Abstract
- We present consecutive joint work that that was developed during a variety of modules in the master's degree Media Informatics and Interactive Entertainment at the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida. This project pursues the goal of implementing the history of the university via storytelling in an interactively playable and enjoyable learning simulation from the very beginning of its foundation in the middle of the 19th century to the present. The knowledge content to be conveyed is based on didactically motivated building blocks which the player consumes in connected game-based learning scenarios. Thus, a strong correlation between the learning content and virtual elements (tasks, 2D & 3D assets) is created. The starting point is a top-down perspective of the historical city of Mittweida. The underlying game environment and the 3D building models virtually represent the entire and alternating campus environment through the ages. Selected buildings can also be entered in a first-person perspective. By focusing on appealing aspects, the immersion and the accompanying fun factor and the willingness to absorb knowledge in an intrinsically motivated way is increased. This is visually supported by a mixture of comic-like and real scenarios which appear as an interactive function to the game design. In addition, graphical feedback elements have been integrated to send visual feedback to the player. This is based on the approach of gamification by the means of unique rewards to motivate players. The whole game was implemented by using the game engine Unity and a couple of tools from the domain of modelling like Autodesk Maya and Blender, animations from Autodesk 3ds Max and Adobe Premiere, as well as image processing and digital painting programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.