Fourteen of Filament’s 44 employees were working on “Breaking Boundaries.”

Javornik said employees of Filament — which already has produced games for other high-flying organizations, such as the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic — learned some important lessons.

“First, that these idols were/are all real people. That with their scientific accomplishments also came struggles, mis-starts, and setbacks, both professionally and peronally, and it was important that we give the player the whole picture. Secondly, by being able to inhabit the places where they worked in VR (and in all three cases, their environments were quite humble), it shows us that scientific research and discoveries can happen anywhere,” Javornik said.

Science needs more heroes, she added.

The game, funded by Oculus, includes an original score by Filament Games. It is available on Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go.

Also launched Tuesday: Early access release of “The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game,” developed by Fantasy Flight Interactive, of Madison, and Asmodee Digital. The game lets players lead a “fellowship” of three heroes through campaigns across Middle-earth, battling the “dark forces of Sauron,” Asmodee Digital said, in a news release.