Digital Futures brings fire safety to the screen

This tense scenario isn’t real, but it's designed to feel real inside Fire Escape, a new video game produced in UC’s Digital Futures building. The game immerses young players in the critical decisions of escaping a house fire that could mean life or death. 

The game addresses common misconceptions among both kids and adults regarding house fires. Some kids have the natural instinct to hide or to grab their things, while others may have heard the myth that covering your face with a damp washcloth will protect you from the smoke. Turning critical safety lessons into an interactive video game helps young museum visitors practice what to do before they face a real fire emergency. Players must check doors for heat, avoid smoke-filled hallways and make split-second decisions.

“It’s very common for people to think that hiding in the bathtub or covering the face with a damp washcloth will keep them safe from the fire,” McCall said. “But the firefighters we worked closely with assured us that the smoke is much more dangerous, which the bathtub and washcloths will not protect you from. These misconceptions become teachable moments in the game, where we can show the player directly what they should be doing.” 

As the first video game of its kind from UC, Fire Escape truly took a village to realize bringing together collaborators from across campus. The project came to life inside Digital Futures, which became an ideal place for Smith to work. The space provided his team with the technical equipment to move from ideas to completion of the project. The result: A fully playable, skills-building experience designed to save lives and hopefully stick long after the controller is put down. 

“Digital Futures, together with the 1819 Innovation Hub, is intended to be a nexus for fostering vibrant interdisciplinary research and innovation,” says Interim Vice President for Research Frank Gerner. “Projects like Fire Escape are exactly that, bringing groups from different colleges and departments together to solve real-world problems.”

As the project moved beyond development, the UC Office of Tech Transfer & Commercialization, located within the 1819 Innovation Hub, helped expand the video game’s reach and community impact. Whenever a faculty member has an idea or research that leads to discoveries, inventions or new technologies, it isn't enough to just protect them, they also need to be commercialized or transferred to create their intended impact. Fire Escape is the first video game licensed by Tech Transfer, which typically handles the protection and commercialization of scientific discoveries. 

With the help of the Tech Transfer office on what started as a campus project, Fire Escape has made its community debut with its first pilot at the Cincinnati Fire Museum. As a result of the media attention the game has received, discussions are underway to expand into four additional fire museums, helping to spark conversations about fire safety for kids K-12 and adults across the country.

For Smith, the goal is simple: “At the end of the day, if we can save a life and have a little bit of fun at the same time, that would be a great thing.”

Featured image at top of Tyler McCall demonstrating video game Fire Escape.