What is ChatSpecies? ChatSpecies is an AI-powered chatbot designed to foster deeper connections between humans and biodiversity through a species-first perspective. By leveraging playful and interactive design, it encourages users to learn about local ecosystems while promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Unlike traditional digital approaches to ecological education, which often fail to create lasting emotional ties with…
What is the LUTE Server? The LUTE Engine allows mixed reality games to be created easily within the Unity environment. It is a powerful flow engine and set of components, but is focused on single player experiences. The LUTE Server extends LUTE with multi-player functionality by providing a server application that can be used to…
What are the LUTE Ludonarrative Modules? The LoGaCulture Unity Toolkit/Engine (LUTE), is a modular framework for creating locative games and available fully open source (MIT license) on GitHub (https://github.com/LoGaCulture/LUTE). Consequentially many of LUTE’s modules allow the designer to deliver both narrative content and gameplay interactions to create Ludonarrative experiences. Initial research (both literature and with…
What is the LUTE AR Component? The LUTE AR Component includes a number of Augmented Reality (AR) orders that can be used to make the game interactable in AR – this involves placing, selecting, and moving, virtual 3D objects placed into real world scenes detected by the camera. The component includes orders that let the…
What are the LUTE Media Components? LUTE handles media by following the same process as the majority of Orders (where Orders are individual aspects of behaviour that are contained within a list on a Node, an object that exists during runtime which executes through the list of Orders based on a series of conditions). For…
What is Ludonarrative Engine? The ludonarrative engine implements patterns generally useful for story-driven locative cultural heritage (CH) games. Through our research in D5.1 and D5.2, and ethnographic research, we’ve discovered that games for CH in most cases support the grouping of content into time slices. We can leave the specific navigation mechanics to the game…
Why TransferAR? AR experiences in Cultural Heritage contexts are often location-based, which means they are linked to specific geographical locations, rooms or exhibits. This locative aspect makes it difficult to transfer AR experiences to other exhibitions. Variations in spatial layouts, lighting conditions, and audience demographics necessitate that location-based AR experiences be tailored to match the…
What is the “Creature Chorus”? “Creature Chorus” is an interactive digital narrative experience designed to bring awareness to the intricate relationships between humans and non-humans. It challenges the traditional nature-culture divide, showcasing how humans and the environment are inextricably intertwined in a complex web of relationships. The main purpose of the “Creature Chorus” is rooted…
What is RoPPi? Rock, Paper, Pigeon (RoPPi) is a Natureculture Heritage (NCH) Game, evolving from a board game to a future digital platform, that fosters deep engagement with Madeira’s natureculture heritage. As demonstrated in the research publications listed at the end of this page, play tests have revealed the game’s ability to enhance participation, inclusivity,…
What is the Critter Connect? Critter Connect is a wearable device that fosters the emergence of multispecies relationships anchored in specific ecosystems through geolocation and sensory stimuli. Drawing on posthuman theories and More-than-Human geography, Critter Connect reconfigures the relationship between humans and other beings by facilitating direct, place-specific, and sensory-rich interactions. Figure 1: Critter Connect: a…
What are the NatureCulture Probes? The NatureCulture Probes are bespoke tools composed of a set of postcards – the Postcard Probes – and a sensory map – the Sensory Mapping Toolkit – to inform the design of location-based games and digital interventions for visitors at heritage sites. When designing tools for visitor engagement, especially at…
What is the LUTE Authoring Tool? The LoGaCulture Unity Toolkit/Engine (LUTE), as a technology framework for creating mixed reality games, includes a range of tools and functions. This includes a comprehensive visual authoring tool (aka a creativity support tool) for building LUTE games using the framework available fully open source (MIT license) on GitHub (https://github.com/LoGaCulture/LUTE)….