Abstract

While conveying information is a crucial aspect of museums, it remains a challenging task. However the rise of games and interactive software can greatly contribute to more engaging exhibitions. These applications, commonly referred to as serious games, offer a multitude of means to engage players in both entertaining and educational experiences. This thesis describes common learning and teaching techniques and their implementation in games. In relation to that, it elaborates on our approach of designing such an interactive gameplay experience for an open-air museum, called "Escape the Centuries". This app is deeply connected to the museum's exhibition through the use of QR-Codes, tying the stories' progression to the physical exhibition. Additionally, its use of edited photos from the museum's exhibition as backgrounds throughout the gameplay, further deepens this connection. Moreover, the game includes the concept of linking the exhibited historical knowledge with entertaining mini-games to maximize the user's learning experience and ensure the serious aspects of the game do not impact the player's engagement. Besides the game's gameplay elements, it features a trophy and scoring system, that allows players to evaluate their performance and compare it to others. Thus fostering a competitive aspect within the learning experience. Furthermore, this approach was evaluated in its workload for users and its general approach at the museum "Glentleiten". The results, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of our approach will be discussed and potential solutions to overcome some of the app's challenges, like the accessibility of the game's UI, will be elaborated. Finally future plans and ideas, on improving and extending this idea are presented.

Demo Video

Glentleiten Beispielvideo.mp4

Thesis and Presentation Slides