We are excited to announce our new game project “ReInherit: A journey through Museum Management” (working title). An upcoming educational computer game, aiming to teach people about how museums function, and learn about local antiquities, in a fun and entertaining way. Players will be able to build and run their own museums, featuring real-life artifacts, museum roles, and concepts. It is being worked on by a team at CYENS with the support of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation (BOCCF). And we have a mission: To raise the public's interest in museums
Target Audience
It is targeted primarily towards students, but it can appeal to anyone that enjoys management type games like Roller-Coaster Tycoon and SimCity. There is no inappropriate content so it can be enjoyed by all ages.
Current State
The development of the game is still in the alpha stage, but the "core functionality" is near completion. Currently the player can build rooms, add artifacts, upgrade and/or repair exhibit cases, open the museum to gain funding, and some basic camera functions.
Workflow
The focus is on making a 'systems-based' type game rather than a cinematic/narrative experience.
The game engine of choice for the project is Unity, which has a lot of core features that can be extended with the use of plugins, free or otherwise. To facilitate team collaboration we set up a GitHub code repository.
Furthermore, other software and tools are used for different purposes. Blender is used to edit and create custom models, Mixamo to rig and animate our characters, and Meshlab to process scanned objects. AI models such as Stable-Diffusion and ChatGPT are used to create some of the content for the game.
Closing Remarks
Through these development logs the team aims to give insights on the workflow, as well as lessons learned through trial and error. Hopefully, aspiring game developers will be able to pick up a few neat tricks when making their own management / simulator / edutainment type game.
Join us as we embark on this epic journey as we attempt to breathe new life into museums and stay tuned for more updates and devlogs!
