War and destruction mean a sudden loss of familiar things, especially for children. Far from their homeland, Ukrainian children and teens have to find their way around in an often foreign environment. The video game allows them to familiarise themselves with the city of Zurich and at the same time create a connection to their homeland. “Де я знаходжуся?” is the title of the game in Ukrainian, “Where Am I?” in English.
Under the direction of ZHAW researcher Andri Gerber, students built detailed models of famous landmarks from Kyiv and Zurich and inserted them into a colourful 3D version of Zurich’s city centre. With the help of the Swiss game developer Blindflug Studios, a mobile game was created in which players can explore Zurich and find the landmarks of both cities.
The game world stretches along the Limmat to the ETH Zurich and the main station, and is explored with the help of a map and a scooter. During the game, some Zurich buildings disappear into thin air during the game and the players have the task to return puzzle pieces scattered around the city to the buildings. At the end of each puzzle, however, it is not the Zurich building that appears, but a landmark from Kyiv such as St. Andrew’s Church, Shevchenko University or the Salyut Hotel.
Core team:
Prof. Dr. Andri Gerber, ZHAW Departement Architektur, Gestaltung und Bauingenieurwesen
Pascal Aregger, ZHAW
3D Modeling: Serafin Bogo, Stefan Hausheer, Adrian Kiesel, Michelle Schneider
Practice partner:
Moritz Zumbühl, Frédéric Hein, Andreas Wille, Nicolò Linder, Olesya Torokova
Special thanks:
Miriam Wiesel, Maria Bank, Mariana Kass, David Hunziker, Michael Geiss
Basierend auf dem 3D-Modell der Stadt Zürich
Running time: 2022-2023
