Anija Manor —
VR museum development
case study
Sharing Onix’s experience in interactive virtual museum development for Oculus Quest/Meta Quest 2
Learn how Onix helped to create a VR museum with gamification elements for one of Estonia’s best stately homes
Entertainment
Industry
3 specialists
Team size
Estonia
Location
3 months
Project duration
[ Business context ]
Anija Manor is an important historical site and one of the most beautiful country houses in Estonia.
Along with exquisite parks, venues for events like weddings and concerts, and other attractions, it features a permanent exhibition dedicated to the golden age of manors.
The management has been investing in technology to make the exhibition more exciting, especially for children. VR glasses already enable visitors to dive into the lost era, for example, following a historical figure on a virtual tour or attending a Baroque ball recreated through realistic 3D simulations.
In 2023, the management decided to enhance their virtual museum development with gamification. Their considerations were as follows:1.An on-premises VR game would appeal to younger visitors who may be uninterested otherwise. A virtual quest combining education about the area’s history with fun and discovery will make their museum experience more exciting and memorable. Happy customers write good reviews and spread the word.2.People who access the VR game online may become curious about Anija Manor’s rich history and decide to visit the estate to experience more first-hand.
Thus, Onix's VR experts were tasked with implementing gamification for increasing museum engagement.
[ Product scope ]
The tasks of Onix’s VR team included:
Creating a VR museum with a game for each of the five digitally rendered areas selected by the client.
Making the immersive museum experience available in several languages spoken in the area and easily accessible so that users of any age can start playing after putting on a VR headset.
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Project details
The client provided the project’s specifications, wireframes, graphic design elements, and other resources, so we were able to start the proper VR game development immediately.
A project team was formed accordingly to include:
﹂
One VR developer
﹂
One quality assurance engineer
﹂
One project manager
Onix’s teams adhere to Agile principles. During this small project with clear requirements, we were using the Kanban framework.
The product went through the phases of
﹂
Coding the functionalities required by the VR game’s different levels
﹂
Testing the game’s performance and usability
﹂
Deployment
VR Museum. Anija Manor's story
[ Our solutions ]
The museum VR game’s structure & features
The game’s several levels are designed to provide a virtual tour of Anija Manor while educating the player through interactive experiences.
The app’s user flow reflects the virtual quest’s linear logic and the order of the museum’s featured rooms:1.Intro2.Rounds 1-5 set in five different rooms3.Epilogue
During each round, the player is positioned in a new area inside the museum where they answer questions or complete tasks related to the estate’s history. After each round, they are awarded scores and, in the end, rewarded with solving the titillating secret of the lady of the manor.
Intro
Anna Hedwig, the lady of Anija Manor, welcomes players. They learn that she has a secret that can be revealed if they complete five tasks before midnight.
Round 1: Dining Room
Players must identify guests seated around the table. Some are genuine historical figures, and others are time travelers or fictional characters.
Players can interact with each guest and ask them to stay or leave, depending on historical accuracy.
Round 2: Porch
To battle rat infestation in the manor, the player can use peppermint, ammonia, mousetraps, and a cat to catch and repel the rats.
Quick decision-making is required to clear the porch effectively and earn more points.
Round 3: Salon
Players try their hand at managing Anija Manor`s economy in the 18th century.
They must quickly choose between businesses like potato cultivation, horse breeding, or vodka production and play a fun game to accumulate points.
Round 4: Great Hall
Players must rank various events and rulers in Estonian history in chronological order to earn points.
Round 5: Vestibule
Players have to arrange paintings, candles, and furniture while being distracted by ghosts and the spooky atmosphere of the manor at night.
Epilogue
The player finally learns whether Anna Hedwig has fallen in love, is terminally ill, committed a crime, or… what can it be?
Some challenges and solutions
Realistic panoramas
The team made 360° photo panoramas to recreate the manor’s interiors and the atmosphere of a haunted mansion on a winter evening.
Some of the technical challenges included:
Correct positioning of the player inside the 360° image of each location
Accurate rendering of all visual and interactive elements with respect to the player and against the 360° images
Game management
As the game contains rounds with a similar structure, we decided to develop it in a way that facilitates changing/adjusting the game levels’ content and interfaces in one place. This also makes removing levels or adding new mini-games easier and faster.
We’ve implemented/added our own ‘Testing Tools,’ as well as Unity’s Profiler and Android Logcat testing functions that are extremely helpful with projects of similar “level/stage” structure. They make it easier to test the game levels without spending much time going through all the levels each time.
Localization
The team successfully performed the application localization into several languages:
Estonian
English
Finnish
Russian
German
Core technology stack we used
Unity,
Oculus SDK,
VR Interactions Framework,
Curved UI
[ Results ]
Onix’s VR game developers pride themselves on building a VR museum experience that helps Anija Manor continue its mission by
Exposing people of all ages to a part of Estonia’s history and culture through multi-sensory immersive experiences
Increasing the exhibition’s appeal using modern technology
Enabling cultural exploration and learning for people who can’t visit Anija Manor in person
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