Project Objectives

Create a virtual environment of Fort Necessity shortly after its hasty construction by Colonel George Washington’s troops in the beginning of June, 1754.

The key goals of this project are to provide an immersive, and authentic, environment designed to educate while entertaining users. This will be accomplished through narratives and key artifacts throughout the game.

Target Audience

Primary Audience: School-age children, grades 4-8, and their educators.

Secondary Audience: History buffs, French and Indian War enthusiasts.

Features

3D depiction of Fort Necessity, which can be accessed and explored on a personal computer. And will include historic text, audio, video, maps, and drawings.
Interactive 3D experience of Fort Necessity including key players such as soldiers, and support personnel. Historical captions on artifacts, remarks from key players, and notes on the construction and use of Fort Necessity will immerse the user.

Technology

Using a real-time 3D game engine, a technology popular in today’s video games, we realistically convey the environment of that time; i.e. the tools used, weapons, clothing, and the manner of construction of fortifications and shelters.

Characters

Audio and physical gestures, of period reinactors, are captured to be used for in-game counterparts. These help explain the region, the political nature of the war and some personal thoughts of life in that time.

Artifacts

Players can follow a side story by finding and reading a soldier’s journal, where they can find clues to game objectives, drawings of maps and diagrams.

Journal

Player can keep his/her own journal in the game. The data is saved over the internet to a central server, and can be printed or emailed for instructor review. Completed objectives are automatically recorded to the journal as a way to keep track of the explorer’s progress. Ideally the journal can be used in future games in the series exploring other French and Indian War locales.

User benefits

Provides an educational tool offering the entertainment value of a video game’s virtual environment while bringing to life the history of the French and Indian War.

Filed under: Frontier Fort, Game Design