Games of Bones

In order to enliven “life through time” exhibits that are standard in most natural history museums, an interdepartmental team from the Field Museum of Natural History is creating a web-based game called Game of Bones (GoB). GoB is implemented in Unity 3D for maximum flexibility and is intended for use both within museum exhibits and remotely. When completed, GoB will educate museum visitors and online learners about basic anatomy and evolution through ten game levels that map to seminal moments in Earth’s history that are represented in almost all “life through time” exhibits. Gameplay will replicate the activities of paleontologists with players digging up fossils, re-assembling ancient animals and plants, using museum collections to test basic hypotheses about the organisms’ ecologies, and making virtual museum exhibits. Here, we discuss design decisions and focus group feedback from the initial prototype of the game.