The Entertainment Technology Center and the Carnegie Museum of National History here in Pittsburgh have joined forces to advance the portable planetarium technology.

This way of teaching science has been around for decades and it is this project task to develop new interactive experiences for multiple guests enjoy.

The main target for this project is 4th to 8th graders. Earlier projects were more focused on what was feasible. Our main goal is to find out what type of interactive experience is fun in a surround enviroment.

The team will be developing a series of interactive experiences ranging from the average game like "Diamond Mine" to a sofisticated flight simulator. All of these experiences will be themed with the leitmotif of "Atlantis". The main reason is to keep the project as unit and to reuse art assets that would make a manageable work pipeline.

Projects [IMAGES]

Puzzle Game "Sepulcher"
Like the popular web game diamond mine, a room houses a large surrounding collection of jewels. More jewels fall from above and must be directed so that they fall on like color jewels. Collections of three or more like colored jewels. Guests will control experience using colored LED lights. The idea of this experience is to test if a popular game when "adapted" to this enviroment still works.
Listen to the music custom made for this experience

Shooting Game "Howitzer"
On three sides of the dome there are structures that house a cannon. Projectiles are fired from each cannon, by the guests, and fly across the dome.If one of the guests undershoots the projectile will land on the "dome". The objective of this is to profit from the parabolic trajectory of the projectiles and make it a cool experience.

Shooting Game "Turrets"
Guests man the turrets and fire at invading sea creatures in the city. As the group clears out one area the whole turret pod moves on a path to the next area.

Experience Game "Rock and Shock "
Guests sit on a bench that has an accelerometer built in it. They bounce up and down for a timed duration while a graphic on the dome measures the process. This will trigger an animation of the earthquake that they created is displayed on the dome. The city will be destroyed in the example.

Experience Game "Underwater simulator"
Fly through the city a "manta" ship, without crashing into the buildings, making it to pre-determined destinations with in a time limit. Hitting the obstacles (fishes, jellyfish, buildings) will make you loose time.

Experience Game "Tunnelscape"
Travel through a fast paced tunnel that has a series of forked paths. Guests must choose which paths to take. If they steer incorrectly they may blow the cart up by hitting obstacles. The steering is done by leaning left or right.

Non-Interactive "The Temple "
Can this space convey emotions? Which one is the most effective one? This non-interactive will use the full capability of sound and peripheral vision to involve the audience.