Abstract

The Computer-based Corpsman Training System (CBCTS) and its forebear the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Simulation (TC3sim) are serious games designed to train military combat medical personnel. The designs of the two games do not differ significantly. TC3sim was built for the U.S. Army and involves Iraq scenarios. CBCTS has some upgraded visuals and is skinned for the Marine Corps. Its scenarios are geared toward Afghanistan. Their designs share the same learning objectives, the same medical interactions, the same assessment model, and the same physiological simulations. In their development, the complexity of simulating synthetic casualties and the combinations of user interactions were significantly underestimated. However, success came from two factors. The development of a simple user interface allowed users to quickly learn how to play the game and manage the large number of medical interactions. The employment of iterative releases allowed for constant feedback to be collected and integrated back into the game design.

Introduction

The Computer-based Corpsman Training System (CBCTS) is a first-person serious game designed to train U.S. Navy combat medical personnel who are assigned to tthe U.S. Marines (called corpsmen) how to respond to casualties on the battlefield. It is based on the U.S. Army’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care Simulation (TC3sim). CBCTS and TC3sim are essentially the same game, but CBCTS’s visuals were customized for the U.S. Marines. Instead of Iraq, CBCTS uses scenarios set in Afghanistan. The wari ghters’ characters have also been reskinned to be appropriate for the Marines and Navy services.