VSTEP

VSTEP B.V. in Netherlands, or VSTEP in the UK, is a serious game developer located in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and one of the leading developers in the European serious games industry.

History
VSTEP was founded in 2002 by four experienced entrepreneurs. VSTEP currently has 40 staff members as well as a network of subcontractors. Since its founding, VSTEP has developed and completed over 30 simulation and training projects, giving it a leading position in the European serious games industry.

In 2005, Fortis Venturing became a shareholder in VSTEP to accelerate their growth in the serious games market.

On March 26, 2008, the Dutch Ministry of Economics awarded VSTEP a prize for "Serious gaming and simulations for better safety".

In 2008 Ship Simulator was nominated for a Dutch Game Award in the category 'Best Serious Game'.

Serious games
VSTEP has made over 30 simulation and training games, including scenario training software, procedure training software and training simulators. The most well-known serious games from VSTEP are the Ship Simulator series.

Among their clients, VSTEP has the Royal Netherlands Navy, Rotterdam Harbour Company, Sea Harbour Police Rotterdam, Amsterdam county, Royal Boskalis Westminster, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fairmount Marine, Falck/Nutec Global Safety, and others.

Ship Simulator
Ship Simulator simulates maneuvering a variety of ships in differing environments. Developed by VSTEP, it was released by Lighthouse Interactive.

RescueSim
First released in 2008, RescueSim challenges players with a variety of equipment, environments, objects and different kind of fires or leakages. An instructor forms and adjusts variables on the instructor screen for students who move through the created environment where their actions are logged. The software features port incident management including port-specific scenarios such as engine-room fires, transfer fires or pipe leakages.

Other
The company also markets the DriveZone driving simulator as well as a FireFighter simulation game.

Video games
In addition to the mass market Ship Simulator 2008 game, VSTEP are developing a fire-fighting PC and console game based on their training products produced for fire services in the Netherlands.