Video games and their design are complex in nature, given the variety of aspects and challenges to face and the different areas of expertise involved. Furthermore, serious games have an even tougher challenge, since the knowledge acquisition has the same importance and relevance as entertainment and pleasure for the players. Serious games in cultural heritage require additional effort to introduce immersivity and collaboration among players. This article introduces a framework, named FRACH, to conceive, design, and evaluate immersive and collaborative serious games in cultural heritage. In particular, FRACH provides a design framework with steps to follow during the whole process that is from the early design phase to the evaluation phase of a serious game. We assessed the efficacy of our framework, with a specific case study in cultural heritage, by implementing a section of a serious game named HippocraticaCivitasGame , where players were allowed to visit the thermae of the historical site of San Pietro a Corte and Palazzo Fruscione in the city of Salerno, Italy, and to solve a given puzzle. Results of the game evaluation showed that the game was effective in terms of knowledge acquisition, the participants enjoyed the game, were highly involved in the immersive experience, and, finally, positively rated the idea of using the game for educational learning in the field of cultural heritage.

In this paper we study the technologies that are available for interactive and cooperative 3D environments. In particular, we describe how state-of-the art videogame 3D engines can be fruitfully used to create interactive 3D worlds that leverage on the photorealistic quality of the graphics and the high level of immersive navigation.We provide, first, a categorization of videogame 3D engines from the point of view of their usage in creating interactive 3D worlds and show a comparison of the most important characteristics. Then, we show an example of how we used a commercial videogame engine to create an interactive an enjoyable visit to an archaeological site.

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The paper presents some experiences in developing a virtual environment using a videogame engine. It provides the details and the caveats met during development, with particular attentions to the architectural reconstruction problem, the textures resolution and the programmability. Some considerations are also reported from an historical point of view, emphasizing the importance of virtual reconstructions, and from a psychological point of view stressing how a narrative context enhances the learning process

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