The Space Archivists is the result of TRANSMIXR’s cultural heritage use case, designed by our partners Sound & Vision to bring digital collections to life through immersive technology.
Over three years, the TRANSMIXR team explored how XR can be meaningfully applied within the cultural heritage sector. Through desktop research, stakeholder interviews, design salons with industry experts, and several studies with Kids Team Research, the team gathered the insights needed to create a social VR experience specifically for children.
The story is simple but powerful: it’s the end of Earth, and an archive filled with photos, videos, and other media has been sent into space to preserve human memories forever. But disaster strikes – a meteorite crashes into the archive, scattering items across the void.
The Space Archivists is a multiplayer social VR game that allows players to explore this futuristic broken space archive and restore order. Players work together to collect floating media items and place them back into their correct positions.
The game was initially built using items from Sound & Vision’s digital collection, but it is designed to be easily adapted through the Curator Studio. Curators from any museum can upload their own items and create new themes, allowing visitors to explore digital collections in an immersive and interactive way.
After extensive testing with children, the game had a successful soft launch at Sound & Vision. The positive feedback inspired the team to continue developing the experience and share it with more audiences.
The Space Archivists is more than a game, it’s a new way to experience cultural heritage through XR.
