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The Gene Therapy exhibit is inspired by dramas such as Spooks

We’ve just been down to the Science Museum in London for the opening of the new Who Am I gallery. The gallery covers modern biomedicine and we created two exhibits about genetics.

The exhibit manager told us “We’ve given you the really hard ones” but we’ve come up with two exhibits which give a gentle introduction to complex issues. Gene Therapy covers the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis using gene therapy. Inspired by spy dramas such as Spooks we created a sophisticated exhibit which uses short games to explain the gene therapy process. Patient of the Future looks at the use of genetic testing to decide who gets treated with which drug. It’s a more light hearted exhibit which visitors to the museum control using just two buttons.

Play Gene Therapy>

Play Patient of the Future>

Exhibit kits let you edit any of the exhibit text easily

Since we released the first version of the exhibit kit software last year, we’ve had a lot of interest. The idea of being able to make your own simple touchscreen exhibits for nothing has been very exciting, particularly for those on a budget. There’s also been a lot of interest from galleries who need to be able to update their exhibits quickly and cheaply. And when we asked how easy to the kits were to use the reply came back - “ridiculously simple” .

Still, everything can be improved and we’re delighted to say that we’ve now released an update to the software which is now at version 1.1. The main improvements are with speed, particularly of loading and saving. There’s also a host of small improvements to things like the transitions and design.

Download FREE exhibit kits>

Design a plane

We’ve been pretty busy so haven’t been able to update this site as much as we’d like but we’re glad we’ve finally managed to get two new games up on the site. The first game Design a Plane lets you take the part of Robert Blackburn, a local air pioneer. You have to design three different aircraft and test them to see if they fly.  You’ll get the chance to find out what happens if you try and make a jet fighter out of wood! Take our word for it, the test flight probably won’t go well.
Play Design a Plane>

The other game is about the thrilling subject of industrial composting, mmm. However, we’ve isolated the most fun part of the process - driving the truck! You have to drive the truck which picks up the waste and take it to the right part of composting plant without crashing into anything. Poop, poop!

Play the Composting game>

Exhibit kits let you change any text just by typing

We’ve been developing a system which lets anyone create their own simple computer exhibits without any programming or complex commands. They’re called an Exhibit kits. They’re completely “What you see is what you get”, you just type your text into the right box and that’s how it will look.  It’s much faster than commissioning custom software and much cheaper too. Which means you can concentrate on getting your content exactly how you want it.

We’ve developed different two exhibit kits, one creates “Find Out More” information exhibits and the other creates quizzes.
You can download both of them for free to try out. You can use them to make proper gallery exhibits, there’s no time limit or watermark. Go on, give it a go. We’d love to see what you can make.

Download FREE exhibit kits>

You need to wait until the right moment to grow your flowers

Professor Ottoline Leyser from the University of York wanted more people to understand the strategies that plants use to maximise their chances of survival. So we created a “sim city” type game which lets you take the role of a wild or farmed plant. Can you avoid getting eaten by pests, attract bees to pollinate your flowers and make enough seeds to ensure your chances of survival?
Play Extinct! >

A truck in the wind tunnel

There’s something very seductive about the movement of fluids. Whether it’s water in a stream, or smoke rising from a fire the patterns are similar and beautiful in their complexity. We’ve been doing some experimentation and managed to create a fully functional simulation of a wind tunnel. You can choose different vehicles and see how they perform or use the brush and draw your own streamlined shape. To do this we’ve had to solve the Navier-Stokes equation which until recently was the preserve of dedicated high power computers. These days however, you can try it yourself if you’ve got a recent multi-processor PC. Even if your PC is getting on a bit you can still see the video. Go on, give it a go.

Try the wind tunnel >

The sun setting over the sea in the cutter exhibit

The Merseyside Maritime Museum recently opened their new gallery Seized: Revenue and Customs uncovered which focuses on the work of HM Revenue and Customs (The UK tax collectors). This could have ended up as much fun as filling in your tax return but we’ve created a fully 3D simulation which lets visitors captain a customs ship on a mission to catch smugglers. The game features a huge screen and a real steering wheel and throttle. Visitors have to dodge sandbanks and other ships and catch the smugglers before they get away. It’s a great hit with visitors and often has queues of people waiting to use it.

More details here >

We’re really excited today because our Ants game has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Grand Master Flash Golden Joystick award. There are ten finalists and the winner will be announced on 31st October 2008. You can see the other finalists here. The winner will be decided by public vote so please vote for us. The voting page is here. The voting page is a bit confusing so here are some tips:

• You can ignore all the categories except the last one, The E4 Grand Master Flash Award. Click on the white box and then click on Vote for this by the Ants game.
• Don’t forget to clear all the tick boxes at the end to stop them sending you emails.

That’s all there is to it. We’re thrilled to be short listed, and it would be fantastic to win so please, please vote.

We’ve always loved the immersive shadow installations of artists such as Wolfgang Muench and Kiyoshi Furukawa and we’ve been inspired to create our own version. When you stand in front of the light, your body casts a shadow and the bubbles then bounce off this and sometimes burst. Of course any part of your body can create a shadow so the bubbles can bounce off your head, your arms, your fingertips and the whole thing is quite magical. We see this as very much the first step in developing these ideas further so watch this space…
Watch us play with bubbles.

Many successful organisations such as Google and Apple have a strong Keep it simple ethos. I’ve written a document looking at why keeping it simple is important for museum exhibits and how to stop them becoming over complicated.
Read KISS chase - How to keep your exhibit simple.