Banner of FaunaDex

FaunaDex

FaunaDex is a mobile application designed for augmented reality (AR) that offers a captivating educational experience, primarily targeting children, to explore and understand the local fauna of Hamburg's canals. Developed in collaboration with "Stiftung Lebensraum Elbe," our mission is to raise awareness about their efforts in renaturalizing Hamburg's waterways to protect wildlife and the environment.

In this immersive app, users become explorers, embarking on a journey to befriend Hamburg's wildlife by investigating the canals' surroundings and filling their personal FaunaDex encyclopedia. Modeled after the popular Pokemon Go concept but with a stronger emphasis on AR, users collect animals from Hamburg as virtual collectibles.
The app employs a quest system and a GPS-driven map to guide users to the locations of virtual animals. But instead of capturing the creatures, users take pictures of them, encouraging an educational interaction. FaunaDex is designed to be played outdoors, in parks, hiking trails, and playgrounds, promoting exercise and environmental exploration.

Our three-part gameplay loop involves localizing an animal, switching to camera mode to interact with it, and receiving a Dex Entry for your FaunaDex upon capturing the moment. Additionally, quests, marked on the map, introduce users to animal guides, enhancing the learning experience. A free-roam mode encourages independent exploration and photography.

Powered by Niantic's Lightship Unity Package for localized AR, FaunaDex offers an engaging and informative gaming experience anchored in the real world to teach children about the rich biodiversity of Hamburg's canals. By blending fun and education, we aim to make children more environmentally conscious while enjoying a unique learning adventure.

My Contributions to this Project

Concept
AR (using Niantic Lightship)
Localized AR Implementation
Implementation in Unity3D
Code Development in C#
Dialogue System
AR User Interactions
UI Implementation
Version Control Maintenance
Extensive Prototyping
Project Documentation

Image Gallery

Talk to Otto, the local fauna guide
Talk to Otto, the local fauna guide
He is very expressive as his eyes and mouth are animated separately
He is very expressive as his eyes and mouth are animated separately
Interact with him, shake his tiny paws if you'd like!
Interact with him, shake his tiny paws if you'd like!
Check out the map to see where you have to go next
Check out the map to see where you have to go next
One of the many UI elements in FaunaDex
One of the many UI elements in FaunaDex
User guidance, explaining users how to get the AR content to appear
User guidance, explaining users how to get the AR content to appear
Tracks and clues of a wild animal nearby, which may help you find it!
Tracks and clues of a wild animal nearby, which may help you find it!
Show Otto the picture of the dragonfly you took and he'll reward you!
Show Otto the picture of the dragonfly you took and he'll reward you!
The FaunaDex animal entry screen
The FaunaDex animal entry screen
This application has been developed by Daniel Heilmann, Aleksa Savic, Max von Trümbach and Lili Weirich during winter term 2022/23 as a semester project for the Expanded Realities study course at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.