ALEXIA MANDEVILLE

   Role: Lead Designer
   Engine: Unity
   Team Size: 5+

Deep Sea Discovery is a location-based augmented reality game that encouraged museum exploration and educated about deep sea creatures.

As the player moves closer to the beacon with their mobile device, the meter tells them how close they are to the creature. If the player is too close in the physical space, the creature may run away depending on the level of the creature and player. Since the Orlando Science Center consists of four physical levels, the four virtual levels are based on four aquatic levels as shown below: Contributions Leading the design of the experience – Both virtual and physical space design were parts of this project. My main contribution was on the overall user flow through the experience. I worked with the team on aesthetic and visuals, user interface design, system design and content of the creatures and their levels and stats, written content, and design of the physical location of spawn points. Managing the project and development team – I worked with the development team to track progress and project planning, as well as organization of the assets and source control. I planned and implemented the database and data collection using PHP. Working with the client and stakeholders – Communicated schedules and progress with the Orlando Science Museum, planned and coordinated the iBeacon installation in the physical space, and implemented client feedback in the experience. Some challenges we faced – Since the application is based on a physical building that has many central staircases, we had to be very mindful of where the physical spawn points (iBeacons) were installed. Many people visited the event, so placing the iBeacons in a spread out fashion away from hazards was important.

The game was included in the Otronicon 2016 event app, and the physical installation was located at the Orlando Science Center. Using BLE iBeacons to track the location and send push notifications to a mobile device, players explore the physical space of the Orlando Science Center in order to collect creatures, learn about different sea zones, and earn badges. The data collected was useful to analyze the travel patterns of visitors at the museum. Each level has 8-10 beacons installed on a level, the main event triggers for interaction with each creature. Entry to the building is located on level 2, so the tutorial point is installed at that point, and lower level creatures are located on the top level, or building level 4. Below shows a diagram of the science center’s building level 1 where we installed beacons.