Healthcare + Video Game Internship + Improv Comedy Livestream = Healthcare Games Showdowntm

HOUSTON, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- What do you get when you mix healthcare, a video game development internship, and an improv comedy livestream show? Hosted within the Texas Medical Center's TMC Innovation Institute, the Healthcare Games Showdowntm involves college students creating video games for healthcare from July 1st - 26th, 2019, followed by a review by potential employers ? all featured in a livestream show.

Improv comedian host, Scott Gibbs, is joined by audience hostess, Ink Rose (Youtube Creator with over 100,000 subscribers) and Kevin Wu (KevJumba: Veteran YouTube Producer with over 2.8 million subscribers) playing Mr. Techmecology.

Throughout the month-long showdown, selected students from the University of Houston, The Art Institute of Houston, Houston Community College, Texas A&M, UT Dallas, and more will be creating serious simulations and video games to assist in healthcare marketing, education, research or training efforts.

Sponsors and supporters include AT&T Business, Assembla, Kartridge, Shift, IGDA (International Game Developers Association), Houston Exponential, College Community and Career, Greater Houston Partnership, Houston Public Media and GameDev.Net.

The story of the creation process will be broadcast in a livestream TV show on YouTube, Twitch, and Mixer each Tuesday from 1-4PM throughout the month. The live online audience will be able to rate and review the students and involve themselves with in-show participation moments. At the end of the month-long internship, each student team will showcase their sponsored project to their team sponsor in the hope that they land a job at the finale event on Friday, July 26th from 7-10PM. Houston Public Media will stream the finale on their YouTube page.

Why mix an internship focused on healthcare video game development with a livestream show?

"There are more educational degrees and programs for video game careers than ever before. With that rise comes a swell of graduates who will need jobs," notes Karen Snyder, Creator of the Healthcare Games Showdowntm and Adjunct Professor of Digital Media at the University of Houston. "Helping students see value in serious games is critical so that they realize there is more work to be found beyond entertainment studio positions. To raise the profile of serious games, as a producer I wanted to engage the power of media. Plus, it would allow my behind-the-camera broadcast students the opportunity to work with Emmy® winning producers."

The production team includes a mix of professors from various educational institutions (UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics, the University of Houston, Texas A&M, Houston Community College, The Art Institute of Houston, St. Edwards University), 16 professional game and technology mentors, and three Emmy® and award-winning broadcast producers. Over 15 Healthcare Advisors are also a part of the showdown. The collective goal of the event is to see digital media and technology students find work doing what they love best ? creating solutions to problems using innovative means.

Why create healthcare video games?

"The Healthcare Games Showdowntm will draw considerable attention to how serious simulations and games can positively impact healthcare outcomes," said Lance Black, PhD, Associate Director, TMC Innovation Institute. "Most people are unaware that the FDA just approved the first video game for prescription medication. Pharma going digital is the number-one forecast trend for 2019. At the TMC Innovation Institute, we seek to support new ventures and ideas that can advance healthcare. Personally, I would love to see a video game come out of this that will improve compliance and patients taking their medications on time."

The showdown's talent is a mix of known online talent and fresh faces.

A voice-actor known for his roles in Starship Troopers: Traitor Of Mars, Parasyte, No Game No Life, Haikyu!! and over 25 other anime productions, improv comedian Scott Gibbs has traveled the world working in theatre, commercials, and motion-capture. Currently he is a Houston-based improv talent and Master Teaching Artist for the Alley Theatre.

Ink Rose (Anastasia Snyder) is a three-time kid and youth entrepreneur; a YouTube Creator with over 100,000 subscribers, and a student at the Art Institute of Houston majoring in Game Art & Design.

Kevin Wu is a veteran YouTube producer whose work as KevJumba has built up an audience of 2.8 million subscribers. Kevin Wu is playing Mr. Techmecology, a comedy persona who will guide viewers to awareness of medical and technology terminology.    

"The livestream show format is 'Conan O'Brian' meets 'The Apprentice'," said Michelle Fritzgerald, a three-time winning Emmy® winning producer who is acting as a co-producer of the showdown. "It's a refreshing take on video game production, and it's all about pushing the students through the ultimate internship while creating a serious game in the hopes they land a job."

The event currently has a room for more sponsors.

"We are getting down to the wire wrapping up contracts for team sponsors," said Dennis Mathews, CEO of Revelation Interactive and the Houston chapter IGDA organizer. "But we are always open to seeing value brought to sponsoring companies even as we train up students in best practices to bring to their future employers."

The event includes a highly diverse group of video game professionals and instructors who will act as student mentors. Their efforts will be augmented by medical professionals offering their advise and expertise. While Houston is playing a central role in this effort, the impact of the showdown is already moving to incorporate talent from other cities and regions.

"The Healthcare Games Showdowntm is going to bring people together that really need to meet each other to fully benefit from each others knowledge," said Dr. Verena Kallhoff, Manager of WorkSpaces at Health CoLab at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. "Just starting that conversation between the different players -- the gamers and the clinicians -- letting them understand how the other one thinks. I believe that's going to lay a really great foundation for us to shift healthcare into much more of an area that will serve both the patient as well as the medical community."

Interested parties can assist the showdown by:

• Sponsoring a team or advertising in the show
• Stream hosting the show on Twitch, Mixer, (and in certain instances, YouTube)
• Being a show ambassador and spreading word on campuses
• Watching the show and participating online, or at the finale event

About Healthcare Games Showdowntm
Hosted within the Texas Medical Center's TMC Innovation Institute, the Healthcare Games Showdowntm involves college students creating video games for healthcare, followed by a review by potential employers ? all live-streamed throughout July, 2019.

The show is being produced by TYM Studio, a B-corp pending transmedia student internship studio, in association with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, DIREC Educational Programming and Entertainment Cowboys, LLC.

For more information visit http://www.HGshowdown.com

About the TYM Studio
TYM Studiotm connects companies with technology and media college students through internships that drive innovation, talent development, and efficient project pipelines.

For more information, http://TYM.studio

About Texas Medical Center's Innovation Institute
The TMC Innovation Institute programs provide startup companies with shared workspace, a curriculum tailored to the needs of health care entrepreneurs and the guidance of more than 200 advisors from the front lines of the industry. Companies have access to the world's largest medical complex, all without membership fees or equity sharing.

For more information visit http://www.tmc.edu/innovation/

Media Contacts
Karen Snyder, MFA
[email protected]

Ryan Holeywell
[email protected]

HIGH RES IMAGES
http://tym.studio/pdf/0_HGS_Poster_11x17.jpg
http://tym.studio/pdf/0_HGS_PosterTalent_11x17.jpg

SOURCE Healthcare Games Showdowntm