(Slide 1 – Passport: A Medium Between Physical and Virtual) After we finalized the environment design, one major question remained: How do we connect the user's real body with a virtual memory?
So we designed a replica of Hudec’s fake passport—a physical object that every participant holds during Scene 1. As users walk through the migration journey, the passport becomes a narrative anchor. Unlike watching a documentary on a museum screen, here you are part of the story—walking on foot, flipping pages, holding the same object Hudec once might have carried.
And when the MR experience ends, you're left standing in front of the real Truelight Building—still holding that passport. No AR overlay, no visual effects—just you, the building, and this small passport reminder of your time-traveling journey. That’s where fiction and reality quietly merge.
(Slide 2 – Filter & Multimodal Immersion) At the start of the experience, we also apply a vintage sepia-toned filter, paired with old typewriter fonts and ambient soundscapes. These set the emotional tone—transporting users into the 1930s.
The transition out of this filter—when the visuals return to the modern cityscape—creates a subtle rupture, a return to present-day Shanghai that feels… almost bittersweet. Together with the passport, Hudec’s voice narration, and the spatial triggers, these elements create a powerful temporal bridge— one where physical objects, visual design, and sound storytelling all work together to collapse the boundary between past and present.
Our project, at its core, is about rediscovering memory through place. It invites users to engage not just with a historical figure, but with the architectural space that still stands in their city.
A simple, accessible, and scalable mobile MR application enable anyone with a smartphone to walk to the Truelight Building and begin the experience.
This means we can bring stories back into the streets. Not locked in a museum, not hidden in archives—but layered onto reality, where they belong.
The gameplay structure allowed us to build momentum: users uncover Hudec’s story like a puzzle—zone by zone, clue by clue.
The virtual office recreation offered emotional immersion—standing inside Hudec’s space, seeing his belongings, hearing his voice. It felt surreal, like stepping into a dream... but with your feet on the ground.
By combining real-world navigation, storytelling, and interactable environments, we created a stronger, more visceral connection between user and history—not as spectators, but as participants.
🔹 It introduces game-like drama—like a virtual tornado that guides users toward key narrative sites. 🔹 It simulates ghostly spatial memory, like standing in Hudec’s office, touching his desk, reading his letters—as if you stepped into a dream. 🔹 Most importantly, it turns passive remembrance into active engagement.
Playable Heritage: Through elements like the tornado attractor in Scene 3, we transform passive viewing into active discovery.
Multisensory Narration: Hudec’s voice in first-person perspective draws users into his emotional world.
Seamless Spatial Integration: The experience evolves with the space—for example, when the Christmas Market was removed, we rebuilt our layout to enhance both immersion and historical engagement.