Objectif
The RENAISSANCE consortium aims at designing a new technology and methodology to create an innovative genre of video game by means of which players will learn about history. A 3D interface, featuring a completely rebuilt historical environment, will act as a portal to a virtual Internet community. An intelligent agent will constantly check users' actions against historical conventions and define the consequences of their behaviour in the historical social structure. The project foresees the development o a prototype application whose theme will be a typical Renaissance court. The historical environment will be faithfully reproduced and the social and behavioural rules accurately codified. The users will learn about this fascinating time simply playing the role of a courtier, living in the court and directly experiencing its social conventions.
OBJECTIVES
The RENAISSANCE project aims at developing a new software technology on which to base an innovative genre of edutainment application using the appealing interface of a game to teach history. The interface will be a 3D reconstructed ancient environment accurately reproducing the appeal of original historical settings, palaces, costumes and characters. The 3D game will be a portal to an Internet community. An Internet server will manage the community interactions, tracing users characteristics and behaviour,, and allowing information and chats to be exchanged. On the server will reside an intelligent evaluation agent that, processing data according to a scientific knowledge base, will assess and evaluate users' role-playing defining the consequences of their cactions in the social structure of the reconstructed community. The project foresees the development of a prototype reproducing life in a typical Renaissance court.
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The work plan of the project is fundamentally based on three main phases: System definition Where user and the system requirements will be collected and defined. History and pedagogical experts will identify the necessities for realistic and effective historical reconstruction and will define the final system concept. Requirements for the community server, the graphic interface and the evaluation agent will be derived and a system architecture defined. Sources for multimedia assets and for Renaissance lie-style rules will be identified. System development: Where the technologies will be developed and the prototype system integrated. The community server, and its administration tools, will be implemented and configured. The historical behaviour evaluation agent and the 3D client will be developed and the multimedia assets produced. The complete system will be integrated and functionally tested. The Consortium will adopt a rapid prototyping approach allowing an early validation of the system and an extensive evaluation in a second phase. System evaluation: Where the prototype system will be verified for effectiveness as both an educational and an entertainment application. It will be submitted to a wide sample of users and the experimentation will provide the necessary data for history and pedagogical experts to validate the system and to the technicians to refine the software.
1-Renaissance Court Site- GMM, ITC, blaxxun -Showcase for further game developments on the Internet, User Development, Sell Advertising Educational application exploiting community technologies and 3D graphics (to be turned into an exploitable product within 6 months after the end of the project) 2 -Renaissance CyberSocket API - blaxxun -Sell to customers, if 3rd party 3D browser is needed 3 -Renaissance RNSERVER - blaxxun -Game Development with artificial intelligence 4 -Evaluation Engine -ITC - Artificial Intelligence engine for game and for a new generation of virtual communities. 5 -KBShell - ITC -Graphical editor for developing and testing knowledge base to be used by the Evaluation Engine
Champ scientifique
Appel à propositions
Data not availableRégime de financement
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinateur
50139 FIRENZE
Italie