Time travel and explore Intramuros with this augmented-reality game

Visitors to Intramuros can now view Manila's ancient capital through augmented reality and play a game at the same time, thanks to a new mobile app created by the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences.

 

In "Igpaw: Intramuros," you learn that the fabled walled city's time stream has been fractured, displacing historical and fictional figures. Your job is to help restore stream and send the characters back to their respective eras.

 

The augmented reality aspect of the game requires the player to actually be inside Intramuros so they can scan historical markers with their devices as part of the gameplay.

 

“We were motivated to create a game for Philippine history because there is relatively little interactive, digital material on the subject,” Ma. Mercedes Rodrigo, producer and project lead, told GMA News Online.

“While educational applications for math, science, and language are easy to find, similar materials for Philippine history are not as available.”

 

The game was developed through a grant from the Commission on Higher Education. According to Rodrigo, “igpaw” is a Filipino word that means “to jump over an obstacle.”

 

Igpaw: Intramuros is available for free in the Google Play Store and will soon also be available in the Apple App Store. — Bea Montenegro, GMA News