The first freely accessible online game titled “Brenda,” created by the inArts interactive arts research team of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts at Ionian University, is now complete. Its complex development process activated a large team of specialists across all areas of media research and creation, interaction, and game environment development.
Below is a series of answers to questions about the design, implementation, and development of this project by Associate Professor Yiannis Deliyannis, who is also the scientific lead.
Professor Deliyannis, how would you simply describe the Brenda game you developed?
Brenda is an innovative serious game aimed at tourist exploration of a region’s gastronomy and culture, entirely designed and developed as a game engine by the creative inArts team at the Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University. Its goal is to connect areas not typically linked under a single application: traditional recipes, local products, and the history of a place.
For the implementation in the wider area of Kilkis in northern Greece, the experience was applied to local gastronomy, linking recipes and products with local businesses and showcasing the local history. The game serves tourism, educational-exploratory, historical, and gastronomy purposes, allowing users in collaboration with the Kilkis Chamber of Commerce to try recipes at local businesses and sample local products.
How can a game change how we learn about a place’s offerings?
Today, one of the main goals of those managing the tourism product is to find suitable solutions for utilizing cultural heritage and informing the public. Traditional methods often reuse static content across channels: the same text as poster, leaflet, booklet, site, or multimedia app, sometimes with 360° video, AR, or VR. Brenda changes this paradigm by connecting thematic areas not easily unified in traditional applications. When content is abundant, users may lose interest. Games, by contrast, are proven to maintain player engagement, and the information function of the application is not lost—a user can freely access historical or gastronomic knowledge through gameplay.
Why did you choose to create a game and not just a guide app with routes?
Games keep user engagement high, whereas users often ignore a guide with dense information. For example, even repetitive tasks in games (like in Farmville) keep players invested. Brenda works as a gastronomy game, a guide to tasting, and an exploration tool for local monuments—players reveal secrets and unlock recipes by gaining in-game currency for completing tasks.
How is ‘beneficial deception’ used in Brenda?
In Brenda, beneficial “deception” (ludification) means using game mechanics and learning techniques to encourage exploration and learning. The only barrier to keeping a recipe permanently is unlocking it by collecting ingredients—by visiting local restaurants, purchasing local products, or uncovering historical knowledge (all rewarding in-game currency).
How does the Brenda game work in practice?
Players answer questions via their device or after on-site visits, gaining currency needed to unlock recipes and access details about local products and businesses. Exploring the map or searching for points of interest gives full access to information, with the only restriction being the unlocking condition for recipes as above. The approach is perfect for Generation Z, who prefer earning rather than passively receiving information.
A feature is also the implementation of thematic routes designed by a guide, based both on historical information and a target visitor experience.
What energizes players to explore more deeply?
Through gamification and ludification, fields like local gastronomy, business, and history become intertwined. Players can complete the game or use it to answer targeted questions, such as where to try certain recipes or to fully access points of interest around them. The collaboration with the Kilkis Chamber of Commerce lets users directly connect in-game actions to local business visits, such as restaurants and wineries.
Who contributed to and funded Brenda’s development?
The game was developed as part of the “Research – Create – Innovate” initiative, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and national resources via the Operational Programme Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation (project code: T1EDK-05099). The Kilkis Chamber of Commerce managed the project, Honeybee Productions produced media content, and Arlise provided marketing.
What is the future for the Brenda game now that it operates in practice?
The goal is to apply the platform in more Greek regions. Regional and municipal authorities or cultural bodies can use the know-how to create custom content. Brenda was showcased in Thessaloniki at Philoxenia 2022 to inform the public and relevant stakeholders. Applying the methodology to new areas is immediate with the creative team, but expanding the system requires new characters and mechanics tailored to each place. The same approach could be used for other playful experiences, such as VR-based digital dives in marine parks or simulations of underwater archaeological sites, as long as content and engagement are balanced.
About Professor Deliyannis:
Yiannis Deliyannis is an Associate Professor at the Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University, and founding member of the inArts laboratory. His research interests include interactive multimedia, sensing systems, and the development of adaptive audiovisual interactive content, especially in computer games, new media art, and learning.
