In the World Nature Forum Museum in Naters, Valais, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Aletsch Glacier is brought closer to the public in an entertaining and interactive way. The mixed-reality Studio Gbanga has contributed various interactive games to the exhibition: from the interactive debating table to the quiz wall, which steers the audience with their bodies.
Concept
Gbanga as a specialist for gaming experiences uses the exhibition space to thematize the pressing questions through games – so called Serious Games are the ideal medium to discuss different consequences of decisions.
Project flow
The interactive installations were realized in cooperation with the multimedia agency Screenpro. Screenpro is responsible for the rough concept, the hardware and the installation. Gbanga was responsible for the detailed concept, design, implementation and quality assurance. The project period is January to September 2016.
The debating table
An exhibition game uses a touch screen as a multiplayer debating table, where decisions and preferences for the development of the region come into conflict within the game. Contradictions, which are then discussed in a playful discussion. Is it more important to develop the region economically and touristically or to protect the cultural heritage?
The debating table is a horizontally installed, oversized multi-touch screen that can be operated by up to 6 players. The up to 6 players first answer individual questions and decide how the 3D miniature world before them will change in a procedural way. Depending on the decision, nature is pushed back, more roads can be seen, or reservoirs are created. Then there is a vote among the 6 participants to select the most appealing miniature world. The game shows that decisions have different effects and that there is no good or bad per se.
The quiz wall
In another game, based on face and position recognition, players respond in 1, 2 or 3 manner by jumping to answer points in the exhibition space. Also here to show the different notions of climate change. Questions and answers about water are presented over a wall full of individual PET bottles that serve as pixels.
The quiz game has various screens: the large wall with individually controllable PET bottles is one screen, two other flat screens in HD show the quiz questions as well as further prompts for the players and a small touch screen is available for direct control.
The museum
After a festive opening ceremony, the World Nature Forum was opened by Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard on Saturday, 24 September 2016.
Quick facts
- Genre: Serious Games for the museum
- Interactive quiz
- Multitouch interface with several languages simultaneously (each of the 6 participants can select the language individually)
- Recognition of personal faces by camera
- Procedural visualization of 3D worlds (top-down view)
- Controllable display of extremely high-resolution panoramic images
Technologies used
- Unity 3D
- OpenCV (facial recognition)
- Adobe AIR
- Modo Creative 3D Modeling Software
Photos
(Pictures from the Website of the museum)
Debating table at the World Nature Forum, Naters
Quiz wall with PET bottles at the World Nature Forum, Naters
Designs
Map view for the World Nature Forum, Naters
Visualisation of the debating table at the World Nature Forum, Naters
Visualisation of the debating table at the World Nature Forum, Naters
Visualisation of the debating table at the World Nature Forum, Naters
