Archive

2006/11/7

Vilau presents an augmented reality game that recreates the liberation of San Sebastian in 1813

Vilau, specialists in the integral management of communication channels for new digital media, presents ¡Fuego!(Fire!), a game developed with augmented reality technology which tells the story of the liberation of San Sebastian following the invasion of French troops in 1813. Players interact with four characters who recount the events of the battle in various locations around the city of the day.

¡Fuego! is an application for the general public where the players interact with virtual characters within the concept of a learning game. The players, dressed in period costume, make their way around a giant board fastened to the ground, finding cards in each square that refer to different parts of the story. Each card introduces one of the virtual characters, who tells the corresponding historical fragment, showing various locations in the city, which appears on a large screen.

In the integral management of the project to create this game, Vilau has collaborated with the VICOMTech Research Centre for the technological development and with KOMA, the cultural services company, to create the content. The main innovation presented by ¡Fuego! is the application of augmented reality, which mixes the physical reality of the players with the virtual world of the characters who introduce the narration. This technology allows the participants to interact with the content, making a learning activity, such as the explanation of a historical event, much more dynamic and attractive.

¡Fuego! is the first application developed with the technological platform Bidaiatzera, specifically designed to create games for learning about tourism, cultural and socio-economic subjects, to be used in museum and cultural settings and recreational events.

¡Fuego! was originally presented in October in the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, where almost 200 visitors took part in more than 50 games that were played over the 14 days. Encouraged by how well it was received, Javier Calera, the general manager of Vilau, stated that "the success shown here underlines our commitment to the application of technology as a highly effective tool for the dissemination of our cultural and historical heritage in recreational and learning environments".