19 Sep 2011
HKDI students shine in “Best Scene in Town @ PICNIC 11”
|
Technology goes beyond time and space, and creativity is not confined by geographical boundaries. Students of the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), with their enterprising spirit, beat other reputed international education institutes and won the first runner-up of the mobile game design competition, Best Scene in Town @ PICNIC 11, organised by the technology festival of the Netherlands, PICNIC Festival 2011. At the invitation of the organiser of PICNIC Festival, the HKDI took part in the competition with a view to developing applications on mobile phones to enhance interaction with the city. Four HKDI students of the Higher Diploma in Creative Media Design course, namely Jimmy CHIU, Eva CHAN, Sam LAU and Benny TSOI, developed an exciting, interactive and informative guided tour game, by the name of “THE SPIRIT OF A SOLDIER”, using the mobile apps platform provided by the organiser. When the application was activated, the mobile phone user would turn into a soldier marching towards different scenic attractions around the venue where the PICNIC Festival was held with the aid of the guided tour function. When the solider reached a destination, he would be instructed to perform a task such as looking for the location of a building, or uploading the pictures of the logomark of shops before he was to be given another instruction to continue with the game. The students wished to raise the users’ awareness of the Festival and the surroundings of the city. They also added Asian elements into the games by requiring gamers to write down their feelings about the meaning of Chinese characters found in the course of the game. Despite that the students were unable to do a site visit in person, they overcame the confines of physical boundaries and made use of the technological resources like satellite maps, information on the Web and teleconferencing to grasp the geographical details of the Netherlands. Eventually they came up with a game with high verisimilitude, beating a number of teams including that from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and made their mark. PICNIC Festival is the annual signature event of the creative industries of the Netherlands that assembles top-notch designers, technological personnel, creative media, enterprises and academics to facilitate exchanges through conferences, workshops, interactive games and exhibitions. The PICNIC Festival 2011 this year was held on 14-16 September in Amsterdam, on the theme of “Urban Futures”. The Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) is a member of VTC Group. HKDI was established in 2007 with the mission to be a leading provider of design education and lifelong learning. It brings together the strengths of design departments of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) to encourage synergy and interdisciplinary thinking in its broad range of design programmes. HKDI maintains a strong network with industry and provides its students with essential practical experience enriched with cultural sensitivities and sustainability. The brand new campus in Tiu Keng Leng opened in 2010 provides a creative, inspiring and vibrant learning environment for students. Media enquiries: 2836 1046 |
|
Back