both tutor and student response has been excellent.

Southampton University had several departmental led SL builds but the University marketing department was keen to bring them together as a cohesive, branded whole. We built the home sim for the University, basing it not on campus buildings but on the topography of the campus which has a very prominent stream and valley running through it which work well in SL. For a campus tour we used Datascape to create a Google Map model of the campus in 3D, with each building linked to a 360 degree photographic panorama. A number of sky pods were created to provide homes for individual department initiatives.

As part of the JISC PREVIEW project we created a training and assessment system for paramedics in Second Life. The system that we developed has since been released into Open Source as PIVOTE and is being used and trialled by educators across the globe.

Video production company Infinite Wisdom were looking for an innovative way to make a cause related web soap pilot. They gave us the RL script they were shooting, and images of the actors and set, and we created the same scene using our AI based virtual actors - just shout "action" and they act out the scene time and time again - and "viewers" can not only watch the scene as virtual drama - but also talk to the actors or play some of the roles themselves. Click the logo to view a video excerpt.

We've completed two projects for Southampton Solent University. The first was to create a whole sim build for their Creative Arts faculty - a large imagined build featuring a large auditorium and catwalk for fashion shows, a working lighting desk, nightclub and shop units. The second build was a further sim for an underwater "information maze" as a more immersive ways to teach new students about information search. Click the logo to view a video excerpt.

We built an initial presence in Second Life to support their School of Computing and Information Technology - particularly for students on their Gaming and Digital Media courses.

We helped Coventry University get set up in Second Life. We provided consulting support to their senior staff, and skills training and support to a team of student builders. As a result the University now has a cadre of skilled builders to move faculty projects forward. We have had an ongoign relationship with Coventry ever since, including developing AI based avatars for their JISC PREVIEW project, supporting them on AI work with other clients, and collaborating on funding proposals.

As part of a website redesign Hanover Housing were looking for a new way to help their users - many elderly and unfamiliar with the web - to find the right information on their web site. We created a chatbot for Hanover Housing which would not only repond to plain language queries but also speak the response and offer up web links to relevant pages.

Digital Futures was developed with New Media Partners for Media Training Northwest, a Government and media industry initiative to encourage old media types to embrace new media. The virtual centre provides a place to hold video and other educational and training resources, a place to hold networking events and virtual seminars, and booths, gallery and exhibition space where media companies can show their wares.

For this client we redeveloped an entire sim and several floating islands to create a number of areas of interest - including a maze and a lovely pastoral area of raised beds, butterflies and swings. We then created a huge geodesic structure to hold examples of the clients products, each linked back to the relevant page on the clients web site where the purchasing action could take place.

Working with Cow PR and Vauxhall we arranged with over 50 major property owners in Second Life to deploy voting kiosks and gather votes for the Corsa Guide to Second Life micro-site. Winners were announced at a major party at Wheelies, attended by senior execs from General Motors in the USA.

We used our innovative Datascape to produce a dynamic map of Birmingham in Second Life using Google Maps, overlaying it with 3D models, 360 degree panorama, videos and web cams. This has not only brought interest in Birmingham through in-world and tech PR but also acted as a basis for discussions about the role of virtual worlds within the City Council.

Daden built BCU's Millennium Point campus building in Second Life. This is a BIG building covering 2 sims at 1:1 scale. Daden detailed all the public areas and some private BCU areas and sourced and customised camera equipment to be used by students on health & safety training simulations in the build. ">Read the press release.

Daden helped advise the Serious Games Institute on the development of its SL island, and built a Registration System and Orientation Area to allow visitors to its web site to sign up and enter SL directly without visiting the SL web site or the public SL orientation. Daden have since collaborated with the SGI on a number projects.

Daden helped the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel to host its first (and probably Israel's first) mixed RL-SL conference, with slides and audio streamed to audiences in both locations.