A downloadable game

KIT724 Assignment Report

The theme of the application is the museum. The purpose of applying this application is to allow people to experience the museum better and get closer to the collections of the museum.

This museum-themed application uses Virtual Reality (VR) technology to create a European medieval museum. There are a number of paintings and vases for people to enjoy. Moreover, there is also some background music in the museum to make people experience the museum atmosphere better. The main purpose of the application is to give people a better sensory and visual experience so that they could restore the feeling of visiting a real museum and provide more information about the display of the exhibits.

The starting point for the development of this application is for those people who like to visit museums to provide them with an immersive experience and the potential users that are willing to visit the museum. In the current situation of the COVID outbreak, many people do not have the means to travel abroad or even to other states. VR technology could perfectly replicate the real museum scene, allowing users to immerse themselves in the experience without regard to regional and time constraints. For instance, some 2D technologies, such as cell phones, computers or televisions could only present the artwork to the user as a flat service. This greatly reduces the authenticity of exhibits, such as vases, paintings and statues. Moreover, Augmented Reality (AR) technology also requires a combination of reality and virtualization, as a result, users may only be able to enjoy the highly recreated exhibits but not the exterior of the museum. Thus, VR technology is the most appropriate tool to make exhibits interactive and bring scenes to life. This would solve the problem of people not being able to visit the museum or not really feeling the atmosphere of the tour.

The main reason for interaction is to give users a sense of realism up close and personal. Most museums do not allow people to get up close to historical artifacts, and they could only view them from outside the thick glass enclosure. Therefore, it is difficult for people to observe the details of the exhibits and grasp more information from them. The museum tours using VR technology allow users to see the texture of the exhibits up close with 360-degree views and no one else interfering with the tour experience. From another perspective, the VR interaction could also increase the users’ enjoyment that various colours or patterns are reflected in different exhibits, which VR technology could realize their demands. For example, the exhibits could change to different colours when people touch them, which could make a static display into a dynamic one. Finally, the user could also interact with the environment, which adds a sense of matching ambience compared to reality and allows people to enjoy such artistic space more calmly. For example, people could hear the background music that matches the paintings, and they could put themselves into the scene. The following (Image 1) is the storyboard of the application about visualized museum tour.

Image 1

The application needs to be used with Oculus. Oculus provides VR technology with two controllers to operate in the scene. It also could provide a panoramic display, which is why this application uses VR technology. The application uses three types of interaction to improve the user experience. When people approach the vase, the user could grab the vase and have a 360-degree view. People could see the different materials of the vases, such as matte or metallic textures. The users could also clearly see the line design of the exhibits. Secondly, the users could change the colour of the display by touching it with the button on the controllers. This feature adds to the funs of this application and allows users to experience unexpected effects. The last interactive feature is the sound effect trigger. When the user is close to the painting, classical music would be played as background music. This allows users to experience a more comprehensive museum tour.

This application has three objects with interactive functions. The first is a pink vase (Image 2) that users could grab it and have a 360-degree view. The second object is also a vase (Image 2) that with yellow in colour. Users could use their fingers to touch it, and it would turn blue. The third object is an oil painting (Image 4), when users are close to the painting, the classical background music would be played.