Web game promoting careers in engineering wins European award
Nexus Interactive Arts digital technology project funded by Innovate UK comes to life as 'FutureVille' exhibit at The Science Museum
FutureVille ... inspiring young people to think about a career in engineering.
A multi-player web game developed by Nexus Interactive Arts with help from Innovate UK has won a gold award for Best Integrated Mobile Experience at The Lovie Awards in London.
The awards celebrate innovative use of the internet as a tool for business and everyday life across Europe.
London-based Nexus created FutureVille for The Science Museum to inspire young people to think about a career in engineering. See it on video here.
It originated as Nexus Stage, a digital technology project funded by Innovate UK through the IC tomorrow programme.
FutureVille is a visually striking installation involving a city projection mapped onto a 3D-printed mechanical moving set. Multiple users can interact with it via smartphone over Wi-Fi.
Controlled by mobile phone
Players unlock up to eight different zones by driving a car around the city, picking up engineers and delivering them to their workplace. Each engineer represents a real-world career option in engineering. After unlocking each zone, users can learn about them and what they do at work.
Nexus managing director James Tomkinson said:
It is great credit to director Jim Le Fevre and the team at Nexus Interactive Arts that the application of their proprietary technology and design for this exhibition has been rewarded in this way.
Nexus Stage won a silver Lovie last year in the Experimental/Innovation category. As an IC tomorrow project developed with help from Ogilvy Labs and JCDecaux, the prototype allowed users to control aspects of the display via their mobile phones.
It also led to a commission from global fashion brand Burberry for its interactive Christmas window display at the Printemps Store in Paris, unveiled by models Kate Moss and Cara Delavingne.