Cryptoporticus
Creator
Overview
‘Cryptoporticus’ is one of the Latin words that can be interpreted as ‘gallery’. But not a public gallery – a private or hidden one – like a cloister. It is, on purpose, difficult to access. But, once admitted, it surrounds the visitor with a sense of belonging. The game thus places the player within an initially empty and hostile architecture. It is composed of endless galleries and passages, all empty and without any guidance. The museum does not welcome the player’s intrusion.
But after some experience with the building the player will notice patterns and symbols. The player will begin to engage with the building; will begin to learn its internal language. Eventually, the player and the building will cooperate and the museum will reveal its collections.
The Visualisation
Paradata
Credits
Read me
Judges’ Comments
“Inspiring” was the word that all three of our judges used to describe this evocative piece, commenting in turn how emotionally engaging, thought provoking and visually stunning the piece is. The judges quite simply couldn’t believe the scope of what had been achieved and marvelled at the way which the flow of the game took you on a journey from the cold, distant façade of museums into a warm, personal and reflexive space. They complimented the way which the museum was designed to not only host collections, but in a way, to itself become a collection, encouraging the player to reflect on the relationships and dynamics at play in the space. In addition the paradata provided was of an exemplary standard, leading our judges to crown this masterpiece as the winner of our individual, online participation category.
Awards
Acknowledgements
My family Anna, Wilfred and Edwin for appearing in the video and also putting up with the smells of Cannibal Cave and Man O’ War. My dad, Roger Eve, for teaching me how to solder and for building the wooden smell boxes. I have used a number of tutorials as inspiration for the project, such as the various code examples at https://github.com/RedBearLab/iOS, www. ollyfactory.com/, www.raywenderlich.com/95014/ geofencing – ios-swift, www.creativebloq.com/ipad/get-started- geofencing – ios-9122867. Finally, thanks to my partners and colleagues at L – P : Archaeology for giving me the time and space to develop crazy projects like this.