Gamezeum (formerly MuseumMindMaze) is a trivia game based on art objects received by using Brooklyn Museum's art collection API. Learn more about the art at the museum, and quiz yourself on:
- The collection the object belongs to
- The materials (medium) the object is made of
Listen to relaxing, original classical music as you view different objects from the museum's collections, and explore objects on your phone before seeing them inside the museum on your next visit!
##Screenshots
##TestFlight Available on TestFlight - contact for more details.
##Description Museums are becoming more popular with the current generation or visitors, and are enjoying more diverse communities coming in to visit. For those who are museum regulars, and those who want an easy, stress-free introduction to viewing and understanding art, Gamezeum helps to make the process simple, fun, and even a bit challenging. The benefits of viewing objects outside of the museum are two-fold: visitors can acquaint themselves with the art before coming, so that they can further learn and discover objects without feeling lost or completely uninformed; and some objects available in the online collection are not currently on view inside the museum, so it adds some exclusivity and access beyond what might be available during a visit. The app can also be used inside the museum - especially if a museum-goer needs help answering the quiz questions, the didactic panels will most definitely help because the information is the same as what's available in the app!
##Key Technology Used Gamezeum is a simple quiz app that uses a very robust museum collection API. Below are key features and technology used in its creation:
- Saved Score (UserDefaults)
- AVPlayer (For Music Playback)
- Pull to Refresh (With Randomized Objects Each Time)
##Design Process
My background and work in museums has been a way for me to combine my expertise in art history and education with my passion for cultural institutions and creating unique ways to bring communities together around art. Now with multiple VR and AR offerings helping museums become more accessible to diverse audiences, I researched to see if museums I loved had accessible APIs for their collections that could be used for open-source code. I was inspired by an old PC encyclopedia game that helped me to become more interested in learning about the world to create a trivia game for local museums (3 out of 10 researched) based on their collections and changing exhibitions.
##Hurdles
- A major hurdle was figuring out which questions to ask based on information that I knew would always be available from the API. That really changed my original design early on, and forced me to simplify many design elements and features.
- Another major hurdle was designing the 8-Bit game-like graphics. I had to outsource them to a graphic artist who is skilled in pixelated images. While I moved away from the 8-bit pixelated graphics for the final design, I wanted the final design to look clean, current, and easy to navigate.
##Still To Come
- Add more questions based on the API
- Make sure questions don’t repeat once asked
- This was a difficult decision to make as I believe answering the same question multiple times builds up more knowledge and understanding of a particular art object
- Share images and scores via social media
- Location Access inside the museum
- Cooperation with museum to provide incentives for playing the app (i.e. free admission with high score, etc.)
##Mock App Store Review From Richel Cuyler: "I love how fun and easy this app makes learning about art! I believe that museum-goers, both young and old, will enjoy quizzing themselves on what they know about the art in the museum. I hope to be able to see objects and collections from other museums from around the world on the app in the future!"