The Gilmorehill Mystery: A Location-based Game for Campus Exploration

The Gilmorehill Mystery serves as a strategic intervention designed to facilitate the integration of new students into the University of Glasgow campus. By leveraging a location-based mobile platform, the project replaces static, traditional orientation methods with an immersive, detective-themed narrative. This approach utilizes GPS-tracked points of interest and interactive, jigsaw-style puzzles to transform physical navigation into a gamified experience, effectively encouraging students to explore the university grounds while fostering a deeper connection to their new academic environment.

Evaluations conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic confirm that this serious game model achieves high levels of user satisfaction. Participants reported that the narrative framework successfully contextualized the campus architecture, turning routine orientation into an engaging discovery process. Although the prototype encountered minor technical hurdles related to user interface feedback and latency, the core mechanics proved robust. The integration of Unity and Mapbox provided a stable foundation for the location-based interactions, validating the technical feasibility of deploying such tools in complex, real-world environments.

Ultimately, the project establishes that narrative-driven exploration is a viable and effective pedagogical tool for institutional onboarding. Future development cycles are expected to prioritize enhanced user-centered design, incorporating greater student input during the creation phase to refine the gameplay experience. Furthermore, the inclusion of social features, such as competitive leaderboards, is identified as a key opportunity to increase engagement and community building. These findings suggest that location-based gaming holds significant potential for improving student retention and spatial familiarity within large, historic university campuses.