Cultural Heritage Game Design Based on the Collective Memory Reconstruction Model

: Current methods for constructing collective memory of urban cultural heritage mainly rely on landscaping and museum exhibitions, however, these methods lack engagement and fun, making it difficult for people to form deep memories and a sense of place for the city. This paper proposes an urban cultural heritage game based on the collective memory reconstruction model. Combining location-based service and augmented reality technologies, the game provides a first-person gaming experience with narratives and levels correlated with historical and cultural attractions in the Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen. Subsequently, a controlled experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the game design. A total of 25 users participated in the experiment. Results show that the proposed design can enhance players’ touring experience, cultural perception, and place attachment. This paper explores the theory and application of collective memory reconstruction and provides an empirical reference for cultural heritage game design.


Introduction
The ongoing process of urbanization has resulted in the extensive renovation of traditional neighborhoods, leading to a homogenization of urban landscapes and business patterns. Consequently, the revitalization of cultural heritage and collective memory has become increasingly critical in urban development.
The concept of collective memory was first proposed by French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs in 1920. It was defined as a social construct that results from the sharing of past events among members of a particular social group [1]. In recent interdisciplinary research, collective memory is often synonymous with terms like "cultural memory" or "urban memory". To ensure clarity in this paper, collective memory refers to the memory of urban spaces and cultural events shared by members of a particular social group with a common cultural background.
Collective memory can be divided into three aspects: memory subject, memory carrier, and memory mechanism [2]. The subject is people in the city, carriers can be tangible or intangible elements, and the mechanism is the process of interaction between people and place. Traditional approaches to collective memory construction like landscaping or exhibitions require significant resources [3,4], and browsing museum exhibits alone is insufficient for visitors to develop a deep memory of cultural heritage or build a sense of identity and belonging to the city.
In recent years, cultural heritage games have been proposed as a solution to improve engagement and cultural perception during visits [5]. Gaming emotions are also proven to improve the relationship between people and places [6]. Previous studies have applied locationbased service (LBS) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to games [7], but a theoretical framework and improved game design are still needed to fully explore their potential benefits on collective memory. This paper proposes an urban cultural heritage game based on the collective memory reconstruction model. The game aims to enhance players' touring experience, cultural perception, and sense of place for the city by connecting cultural sites with their background stories. The game was designed and developed using Unity 3D, which provides players with LBS function by Mapbox and AR interaction through the combination of AR Foundation and Azure Spatial Anchor. To validate the game's efficiency, a user test was conducted and the collected data was analyzed. The paper includes sections on the theoretical background, game design process, user test and results, and conclusions with suggestions for future work.

Collective memory reconstruction
This paper proposes a collective memory reconstruction model, based on the research by Qian et al. [2] and Lak et al. [8], with three key elements: person, place, and personplace interaction: • Place is the direct carrier of collective memory, providing spatial threads through visual symbols, and conveying cultural information via explanatory media like texts, images, and videos.
• Person-place interaction involves experiencing intangible cultural connotations through tangible carriers/media after entering a space. • People project their values into space, and then construct collective memory by perceiving space and narrative threads, which benefits the formation of the sense of place. As shown in the figure, the reconstruction of collective memory relies on landscaping or cultural transmission. However, traditional media used in person-place interaction may not be engaging enough to facilitate indepth memory construction, and the relationship between collective memory and the emotions generated from person-place interaction remains unexplored.

Cultural heritage game design
Cultural heritage games have been recognized as an effective tool for reconstructing collective memory. Several design frameworks have been proposed to guide the game design stages: • The "FRACH" framework proposed by Andreoli et al. [9] divides game design into preparation, conception, development, and evaluation. • The game space selection framework proposed by Sharma et al. [10] classifies mixed reality spaces into four types: individual, isolated, continuous, and ubiquitous. • The mechanism-dynamics-aesthetics (MDA) framework proposed by Hunicke et al. [11]: Mechanism refers to the rules and operations, dynamics refers to the feedback and state, and aesthetics refers to the emotional experience that is expected to be achieved in the game. Combining these methods, this paper proposes a framework for designing urban cultural heritage games based on collective memory reconstruction model, which will be elaborated on in the next section.

