Jurgen Camilleri using his app along Strait Street. The app is based on George Cini’s book Strada Stretta: The Gut Which for Many Years Lit Up Valletta.

While educators today complain that students have discarded books for smartphones and tablets, an app that has just been developed could give reading a much-needed boost by transforming a book into a digital game.

The app is Jurgen Camilleri’s final-year project for his BSc (Hons) degree in ICT from the University’s Faculty of Information and Communication Technology. His supervisor was Alexiei Dingli, who is also Valletta mayor.

“The idea was to create an interactive experience that combines the traditional elements of reading a book with the interactivity of having a mobile app on a smartphone,” Mr Camilleri said.

“The result of my studies is a framework that would allow an author, with the help of a developer, to convert a book into an interactive experience that not only enables the user to read the story, but also play games, communicate with the characters, and explore real world locations using GPS.”

Users of the app ‘visit’ Strait Street and meet virtual characters – the protagonists in the book by George Cini, Strada Stretta: The Gut Which for Many Years Lit Up Valletta – by walking to the markers displayed on the screen. They can then read what the characters have to say and play mini-games.

It was Dr Dingli who suggested that Mr Cini’s book be used for this project.

The unlocked stories and mini-games can then be accessed anywhere, so that users would be able to experience these elements without having to ‘visit’ Strait Street again.

Additionally, users who do well in mini-games can cash the ‘money’ they earn to unlock further stories. Keeping in touch with the characters via social media can result in further stories either by the characters writing a story on their blog or Facebook page, or by the characters posting a code which can be entered in the app to unlock a story.

An interactive experience that combines the traditional elements of reading a book with the interactivity of having a mobile app on a smartphone

The app is a prototype. Polishing it will require additional funding.

“With the proliferation of personal devices such as smartphones and tablets, the way we consume books will change forever. Through this project, we wanted to design that change,” Dr Dingli said.

The app pages may be found at the link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6iPCWHldWNSbmhHMnF4cERaTDA&usp=sharing .