Canadian Video Game Museum

About

This was created to be our "hero piece" for use at pop-up events to help sell the concept of what we saw as the vision for the museum. The purpose was to create something that would be a unique experience a visitor would not be able to easily replicate at home, that wouldn't require physical interaction, and would have elements of gameification alongside the learning. We chose the topic of "hardware demystification" for this exhibit; allowing visitors to view the object from all angles, and get inside of it to learn more about how it works. The exhibit is housed in a podium we constructed which contains the computer, leap motion sensor, and projector used to run it. The software was built in Unity using Ultraleap's (formerly Leap Motion) package for interfacing with the sensor.

Version 1

For our first iteration we chose the Colecovision for its role as the first game console that games were developed for in Canada, and due to its relative obscurity today. This version used the ultraleap provided buttons for screen switching interactions and a handle system we created to deal with manipulations of on-screen objects.

Version 2

Our second major iteration added the Coleco Telstar Alpha to give a point of contrast as one of the first game consoles manufactured in Canada. In this version we built our own button system, added a zoom function, and adjusted the pop-up window to come and go as required rather than be permanently on-screen. We also built a new console select screen to support the second console.