Urban cultural heritage game design based on the collective memory reconstruction model
This paper proposes a design framework for urban cultural heritage game based on the collective memory reconstruction model. The framework distinguishes between tangible and intangible memory carriers, with the former serving as a spatial thread to provide physical environments for people to perceive the city and the latter serving as a narrative thread to provide objects for memory reconstruction. The game serves as a medium that combines these threads to create an immersive experience, enabling players to learn about the history and culture of the place and develop emotional connections to it. As the medium for person-place interaction, cultural heritage games must align with both the spatial and narrative threads. The following design methods can be used: • Game design definition: Designers must select suitable locations and cultural elements for gameplay and worldview. Narrative adventure games, where players explore environments and collect items to solve puzzles, are a common genre. • Game space selection: The selected locations can be divided into multiple points of interest (POI) to form a game map. The gaming experience depends on environmental conditions, with historic streets offering an isolated experience and cultural parks offering a continuous experience. • Game narrative design: It consists of characters and stories, which can be drawn from history, folklore, or real people. Linear structures could be used to ensure coherence and integrity. • Game level design: Mechanisms such as puzzles, battles, and quizzes can be used in each game level, with players rewarded with items or achievements after completion. Rewards should be associated with gameplay, and rankings and social sharing can be added to enrich the experience.
• Game aesthetic design: The visual style should cater to the game's worldview. The interface should be concise and easy to use, and sound effects should be used to stimulate positive emotions.

Case study on Nantou Ancient City
This paper uses the Nantou Ancient City (hereinafter Nantou) in Shenzhen, China as a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of the design framework. With a history spanning over 1700 years, it served as the economic, political, and cultural center of the coastal area of Lingnan for generations. The city retains its block layout since the Ming Dynasty and historical landmarks such as the South Gate and the Xin'an County Hall [12]. However, it has more stores than cultural attractions, and the existing attractions rely heavily on text or images, making it difficult to leave a lasting impression on visitors. To address these issues, this paper selects Zhongshan South Street and Zhongshan North Street as the primary experience route and highlights the points of interest and their history along the route as the spatial and narrative threads. The POIs are listed below.

Game implementation
This paper presents "Memories of Nantou", an urban cultural heritage game that integrates spatial and narrative elements. The game was developed using C# language and Unity3d game engine and can be played on Android devices. The interactive narrative, developed with FairyGUI, centers around finding cultural memories in Nantou. Players explore the city in a first-person perspective, interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) or viewing introductions in the game's backpack to learn about Nantou's history. The main NPCs, Wen and Xuan, were designed as friendly children, drawing inspiration from Hakka culture in Shenzhen. The game employs Mapbox for location tracking, AR Foundation for interactions, and Azure spatial anchor service to activate corresponding AR scenes. The game's aesthetic design is based on cultural elements in Nantou, with user interface design adhering to Android design guidelines. Each game level is accompanied by background music and characters' voices, providing players with instant visual and sound feedback. The relationship between levels, plots, and interactions is shown below.

Research Hypotheses
To evaluate the feasibility of the design framework, this paper conducted a controlled experiment comparing the collective memory formed in game-guided and selfguided tours. The study focused on the history and culture of Nantou and evaluated the effectiveness of collective memory reconstruction by measuring players' cultural perceptions. The level of place attachment was also examined, as suggested by Qian et al. [2] and Li et al. [13], collective memory is an important factor in place attachment. The hypotheses proposed in this paper are as follows: • H1: The game design provides an engaging touring experience. • H2: The game design enhances players' cultural perception. • H3: The game design enhances players' level of place attachment.

Questionnaires
This study employed three questionnaires validated in previous research to assess participants' gaming experience, cultural perception, and place attachment:

Participants
The experiment involved a sample of 25 participants (13 females and 12 males, with college degrees, aged between 20 and 35). None of the participants had prior knowledge of Shenzhen's history and culture, nor did they reside near Nantou. The average level of knowledge regarding Nantou was rated as "very little" (1.79/5). The participants were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (CG), who were given a self-guided tour of Nantou, and the experimental group (EG), who experienced the "Memory of Nantou" cultural heritage game.

