The Lost Pathway is an interactive augmented reality (AR) game developed for the Franziskaner Museum in Villingen-Schwenningen. Using GPS tracking, the game allows users to explore the history of the Magdalenenberg, a Celtic burial ground in the south of Germany. The story, spanning the 2600 year history of Magdalenenberg, is progressively revealed through the perspectives of four fictional characters whose secrets are hidden within the hill. Players can experience the journey by downloading the app on their own mobile devices from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
The fragments of Magdalenenberg’s history that have survived through archaeological finds span 2,600 years: from the Celtic era and Roman times to the Middle Ages, the 19th century, and the most recent excavations in the 1970s. Our challenge was clear: what kind of game (what story, characters, and gameplay) could best guide players through this incredibly rich history?
In developing the game concept, we had to consider not only the wealth of historical material but also clear educational objectives. What did we want players to learn? And, perhaps most importantly, what unique opportunities did the actual archaeological site offer that couldn’t be found within the clean walls of the museum?
A GPS-driven game is an opportunity to engage with history in its original context. The game guides players to key locations on the site, unlocking historical narratives at each point. This blending of technology with the physical space brings the past to life in an exciting, hands-on way.
You are the latest in a long line of Seekers, an ancient guild sworn to locate and seal mysterious rifts in the fabric of time, which threaten to spill the contents of past timelines into the present. Your current mission takes you to Magdalenenberg, a Celtic burial ground in southern Germany, where unusual temporal activity has been detected.
In your hand is a device that links you to the insights of previous Seekers who investigated this very site: Georg, a Franziskaner monk from 1641; Carl, a gold prospector who led the first excavation of the central tomb; and Gretel, an engineer involved in the second excavation in 1970.
As you explore the burial ground and the surrounding forest, you’ll uncover a history stretching back over 2,500 years and unravel a missing person case that requires you to connect clues across this rich timespan.
