A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Suomenlinna is a cultural treasure of Helsinki. As a result of the City of Helsinki’s innovation challenge, Suomenlinna sea fortress has received its first augmented reality mobile game for the enjoyment of visitors. The new Aikamatka Suomenlinnaan game brings a new dimension to trips to Suomenlinna.
In the Aikamatka Suomenlinnaan game, a time traveller has lost parts of their time machine on Suomenlinna. Players of this interactive mobile game can go find the parts of the time machine and help the time traveller get back to the 18th century. The inspiring game takes players through Susisaari and Kustaanmiekka on Suomenlinna. The game enables players to learn about the history of Suomenlinna, meet Augustin Ehrensvärd, the creator of Suomenlinna, and try other augmented reality contents. At the same time, the game teaches strategic skills related to mustering up defence forces for a bastion fortress.
The game provides an abundance of information about the Swedish era of Suomenlinna, tests players’ wits and brings the history of the fortress to life with AR technology. The game was originally designed for 5–6th graders, but it is suitable for all people visiting Suomenlinna. As such, it can be played free of charge by all visitors.
“Developing the game to take place on Suomenlinna was a fantastic way to work towards the objectives of the World Heritage Site’s management and use plan. The game testing phase with pupil groups was one of the highlights of the process. We received direct feedback from the learners. They were enthusiastic about the game and told us what worked and what they found challenging,” says Tourism Specialist Milla Öystilä from the Governing Body of Suomenlinna.
Helsinki Edtech Testbed platform operations bringing in new innovations for Helsinki residents
The Aikamatka Suomenlinnaan game was created as part of the City of Helsinki’s Edtech Testbed operations, in which the City’s learning environments are opened to serve as genuine test platforms that facilitate the development of new innovations and solutions. The experiments bring professionals of different fields together to design solutions together with users.
Gaming industry company Ludocraft and digital twin publishing platform Playsign were selected to carry out the game experiment. The gaming industry and technology professionals developed the rules and functionalities of the mobile game in cooperation with the Education Division’s pedagogues and teachers, experts of the Governing Body of Suomenlinna and the Ehrensvärd Society, and innovation agents of the Economic Development Division.
Players can start their time travel adventure by downloading the game free of charge from the app store of their choosing. The game can be found under the name Aikamatka Suomenlinnaan. The game is in Finnish.
