Serious Games in Cultural Heritage

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Encouraging persons to visit cultural sites through mini-games

Gamification has been recently proposed as a technique to improve user engagement in different activities, including visits to cultural sites and cultural tourism in general. We present the design, development and initial validation of the NEPTIS Poleis system, which consists of a mobile application and a Web interface for curators, allowing the definition, and subsequent fruition by users, of different minigames suitable for open-air assets

Putting the "reality" in virtual reality: new advances through game engine technology

During the past four years, a number of projects have begun to realise the cost-effectiveness of using software and hardware designed for the purposes of the computer game industry in production of academically acceptable and archaeologically accurate 3D virtual realities. However, these tools present advantages for academic reconstruction beyond simply reducing costs. Computer game virtual realities are enhanced by sound, changing daylight conditions, environmental effects, realistic physics and, most importantly, are populated by a number of different inhabitants. This paper argues that archaeological virtual reality must continue to follow in the footsteps of game designers, taking advantage of the unique opportunities presented by game engines and continuing to increase the immersive effect and functional utility of scientific reconstructions. To this end, continued work on the recreation of a single house from the ancient city of Pompeii is presented, demonstrating the unique advantages of computer game engines and tools

From Modernism and under the Fascist flag of Italian Nation to Post-modernist urban sprawl

This paper was presented during the International conference: ‘Theoretical Currents I: Architecture, Design, and the Nation’. Theme: ‘Historical Perspectives’. It was presented on 15th September 2010 and published in the Proceedings of Theoretical Currents I in 2010.In early 20th century, architecture had no place as a national recognised school in Italy. Architects’ professional formation was blended inside the Academies of Arts and just few of them were trained in Engineering Schools of the northern part of the country. There were strict limitations in being creative in design and architecture, because of the tendency to imitate and follow the past, until the strategy of design and architecture changed tune by aligning modernist ideas to a controversial transformation. With the Rationalist Exhibitions of architectural design in the 1930s, architecture acquired the official support and protection of Mussolini himself; the ultra modernist projects of the first students of the newly founded architectural schools of Rome and Florence had an immediate impact to politics in such a way that in the following years modernist architecture became the Nation’s architecture showing up in large scale competitions, such the EUR in Rome and the Railway Station of Florence. The Nation’s architecture had such an influence to policy making that all the planning laws after World War II were based on the first laws in the 1930s and 1940s; the nationalist regime managed to put forward rules and regulations which had to re-format the built environment through the development master plans in the 1950s and beyond.ADT funds, University of Derb

The Herbert Virtual Museum

In recent years, virtual reality and augmented reality have emerged as areas of extreme interest as unique methods for visualising and interacting with digital museum artefacts in a different context, for example, as a virtual museum or exhibition, particularly over the Internet. Modern cultural heritage exhibitions have evolved from static to dynamic exhibitions and challenging explorations. This paper presents two different applications developed for the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery that make the user's experience more immersive, engaging, and interactive. The first application utilizes mobile phone devices in order to enrich the visitors experience in the museum, and the second application is a serious game for cultural heritage and in particular for museum environments focusing on the younger visitors