A case from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London

Unlike the Italian case analyzed above, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London has also created its own mobile game: Secret Seekers. The game was released on the occasion of the Road Quarter exhibition, which opened in June 2017. Designed by GameStudio, the video game is a permanent addition to the museum.

Here too the goal is immediately clear: to make families feel at home by making them learn about the corners of the V&A in London. The game is not present in the Stores (Apple and Google Play), but the search takes place within the museum site.

The aim of the game is to undertake a treasure hunt17 to discover the secrets that are hidden in the Museum. Leading families in this adventure will be Queen Victoria, William Morris or even Jim the dog who will encourage users to learn little-known facts about the characters (such as the founders of the Museum) and their characteristics through a series of challenges.

Once logged into the game, the user can find a quick explanation by clicking on “about”; various game durations are then indicated that correspond to the duration of the visit and the degree of user satisfaction:

+ 30 mins “visit every character in one location”

+1 hour “visit more than one location”

+ 2 hours “if you really up for it, visit all the characters in every location!”.

Once the game has started, the user must select the location of the museum where it is located; the latter can be selected by the visitor through a simple side to side movement (in fact the game is designed in HTML5) (side to side movement). Each location has a FIND where the user can find the various challenges to be accomplished. In addition, in the section relating to the locations there is a hamburger menu which allows you to reach various options in a more facilitated way, whether they are: home to reach the home page of the game, location of the museum with the various associated challenges and characters, about with the explanation of the game and achievement where the progress obtained during the visit is recorded.

As already mentioned, each location has characters with a challenge to be proposed to the small or large visitor and a yellow button with the wording “BIO”, where information is given on the life of the character in question.

If the user answers correctly the question posed by the characters, they will be rewarded with gems that are added to unlock new achievements.

Secret Seekers is certainly one of the many ways to make the history of the Museum even richer, encouraging the new generations to establish a lasting dialogue with cultural institutions. As in the case of Father and Son, the V&A Museum offers a new and exciting way to explore the history of the Museum firsthand and definitely feel an integral part of the great institution, thereby increasing awareness of the immensity of the cultural heritage preserved within .