This article presents the features, design and architecture of the Myst pervasive game platform that has been applied in creating pervasive mobile learning games in various contexts such as science festivals and museums in Finland. Based on our experiences with the development, we draw a set of design principles for creating successfully a pervasive game platform that can be easily ported to various contexts. These principles advocate openness, flexibility, interaction models, connections to the outside world, and participatory design of the game content. In the evaluation part we present preliminary results of tests conducted in Finland at the SciFest 2008 festival in Joensuu and at the Museum of Technology in Helsinki. The results suggest that games built with the Myst platform are particularly suitable for children and young adults, and these games motivate players to interact with the environment and help to learn by discovering new things. The Myst platform has clearly potential for similar success in other environments due to easy portability and extensibility.
A Hypercontextualized Game (HCG) is a locally designed game that supports its players in
gathering context-specific information and in-depth understanding and knowledge regarding
the context of a site. LIEKSAMYST, an exciting mobile application, with which visitors can
play various games based on stories, was originally developed for the open-air section of
the Pielinen Museum and is an example of such a hypercontextualized game. Each individual
game (which together make up LIEKSAMYST) was developed in, for and with the co-operation
of the Pielinen Museum. In its design, LIEKSAMYST purposefully attempts to connect users
to the local history and thus promote affective engagement. With the co-operation of both
a local school (Lieksan Keskuskoulu) and the museum authorities, we set out to discover
how LIEKSAMYST guides the informal learning experience of Grade 7 pupils. We gathered
information from 101 pupils on-site (through questionnaires) and used this data, as well
as the pupils’ academic grades, to elucidate our study by investigating the relationship
between engagement and motivation. The data were
analyzed using a quantitative method guided by a qualitative interpretational approach and
we found a significant correlation between (a) fantasy and (b) affective and cognitive
engagement. The study highlighted the importance of evoking and harnessing both affective
and cognitive engagement, through the fundamental element of fantasy, in the game
narrative.
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