Researchers at the Sandia National Laboratory began work last October on developing the game platform, working with the University of Southern California’s GamePipe Laboratory.

The game, called “Ground Truth,” looks a little like the popular “Sim City,” with the default view being a bird’s eye map of the area where the attack occurs.

The object, the lab said in a statement, “is to create an interactive gaming platform specifically designed to prepare decision makers and first responders for weapons of mass destruction/weapons of mass effect (WMD/WME) attacks in metropolitan areas. … Ground Truth provides a virtual environment where users can play through such a scenario to see the effects of their decisions under the constraints of time and resources.”

“Video games are progressive, intuitive, accessible, and immersive,” said project leader Donna Djordjevich, which makes them an ideal framework for training and learning.

Firefighters, police officers and other first responders are used to being on the scene of an incident, so training materials need to reflect that by putting users into a realistic environment on the ground.

The current “Ground Truth” scenario involves a chlorine spill, and users have to deploy resources to best mitigate the consequences. They can choose from various functional “pieces,” including firefighters, police officers and hazmat teams, or they can activate medical staging areas.

A “progress thermometer” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen helps them gauge the success of their moves. The game takes roughly 20 minutes to play.