Procedures
The experiment employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and game data monitoring. The total duration of the experiment was approximately 1.5 hours. Before the experiment, participants were required to complete a background research questionnaire to eliminate any irrelevant factors that may interfere with the study. Both groups participated in a 1-hour tour, with the EG using the cellphones provided by the experimenter to play the game, while the CG visited the attractions independently. After the experiment, participants were asked to complete a place attachment questionnaire, with the EG also required to complete a gaming experience questionnaire (< 5 minutes). After that, participants completed a cultural perception test (< 10 minutes), and then they were interviewed oneon-one to collect their subjective feedback (< 15 minutes). In addition, a data monitoring program was set up in the background of the game, recording participants' gaming time, scores, and page browsing time for in-depth research.

Results
The Cronbach.α coefficient for the gaming experience questionnaire was 0.936, and the subscales were 0.936, 0.836, and 0.889, respectively. The Cronbach.α coefficient for the place attachment questionnaire was 0.955, and for the subscales was 0.919 and 0.932 respectively. These values indicate that the questionnaires employed in the study were reliable, and the results obtained from them are suitable for further analysis.

Gaming experience
According to the table below, players expressed positive opinions regarding the engagement of the game, stating that they were interested and motivated to actively seek cultural elements in their surroundings. Moreover, players were focused on the game, expressing concern about plot development and task completion status. However, immersion was weaker, which may have been affected by the realism of the 3D models. Furthermore, since players experienced the AR game in the real world, they were likely to be disturbed by lighting, noise, and other environmental factors, which has been previously mentioned in ARI research [11]. Overall, the results suggest that the proposed game can provide a satisfying touring experience for players.

Cultural perception
The results in the table below indicate a significant difference in the average score between the EG (AVG=67.7) and the CG (AVG=27.9). The game has a positive impact on the players' cultural perception, particularly in the knowledge that is highly interactive and related to the spots (T3-T5). The CG reported that current attractions failed to leave a lasting impression on them, and some participants did not even notice the introduction video in the museum. The EG reported gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the city under the game's guidance. However, some players mentioned that they paid less attention to the exhibits because they were too focused on completing the game.

Place attachment
As shown in the table below, the game promoted players' place attachment and satisfaction. Players changed their attitudes towards the city by discovering its history in the game, and they suggested more interactions for other cultural attractions should be added to the game in the future.

Background monitoring data
As shown in the table below, it is evident that players tend to spend more time on game levels that offer greater contrast and interactivity with the real environment. Furthermore, as time increases, players develop a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural content embedded in these scenes.

Discussion
The experiment results support the hypotheses proposed. Firstly, the proposed design provides an engaging touring experience. Players showed particular interest in the defending Nantou game, which they played for the longest time, likely because it presented a real historical scenario and created a strong visual contrast. The AR interaction was also highly praised by players, indicating its potential for use in collective memory research. Secondly, the proposed design has a positive effect on enhancing players' cultural perception. Interacting with NPCs was noted as a particularly effective way to deepen understanding of the city. However, players were less likely to read the introductions in the backpack, suggesting that knowledge integration into AR interactions may be more effective.
Finally, the proposed design has a positive effect on enhancing players' sense of place. By marking attractions on the map and displaying virtual scenes in the real world, the game effectively highlighted the cultural features of Nantou and garnered positive attitudes among players. Additionally, gaming emotions such as curiosity, surprise, and accomplishment were found to benefit the formation of collective memory.

Conclusion
This paper proposes a design framework for an urban cultural heritage game based on the collective memory reconstruction model. An AR game with LBS is designed for Nantou Ancient City based on the framework, and a controlled experiment confirms its positive impact on players' touring experience, cultural perception, and sense of place. The game's interactive dialogues and tasks inspire players to explore the city actively, learn its history and culture, and form a deep collective memory and sense of place. This paper also explores the application of AR interaction in the field of cultural heritage, expanding the role of emerging human-computer interaction technologies.
Future research suggestions include exploring AR game interaction for continuous and ubiquitous spaces with multiple players playing together, as well as adaptive difficulty levels for players of different ages and educational backgrounds, to make the design more widely applicable.