Gamification in Museums: A Demonstration of Epic Journeys

Wednesday, April 5th: 8:30am - 9:30am

Presenters:

Kevin Kane

Software Developer @ North Carolina Museum of Art

Felicia Ingram

Manager of Interpretation @ North Carolina Museum of Art

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Demonstration Abstract

This demonstration is for a split-screen touch table quiz game, called “Epic Journeys: Travel and Trade in the 1600s”. This game, allowing multiple players, covers the topic of travel and trade in 17th century Europe and how that influenced art during the time. The educational goal of the gallery is to highlight how global travel and trade impacted artist styles and practices across Europe. This game is intended to highlight the goals of the room in a “edutaining” style.

The game has two sections. The first game is focused on how artists traveled throughout Europe in the 1600’s. We show animations of historically accurate travel routes that were likely taken by three artists featured in our gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Fun and entertaining optional choices include selections like traveling by Uber or sled dog. The second game covers trade of goods throughout the global economy and how certain pigments and objects from faraway places ended up in European paintings in our collection. The game highlights six paintings that can be seen on the walls around the visitors. The text is written for a 5th grade reading level, but adult audiences will still be surprised to learn how impactful trade routes were to cultural production in the 17th century.

The game was designed and built by NCMA staff using Unity. In the gallery the touch table is very large with a 60” display, and we have the option of bringing a 43” or 24” display for demo. Presenters can talk about their decisions during the script writing, design process, and implementation which involved multiple departments across the museum.

Art galleries traditionally have old paintings hosted on white walls that can be boring for some visitors, especially those unfamiliar with art history. This fun, educational, and untraditional gallery experience helps to bring the collection to life and engage multi-generational audiences.

 

** We tried to submit this a week or so ago, but it seemed

keywords: gamification art museum interactive digital demonstration
ID: 11093