Archäologische Methodik für Gamer – Das Onlinespiel "Jo's Memory"

As you can see, it's all the LWL Museum for Archaeology and Culture, the Westphalian State Museum with the location of Herne. That's the current name. The background is that cultural-historical exhibitions have been shown in Herne for a long time. Of course, in the depths of time, what archaeology also offers in its specialization. However, we always have problems with colleagues from other museums who ask why archaeology and why we wanted to exhibit illustrative art objects or cultural-historical objects. In this respect, we have decided to expand the title of the museum, Archaeology and Culture, also because we assume that archaeology is also a cultural history. And that this is only logical. But now to another topic. Who of you plays a game on your smartphone? Okay. Who of you is familiar with archaeological methodology? That should be all of you now. Good. So you're not the target group of digital applications that I'm about to present. Nevertheless, I hope that one or two of you, ladies and gentlemen, will pick up the phone after the lecture and go to the App Store or Google Play Store. Three years ago, we started a project called Black Box Archaeology. The project is about bringing archaeological methodology closer to those who are actually not interested in archaeology. So not you, but another target group. And because we also find in the museum that, of course, many people know archaeology as excavation and know the objects that are in the museum, but don't know what happens in between. That's the so-called black box. And we set ourselves this task in a joint project with three houses. LWL Museum for Archaeology and Culture in Herne, LWL Römer Museum in Haltern and Deutsches Bergbaumuseum in Bochum. And we have a digital partner, Neuspaces from Berlin. Together with users, that's how you do it, when you create an online game, we went into finding ideas and first thought about what we wanted to produce and develop. But before this step took place, we had to find users who wanted to develop a game with us. We did that in a call, which was also very successful. More than 80 people contacted us who wanted to participate in the project voluntarily. And with 15 of these people, we went into the so-called co-creative idea-finding. So, a co-creative idea-finding. It all happened during the pandemic. That's why we have the well-known tiles here. Then we dealt with our target groups. As I said, these are people who don't know much about archaeology, and these are people who are game-addicted. And we wanted to connect the two. There are methods for that. Among other things, there is the Personas method. I don't want to go into that further, but this picture here shows it very well. We always have extreme users in all directions. Those who always come, for example at every exhibition. You, among other things. And we have extreme users who don't come at all. And in between we have the mainstream. And we have developed the game for this target group, which usually doesn't even come to our museum. Namely, with a so-called why statement. So, what did we actually want to convey there? So, not one-to-one archaeology, but the competence that archaeology brings. And it helps young people to orient themselves in the world. So, orientation knowledge. And for that you need care, structured approach and a critical awareness for history. If you develop a game, then with design thinking methods, that is, you sit together in groups, develop ideas, with different approaches. Then it looks wild and colorful at first. And from these pretty chaotic-looking, partly pretty chaotic-looking templates, the ideas are developed, which are then prepared and voted on. So, that means it's a very democratic process. It is tested for feasibility and the game mechanics are tested. How do we create an application that really has a game character? First prototypes are created from this. And what I have here as a graphic is basically the process. So, prototypes are created and the prototypes are tested by those who know themselves, who like to play. And then they give us the feedback. Ah, yes, that works like this or that doesn't work. And in those places you have to sharpen again. And in other places, content may even have to be rejected. Yes, and that was a very short summary of the process of developing a game, which was also new to us, because we are primarily concerned with exhibitions and none of us has ever developed a computer game or a smartphone game. So, in this respect, it was a big learning curve for us. Yes, and the smartphone game Joe's Memory was created. This is a so-called serious game, a serious game, a hidden object puzzle adventure, a so-called HOPA. This is actually also a terminus technicus. A science fiction adventure. Available for Android and iOS. Playtime about 45 minutes to an hour. Developed for 16 to 23-year-olds. And also suitable for use in schools. And, of course, it should convey knowledge. Digital game-based learning is, as we have learned, a fixed term for the use of digital applications in schools. Because educational sciences now assume that not only children, but also adults actually learn better while playing than, so to speak, in a different way. Yes, maybe again very briefly. The background of the game is, or rather, the content of the game is, we are in an uncertain future. And in this future, archaeology does not play a role at all, history does not play a role at all, it has spread like a fog of oblivion in a utopian, dystopian city. And Joe is the character figure of the game, he somehow gets into this story and gains skills. And with these skills, Joe finds objects, analyzes the objects and gives them back to a knowledge archive. And this is how the fog of oblivion lights up. So that's roughly the story. This is what the whole thing looks like in design. This purple area here, this is the knowledge archive, this is the city in which the character moves. And the fog, which can be seen here in the picture on the left, disappears again and again when an object is found. Joe discovers boxes in the city, and these boxes can be weighed, they can be measured, and later also illuminated with a X-ray device. The age can be determined and the materials can be determined. We see that here, for example, in the picture on the right. And the more the fog lights up, the bigger the world becomes for Joe, and the more Joe recognizes himself in his own story. And the more Joe understands how important history and the past are to recognize not only himself, but also the world. And of course, the whole thing is kept very abstract, because it is such an implicit knowledge that is conveyed, which is not abstract at all. These are the objects that are integrated into the game. These are the 3D recordings from the archive of the objects that are in the museums, and these are then described accordingly. So categorized. Here, for example, category, war, weapons, prestige, or reuse and reuse. And finally, the corresponding description with normal texts, as we know them from the exhibition. You can turn the objects back and forth and view them from above and below, and so on. Yes, and the end of the game is, so to speak, Joe then also gets the ability to fly with a dragon, and in the end the prospect is also explained. It fits very nicely with the methods and finally finds a scanner and then has to decide, do I go back, do I play the game again, or am I going on a journey? Exactly, and with this somewhat romantic ending, as it is in every game, or usually in games, the game ends with a prospect. Joe then basically sails away and, so to speak, as a surprise, at some point in Herne, not really, but comes back in Herne in the application that we are currently developing directly for the LWL-MAC and that we want to launch in May. And very briefly, for the last few seconds, the hard facts. So we have about 14,000 downloads so far. That's really good for a game that has been developed by us, so to speak. We are very satisfied with it, given what real gaming industry, what money and manpower is involved in it. Then there are two Let's Plays that we did not commission, but that young people themselves created. Walkthroughs and we have now submitted awards and of course hope that we will win accordingly. Yes, and thank you very much for your attention.