History lessons in 3D

Kerrie Hughes | Commercial | Showcase | 27/09/2011 11:15am

Digital agency Corporation Pop launches the 3D educational project Lives at War

Lives at War presents secondary school children with a 3D virtual world set in Brighton in the 1940s, with the aim to educate them on what life was like on the home front during World War II.

The idea was developed by Manchester-based digital agency Corporation Pop in partnership with South East England arts agency Lighthouse, the Screen Archive South East and the Mass Observation archive at the University of Sussex.

Corporation Pop was responsible for all aspects of the project’s production, including determining which platform would deliver it, carrying out period research and the design and build of all 3D content (including buildings, avatars and objects). The team built the 3D virtual world in Maya and used Unity as the game development environment. Corporation Pop managing director Dom Raban comments: “Unity was the most useful piece of software, because it enabled us to deliver a browser-based 3D world with games quality graphics.”

Both single-player and multi-player versions of the game have been created, and it can be played either in a browser or as a standalone desktop application.

“We’ve been planning this project with Lighthouse for almost two years now, so it’s wonderful to reach the point where we can finally show it off,” says Raban. “When we first started scoping the game, browser-based 3D worlds were in their infancy, but as the project has developed, so has the technology. But this process has been about so much more than the technology, and one of the most rewarding aspects has been the involvement of the schoolchildren at each stage of the game’s development, from researching real-life experiences that drive the storyline to the creation of avatars.”

Lives at War is being launched as part of Brighton Digital Festival at the end of September. For more information about the game or to try it out, visit the Lives at War website.

Posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 11:15 am under Commercial, Showcase. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.