| Virtway | |
| Type: | Game development |
| Foundation: | 1999 |
| Location: | Oviedo, Spain |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Products: | Educational (serious) games |
Virtway is a game development studio located in Oviedo, Spain. It was founded in 1999 as a general IT consulting firm. In 2006 Virtway spun off from its parent company to focus on 3D development and video games as an independent branch of the Indigo Group holding.
The main focus of the company has been developing a simulation system to allows learning through gaming, called VTS (Virtual Training System). The platform was presented at the 2008 Games + Learning + Society[1] conference in partnership with Robb Lindgren from Stanford University. The company's products are applied to several areas of training, such as Firefighting and Iron/Steel Industry.
Virtway has collaborated through the Índigo Group with the University of Oviedo and Stanford University in different research and development projects.
Molina Digital was the first large-scale 3D project developed by Virtway. It re-created a Spanish town (Molina de Segura, Murcia) and enabled users to chat, drive cars and play Pétanque through a Web browser.
Part of the Molina Digital project was the development of an interactive theatre application where users could take a role in a virtual play. Each user handled an avatar on stage and controlled its body language and facial expression while talking with other players. Everything was recorded by another user, the director, who edited the footage later, in a way similar to a machinima production.
The regional government of Asturias contracted Virtway to develop a 3D virtual visit to the city of Llanes, so Virtway produced a website where users can visit said town in 3D using x3d technology and a port of the landmarks to Google Earth KML models.
Virtway started the development of a project called Born To Run in 2004 and presented it in late 2006.[2] It aimed to be one of the first First Person Shooters with photo-realistic graphics made in Spain, and slated to hit next-gen systems (PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360). There has been no more information about the game since its announcement, and it is now considered to be vaporware.
On 6 October 2008, Virtway entered into a partnership with ICYou, a Swedish company, to further develop their Interactive City platform, a persistent virtual world with tie-ins to the real world of its players through a blend of the virtual and real economy.[3]