Imagine walking into a gallery exhibition where an interactive game on your smartphone adds an exciting layer of engagement with the artworks. That is exactly what a team of University of Melbourne students achieved in a pioneering project for Science Gallery Melbourne.

Out of 46 applicants, nine students – one from each University faculty – were selected for an extraordinary mission. Their task? To develop a role-playing strategy game set in a fictional world where players would face challenges drawn from real-world issues like climate emergency, political instability, economic inequality, and the rapid advancement of technology.

Designed to complement SCI-FI: Mythologies Transformed, an exhibition at Science Gallery Melbourne, the game would extend the show’s exploration of speculative worlds and alternative futures. As the artworks reimagine humanity’s evolving relationship with nature and technology, the game would invite players to navigate a world shaped by these same forces.

This was not your average student co-curricular project. The team dove into a world of coding, storytelling, and sound design, crafting a Choose Your Own Adventure-style game that seamlessly blends with the physical exhibits. The aim was for visitors to not just observe art, but to become part of it, making choices that lead to multiple storylines and endings.

The result? Re-Collect, a mobile game that will captivate gallery visitors until May 31, 2025, encouraging them to interact with SCIFI: Mythologies Transformed in multi-faceted ways.

However, the real magic lies in the journey these students took – crossing disciplines, overcoming challenges, and discovering new passions. As one student eloquently put it:

"The highlight of developing this game was definitely the creative endeavour: collaborating with people who are incredibly proficient in their tasks (coding, artistry, music-making, etc), and giving the project everything I could muster in terms of my own creative abilities in writing and narrative-building."

A Commerce student on the team shared their experience:

"I developed my innovation capability by volunteering to work on a project for the Science Gallery called Gamifying Real-World Problems... This process also helped me build my communication skills, especially cross-disciplines and improved my open-mindedness to diverse perspectives. In the future, I’d like to apply this knowledge to more projects, as I enjoyed the collaborative aspects of the project and the ability to learn new things, and I really feel I’ve made something important."

For a Master of Teaching student, the project opened new perspectives:

"Through this project, I had to consider the function of the game not only as a game on its own, but how it could enhance the viewer's interactions with the exhibits. I was able to develop keen creative problem-solving skills in a collaborative setting as the team brainstormed ideas to achieve this: we ended up linking a lot of the narrative content with the individual works, to guide the player through the exhibit using the narrative. In addition, we decided to create codes that the player can only find in the physical exhibition's environment, to further encourage audience members to interact with the exhibits in order to progress through the game."

A Bachelor of Arts student majoring in Linguistics found unexpected benefits:

"Through the development of the SCI-FI game, I learned invaluable collaboration and communication skills on a creative project, an experience that I'd never encountered prior. My digital literacy improved significantly through collaboration with the coders of the game, which has prompted me to start learning how to code independently. The skills that I have acquired in communication and collaboration will best prepare me for my chosen profession (Speech Pathologist) in the future.”

Re-Collect is not just a game; it is a testament to what happens when universities dare to blur the lines between academia and real-world creativity. It is proof that sometimes, the most exciting learning happens outside the classroom.

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PROJECT TEAM

Riya Baldawa, Bachelor of Design (Architecture, Building and Planning)
Bianca Montagner, Master of Teaching (Education)
Emma Bampton, Juris Doctor (Law)
Natalia Nour, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fine Arts and Music)
Jesus Silvero Duarte, Master of Engineering (Engineering and Information Technology)
Matthew Li, Bachelor of Biomedicine (Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Timothy Phan, Bachelor of Commerce (Business and Economics)
Abigail Nicholson, Bachelor of Linguistics (Arts)
Zhan Yue Kam, Bachelor of Science (Science)

Student lead: Nellie Seale, PhD (Engineering and Information Technology)

Project concept and management: Dr Ethel Villafranca (Academic Engagement Fellow, Science Gallery Melbourne)

This innovative project was made possible through funding from Chartered Accountants ANZ as part of the 2024 Museums and Collections Academic Engagement co-curricular program. Are you a University of Melbourne academic eager to explore engaging and creative teaching and learning opportunities for your students? Unlock new possibilities by contacting Ethel Villafranca. Together, we can create transformative educational experiences that bridge classroom learning with real-world applications. Read more about Academic Engagement at Science Gallery Melbourne.

Gamifying the Science Gallery experience

PROJECT TEAM