enter 2009
TRANSCRIPT
1ENTER 2009
Designing Virtual Words for Cultural Heritage
ELIOS Lab
Riccardo BertaELIOS Lab, DIBE, University of Genoa
2ENTER 2009
Travel in Europe (TiE) project
Travel in Europe (TiE): European project co-funded by Culture 2000 programme
Implement an innovative mean to promote and divulgate the European heritage
The main target audience: high-school students aged 14 to 18
An easy-to-access online environmentUsers play challenging and compelling game experiences by interacting with virtual representations of European heritage
The project exploits the concept of travelEngaging by itselfSupports geographic contextualization of the heritage
3ENTER 2009
Pedagogical foundations
Constructivistic learning philosophiesConstructing knowledge by situating cognitive experiences in real(virtual)-world, with authentic activities
Three main modalitiesLearn by doing (or playing) inviting players to operate in the virtual field, observing
attentively the documents– pictures, sketches, graphics, texts, etc.
Learn by thinkingstimulating reflection, critical reasoning and concatenation
of experiences
Learn through social interaction inviting players to play together for cooperative purposes
and to comment on their experience during the game.
4ENTER 2009
Vision
A player of TiE moves in a 2D space representing the map of EuropeThe player visits some cities and regions that are reconstructed in 3DHe faces 2D trials (microGames: mGs) embedded in the 3D reconstructions to obtain scores
mGs concerns the local artistic heritage and are contextualizedE.g. an art game concerning the Van Cleve’s “Adoration of
the Magi” picture is played in the 3D reconstruction of the San Donato church in Genoa’s historical center, where the picture is conserved
5ENTER 2009
2D Europe Map
6ENTER 2009
3D world
7ENTER 2009
3D Gaming experience, not a map service
Maps (Microsoft Live) Game (Travel in Europe)
8ENTER 2009
Reconstructing 3D cities for cultural tourism purposes
Trade-off:PhotorealismHighly impressiveCulturally correct and meaningful experience
Models’ weight and complexityAllow interactive real-time online explorationModeling work very expensive
9ENTER 2009
TiE 3D worlds
Point of Interests (PoI)High-detail, rigorous reconstructions of a buildingCathedral, theather, Renaissance palace
Random Building Areas (RBA)Dynamically built using a statistical template-based algorithmExploit a statistical description of the architectonic
parametersUse a limited set of textures that are instances of
architectonic features representative of that area (e.g windows, portals, etc.)
10ENTER 2009
PoIs
11ENTER 2009
RBA
12ENTER 2009
TiE 3D worlds
Architectonic-style likelihood principleLike in a real visit: a tourist perceives the feeling of being in a place (e.g. Genova) but usually does not perceive/remember the particulars of each distinct building
Allows users to live experiences similar to a real visit of a city limiting the effort in 3D modeling
13ENTER 2009
mGames
mGs are a sort of “links” in the “hypertext” represented by the 3D environment
e.g. mGs as “portals” to short adventures
Joining the potential on spatial knowledge acquisition of 3D with the possibility of getting more in depth information
“digital analogy” of a visit of a city/regionTypically enhanced by visits at museums, etc
14ENTER 2009
mGames typologies
Observation gamesThe sight as a sense to investigate and explore the local environmentExploit the “knowledge in the world” in order to develop the cognition activityStimulate spatial processing skills
Reflection gamesFavor reflection, analysis of questions and possible answers considering available clues and concepts previously learned
Arcade gamesStimulate similar skills as observation gamesAnimated graphics and engaging interaction, which helps to create a convincing and pleasant experienceConvey educational messages which are easily memorized by players.
15ENTER 2009
mGame example
16ENTER 2009
Support for User Generated Contents
Microgames instances can be created from templates and users can use their own contents
Whole games can be created over the environment
Treasure-hunt
Role-playing
Simple visit
Creative Toolkit to allow visual development by pedagogical experts
17TiE Presentation
The TiE creative toolkit
TiE Game Designer ToolkitTiE Game Designer Toolkit
Place APlace BPlace C….
Available Places
Microgames B.1Microgames B.2Microgames B.3….
Available Microgames
Place Preview
File Edit View Insert Tools Help
TiE Game Title: Threasure Hant Game
Genova
Longitude, Latitude
….
Name
Position
….
………………………….
Palazzo Ducale
Longitude, Latitude
….
Name
Position
….
PuzzleType
………………………….
Microgame Preview
Generate GameXML
TiE Game Design
2D Europe Map Browse...
Deploy GameTest Game
Deselected cities
Selected citiesAdd Remove Add Remove
18TiE Presentation
Conversational Virtual Humans
The player can interact in natural language with Conversational Virtual Humans (CVHs)
Information and hints about the surrounding environment and game mechanics
CVHs have roles in the gamePoliceman, expert of art, etc
Feature a personality and express emotions and social interaction aspects
Acquiring knowledge through a smart dialog with CVHs is necessary to advance levels
19ENTER 2009
CVHs
20TiE Presentation
Social Interaction
Social interactionChat-like interfacesGeneric chattingCooperation in games and explorationLocation-aware chatting
– Contact list based on proximity
21ENTER 2009
Conclusions and Future Works
Project started in Nov 2006
User needs analysis performedStudents, teachers, art experts from 8 countries
System DesignGame engine, cultural environment mechanisms, MMORG architecture, trial games
Content Collection (semi-automatic)maps and pictures from the cities to be implemented
Contents for the trial-games
Implementation has started, and we have a demo that include some cities
22ENTER 2009
Thank you!http://www.tieproject.eu/