Installation Deployment Officer Training Simulation: an Air Force game

Engineering & Computer Simulations, Inc. (ECS) of Orlando built the IDO Training Sim as a real-time, conversation-based simulator. It follows a day in the life of a U.S. Air Force Installation Deployment Officer, and the work revolves around people management and fast decisions. ECS entered it in the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge, where it was a 2017 finalist in the Best Business Developed Serious Game category.

The simulation is meant as a capstone. Students play it after a full classroom course on the roles and responsibilities of an IDO, so it does not teach concepts directly. It lets them apply what they learned and exercise critical thinking against the learning objectives.

The player resolves the issues that arrive, manages personnel and works through every logistical problem to keep flights on time. Most of the action takes place in the Deployment Control Center, but the player can also travel to other environments around the base and watch live security camera feeds of them. The scenario alternates periods of task overload with dead time, and events add variety.

Difficulty adapts to performance: strong players meet more challenges, while those who struggle get reduced complexity, extra injects or reminders. An after action review interface shows all scenario events and player actions or inactions on a timeline, with positive and negative indicators for self-assessment and a record for the instructor.

The game is built for a classroom and can run offline or as a networked multiplayer system. Each student progresses at an individual pace through scenario branches and sequels, while the instructor console on the server shows each student's progress and lets the facilitator change difficulty on the fly.

ECS is still in business and its site, ecsorl.com, describes it as headquartered in Orlando, Florida, with a branch office in Huntsville, Alabama. The pages read in November 2026 (home, portfolio, simulation and training, news) list game-based simulations and serious games among its capabilities but do not name the IDO Training Sim, so whether the simulation can still be obtained is unconfirmed.

The company's home page leads with technology solutions that support military readiness and features OneSAF, the Army's semi-automated forces simulation, which an ECS joint venture leads. Its capability pages cover comprehensive training solutions, innovative training software and global services.