LUNA’S SECRET FOREST

Heallsville Sanctuary

Healesville Sanctuary in Melbourne asked for a show that would create advocates for the endangered Leadbeater Possum. The audience was two to six year old children.

Bespoke interactive exhibit

As part of the research we ventured out to see the Possum’s in their natural habitat, in the dark, sitting in the middle of the bush as the sun set the show quickly crystallised. We had to take the audience on their own “Stag Watch” to discover the secret world of the Leadbeater Possum.

The budget was tight with a ten week timeframe to opening for an bespoke interactive exhibit. This exhibit proves that you can deliver unique and effective experiences without the “expo” budget.

But how to engage two to six year olds? Kids of that age already had a deep
understanding of interactive devices through modern game technology. We
took the Wii remote and designed a show that would use that technology to engage the kids.

The Game Approach

The idea; kids would pick up a torch and as they pointed it at the screen a virtual beam of light would appear on that screen revealing the secrets that the

forest held. Only trouble was, it had never been done before, not for ten users at once. In order to create this show we had to develop it from square one and as we were already in the world of video games with our Wii remote approach we turned to game development software to produce this bespoke show.

Watching kids as young as three pick up a torch and instantly know what to do remains one of our proudest moments, more so because to this audience the technology is invisible – they just get into the show and interact at a level that stunned us.

The zoo commissioned a study into the effectiveness of the exhibit. The results of the paper concluded that this “game approach” was actually more effective in getting the message across to the audience than the actual animal exhibit.

Interactive

Possum gameplay experience

Audience

2 – 6 year olds

Services

+ Concept design
+ Environmental research
+ Show storyboards
+ Scenic exhibition & interior design