The problem area of this project was to investigate the social and educational experience of family groups who visit museums, because there can be a conflict between the social and learning experience of museum visits; learning often being forgotten.

Dino-Xplorer is a game targeted at families who visit Natural History Museums, and is a novel solution that aims to ensure social interaction and education within family groups.

Dino-Xplorer was the result of three forms of research: literature research, user research with family groups, and research conducted with a museum professional, as well as rounds of ideation and envisionment, and low and high fidelity prototyping.

Dino-Xplorer is a quiz-based game that requires family groups to answer questions about the dinosaur exhibits they view while they navigate the museum. 

The novelty of Dino-Xplorer is the answers to these questions involve the skeletons and exhibits themselves, and require the user to scan with their camera, different parts of a skeleton to answer the question.

The following prototype shows a walkthrough of the Dino-Xplorer experience. The prototype was created using Figma.

To encourage collaboration and social interaction, Dino-Xplorer is session-based, which means more than one device and more than one family member can play at one time. The session is shared via a session code, which keeps the game session private and secure.

The game is location-based and uses Bluetooth Low Energy beacons to detect when players are nearby to a compatible exhibit. Once players are near to a compatible exhibit, they are given the option to view the dinosaur and begin answering questions.

The players are presented with a question about the skeleton, which requires them to discuss and identify the correct part of the skeleton to submit as the answer. To submit their answer, the players point their camera over the skeletal part they wish to submit, which is recognised as correct or incorrect by the game mechanics. The players must answer three questions correctly to be successful.

After answering three questions correctly, the players unlock an augmented reality (AR) representation of the dinosaur, which they can choose to view on top of the physical skeleton. The motivation for this is that by the end of their visit, if the players have interacted with each compatible exhibit, the players have a complete collection of AR dinosaurs - a dino deck.

Dino-Xplorer improves on the learning experience because it uses a constructivist approach that requires the user to think using their existing knowledge, this allows them to construct the knowledge themselves, which should encourage a deeper understanding. 

Dino-Xplorer improves on social interaction because it encourages discussion with social cues, such as the players' answers, and the AR representations of the dinosaurs.