Save the World One App at a Time

The Software Productization Center (SPC) at Millersville University has recently collaborated with startup company Runoff Studios. SPC’s newest client initiative involves creating an environmentally focused, educational game application for kids and tweens.

The founder of Runoff Studios, along with University students and professors from the computer science, art and design and business departments at Millersville worked together to create an educational game application for Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The game, “Face the Waste” is designed to be engaging and fun while simultaneously teaching players about recycling.

“Face the Waste” is envisioned as the first in a series of environmentally focused, educational games. Runoff Studios founder and Chief Creative Officer Jacob Walker has strong beliefs regarding the importance of making a positive impact for future generations. Walker said, “The reason I started Runoff Studios is because I wanted to help people better understand the environment around them, and not only that, I want to help people preserve it for future generations.”

He is trained in 3D animation, and the visual aspects of educational games strike him as the best way to engage the next generation in environmental issues. Working with the SPC has given him an opportunity to turn his ideas into reality.

While the SPC offers entrepreneurs the often game-changing opportunity to develop a software concept into a marketable product, the businesses are not the only beneficiaries of the process. The SPC program also provides Millersville University students invaluable experience as they work with the businesses throughout the process of developing a software product. Matthew Pape, a senior computer science student who has been involved with Runoff Studios since the beginning of the collaboration with the SPC, says “Working with Runoff Studios has opened my eyes to a whole new side of software development. Programming for the mobile environment was quite a challenge, but it has surely paid off in the form of a truly fun and thought-provoking game. All the pieces we’ve learned in class finally fit together. [This project] has given me the confidence to enter the workforce knowing what to expect, and the knowledge that I am capable of excelling.”

The SPC at Millersville University was formed with a three-year infrastructure grant from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) that began in January 2008. The term “software productization” refers to the process of turning a rudimentary software concept or early prototype into a marketable product. The mission of the SPC is to assist regional entrepreneurs with developing all aspects of their software product from market research to software prototype to branding and physical packaging. The SPC is a cross-disciplinary effort that involves faculty and students from computer science, graphic design, business/marketing and communication/public relations.

The faculty steering committee of Dr. Stephanie Elzer, Nancy Mata and Dr. Patrick McCaskey has mentored more than 20 students as they have worked with four different companies including WorkXPress, Cruzstar, MRG Power Labs and now Runoff Studios. Early reports from the first two participating companies attribute more than $100,000 in sales, $100,000 in cost savings and $80,000 in new financing opportunities to their collaboration with the SPC.

Elzer, director of the SPC and associate professor of computer science at Millersville University, marvels: “While I believed that we had a good model in the SPC, to see it benefiting people on so many levels is truly amazing. From the Millersville students who gain terrific hands-on learning experiences working on SPC projects, to the regional businesses who walk away from collaborations with solid business deliverables, to the faculty members who benefit from tangible curriculum material and ideas to take into their classrooms – everyone involved is being positively impacted.”