European Digital Treasures is a trans-national project funded by the European Union to educate European citizens about the importance of historical archives, their restoration and long-term preservation.
From 2018 to 2022, eight partners participated on this project, consisting of:
- Munster Technological University, (Ireland)
- Ministerio De Educacion, Cultura Y Deporte (Spain)
- Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas (Portugal)
- Factoria Cultural Asociación de Apoyo al Emprendimiento y a las ICCs (Spain)
- International Centre For Archival Research - ICARUS, (Austria)
- Kulturdepartementet - Ministry of Culture (Norway)
- National Archives Of Hungary (Hungary)
- National Archives Of Malta (Malta).
To educate European citizens about the project's subject matter, six partners held three exhibitions each in their respective countries. Each lasted three to four months and covered the following themes:
The construction of Europe – History, Memory and Myths over 1000 years.
Exiles migratory flows and solidarity.
European Discoveries – From the New World to New Technologies.
Despite delays onset by the Covid-19 pandemic, production of the exhibitions began in September 2020 until exhibitions commenced in June 2021 and while working at Munster Technological University from 2019 to late-2021, I was responsible for the proposal and development of all digital experiences featured at all exhibitions.
Each exhibition featured:
1 x touchscreen Narrative Based RPG Game
1 x touchscreen matching pairs game
1 x touchscreen infinite runner game
1 x touchscreen quiz game
3 x augmented reality enriched documents
1 x edutainment app
Touchscreen Cabinet games
Travel bans induced by Covid-19 gave us impetus to develop a game cabinet of universal design and technical specifications. To ensure each game experience was stable in each partner country, I tested all games on multiple computers, touchscreens and peripherals and eventually came up with a list of electronics for each EU partner to buy.
Once the technical specifications were established, a Spanish-based furniture designer came up with a design to house the electronics, while emphasising ease-of-access, portability and security.
The final technical specs of each game cabinet featured:
1 x mini-PC with an Intel i5 processor and 8gb or ram.
1 x 24-inch touchscreen monitor with 10-point touch
1 x portable speaker with aux cable (concealed in cabinet)
1 x mouse/keyboard combo (concealed in cabinet)
Once all partners had procured the electronics and built the cabinets, build instructions were provided to each member and I provided additional technical support remotely if needed during the installation phase of each exhibition.
Narrative-Based RPG Game
Aimed at teaching 8 to 14-year olds about archival discovery and restoration, players assume the role of the protagonist, Tom, who discovers a historically significant document and earns the opportunity to learn about its restoration.
With the help of our EU partners collaborating as subject matter experts, I wrote, designed and developed the game by using Photoshop to create game sprites, and used the RPG Maker MV game engine to assemble and program the final game. It’s also important to note that the game was translated and localised into eight languages, meaning the game storyline slightly differs between each country and language you play it in.
In addition to the exhibitions, the game was freely distributed to schools in EU countries as a supplement lesson to history curricula. Gameplay takes around one hour from start to finish and you can play it for free on Itch.io at the link in the title.
Matching Pairs & Quiz games
Itch.io demos coming soon.
Each exhibition had its own respective matching pairs and quiz games, meaning that three versions of each game had to be developed for the three different exhibitions across the six partner countries.
To cut down development time, two Unity game templates were purchased for each game type, allowing me to focus more on localisation. In the end, each EU partner received three matching pair games and three quiz games containing all respective languages plus English to reflect the three key exhibition themes.
Infinite Runner Game
Coming soon to itch.io.
The infinite runner game was co-developed with the help of Matthew Loughnane from Hexa Studios, where I combined a mix of self-made and purchased assets and built the levels, and Matt did all the programming.
Similar to the quiz and the pairs game, each exhibition theme had a unique level design:
- Exhibition 1: a market/bazaar to reflect the construction of Europe
- Exhibition 2: features a ship deck to represent migration
- Exhibition 3: features a lab facility to represent technological innovation
Once the game was finished, it was turned into three versions in seven languages to meet the exhibition’s localisation requirements.
AR-Enriched Documents
11 documents were enriched with ancillary digital media viewable through an Augmented Reality app called Artivie. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors had the option to download the app on their own phone by scanning a QR code. Alternatively, visitors could also use the tethered iPad provided at each AR document display location.
To create the AR animations, a digital twin of each document was imported into Adobe After Effects where ancillary animations took place at the sides and on top of each document. Once completed, interactions were exported and uploaded to Arrive for the final interaction assembly.
Artivive does not support multi-language interactions so to overcome the challenge of localisation, special AR triggers were developed for each language in Adobe Illustrator. They are then printed onto plaques and precisely placed next to each document in order to launch the animations in each local language.
Edutainment App
In early 2021 the purpose of the app changed from an ancillary experience to the physical exhibitions to a back-up digital alternative for those who cannot attend an exhibition due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The app was developed in the Evolve Learning Management System (LMS) to speed up development time and circumvent having to meet App Store and Google Play Store. Within the app, users have a gamified experience where they can earn points for exploring through documents and earn digital badges and trophies for completing quizzes.
The app is mobile, tablet and desktop-friendly and does not require any installation. Users only need to access the app via the link on the Digital Treasures Website and user progress is cached on their respective device.
Project Outcomes
By the end of the project, all exhibitions were successful and all partners were successful in the production of all work packages to earn 100% funding to the value of €1.5m and as of September 2024, partners have been successful in applying for the approval of European Digital Treasures II where new work packages and outputs will be developed in the coming years.